NEW ORLEANS – The Sun Belt Conference held its annual Football Media Day Monday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, where first-year University of South Alabama head coach Steve Campbell addressed local, regional and national media during a thirty-minute session in the afternoon.

Highlights from the Jaguar head coach included:

Opening statement:
"We're very excited about this upcoming season, we're looking forward to getting going.  I really like this year's football team.  We've been in Mobile for seven months now, the thing I like about this group is that it has attacked each phase with a great attitude and a tremendous work ethic.  We challenged the guys in the spring semester to win in the classroom and they responded with the highest GPA we've recorded in five years; we counted that as victory number one.  We challenged them to get stronger in the weight room, we had a large number of guys bench press over 400 pounds and power clean over 350.  Then we attacked the spring training phase, we used all 15 practices to make improvements, then they hit the offseason program hard during summer work outs and have approached it in a very positive manner and have made a lot of progress.  We've got a good mix of some experience coming back at a lot of key positions with some youth at other positions, but there is a lot of talent coming back at the positions where we are not so experienced.  It's a fun group to work with, and it's a hungry group.  We're looking forward to putting the pads on and getting back to work and shooting toward that Sept. 1 home opener against Louisiana Tech."

On the one thing he wants to change:
"I don't want to say change because I don't know how it was before.  We've tried to implement and instill three core values: we want unselfish football players, to get better every day — in the classroom, in the weight room and on the field — and do the little things right.  I've been blessed to be a part of three national championships as a player and a head coach, and I've been a part of some teams that came up short.  When you look at the teams that won championships and what they had that the teams that came up short didn't have is they were unselfish, they loved each other and played for each other.  We do not waste an opportunity, there is a limited number of resources so we need to make sure we take full advantage of them."

On the potential benefits of an on-campus stadium:
"A new, on-campus stadium would be the final piece of the puzzle as far as making South Alabama an elite program when it comes to athletic facilities.  Our baseball stadium is tremendous, and the Mitchell Center is a great venue for college basketball.  We are finishing completion within the next week on the largest indoor practice facility in the state of Alabama, and there are some good college football teams in the state. An on-campus stadium would put us in the upper echelon, in terms of facilities, of any school in the nation.  I grew up not too far from Mobile, but I was a football guy and didn't really have a reason to step foot on campus.  Once we started football we've played all of our home games at a historic landmark at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, but you still don't have to go to campus.  Another great benefit besides the football aspect is it will bring 25,000-30,000 people to our campus on a regular basis, it will open us up to so many more potential students who will have a chance to enjoy all that South Alabama has to offer."

On coming into a program that has had only one coach:
"It's an honor and it's very humbling because I know what a great job [former head coach] Joey [Jones], [Director of Athletics] Dr. [Joel] Erdmann and [university President] Dr. [Tony] Waldrop have done in getting the program started and getting it to a bowl game as fast as they did.  A lot of effort and work has gone into it, we are very mindful and respectful of that.  That being said, now we want to take it to the next level.  We want to have the first winning season, we want to win a bowl game, we want to win the first conference championship in the history of the school in football.  We want to have the first 10-win season and we want to go to a BCS bowl.  All of those things are out there, but they are very attainable.  This is the first year the Sun Belt Conference is playing a championship game, that's exciting and we want to be a part of that.  That's a big deal to get to play in, and not just play in it but win, the first Sun Belt Conference championship game, that is something that would be a little feather in South Alabama football's cap.  We're ready to start putting together some football tradition.  I have all the respect for how quickly we've gone from not having a program to being a Division I team that can beat an SEC school and a top-ranked San Diego State team and the conference champions this past year.  There is a lot that has been accomplished quickly, but we want to keep adding to the history and tradition of South Alabama football."

On hiring Kenny Edenfield as offensive coordinator:
"A lot of coaches hire their buddies, but in Kenny I hired the best offensive football coach that I know.  It's also a great deal that he and I have known each other for 30 something years.  I look for two things when I hire a coach, loyalty and knowledge.  Kenny and I go way back, we played together in college, we're very loyal to one another and the programs that we've worked for.  My first head coaching job was at Southwest Mississippi Community College, Kenny was my OC and we helped lead them to their first winning season in 12 years.  We were at Nicholls State in Thibodaux many moons ago.  Take all the friendship and loyalty stuff and put it to the side, and Kenny has won a bunch of football games.  This year he was offensive coordinator at Troy; I want a guy calling plays who beat LSU and who went to a bowl game and scored 50.  He has been a part of a lot of conference championships at Troy and has won a ton of football games at North Alabama, he has great familiarity with the state of Alabama.  It's great having Kenny on board with his experience, he's a guy when the bullets start flying who you can trust.  I love my coaching staff, it's a real good mix of experience with some young guys who really get after it and are great coaches in their own right."

On if the team has bought in to his coaching staff and its experience:
"I know every time you have a coaching change, you come in and you don't know what people were telling them as they were being recruited.  The thing I know about this group is they are hungry, they are not worried about all of that.  They want to win, and they have taken to our staff really, really well.  I love their attitude, they are like a sponge right now and they have been soaking everything in.  I love the way they have responded when we've challenged them.  It's a really hungry group, that's what you like to see."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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