It’s hard for folks around the Arizona State program not to wonder if this is just his next short stop on the coaching ladder, but Graham says that’s not the case. He states his side of things in this interview and tells people that this is a destination job, one that he won’t leave unless he’s fired or retired.

Todd Graham joined KTAR in Phoenix with Doug and Wolf to discuss his side of things on his departure from Pitt, why he left there, how he changed the environment in one season there, not being the first choice of Arizona State, his coaching strengths, those questioning his character publicly and how long he plans on being at Arizona State.

What’s your side of the story with how you left things at Pitt?:

“Obviously the timing on these things are very, very difficult. From the time you’re offered a job to when you accept it is very rapid. It was probably a 12-hour period from when I was offered the job to the time I had to be on a plane leaving. … It didn’t allow for me to have a chance to call a meeting, to have a meeting with the players. I used the only means I had at my disposal. I certainly didn’t want those guys to find out on the news. … It makes you sick to your stomach, because it’s not the way you want to do things.”

Why did you leave Pitt?:

“I had other people call me about jobs around the country and I didn’t even blink at them. This is a place where my wife’s mother and father is. We come every year to vacation here. … It was a dream destination for us. … It was really more of a family deal.”

Did you feel like the environment had changed at Pitt during your one season?:

“I think so. I think we made great progress. … I think they had 26 arrests the year before I got there and we had zero. So, I think we made a lot of progress with the young men. I’m very, very proud of that growth. … Obviously you don’t ever want to be in a situation where you’re only at a place one year. At the end of the day, it was gut-wrenching to make that decision, but it was one that was the best for my family.”

Did you care how Arizona State handled its search, seemingly going after other candidates before arriving at your hiring?:

“Oh no. If you’re asking me about being the first choice, I wasn’t my wife’s first choice. But I’m glad that I was the one that ended up with it.”

What are you strengths?:

“My whole deal, my strengths, are building relationships with coaches and players. That’s my whole foundation of what we do. I think that’s the key to building discipline. I want guys that are great teachers. … I don’t believe there’s good and bad people, it’s what we choose to bring out in each other.”

You talk about being a man of character and being genuine, but given recent reports, the media is saying the opposite. How do you address that?:

“I would point to the players and things that I’ve done as a football coach. I’m extremely proud of the things we’ve accomplished on the field and off the field. I can tell you that obviously you never want to be put in a situation like that and it was tough. I’m human. I made the best decision for my family. … I know the people that know me know what I’m all about and all’s I can do is work hard to prove that and work hard to earn people’s respect and trust.”

If you win, how long will you be at Arizona State?:

“You can say, ‘Look at his track record. He was at Rice one year.’ If I describe the circumstances from which I left there and, really, if everybody knew all the circumstances that I just left, but I’m not going to go into that. … You look around the country, they’re firing coaches after two years and it’s unfair. But I can tell you this, that I come here because I think this is a destination. It’s where my wife and family wanted to be. … I’ll prove that I’m going to be here. Unless I’m fired or retired, I plan on being here.”

Listen to Todd Graham on KTAR in Phoenix here

Pitt wide receiver Cam Saddler, one of the team’s leaders, spoke out on the situation, describing how Graham spoke often of his money and the shock that the players were experiencing. At the mention of Graham possibly returning to meet with the team after leaving so hastily, Saddle said Graham better not dare come back.

Cam Saddler joined 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh on The Morning Show to discuss Graham not being genuine, the shock of the coaching change, what it will take to trust the next guy, talking to incoming recruits, the team coming together in a tough time, Graham talking about his money and what he would think if Graham wanted to come back and meet with the team.

When did you start to see this guy as not genuine?:

“I guess I got bamboozled. It just started to unravel slowly but surely, probably the first couple months he was there in the offseason. … Everybody wants to impress the new coach. But after a while, you cannot repeat the same stuff over and over. You’ve got to actually show us something.”

Have you learned more in the past 24 hours in the locker room or in the past four years in the classroom?:

“The last 24 hours, man. This has been rough, man. This is happening again? The first time it happened last year, we were all in shock, like no way this is going down. … Then, it’s happening now. … We’re kind of just like, again? How’s this happening again? We know what to expect, what we’re getting ourselves into, and it’s like, ‘Why us?’”

What do you think it’ll take for you to trust the next guy?:

“We don’t nobody to tell us nothing. We want somebody to show us. We’re tired of hearing speeches of how everything’s going to be OK and everything’s going to get better. … Show us. We’re done talking. I don’t want no one coming in here and talking to us, trying to sell us.”

You’ve been known as a guy who helped guys decide to come here. What do you say now?:

“I’m going to do some justice on this class, I promise. I think people are a little bit too worried about recruiting. I think, as a team, we’ll handle that. I talked to a couple recruits yesterday and I just wanted to tell the guys, ‘You’re coming to join the team.’”

Do you think you guys have come together as a team because of this?:

“Definitely. This is making us closer and closer. Everyone’s texting everybody and calling everybody just so we can all be on the same page. This situation is wild man. This doesn’t happen every day. … You don’t switch bosses this often. … We’ve got each other, though. I know it’s kind of cliche to say, but who else do you have?”

Give us an example of when Graham spoke about his money:

“He told us at a team meeting that … ‘I’ll lose game with guys with integrity. It doesn’t matter to me if I get fired. I make $2 million a year, I can move to the Caribbean and me and my wife can be better off for the rest of our lives.’ Like, what kind of nonsense is that? I don’t care about that. You’re my coach. I understand that; you get paid lots of money. … You have a nice haircut and all, but why would you tell us that you and your wife would be OK.”

More on the situation:

“I had to let them know that, I understand this is a business, but this is personal. This hurt. It was a business last year, but now this is personal, man. We’re young men, and we deserve the same respect that everyone else deserves.”

Todd Graham said he would like to come back and meet with you guys. What do you think about that?:

“No, no, no. He better not dare try to come over here. He better not dare. I mean that with a passion. When the situation first happened, I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I sat down with a couple guys and told them if the plan was for Coach Graham to coach us in the bowl game, we are not going to play.”

Listen to Cam Saddler on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh here

The coaching search went on for the Panthers as they finally found their man in Todd Graham around a month after they let go of Wannstedt. In three of the four seasons that Graham had coached at Tulsa he led the Golden Hurricanes to 10-win seasons. Graham is also coming off a 62-35 victory in the Honolulu Bowl. The expectations have now risen for Graham in Pittsburgh. He brings a reputation of winning along with running high-octane offenses. That will now be put to the task at a BCS Conference program that expects nothing short of a National Championship even though we’re talking about the Big East.

Todd Graham joined 93.7 the Fan in Pittsburgh with Seibel and Starkey to discuss if you were to tell him two weeks ago that he was going to be the Pittsburgh Panthers coach what would he say, when did the job offer get serious enough that he had to sit down with his wife, what does he do for the Pittsburgh Panthers fan base to heal the wounds left from former head coach Dave Wannstedt leaving under a storm of controversy and on who is the most ideal quarterback on the Pittsburgh Panthers roster that fits his new system.

If you were to tell Todd Graham two weeks ago that he was going to be the Pittsburgh Panthers coach what would he say?

“Well I would have been surprised because I was hard at work at that time getting ready to recruit coming back from Honolulu, Hawaii, winning the “Hawaii Bowl.” You never know. These things come up nationally. I can’t tell you how honored I am to walk down the halls with the great tradition of this program. It was a humbling experience for me today. I can tell you that one of the hardest things I’ve ever done is leave Tulsa. I’m going on 8 years there. It was tough to leave there because of the relationships with the kids and the program. We really took that thing from the bottom to the top, but the easiest thing was taking the Pitt job. The emotions of leaving was very difficult. I would have been surprised to be honest with you. You know you never expect those things to happen, but I’m thrilled I’m here. I think things happen for a reason and I’m blessed to be here.”

When did the job offer get serious enough that he had to sit down with his wife and say “Honey this is getting pretty serious here in Pittsburgh.” How did it happen?

“It really didn’t. Much of the media talk all week was way ahead of the whole process you know. These things come up a lot. I can tell you 10-12 different people over the past couple of years that approach you and talk to you about a job. Naturally as family we go into the business to make a difference in young people’s lives. I spent ten years coaching high school football, but when we decided to move into the college ranks this was a goal of ours. We wanted to be at the top of the rung at the BCS Conference. I think Pittsburgh is one of the best in the country. Getting that call you meet with people on the line and I met with Chancellor Nordenberg and Steve Pederson and the people on the committee, for me it’s what you see is what you get. I’m going to go in there and tell you what my program is all about. I’m going to talk about the things and the ideals that are important to me you know such as character, integrity, and discipline. I talked to them about those things and when they started talking about what this place is about, what they want in this program and all those things. Knowing the reputation. I know Coach Wannstedt. I have admired him over his career. Phil Bennett and I have been friends for over 20 years. I worked hard trying to get Phil to stay, but if he doesn’t go back to Texas, I think his wife is going to kick him out. We worked hard to do that. Knowing the people here and knowing how well-coached they are, understanding our system and what we bring. We think this thing is in good shape. What an opportunity it is here. When it was offered I was excited about it, but during that process you don’t get excited until you get an offer. My wife has been a partner in this thing with my kids. She comes to practice every day. My little 9 year old son has a locker in the locker room. He’s out there stretching with the team every day. Naturally there’s a lot of emotion involved in that. We sat down and wrote the pro’s-and-con’s. It was a no-brainer for us to come to Pitt.”

What does he do for the Pittsburgh Panthers fan base to heal the wounds left from former head coach Dave Wannstedt leaving under controversy?

“Well I’m going to tell you number one is that you go to work every day. I will work hard with a passion every single day to earn their trust and earn their respect. I can only do that by honoring them with the type of product that we put on the field and how we work and interact with the players every single day. I can tell you the first thing I did with our players today was starting by saying “This is an honor. Dave Wannstedt and his coaching staff and these seniors that graduated from here as well as the former players that have come before you.” That’s important to me. I played this game. I played it passionately. I have a great deal of respect for the guys who have strapped it on and put that helmet on before me. My deal and I think Coach Wannstedt would tell you the same thing…the things behind you, we can’t do anything about the past. Adversity happens. This university and program is bigger than one person, it’s bigger than one situation. I’m asking them to come together and to give us an opportunity. We’ll earn their trust. I can guarantee you we will work with a passion every single day to honor them with a product that we put on the field. That’s what college football is all about. That’s what being a part of this university is all about. You go through those things that are right, wrong or indifferent. I always tell people I’m not a finger pointer. I’m a thumb pointer. I’m going to look to me and see what I can do. What we gotta to do is bring people together. We’ll all pull together for these players, for this team, for this university, and for this program. I know they will.

Tino Sunseri had a nice sophomore season last year. When people hear of Todd Graham they think of high powered offenses. How does Tino fit in this program? Mark Myers? Is Anthony Gonzalez the most ideal quarterback that fit this system?

“Naturally Sunseri is the one I’ve seen the most of. My first day of this job as soon as I get off this phone I’m going to go in there and start watching tape,watching recruiting tape and  hitting the recruiting trail. I can tell you this watching the bowl (Compass) game and watching him operate I thought he did a great job of managing the game in a difficult situation with the coaching changes and all the things that went on. I think he’s a wonderful young man. A leader and winner. I think he’s a leader. I like what I have seen. We will come in here and we will adapt what we are doing first and foremost to our quarterback. People always say to your players “First it’s going to be our quarterback.” In this system we’ve had different styles of quarterbacks whether you look at West Virginia with Pat White. You look at Clemson with Woody Dantzler. That type of deal we can pull from our playbook and be a quarterback run and oriented offense. We did a lot of runs with G.J. Kinnie who was the player of the year in Conference USA. Our whole deal is our quarterback. We like quarterbacks who can hurt them with their legs, but we’re gonna slay them with our arm. I mean the bottom line for us is what we want to have an accurate passer. I think he is an accurate passer. We will adapt what we’re doing to him. I think he’s real similar to what we had in G.J. Kinnie, Dave Johnson, and Paul Smith. In this system we will adapt what we are doing to his skill sets and talents. That’s the key to making this system work. I think that the worst thing you can try to do is go from A-to-Z all in one year. You don’t do that. You come in here and make sure you adapt what you’re doing to your guys. I like what he’s doing. I think he’s a leader. He was excited. He was bright eyed today. I told him this offense has produced a 5,000 yard passer. We’ve passed for almost 4,000 yards each year. It’s produced three 1,000 yard receivers each year and a 1,000 yard rusher. We were in the fifth in the country in rushing the football in 2008 and 15th this year. We are top 50 overall and 5th overall. This is not a spread, throw it wide and all over the place deal. We play with fullbacks and tight ends. This is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You gotta run the football. This is blue-collar, hard-nosed, tough football. We are bringing a no-huddle philosophy. That’s not a no huddle offense in a sense. It’s a no-huddle system. Our whole system is derived we looked at our last 4 years at Tulsa. We played 82 snaps or so on offense and we averaged 66 plays on defense. It’s because we are a run, play-action pass team. Almost 70% of the time we have two backs in the backfield. We’ll lined up in empty and then we’ll line up in two back. We line up in two back and we end up in empty. We do a lot of different things. It all comes back to fundamentals, being able to run the football, being able to execute about 8 run plays and about 15 pass concepts. That’s we do.”

Listen to Todd Graham on 93.7 here

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