Q&A With Secondary Coach Patrick Toney
8/6/2015 1:00:00 PM | Football
Patrick Toney, the newest member of head coach K. C. Keeler's staff, is featured in this week's installment in GoBearkat.com's series of question and answer sessions with the Sam Houston football coaches.
Toney joined the Bearkats this spring to work with the secondary. He has been an assistant at Southeastern Louisiana the past three years, helping direct the Lions to two Southland Conference championships. He worked with the Southeastern Louisiana secondary and special teams.
Prior to his stint in Hammond, La., Toney spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator and offensive backfield coach at La Costa Canyon High School; as a wide receivers coach at Palomar Junior College and as defensive line coach at Fallbrook High School. He is a 2008 graduate of Poway High School in California and earned his bachelor's degree in kinesiology from Southeastern Louisiana in 2013.
Question: When did you decide you wanted to become a football coach?
Coach Toney: I can't remember the exact age but I was very young. My grandfather coached at the college and NFL level so I've looked up to coaches since a very young age. I've also been fortunate to be around great coaches my entire life, from my grandfather, my high school coaches and coaches I have worked with the past eight years. All of these mentors have energized me to continue to pursue a career in coaching and have helped guide me along the way.
Question: What is your style of coaching?
Coach Toney: I pride myself on being a very detailed coach and great teacher. I want to give our players the best techniques to use on the field to get their job done. I also want to do a great job teaching our players our system so they are prepared to play as fast as possible on Saturday. Another big point of emphasis for me as a coach is stressing the importance of effort to the ball carrier and always taking shots at the ball to cause turnovers and create momentum for our team. I also truly believe your players will never care how much you know until they know how much you care. I think any player I have coached will tell you that I care about them as athletes, students, and individuals and will do anything I can to help them be successful.
Question: What do you look for in a defensive back when recruiting?
Coach Toney: When we are evaluating defensive backs for this system I like to find versatile athletes. We ask our defensive backs to do a lot of different things within our system so versatility is huge. All of our defensive backs have to be able to play man coverage, zone coverage, blitz, support against the running game and be great players for us on special teams. Aside from overall talent, I look for guys that love to play the game of football, who are dedicated to becoming the best player they can be on the field and the best students they can be in the classroom. Excellence is a habit and that is what we are looking for in future Bearkats.
Question: What made you want to become a member of the Sam Houston coaching staff?
Coach Toney: Sam Houston is a premier FCS program. The opportunity to be a part of Coach Keeler's staff and help contribute to a program of Sam Houston's caliber was impossible to pass up. Coach Keeler has an incredible track record of winning everywhere he has been and it is a great opportunity to work for him especially at a program like Sam Houston. Also, I have always wanted to have the opportunity to coach in the state of Texas. The state is full of incredible high school talent and great high school coaches. Also the amount of support for football in the state of Texas is like nothing I have seen before.
Question: What is your favorite quote?
Coach Toney: “It's not about the product, it's about the process”. This is my favorite quote because it is critical you focus on the process of becoming a champion every day (in practice, meetings, workouts, etc) rather than just focusing on becoming a champion. If you embrace the process and get better every day the championships will take care of themselves.
Question: What is your favorite part about Huntsville so far?
Coach Toney: It's hard to choose just one thing I like the most about Huntsville. The people and community are great and the amount of support for the program is overwhelming. To go along with the people the food in Huntsville is probably my favorite thing. There is no shortage of good places to eat in the city of Huntsville.
Coach Toney and the Bearkat secondary begin the 2015 season Sept. 5 vs. Texas Tech in Lubbock. Season tickets for all six home games at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium plus the 90th “Battle of the Piney Woods” at NRG Stadium in Houston are on sale now online at www.gobearkats.com or at the Sam Houston athletic ticket office at (936) 294-1729.
