When former Northwestern running backs coach Jeff Genyk left inDecember to become the head coach at Eastern Michigan, he took withhim wide receivers coach Howard Feggins and defensive line coachJay Peterson.
Head coach Randy Walker checked his list of what he wanted, andfound them in their replacements: Kevin Johns, Eric Washington andGarrick McGee.
“I look for people with great character and with great workethic,” head coach Randy Walker said. “And hope I hire smart guys.With character, work ethic and a good base of intelligence, you canbe a real quality coach, and I think we were able to accomplishthat.”
It’s fitting that the man taking over the defensive line, one ofNU’s most veteran units, is a veteran himself — of the U.S.Navy.
Washington was commissioned as a Naval Reserve Officer in 1998at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and was active in the navyuntil March 2001.
He said he uses the experience he gained in the service toinstill discipline in his players.
“Being a military officer, you are prepared to make the mostextreme sacrifice,” Washington said. “And the difference there iswhen someone messes up, somebody dies. There’s very little marginof error in that situation. I want us to have the same mentalityand approach.”
Before coming to Evanston, Washington coached the defensive lineat Ohio University for three years. No matter where he is coaching,Washington said he tries to emulate his college coach at GramblingState University, the legendary Eddie Robinson.
“He was a huge repetition guy. He wanted to see things over andover and over again until he got tired of looking at them,”Washington said. “While we’re out there, we don’t want to waste oneperiod, one minute of our preparation time. We want to maximizethat — whatever we’re doing, we want to try and get better atit.”
So now that his time in the Navy is over, what does Washingtondo in his free time in the offseason?
“There is no offseason,” he said. “We’re always doing somethingto try to get this team in a position to go out and compete at thehighest level.”
While Washington is new to NU, running backs coach Kevin Johnssaid he feels like he never left Evanston.
Johns was a graduate assistant for the Cats from 1999-2001 whileearning his degree from NU’s School of Education and Social Policy.After spending two seasons as the wide receivers coach at Richmond,Johns is glad to be back.
The two-year starting quarterback at Dayton said his backgroundin teaching comes in handy when his players are off the field andreviewing film.
“Things happen so fast when the kids are out there,” Johns said.”It doesn’t help when coaches are screaming down their necks allthe time — they’re nervous, they don’t have time to relax andthink. When we’re in the classroom, I try to be more relaxed, talkabout some things, make sure they understand exactly what we wantthem to do.
“I think I try to see myself more as a teacher and as amotivator.”
Sophomore running back Terrell Jordan said the transition fromformer position coach Genyk to Johns has been smooth.
“He’s got a lot more energy,” Jordan said. “Our past coach was alot more relaxed. The new coach is like, ‘Gotta do this, gotta dothat, go, go, go!’ I think he focuses a little bit more onfundamentals. He’s just trying to get (us) on the same page.”
Wide receivers coach Garrick McGee spends most of his free timethinking about football. When he’s watching a game on television,McGee sits with a pad of paper in his lap to jot down notes abouthow his team can improve their performance.
McGee said he expects the same dedication from his players.
“When we get out here, and everyone is out here, I can just lookat them a certain way and they’ll know exactly what I’m thinking,”McGee said. “If there’s supposed to be a two-yard split, I want itexactly two yards. If they are supposed to run a 12-yard route, Idon’t want the route at 13 yards, I don’t want the route at 11yards, I want it at 12 yards exactly.
His players quickly realized that McGee meant work.
“Coach McGee pushes us much harder (than Coach Feggins),” saidreceiver Frank Bass. “Coach McGee and Coach Walker are a lot alike.He’s a perfectionist. If you don’t do it right, you do it over andover and over. It’s back to basics, we do route running everysingle day.”
After coaching professionally for eight years, McGee said heappreciates the art of coaching. Last season, McGee coached atUNLV.
“I enjoy sitting in a meeting, diagramming a play, and we gothrough all the specifics of the play and everything that couldpossibly happen with that play,” he said. “And then we come on thefield and it happens exactly the way we talked about it. That’skind of where I get my rush.”
“I don’t want to run out there and play with these guys. They’retoo strong for me.”
