Lion football dominated the Southland Conference, earning Southeastern its second championship in school history and making its first appearance in the NCAA playoffs. Led by Head Coach Ron Roberts, the Lions broke numerous records and advanced to the quarterfinals, where they lost a close competition to New Hampshire, 17-20, ending the season No. 6 in FCS standings. The Lion’s Roar sat down with Roberts to reflect on the record-breaking season and gain insight to his plans for the offseason.
The Lion’s Roar: What are your thoughts on the season?
Ron Roberts: I thought it was a great year. There were a lot of firsts. We stepped on some unchartered water, and we had a big breakthrough season. I’m excited at the direction we’re going. Obviously we’re not done. There are a lot of things we have to do to improve our program, but I’m very proud of our players. I think we made some huge steps as far as on the field, but I think we made a lot of huge steps off the field as far as the fan-base, game day environment and support in the community. I think we opened a lot of eyes for the possibilities here at Southeastern.
TLR: How does it feel to win so many games and break records within your first two years at Southeastern?
RR: It feels great; I’m proud of our staff and players. I have a lot of confidence in our coaching staff and their ability to get things done. I really haven’t had time to look at that part of it because we shift gears right away and go to next year, and that’s just a part of coaching. I’m pleased with how things are going and the direction we’re headed.
TLR: The last two games of the season came down to the final moments. What were your thoughts during those moments?
RR: That’s championship football. When you get in the playoffs, everybody’s good. They’re so competitive, and guys know how to finish games. There’s not going to be a lot of mistakes on both sides of the ball; so, you’re going to get games that are tight and down to the wire. I think that’s one of the things that makes championship football and playoffs so exciting. Those are the things you have to do if you want to continue to win and continue to go in the playoffs. You have to win some close ones, and you have to win the ones that come down to that fourth quarter, that final drive.
TLR: You recently stated that all of your concerns have been addressed with the mid-year recruits. Tell us about them and what we can expect to see from them on both offense and defense.
RR: We’ve got guys returning. We’ve got guys that we’ve redshirted that are already here. Our biggest concern was to make sure we added some more offensive tackles; we did that. The other thing was to add some defensive backs. Those were areas that we thought we were just low in. Not to say we have to get starters or we had to get better people in those positions, but we needed people, we needed bodies, numbers-wise, and we got that answered. I feel really good going into the season. As long as your kids take care of business in the classroom, off the field and on the field, hopefully after a couple years of recruiting you shouldn’t have to be plugging holes. Some catastrophe every once in a while does hit, but we think we’ve got all the right people. We’ve got our work cut out. Every year is a new year. We can never be complacent, and all those clichés that people say are true. It’s what we do. I think we have all the people in place to be a better football team. Now it’s up to these guys; we’ll see what they’re going to do in the off-season.
TLR: Many have referred to you and your coaching staff as recruiting gods. What are your thoughts on that, and what contributes most to your success in building our program and gaining interest in Lion football?
RR: Our assistant coaches do the majority of the recruiting and they do an unbelievable job. I always say this to our guys: ‘Recruiting is like sales. It’s about people, and it’s about relationships; not where you’re going, but who you are that sells you.’ I think we have a quality group of guys out there representing our university and representing this football program. I’m fortunate to have them, and I’m excited obviously about their ability to recruit for the future.
TLR: What are your biggest goals for the off-season?
RR: Honestly, the thing that we want to do is get better across the board everyday. It’s really about developing players, the guys that we’ve got, and see if we can get them across the board at every position and get a little bit better. We don’t want to go home in December next year.
TLR: What players can we look forward to stepping up and taking more leadership on the field next season?
RR: There’s a lot of them. There’s a lot of guys that are going to step into some huge holes. I expect it across the board. We played a lot of guys this year. We had two [players] deep at every position playing, some at three. It’s really hard for me to narrow it down. We’re really going to expect it across the board that every guy who contributed this year is really increasing their role. That’s the objective. It’s more of a holistic approach. It’s not really narrowing a position or a guy. I really won’t find out those true answers until fall. We’ll get through spring, and I’ll really find out who needs to step it up for us to be successful.
TLR: What are your thoughts on the impact of the pride and excitement from this season on campus and in the community?
RR: That’s exciting. I really believe that hopefully any team or athletic program can do for a university, and it should. You have to have pride, in not only your academics; you have to have pride in your teams. You have to have pride in all of your support groups, alumni and everything. You want to be first class, and you want to be first in everything. I think it’s exciting to think about where we’re going. This is a journey, and we’re just getting started.
TLR: How soon will the team begin training for next season?
RR: We have some in the room already; it’s a volunteer basis, but we’ll start the first day of school. We’ll meet, and then we’ll get going right then.