« Samuel update | Main | Childress to Eagles »

February 22, 2008

Capers chats

New Patriots special assistant/secondary Dom Capers just wrapped up a conference call and indicated that his "special assistant" title is not something that's defined as of yet.

"Anything that I can contribute to the staff," Capers said. "The first thing is to familiarize myself with things; my primary role is coaching the secondary and anything else I can contribute.
We'll see how things go and whatever I can contribute I’ll be ready. When you get into new situation, you find out what your new role will be and jump right in."

Capers has spent years teaching and refining a 3-4 defensive system, though his job title includes him being in charge of New England's secondary. That unit may suffer a big loss with the potential departure of All-Pro cornerback Asante Samuel. Capers doesn't know much about Samuel as a player, but he knows how to deal with losing a key player.

"All I know about Asante is from playing against him," he said. "But that's the challenge of playing in this league now is from one year to the next your team could change tremendously. That's an ongoing challenge in terms of being able to adjust to your talent, but also what you do with the talent you have."

Though Capers has never worked directly with Bill Belichick, he feels as though he knows Belichick through Nick Saban -- Saban and Capers were graduate assistants together at Kent State in the 1970s, and Saban went on to become Belichick's defensive coordinator in Cleveland. Saban hired Capers as his defensive coordinator in Miami two years ago. And over the years, Belichick and Capers' teams have faced one another numerous times.

While some have seen the hiring of Capers as a sign that current Pats defensive coordinator Dean Pees might be in trouble, Capers said the two had dinner together earlier this week so Capers could make sure Pees was fine with the move.

"We have a lot of common friends in the business and they all hold him in high regard," Capers said of Pees, whose last job before New England was as head coach at Kent State. "Dean and I went out to dinner the first night that I was there (in Foxboro), so I had a great visit with him. We have so many common acquaintances, and I felt it would be a good working relationship."

Capers recently turned down the chance to serve as a consultant to the Cowboys' defensive coaches after Dallas defensive coordinator Brian Stewart expressed discomfort with it; Capers gave Stewart his first-ever NFL job when Capers was head coach in Houston.

When asked about Dallas, Capers didn't mention the situation with Stewart, but acknowledged that putting together a coaching staff is much like putting together a team; all the pieces should fit together well, and everyone should know their role.

With the Dolphins, Capers coached linebacker Zach Thomas, who visited with and received an offer from New England this week. Capers was asked how Thomas might fit in to the Pats' defense.

"I haven’t had a real chance to really study the personnel that much but can say this about Zach Thomas – I've been in the NFL for 22 years now, and he’s one of the best preparers I've been around. He's obsessive in his preparation; he's probably going to spend as much time as the coaches do. That's probably why he’s had success in his career -- he came in as a fifth, sixth round draft pick and through hard work and commitment made himself into a (great) player."

Capers also discussed his last dalliance with New England -- eight years ago, he interviewed with team owner Bob Kraft for the head coaching position that ultimately went to Belichick.

"I don’t know how close they ever got (to hiring him), I did come up and visit, I was impressed with Mr. Kraft, he was upfront with me in terms of his familiarity with Bill, and I had a feeling if Bill would be available that’s the way they would go," he said. "They certainly made the right decision."

Capers holds the distinction of being the only coach in league history to get two expansion teams off the ground -- he was the first head coach of both Carolina and Houston -- and that also means he's lost a lot of games. Getting the chance to join a highly successful organization is another plus.

"I know what the feeling is like when you have to go on the field and know that your talent is not up to that of the competition," he said. "So I have a tremendous amount of respect for what Bill and his staff have done. Sure I'm excited about joining a team that has had the success that they've had. During my nine years as a head coach, I was always fighting that uphill battle to get the talent you need to have success."

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 2:19 PM | Permalink