Real Talk Season 2 with QBV #3: Kevin Cahill Current Offensive Coordinator for Yale Bulldogs

On this episode of Real Talk with QBV, We had the opportunity to chat with the Offensive Coordinator for the Yale Bulldogs Kevin Cahill! Coach Cahill led a highly respected offensive attack that helped win the 2017 Ivy League Championship.

Before being the Offensive Coordinator at Yale he was the special team's coordinator and WRs coach and before Yale, he spent time at the University of Maine coaching Special teams and WRs.

Coach Cahill discusses his success as an Offensive Coordinator, what an Ivy league student-athlete can expect during the season and preseason, and talks about his experiences as a coach over the years.

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What were your thoughts when the season got canceled?

"Yeah I think it's hard no matter what you're doing, but we were realistic about the whole thing. When the spring season was canceled, you know your losing all the spring sports currently playing. The basketball team they are losing their tournaments. When the NCAA tournament is not played you know something is up. When in relativity your like this stinks but I cant wait for our season to get going, then like everyone else this thing kept going on and on and on and it became more of a reality in July and the beginning of August. This probably is not going to happen, There's nothing you can do about it, and it is the hardest part, its uncontrollable."

"We talk a lot about that as a team, control what we can control and that's kind of how we had to deal with it. Were we happy about it? No, we were not happy about and we struggled with it a little bit. But as a team leaning on each other and move forward, that's the only thing we can do. You know, get prepared for whenever we are allowed to kick off again, we got to be better. Our guys do a really good job with zoom meetings, Communicating with each other, motivating each other, and also pushing each other in different ways."

"It's a matter of growth and we have grown a lot as a team here in this pandemic. We have guys all over the country and even in Europe, so it's hard to schedule meetings with the different time zones. I never thought I would have to do this but our guys really bonded over it."

How have you and your team adjusted during these times?

"I think every team is doing it a little different, the Ivey league is very player safety first and you really appreciate that you really do. It frustrates you sometimes but you really appreciate that this is the true student-athlete experience. So they have guidelines that we have to follow and certain phases we can do things as long as we're moving ahead of the phases. We can do a little more, but a lot of our guys took the semester off. They wanted to maintain their eligibility for next year. So a lot of our seniors are coming back."

"Everyone's situation is different and we have to respect each situation and how they are going to handle it. It's been good for us, we been on the practice field a little for the guys that are enrolled. Sometimes we can use a ball sometimes we cant. The main focus is getting bigger, faster, stronger, and understanding the playbook. So, it's been good for us to be on the field and the guys who are not enrolled, it's just a matter of staying in touch and develop your relationship with player to player and player to coach."

"Relationships are really important to Yale. At first, I thought zoom was the coolest thing ever, now after 1000 zoom calls I really can't stand zoom anymore but it's been good to do what we have to now with the situation were in."

With some extra time on your hands due to the season being postponed have you added any new plays or schemes?

"This has been cool for me to press pause on everything and start to study all the things that I have wanted to study over the years. As a QB coach, breaking down the mechanics of the QB and how's it progressed over the years, Why is Patrick Mahomes, Patrick Mahomes, why is Tom Brady still playing? I really got a chance to study their art as a player. So for me, you really don't have time when you are always going so fast. So to slow down, take a deep breath, look at what they are doing, what makes these teams great, what are they doing differently than us that would work in our system."

"Then just to have growth professionally, if you"re sitting here not doing anything you won't last very long. I think our staff does a great job pushing each other to grow in different ways. But just watching games, I have never watched this much NFL ever, because usually on Sunday your beat, you have been going all day and have to prepare for the next game. So I really think that's the number one thing is growing professionally and seeing what other teams are doing, what makes them great."

Describe the importance of Grades for your student-athletes?

Especially here, It's 1A and 1B when you get to college, Its academics and athletics. Coaches want you for 40 hours a week and teacher want you for 40 hours a week and your running out of hours quickly. So it's interesting, our kids do a great job and I give coach Reno, our head coach the most credit for handling it with what our schedule is. He doesn't tell a kid what his major can be, if he wants to be an engineering major then great, you want to be a doctor then be a doctor."

"We know there's going to be some sacrifice there, and it's going to be both ways, coaches and athletes. When we have practice or meetings it's been amazing to watch both sides work together. As a program it's understanding the balance of academics and athletics, that's why kids are coming here. We want kids who love football but also understand that it's a 40-year plan, not just the 4-year plan. We have kids who want to go to the NFL but after that what are you going to do?"

Describe what it was like for you and the team last season?

"It was special, at the beginning of the year we were struggling, we struggled out of the gate and we were trying to find ourselves. I know offensively we really struggled early, we had a few pieces of the puzzle missing, Whether if it was not healthy or practice wise, We just were not on the same page. I say about we were 3-0 went up to Dartmouth and didn't play well and they gave it to us. That was humbling, then we went down to Richmond and had one of the best comebacks in our history. That really started us to get going, to score two touchdowns in two minutes to win the game, then recover an onside kick to win the game by one. The first time we took the lead was with seven seconds left in the game."

"I think to our kids that sparked them, then after that we really got rolling and we went on a little run. We went down to Princeton and that was the best team football we have played between offense, defense, and special teams. We had another comeback in a big game at home. It was good for us. we were in a bad situation, we were down two scores with four minutes and Ninety yards to go. Our kids didn't panic, that was probably the most fun I have had as a coach. To sit back and be like we either are going to do it or not and we prefer to do this so let's go."