New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore

Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us on this exciting day. I am so pleased to welcome Kellen, his wife Julie, and their children Kyla, Hailey, Maddie and Beckham to New Orleans. When we began this coaching search, we were all aligned on what we were looking for in an ideal candidate to lead this team. We wanted *** coach that was exceptionally bright, creative, and most importantly *** tremendous leader. I believe that is exactly what we have in Ellen Moore. He has been *** winner at every stage of his career both as *** player and *** coach as we saw this past weekend in our very own Caesar’s Superdome, Callen led *** creative and innovative offense in winning Super Bowl 59. Congratulations to you and to the entire Philadelphia Eagles organization. Thank you. As we stand here today, I cannot help but reflect on the past, success, and stability of our organization. While we are not accustomed to having press conferences welcoming *** new head coach, I do offer to you, Kellen, and our entire fan base that it is my job to provide any resource our players, coaches, and front office need to compete for *** championship. Kellen, you have my full commitment to doing whatever it takes to deliver another Lombardi trophy back to our city. Our fan base is the most passionate and loyal in the NFL. And they are deserving of our full commitment. We have *** stadium that offers our fans the best amenities in the NFL so today marks *** new day and *** positive look to the future. I am excited to be part of this with you, Callan. And in conclusion I would like to commend Mickey Loomis for conducting such *** thorough, thoughtful, and patient search. Mickey and his team interviewed *** number of exceptional candidates that yield an excellent result, and I greatly appreciate the clear vision he had for this coaching search. And now it is my pleasure to introduce Mickey Loomis to talk further about the process. Thank you so much. Yeah. I’ve got to use readers and this is B doesn’t. That’s *** little bit embarrassing, um. Thank you, Mrs. B. Uh, good morning. Thank all of you for joining us. I’m very excited, uh, to introduce the next head coach of the New Orleans Saints, um. As mentioned, this was *** comprehensive process. It took longer than we anticipated, um, simply because the Eagles kept winning. Um, and that delayed our opportunity to make an informed decision. We appreciate their patience and cooperation with us during the process, and we certainly congratulate the Philadelphia Eagles and Kellen on winning the Super Bowl right here in, uh, New Orleans. Um, we had *** number of. Excellent candidates for this job and I believe every one of the finalists um were qualified and will be head coaches in the future and I wanna thank them for their interest, uh, their efforts and their patience uh throughout this process. Ultimately we determined that uh Kellen’s the best fit for our team and his experience and success as *** player as *** position coach and as an offensive coordinator um have prepared him well for this opportunity and that was really evident in our interviews and our discussions. Uh, we’ve been meeting for the last 24 hours, and man, it’s, it’s, it’s very easy to get excited about the direction that he and his staff are gonna take our team and so without further delay, uh, it’s my pleasure to introduce the new head coach of the New Orleans Saints, Kellen Moore. That Recognize *** few of you from the last couple of weeks. Uh, first, I just wanna thank everyone for coming, uh, for this awesome opportunity. Uh, this is the start of an incredible, uh, incredible place. Uh, this place truly is *** special place for my family for, uh, the opportunities we’ve had the last couple of weeks to win *** Super Bowl. In the Caesar Superdome and to now become the head football coach of the New Orleans Saints, um, this is such an incredible place and we can’t wait to make it home and uh we truly feel honored. uh, Mrs. Benson, thank you so much for the wonderful welcome to New Orleans, uh, for our entire family. um, your leadership obviously is evident very quickly uh how special this place is truly is. Um, I want to start by saying, uh, how thankful and blessed I am to have the best football family I can possibly have. Uh, for my wife Julie, she’s the rock star. I couldn’t do this without her. Uh, she’s made this entire football journey. She’s been on it with me, uh, all the way from *** player to *** coach, and, uh, I couldn’t ask for to be more fortunate to have her, uh, for Kyler, Hallie, we got Maddie and Beckham as well. Uh, they make our life *** whole lot of fun. We got 4 little ones and they, uh, they enjoy this ride as well. Um, I can’t begin to express how thankful I am for the, uh. The opportunity to be the head coach of the Saints, but really. That dream started *** long time ago, uh, you know, being *** kid from Prosser, Washington, and, uh, my dad was our head football coach, and so, uh, that was my foundation as *** coach. I always wanted to be *** football coach. Uh, my goal was to be *** Prosser Mustang first and foremost, and, uh, you know, I appreciate, uh, everything that he did for me. Uh, I think most importantly, uh, the foundation of myself as *** football coach really comes from him, and, uh, my mom was an elementary school principal. Uh, this moment as much as I appreciate it for our. This is their moment as well and so uh I love them very much. I want to thank every coach, teammate, player, and mentor that helped me along this way uh from Boise State, Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Chargers, and especially the Philadelphia Eagles. Uh, each and every one of these people shaped me, uh, allowed me to become the coach that I am, specifically in Philadelphia, Jeffrey Laurie, Howie Roseman, and, uh, Nick Cirani, thank you for the opportunity to win *** world championship with you, um. Finally, as we went through this process, through this interview process, I feel very fortunate that I got to go and interview with multiple teams. Uh, it became very clear what made this organization really special, and it was the leadership. Uh, each interaction grew more and more confident in the opportunity that this presented, um, the opportunity to team up. Mickey Loomis, one of the winningest general managers in the National Football League history, uh, was *** perfect opportunity for myself. Uh, the other leadership within his group, Kai Harley, Jeff Ireland, Michael Parent, and Randy Mueller, uh, can’t wait to get started, really, really excited about this opportunity so thankful for it. Um, we have an exciting, exciting future for New Orleans football. Our number one goal is to create an environment that allows every player, coach and staff member to be their best. And uh this is *** great, the greatest team sport in the world for *** reason because it takes everyone, it takes everyone um it it’s truly an honor and opportunity that uh not many have. We know that when we when we do this, when we build *** brand of football that we’re all appreciative, uh, it’s gonna be *** smart, *** fast and *** physical football team, and I know that our style that who that nation will be proud of, and they will rally behind. Uh, we have *** tremendous advantage in the NFL because of the phenomenal fan base that we have. Because of the home field advantage that the Caesar Superdome provides, and I can’t attest, and I can attest to the daunting challenge that when you come into the Superdome as the visioning team, the challenges that you’re gonna have, um, can’t wait to get started. Whoat nation, appreciate you can’t wait to go here we go. open it up for questions now. Who wants to lead off, Nick Ellen, uh, just what are your first, you know, 72 hours here like kind of what’s on the agenda, how do you get started, um, what, what’s that process? uh. Yeah, obviously it’s been *** phenomenal opportunity to uh to get back into New Orleans really to get to know the building, you know, first and foremost there’s phenomenal people throughout this building, and I think that’s the great, great joy that the first few few days provide, you know, really connecting with the building throughout all the support staff, the players, the coaches, that will be *** process as we go through this building this, uh, but it’s been *** really fun opportunity. this this team is obviously at *** state with *** little bit of an older roster where where *** choice could be made to, you know, continue. Uh, trying to win, consider rebuilding during the process, did they make it clear that You would, you would get to have *** lot of input in deciding that, or do they kind of let you know this is the direction we’re going. I think certainly the great joy that as you went through this process it became very evident was this is *** collaborative effort here. This is *** team, this is *** group that works really well together. We’re excited to go through this journey, obviously we’ll begin the process of evaluating the player side of this and building *** coaching staff and doing it the right way, moving forward, it’s gonna be *** really fun process. With the plan right now do you have like *** like *** preference for the concept of rebuilding getting younger or or like trying not to overhaul too. I think certainly we’re we’re going to compete for this, uh, this division. Uh, we have *** great opportunity in in the NFC South, and, uh, we’re gonna focus on that while building this team the right way. Kelly, are you, uh, starting like today or tonight, tomorrow or are you going back and participating in the parade? There’s been *** little bit of travel this week, which is, which is all good. Uh, yeah, so obviously I had an opportunity to be here. We’ll go back for the parade tomorrow in Philadelphia and then quickly get back here and uh get going. If I can follow up, we heard about you for *** long time, and people have seen pictures and videos but because it is kind of the first time passionate fan base gets to hear from you without maybe getting too deep into football. Who are you? Like, what’s your favorite people are gonna want to know everything about you. Is there any more insight besides wanting to be *** coach like your father that you can kind of tell the people watching right now about yourself? Yeah, um, you know, faith, family and football is what this thing is all about and those those priorities will never change. Uh, I think when you get to team up with special people, you get to do special things and uh I’m really, really excited about that opportunity. I want to lead this team the right way, uh, or surround myself with tremendous leaders on the player side, on the coaching side, uh, again, this is *** great opportunity. Hell, how do you view *** lot was made in the process about the Saints salary cap situation and where it stands now. Did that give you any concern in the process and how would you say you view where the salary cap situation stands right now? Yes, certainly the, the opportunity to go through the interview process allows us to have those, have those conversations and, uh, quickly again it’s evident the leadership here is tremendous, uh, they’re best in the business from ***, from ***, uh, business side of this operation, and, uh, we feel very comfortable with where we’re going. And how has that helped you out as far as playing the game at the highest level in the NFL for 6 years as *** coach? Yeah, certainly anytime you can lean on experiences as *** player or *** coach, tremendous. Opportunity and uh certainly the the coaches and the players that I was around, I learned *** lot from those guys and uh certainly as we go through this process any time you can lean on those experiences you’ve been in those players shoes you you’ve dealt with the challenges that they deal with, you can lean into those experiences. You talking about the situation, one of those cap hits and guys prevalent with that is quarterback Derek Carr. What do you think about him when looking at his tape and do you view him as being the week one starter. Yeah, Derek’s *** tremendous quarterback in this league. Uh, I’ve had so much respect for him, the journey that he’s been on, uh, he’s *** starter in this league. He’s *** premier player in this league. He’s had *** great journey, uh, obviously going from Fresno State to the Raiders and now here, um, you know, really excited to team up with him and go through this process. And so, uh, just like any player on this roster, um, you know, I just got here *** few days ago and I’m excited to go through this journey with all of them. You got *** chance to spend the last week in New Orleans. Did you get *** sense of how much this means to this? It’s very quickly evident. Uh, this is *** tremendous city. Uh, the hospitality and the environment that they provided for the Super Bowl was really special. Uh, you quickly saw, uh, what makes this place, uh, an amazing city, and, uh, you know, as we’ve gone through this process, it just becomes more and more evident. We truly can’t wait for this to become home. I know you, you told us when we interviewed. So that you went to the man in passing academy because, because Archie has drew, have people reached out to you, congratulating you, giving you tips on how it’s gonna be here? It’s what makes this place really special is you can just tell everyone who’s touched this place is still invested, you know, from the Manning family to Drew, so many people have have been *** part of this place, that’s what makes this place special. last week you said you don’t like you like the defense that you don’t like going against but you don’t want to answer because you’re going against guys and didn’t want to give them any any tips. What is the defense that you ain’t going against him, what would you like? like what what are the characteristics you’d like Yeah, that, that identity is still the same. We wanna be *** smart team. We gotta play really smart situational football. We wanna be able to play fast guys when they’re fast and free and confident. They play at *** really high level and then obviously we wanna be *** really physical football team. We recognize, um, I’m *** quarterback guy and I love the quarterback position, but this game. Uh, has so much impact on the offense and defense of lines, and that’s really truly how you control games and build this thing the right way for coordinators. Yes, we’ll go through *** true process for the defense coordinator spot. We’re really excited to go through that, uh, over the course of the next few days, and, uh, we’ll find, we’ll find an excellent candidate. I know you’ve been around *** couple of guys who’ve run 343 Yeah, well, we’ll certainly, uh, explore both sides of that. Um, I think that at the end of the day we’ll find the perfect candidate for this opportunity and we’ll be really excited about it. How far are you and, and have you got the staff? Do you have *** timeline in place? Like, would you like to see the whole staff together for the, the combine? Is that important? Certainly we just wanna do it the right way and we wanna go through *** process and we understand that uh when the opportunity presents itself it’ll be right and uh and we’re very excited about that obviously we know uh we’re into the middle of February but uh there’s plenty of excellent candidates out there. We’re really excited the ones that we’ve talked to already and the ones we’ll talk to in the future. It’ll be *** great opportunity. Los Angeles and Philly how those last 3 years really prepare you to take this opportunity. I was fortunate to be in Dallas for 8 years, uh, tremendous place, tremendous opportunity. I went there from, from *** player to *** coach, uh, going to Los Angeles and Philadelphia allowed me to get out of my comfort zone. I think that’s really, really important as you grow as *** coach or *** player that you gotta get out of your comfort zone, challenge yourself, put yourself in different situations, and, uh, both those opportunities allowed me to grow tremendous people at both spots, and, uh, I’m forever thankful for that. um let’s run this back. Is there space in there? Did you just take that as kind of like *** lighthearted compliment for the good work you did, or were they really trying to talk you out of something and how and what goes into deciding to leave *** situation like that where you’re coming off the championship? First and foremost, I love Nick, uh, forever thankful for the opportunity to team up with him, uh, through this past year, uh, tremendous leader, tremendous, uh, head football coach in the National Football League. He, he won *** world championship for *** reason. And uh I, I, I feel so thankful for that as obviously we went through this process, uh, an opportunity to be *** head coach is really special in this league and the more we went through the process, it became very clear that this one was gonna be *** really special one if it presented itself. And so, uh, obviously Nick and I had plenty of conversations as we went through this journey. Um, he was very supportive of it. Uh, certainly, certainly he would love for us to, uh, team up again, but, uh, he understood that, you know, this is gonna be *** special place for us. that helped you really become *** head coach at the AC. Certainly viewing it from the quarterback’s lens is *** very valuable piece. Uh, it’s the hardest position in sports for *** reason. Uh, there’s *** tremendous amount of responsibility associated with that player. They’re tied into every single player on the football team, um. You know, I was fortunate to be able to transition quickly from playing right into coaching in Dallas. Allowed me to, uh, you know, kind of go through that process rather quickly, but, uh, again, great people, great support as I’ve gone through that, and, uh, you know, again I, I think *** lot of guys in this league have they’ve gone through this journey. *** lot of quarterbacks have become coaches, and there’s probably *** reason for it. Yeah, absolutely, uh, obviously, um, that was one of the attractive pieces of this is, you know, I think this is *** talented roster we played here week 3. Uh, we took it down to *** minute left to to finally score *** touchdown when I was in Philadelphia. It was *** really challenging, uh, challenging game. And so, uh, throughout the season you’ve seen it. Obviously injuries, uh, injuries were *** challenge this year, and those things sometimes are, uh, challenging uncontrollable circumstances. And so, uh, we recognize there’s so much good going on here. We want to embrace the good, don’t lose any of the good while building this thing the right way. Kevin, there’s the old saying about Xs and O’s or Jimmy and Joe’s, but what is it about this Saints offense in Boston that is you confident you can replicate what you can? Tremendous investment on the front line, uh, you know, again, as we talked about offense and defense of lines, they’re gonna have such an impact on games. They’re the pulse of your football team. Uh, we got playmakers in in multiple skill positions, very, very excited about that on the back end on defense as well, uh, investing in those guys to have those pieces as well. And so, uh, I think we’re in an excellent place to build moving forward. What do you think needs to be different kind of build that. Yeah, I think that’s that’s the excellent process that we’re gonna go through. Uh, I think it’s gonna again teaming up with the right people, teaming up with people who, uh, know this is gonna take *** lot of work. It’s gonna be *** really hard challenge, uh, starting with the offseason program. We’re gonna build it the right way. We’re gonna go through that process and, uh, we’ll build it once, once we get together. Kellen, as far as uh strategy, what comes into play, explain to the fans maybe, uh, how do you utilize *** motion as far as from your perspective as *** play caller. And then also from the quarterback position. And obviously in different scenarios the run pass option might run *** little more *** little more just talk *** little bit about that. I think the biggest thing from an offensive perspective is you gotta stress the defense whether it be tempo, which we’ll use *** lot of, uh, we like to use *** lot of tempo every place that I’ve been. Uh, we’ll use shifts in motions and we huddle, uh, but we want to stress the defense now whether we have to throw it 50 times or run it 15 times, I really don’t care how we got to win *** football game. Uh, we’ll do that based off who we have available to us and who’s on our roster, but, uh, we want to be *** team that stresses the defense, challenges them, utilizes our entire roster, the depth that we have, and, uh, take advantage of all these different players superpowers. why do you think you’re ready for this opportunity, you know, your first head coaching job, what are you gonna bring to this position and why do you think you’re, you’re ready for this? Certainly, certainly, uh, you know, I’ve gone through this process for *** long time as *** player I always anticipate wanting to be *** coach and so those notes that I took each and every day was, you know, would I do this the same way, would I do this different? And again, each and every one of those notes built built me up to who I am today, uh, tremendous support, tremendous mentors that have gone through this process, uh, again, when you go to different places, you get to strengthen yourself, you get to challenge yourself, get yourself out of your comfort zone, uh, play different styles. Of football and ultimately uh I’m really really excited to have an opportunity to lead this team, be in front of this entire group and support these players as they go through these challenges. They, they inevitably will. I have two questions. I apologize. Um, at 36 you’re now the youngest coach in the NFL. Do you lean into that that maybe there isn’t like *** generational divide like there may be with with other highers that you’ll start with that one. Tremendous value obviously uh there’ll be certain players that are that are more closely associated with my age, and, uh, I think that’s tremendous value. I’ve, I’ve been in those shoes for *** number of years now, being *** 31 year old offense coordinator, you know, that first time, half the room was the guys that I, I was teammates with 2 years prior to and so I think there’s tremendous value in being able to lean in those experiences, having been in their shoes in *** relatively recent time. Um, again, I think it’s *** great opportunity. And my follow-up was more lighthearted here. Um, we’re kind of unique culture here. Have you and your family experienced, have you had king cake yet? Have you all had *** meal? Yeah, please don’t say your first meal is too cold. We are so excited to embrace the food food side of this, uh, wonderful community. Uh, certainly we’ve had *** couple of king cakes already, yeah, so we’re ready. Tom, and what does he think? He’s excited. I mean, my dad was *** high school football coach and that for, uh, for our family, for my brother to choose coaching for myself to choose coaching shows how much he meant to us. Uh, my brother’s the offense coordinate at Missouri. Uh, he’s had *** tremendous career in this profession, and, uh, he’s, he’s been along it the entire way, you know, he’s there at every single game that he can be at, whether it be my brother’s game or my game, uh, you know, football’s meant *** lot to our family. You play calling velocophy to the roster you’ve had or you know we’ve seen you have you pass heavy we just need to really run heavy faster like what why is that something that you I think it’s just important every roster is different every challenge is gonna be different, um, you know, throughout the season we’re gonna have obstacles, you know, we may lose *** player, we may have to adjust and I think that’s really, really important ultimately we gotta find out what our players do best and put them in those positions to be successful and uh. You know, I think we got tremendous talent on this team. I’m excited to team up with these guys to get to know them as people, get to know them as players, and then again provide that opportunity for them. Are there any challenges to that or is that actually like the easiest route to it uh just taking what you guys do best. I think that’s the fun challenge, you know, that’s the fun challenge that you get to team up with. Certainly there’s gonna be certain philosophies, identities that I believe in very, very strongly, but again, I think it’s really, really important that as we build this, there’s gonna be *** process. You’re gonna go through OTAs. You’re gonna go through training camp, and we’re gonna, you know, figure each other out more and more each and every day that we spend, and, uh, you know, those, those clear identities will present their self as the season goes. um I know you said you’ve been bilingual, multilingual in so many. How, how many times have you used something that was predominantly the like the wide zone Shanahan blogs and obviously they implemented that here and they have *** lot of personnel that did that. Is that something you’ve done much in the past? We’ve done that at various spots certainly in Dallas there was *** lot more of an outside zone emphasis there but obviously flexibility I think is really important. I think as we’ve gone through this journey in the NFL, you gotta have *** diverse run game. You gotta be able to do *** lot of different things. You gotta be able to challenge the defense in multiple looks again, we’ve been more of *** downhill gap run team in Philadelphia. There’s tremendous advantages to that, and I think we’ll have an opportunity to blend those two worlds together. that you guys have *** decision to make at quarterback or I view it as Derek Carr is *** tremendous starting quarterback in this league. We’re fortunate to have him and we’re excited to go through this process, you know, as we build this roster together again, I’m meeting these guys for the first time in the last few days. We’re excited to meet more of them, and this will be *** lot of fun. Is there any position that you would look at and say this is *** foundation pillar and that guy is just absolutely and I know it’s all about competitions. Yeah, we’ll, we’ll let that play itself out obviously we know the tremendous leadership that this team has, the experience, the veteran players, um, that’s *** great advantage to us. That’s *** tremendous advantage to us, uh, again, we’ve invested in the offensive line, which is *** huge important piece for us, uh, to me that’s, that’s the, uh, energy of your entire football team and so uh I’m excited to team up with those guys.d on what you. Kind of expand on uh what you mean by *** smart football players like when *** player is smart, what what kind of attributes do they have? What do you look for? Yeah, I, I think smart football players, I think understand the situation first and foremost they understand situational football they understand how to play the position, uh, they can apply the lessons that you teach them, uh. We don’t have to have *** bunch of guys to go to Ivy Leagues, you know, that’s not what the NFL is, but, uh, you know, I think it’s *** tremendous opportunity to to find how these guys learn, how these guys grow, to lean into that, uh, again, when you got when you surround yourself with *** bunch of smart football players, it’s gonna allow your team to really flourish. So you said that you’re excited to go through the process with Derek Carr and the roster. Can you tell us *** little bit of what you describe what the process is? I think first and foremost is just to get to meet these guys, get, get to know them as people and as we build this thing, as we go through the offseason program, obviously we’ll we’ll go through that process as far as football players and we’ll build it the right way but uh again I’m just excited to meet these guys first and foremost. to do with the Eagles. How much did that factor into your decision to want to become the head coach and also nobody asked to get but have picked Derek car about beating him back in college here. Uh, the week 3 game very evident. I mean, I, I’ve been here *** few times as the road, uh, team. Uh, it’s *** really hard place to play. It’s *** really hard place to play, and you felt it each and every day. We felt fortunate on week 3 to come out with *** win, uh, in *** 2 minute drive, uh, you know, as far as Derek and Fresno State, you know, obviously we had, we had *** fun game one year, uh, played Fresno State over the years as the Boise State Bronco, and so, uh, we’ll have it, we’ll certainly share *** few laughs about that. Uh, how much input will you have, uh, where you have training camp? Do you like to stay home or like to get the players away, uh, as far as that maybe involved with that. Yeah, we’ll, we’ll go through those conversations when we need to, uh, obviously, right now the priority is the people and then we’ll figure out the process as we go. I wonder like during the like the search, did you feel good that you were maybe the the front runner for the job say or like how does how does that process? Yeah, again, just two opportunities, you know, you have *** Zoom interview and then you have *** formal interview, both excellent opportunities, I think, for, uh, the Saints and for myself just to go through that process. And so, uh, you know, the, the rules are structured in *** way that allows you to focus on the task at hand, focus on the Super Bowl, not worry about *** thing, and, uh, once the Super Bowl, you know, got done, then we’re able to kind of talk and have those conversations. What about that. first time Yeah, you can tell it’s *** group that’s really experienced tremendous, uh, value in that. The continuity is huge. Uh, they work really, really well together and I felt like it was an awesome opportunity to team up. one of the greatest help coaching one of the greatest running back seasons ever. People are gonna look at how and and say, can you do the same thing? Just maybe I know we’re asking. you haven’t met yet but just kind of from afar what you thought of him. Tons of respect for Alvin as *** player. Obviously one of the premier players in our league, you know, his ability to play in the pass game and the run game, all the different versatile roles that he can play. Uh, *** lot of people for *** long time have been looking at how can we find an Alvin, Alvin, uh, on our football team. And so that’s been *** really important, uh, piece. It’ll continue to be *** really important piece and, uh, we’re really fortunate to have him. Were you all in on New Orleans and the Saints from the time they first contacted you? You said *** nice, *** lot of nice things about the organization. Things you learned in the process or things you knew beforehand. It was *** really attractive place. Every single player and coach who’s been here that you get *** chance to team up with that other spots, they all talk about how great the New Orleans Saints organization is. I think that’s, you know, those, those are tremendously valuable pieces. And so, uh, when you have an opportunity to meet with them for the first time, all those dots quickly connect and see how special this place is. Are you talking about, um, Albert Camara? Have you ever seen *** player like *** Hill? Same same type of uh piece uh *** lot of us have been chasing Taysom Hills for *** very, very long time and ultimately there’s one Taysom Hill and, uh, that’s very important for everyone to recognize and so uh yeah I think that’s the exciting part about our roster, you know, we got *** lot of really talented players, we got *** lot of versatile players who can do *** number of things and, uh, that’s gonna be *** huge advantage to us. Uh, obviously you were able to focus on the task at hand, uh, based on the results of the Super Bowl and the whole playoff run, but I mean, was, was there *** point pretty early in the process where, where you clearly wanted this job and felt, felt pretty good that, that, you know, did you? Like, really not make that decision until after the Super Bowl or you you you you were hoping this is how it was gonna end up throughout the process. Certainly I, I had hopes and dreams of this working out. Uh, it was *** tremendous opportunity from the first meeting. Uh, you quickly saw how special this place was. You really hope that, uh, you know, if the opportunity. Present itself we’d be fired up and so it was *** longer process just the way our season played out but uh thankful it turned out. So when it came to Tuesday it was it was that was very easy. That’s *** very easy decision, yes. you’ve been exposed to like some really good leaders just throughout your your coaching career, Ciani McCarthy, Dan Quinn just how how much do you think being around guys like that like helps prepare you for for this moment right now? Tremendous opportunity when you get to be around *** lot of phenomenal head football coaches, and they all are gonna present it in their own way. They all have their own styles. I think as long as you’re authentic, consistent, and approach it, guys will respect it. Is that something like you’re taking notes on too just kind of like how people around *** room and just like all that stuff? Absolutely. You mentioned the taking notes part *** couple of times. Like is that always just been like *** mental thing in the back of your mind, or did you actually want to maybe write down like one day what your philosophies would be and how you would do things if you were ever to get this up. Yes, absolutely, I wasn’t the tallest, biggest, fastest quarterback in the world. Uh, the only way I survived was, you know, I prepared as hard as I possibly could, and so that led me to the coaching side of it. And so I thought that was always really, really important, uh, as quickly as I anticipate, you know, hopefully having *** coaching journey as I went through this, uh, you took every example you possibly could. I think there’s, there’s an element of the growth mindset that we’re. Continuing to grow, continue to evolve as people, as coaches, and that’s the, uh, that’s the identity that certainly we want to take as *** team as well. You also mentioned that you know your first year, *** lot of the players have been teammates was that actually *** difficult thing? Did it take *** while for them to turn the corner as to, hey, you’re the coach now and not my peer? It’s *** unique opportunity, but it’s ***, it’s *** really good opportunity, um, you know, to team up with *** bunch of people. We had tremendous leadership on that team. Uh, again, it’s about being authentic, being consistent at the end of the day, if players feel like you’re helping them become the best version of their self, that’s all they can ask for. we’ve talked about how you’re the youngest head coach in the NFL right now, but I feel like we’ve heard your name as *** candidate for years now. Did this, this whole process play out kind of the way you were thinking it would, you know, did it take you maybe longer than you thought to this opportunity? Again, each opportunity you get to grow. You get to grow any time you get to meet with an NFL football, uh, organization. You get to meet tremendous people. You get to, uh, recognize strengths, recognize growth opportunities for yourself personally, and, uh, and I take advantage of those certainly. And so, uh, I felt really prepared about for this, really excited for it. I felt like it was *** perfect, perfect setting, uh, to team up with Mickey and the rest of this group. sometimes first time head coaches, especially younger ones, like have people on their staff. You’ve been in this position before, have had *** lot of experience and you can lean on, is that something you, you hope to add to your? There will definitely be value to that, yes. Kelly, can you tell us about the, it was the playbook that 17 year old Kellen Moore had on *** Boise State recruiting trip that you shared recruiters? There was some story that come out of about your first joined with the Dallas, do you still have that? Can you tell us about? I don’t think I have it. Maybe my, maybe my parents do, uh. I was getting recruited by Boise State and I was showing every possible way that I was, I was gonna be prepared if the opportunity presented itself and so, uh, I did every research piece I possibly could and, uh, found some playbooks and tried to study. How much of that, I know you, you say you don’t have the playbook anymore, but how much of some of those cores at that point that you started to research still exists in your playbook? Certainly, uh, you lean on your foundations. You lean on your foundations of, uh, my dad’s *** high school football coach, the wonderful opportunity to be at Boise State with Chris Peterson, one of the best college football head coaches in history. Uh, those are foundational pieces and those will never change on you. What did you learn from your dad? It’s really all about building the right environment. Building an environment that allows every player, coach, and staff member to be their best, and uh we had *** Friday night light setting in Prosser, Washington. It was *** special place. Uh those were the guys that I looked up to, but, uh, the culture was really, really special. Those guys worked really, really hard, harder than any other team, uh, they faced, and they had the confidence to challenge every single team, no matter how big they were. uh, we felt like our little small town had *** chance. How did that impact you and your brother? I mean, you started at an early age I in learning about the game. You feel accelerated in *** way as *** 36 year old? Everyone likes to say it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert, so, uh, that’s *** famous book. Uh, certainly I felt like being around it for *** long time led me into that, into the opportunities that I’ve been presented. Uh, I’ve been preparing for this my entire life and I feel ready. How much did you, you mentioned your admiration for Nick Ciriani and you know, this whole process that you went through this whole season. What did you kind of learn through this year and, and how much did actually winning the Super Bowl kind of helped prepare you for this, you think? Yeah, as far as Nick, tremendous leader, uh, his ability to adapt the leadership side of this is really special. Every season you’re gonna have challenges. Every season you’re gonna have obstacles, and we’re gonna have to, uh, handle those ups and downs throughout *** season on *** personal level, on *** collective level as *** team, and I think, uh, having the ability to adapt throughout the season is really, really important. Being consistent still at the same time with your core values is really important. Uh, I learned *** lot of that from Nick. you have here like when you were coming out coming into the draft I believe. Yes, so my first NFL experience was ***, uh, 30 visit to the New Orleans Saints, and so, uh, 2012 when I was coming in as *** player, uh, my first visit was here so it’s pretty funny, kind of coming full circle, uh, you know, 1314 years later, whatever it is. Uh, Joe Lombardi was our the quarterback coach. Uh, he was the one that was, uh, showing me around. Chase Daniel was kind of my, uh, host, so to speak, and so, uh, it was *** fun opportunity just to get to know the NFL and get to know this place, uh, again, quickly recognize how valuable it was *** couple of times in the last couple weeks you more of ***, *** book, movie or TV? Oh, that’s *** great question. Uh, I’m gonna go TV. TV. There’s *** little more depth to that. There’s just one movie. There’s *** lot of, *** lot of episodes of the TV. Of offensive tackle Lane Johnson. He has *** great football mind and he is *** football genius. Do you view yourself as ***. I view myself as *** guy who uh is continuing to learn and grow and I think that’s really really important. Uh, this league is always gonna challenge you as soon as you feel like you have it, there’s gonna be another challenge on on the horizon. I think it’s continuing to evolve, continue to grow, continue to find what advantages we can have as *** football team. We’re gonna continue to just continue to grow each and every year. do you still have them like are you shipping them to. You have *** lot of notes everywhere and certainly uh technology allows you to have them close by nowadays. Now, did you ever, you say you learned from failure I know in one of your previous conversations, did, did you ever learn from failure of being too stubborn and and stubborn and try to stick with the philosophy and and then adapt it from there, or did someone teach you early on not to be stubborn and, and, and to, you know, match what you what you have? Absolutely, um, we all go through stubbornness at times, we all go through again. We have great confidence in certain schemes, certain players, certain structures, and, uh, you gotta continue to grow and evolve and so uh I think that’s the cool opportunity when you go to *** couple different organizations, you get to learn how to adapt. You’re not gonna get it, get it right every single time, but you’re gonna be able to grow from that opportunity and find what works best for, uh, the next opportunity you try to stick with. Um, that’s *** great, great question. I think, uh, you know, again, as you go through the seasons in Dallas when you lose *** Dak Prescott for *** season, for an extended period of the season, you learn how to adapt quickly and, and understand that you can’t play the same styles week in and week out, uh, when you lose, you know, *** Tyran Smith, *** different difference maker, you have to adjust and so, uh, when you’re young, you know, you have *** lot of confidence in things, you fail, and then you get to grow. There’s *** long history of offensive success here, obviously what Shawn and. Do you have any recollection just like watching that I have any imprint on you as *** as *** coach, as *** as *** player or anything like that? Absolutely huge impact. Uh, Joe Lombardi is our offensive coordinator when I was *** player in Detroit, uh, learned that system, uh, grew in that system, uh, certainly *** lot of that still has *** huge impact on what we’ve done in the last couple stops along the way. And so, uh, you know, there’s certainly been *** huge influence. I think *** lot of us throughout this league, tons of respect and appreciation for what Drew and Sean did here. Uh, it set *** firm foundation, set the, uh, pinnacle of what the standard is for this place and certainly for offensive football throughout this league. You said like Super Bowl week that every player has superpowers and *** big part of your approach is to try to maximize and lead with those superpowers. How do you go about identifying those now for this run? It’s gonna take *** lot of interaction with the players and it’s gonna take *** lot of film study and then ultimately we get on the field, we get to team up on this and we get to grow together. This is *** lot of like forgiving just like one on one conversations full team meetings. Absolutely. I, I think it’s really important that we get to know each other in *** one on one setting. Uh, this is *** tremendous group. We’re excited to team up on this, uh, but there is that personal level that I’m really excited to have you put your staff together, how important is it that you had. Past relationships whether it’s position coach or coordinator uh I know this individual I can trust him and maybe go from there how important is that? There’s tremendous value for experience uh when you when you’ve worked with someone just for continuity sake, but I think the blessing and and wonderful thing that you learn is as you go through this journey, you know, going to Los Angeles, going to Philly, there’s *** lot of coaches that uh if I just stuck in Dallas I would have never met, would never got to team up with and so you understand that. Uh, as you go through this process, you’re gonna have an opportunity to meet and team up with coaches that maybe you haven’t done, done it with, and they’re gonna be really special and they’re gonna have *** huge impact on us. How long did it take for you to become *** head coach? Did you give yourself *** deadline like 40 or? I had no timeline. You mentioned about staying authentic to yourself when you’re in *** league that is, you know, has *** lot of elf is so to say. I mean Dan Campbell had *** press conference to talk about buying kneecaps. How hard is that sometimes to try to maybe say this is who I am and this will resonate eventually. Yeah, I think everyone, everyone respects authenticity, uh, being yourself, we understand that there’s challenges associated with this job. It’s, it’s *** leadership job first and foremost, and it’s very, very important. You’re going to lead in *** lot of different ways. Um, you’re gonna have to challenge people. You’re not to stress people, you’re gonna to put people in challenging situations and so, uh, we’re gonna go through that. Yes, I’d call the Eagles practicing here all Super Bowl week, was it something that it felt like an opportunity that was meant to be and. You like your office at all. I like the facility. I, uh, I enjoyed the the the new cafeteria, the indoor, uh, walking around, uh, obviously you saw how tremendous it it certainly was. Take time for 2 more, please. I mentioned your brother earlier. He’s in the business. Do you, do you tend to work with him here? I’d love to work with him one day. Obviously he’s in *** tremendous spot, uh, you know, *** tremendous role. They’ve had *** ton of success at Missouri the last couple of years and so, uh, you know, he’ll have great opportunities moving forward. Goddard said the other day he was just talking about how sad it was that he left and he wanted you to come back and stuff just kind of what is the impact on players to just say that about you and move on. This is *** football game, but there’s so many personal elements of this thing. Uh, when you get *** team up with people, uh, you build lifelong relationships, people had *** huge impact on you. Uh, I feel very fortunate to have gone to Philadelphia. We had tremendous leaders on that team, tremendous people. uh, those relationships will last forever. People will also kind of point to, you know, your age we’ve talked about that *** little bit, but Sean Bene had *** lot of success here as kind of *** young girl all that uh I know you’ve been compared to him relatively early in your career too. Just you make that comparison. Do you embrace it, how do you? Yeah, that’s *** great question. Obviously I think in general everyone has so much respect for what Sean’s done in this league and uh tons of respect and certainly the standard’s been built based off his foundation and and we love that we want to embrace that and so, uh, feel fortunate maybe Mickey has *** type. I don’t know, but, uh, it’s worked out well. Take one more if anybody.