Coach Q&A: Meet defensive coordinator/LBs coach Kevin Kane

With spring football practices rapidly approaching, The HillTopics wants to introduce all to the SMU coaching staff. In today's "Coach Q&A," we speak to the defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Kevin Kane.

Here is Kane's bio, courtesy of SMU Football. With Kane as DC, SMU compiled 52 sacks last season, which ranked second in the country only to Ohio State. The Mustangs accounted for a program-record 10 sacks in a 48-21 road win against South Florida on Sept. 28. That was a game where SMU had 10 sacks collected by 10 different players.

Additionally, SMU ranked in the top five nationally in team tackles for loss. SMU had 117 TFLs and tied with UCF for third overall. The only teams above them: Ohio State (124) and Clemson (119).

With Kane and the defensive coaching staff, "Club Takeaway" became one of college football's better turnover celebrations. After every fumble recovery or interception, the Mustangs re-enacted bottle service at a club. The player with the turnover would grab a bottle and pop the cork, and confetti would fly on the sidelines.

The celebration happened 21 times in 2019 -- nine times after an interception and 12 times after a fumble recovery.

Kane spoke about building off the 2019 success, the importance of remaining relevant yet hungry, the one misconception about him and much more.

You guys had a great 2019. Now it's time to build off it in 2020. As the DC, what are your primary goals in achieving another solid season?

We're going through the stuff we did really well and the stuff we need to improve on. We've got to continue to build depth on the back end, especially. That's one area where we've got to continue to get better. We have to find ways to help those guys out. If we can eliminate or maybe limit the amount the big plays, we will be a hell of a lot better on defense, for sure.

We're going to continue to have a pack mentality and try to get after the quarterback as much as possible, but we've got to be able to cover people and do some stuff on the back end. If we can do that, we'll be in a better spot.

Is there anything specific that you've seen with the guys during offseason conditioning that makes you believe this could be a special year for the SMU defense?

We've been on the road recruiting, and now we're back in the office. We graduated a lot of leadership, which was the voice of the whole defense. Watching some of these younger guys take over and try to embrace that role has been pretty fun to watch. Guys like Brandon Stephens haven't been here very long but have contributed in a lot of plays. They're feeling confident enough to speak up and do what they need to do to become leaders. Then you've got guys like Delano Robinson, Richard McBryde and Turner Coxe, guys we're counting on to fill that leadership void and become the voice of the team.

The teams, the better ones I've been a part of, are always comfortably run by leaders on the field and rah-rah guys to where we can just coach, to where we don't have to babysit kids. We're continuing to build that, and that's what I'm most excited about. Those guys are taking that kind of responsibility and moving along with it.

Without any scheme discussion, are there any noticeable changes with this defense? We know already that Trevor Denbow is getting moved around.

The fun part with my job is seeing who are the playmakers and how are we going to get them on the field in the best situation? I thought we did a good job of that last year in moving Pat Nelson around and still keeping Denbow on the field. Now we've got to figure out who our best players are and what's going to be the best scheme for these guys. I think we do enough on defense to make people have to sit and really worry about what we're going to do, and I think we're going to continue to do that.

We're going to be multiple. We'll line up in three-man front, four-man front ... it doesn't matter. We'll just put guys in position to make plays and have success.

With the success of SMU football, what have you been hearing from fans, supporters and even parents and recruits regarding the future of the program?

Oh, nothing but positive things. We want to continue to take care of Dallas -- whether it's transfers coming back home or just picking up a few from our back yard right off the bat. Recruit Dallas, recruit Texas and keep kids here in town: That's what we want to do.

We just want to be competitive. It's been such a drought for so long, and we set the bar pretty high in year two. But everybody's been awesome. The Sack Club, a group of boosters, get together and, for every sack we get, sets an amount of dollars to donate. It's been unbelievable. The biggest thing we've got to do is keep it going and don't make this a one-year wonder. We've got to recruit and continue to be a better football team. I think we have a chance to be really good next year.

Let's talk about you for a minute: What's the one misconception about Kevin Kane?

That's a great question; you probably should ask my wife. Everybody who knows me knows that beyond the screaming on the sidelines, I try to be a really funny guy. I enjoy being around good people. I'm going to crack a joke with the best of them. I think that's why my guys play hard. I'm able to be serious with them, but at the same time, I know when to pull back and crack a joke or put an arm around a guy to make them play harder.

You've got to know the person to grow the person. I think we do a really good job of that on our staff. We're hard on our players, but at the same time, we're there to lend a shoulder, an ear, whatever they need. I think they appreciate that. I think everybody sees the yelling and screaming, but deep down, I want what's best for these kids, and I want them to have success.

Your name was mentioned as a possible head coach throughout 2019. What does that do for your confidence, and what are your thoughts of potentially being a head guy one day?

It's funny, because I wanted nothing to do with this business when I got done playing college football. I took a year away from it and realized I didn't like normal work. I like working with kids. I like working with guys with my same mentality. I got back into it and was able to work with a lot of good guys along the way -- Bret Bielema, Dave Doeren, Chris Ash, Paul Chryst, all these guys who I was able to learn from and watch. You just learn how to treat kids and get a little bit of everything from each side. From there, you kind of make your own way of coaching. I think I'm going to continue doing that with Coach Dykes

The end goal, yeah, I'd love to be a head coach someday. It's flattering to get your name thrown out there, but for every good year, you can have a bad year, and you're forgotten about real quick. If you worry about all that stuff, it probably ain't going to happen. Just worry about what you've got and who's paying the bills. You don't have to chase anything you don't need to chase. Everything else will take care of itself.

TRACKING THE HILLTOPICS' COACH Q&A SERIES

Feb. 16: Co-offensive coordinator/OLs coach AJ Ricker

Feb. 23: Co-offensive coordinator/QBs coach Garrett Riley

Today: Defensive coordinator/LBs coach Kevin Kane