Joseph, Hoosiers Looking to Attack
6/30/2016 11:07:00 PM | Football
By: Tori Ziege | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com
"What day is it?"
It's a quarter past eight on a summer night. Safeties coach Noah Joseph is locked in his office, alone, studying tape of IU-Wake Forest.
The day is Wednesday, June 29, the middle of the offseason — but that doesn't really matter. Noah Joseph today is what Noah Joseph is every other day.
A self-proclaimed "football addict."
"Whatever I do, I give everything I have and put everything into it," he said. "Right now it's football."
An assistant coach of 16 years, Joseph has statistically improved every defense he's counseled. From Montana State to North Texas to, most recently, Indiana, Joseph has taken over defensive units and instilled one message that has fostered consistent success.
Be addicted to the game of football.
"You can be addicted to drugs, you can be addicted to alcohol, you can be addicted to gambling," he said, "but to be addicted to football, to really study and consume yourself in the game and what it takes to be great at it, that's what breeds success."
Joseph's addiction started young, in his boyhood home of Zanesville, Ohio, one hour east of Columbus. It was a special treat once a year when Joseph's grandfather, an Ohio State alumnus, would take him to see a game in The Horseshoe.
Once, when he was on a recruiting trip, Joseph even had the chance to see the Buckeyes and Hoosiers compete. But never in his wildest dreams, Joseph said, did he ever think he would have the opportunity to coach the Cream and Crimson.
For Joseph, coaching just sort of… happened.
In college, he played four years at corner for the Drake Bulldogs, where he still owns the record for longest interception return in school history versus Wayne State in 1997. He remembers the play well. The No. 1 receiver ran a vertical while the No. 2 ran an out route. Joseph jumped the out route in the end zone and took it to the house
100 yards.
"I'm not the biggest guy," he said, "but on that play, I was the fastest."
A football addict even in his playing days, Joseph couldn't stay away from the game. One of his closest friends was a member of the Drake coaching staff, and so whenever a big recruit rolled through, Joseph was always appointed to be his host.
When he graduated in 1999, Joseph found himself gravitating toward the coaching office, same as he always had, and so there he stayed as a graduate assistant.
Inspired by his coach Chris Ash — who is now the head coach at another Big Ten school, Rutgers University — Joseph took his first assistant coaching gig at Eastern Illinois in 2003.
Now, he takes pride in being the source of inspiration for those athletes who have followed in his footsteps and become coaches themselves.
"I love being able to mentor young men into becoming better people," he said. "In today's world, it's challenging at times. The thing that I like most about what I've been able to do in this profession is a lot of guys I've coached have now gone into coaching. I know one of the reasons I got into it is because I really liked my coach and wanted to be like him. Hopefully that's why they're getting into it as well."
Joseph's most recent mentee is safety prodigy Jonathan Crawford, who led the Hoosiers in interceptions last year, including in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.
A true freshman, Crawford started in every game last season and played almost every snap. He blocked the game-winning field goal against Southern Illinois in his debut, and at the end of the 2015, he was named Indiana's defensive newcomer of the year for his efforts.
"He seemed to have a nose for the football," Joseph said. "He didn't always make the play, but he was always in the position to make the play. We as a staff knew 'Hey, we need to do everything possible to get him on the field, because he's going to make something good happen.'"
Crawford has always had a knack for being in the right spot at the right time. Now, with a year of experience under his belt, he'll be able to make the right play more consistently, Joseph said.
The same goes for the rest of the defensive players and staff, who — being the football addicts that they are — have vowed this season to treat every week like Shark Week.
"We're a little bit simpler than we've been in the past," Joseph said. "And when you're simple, guys understand what they're supposed to so they can have more confidence and play faster and attack more because you're very sure of yourself.
"Sharks are predators that attack. Instead of being on our heels as a defense, we want to make sure we're always attacking."
IUHoosiers.com
"What day is it?"
It's a quarter past eight on a summer night. Safeties coach Noah Joseph is locked in his office, alone, studying tape of IU-Wake Forest.
The day is Wednesday, June 29, the middle of the offseason — but that doesn't really matter. Noah Joseph today is what Noah Joseph is every other day.
A self-proclaimed "football addict."
"Whatever I do, I give everything I have and put everything into it," he said. "Right now it's football."
An assistant coach of 16 years, Joseph has statistically improved every defense he's counseled. From Montana State to North Texas to, most recently, Indiana, Joseph has taken over defensive units and instilled one message that has fostered consistent success.
Be addicted to the game of football.
"You can be addicted to drugs, you can be addicted to alcohol, you can be addicted to gambling," he said, "but to be addicted to football, to really study and consume yourself in the game and what it takes to be great at it, that's what breeds success."
Joseph's addiction started young, in his boyhood home of Zanesville, Ohio, one hour east of Columbus. It was a special treat once a year when Joseph's grandfather, an Ohio State alumnus, would take him to see a game in The Horseshoe.
Once, when he was on a recruiting trip, Joseph even had the chance to see the Buckeyes and Hoosiers compete. But never in his wildest dreams, Joseph said, did he ever think he would have the opportunity to coach the Cream and Crimson.
For Joseph, coaching just sort of… happened.
In college, he played four years at corner for the Drake Bulldogs, where he still owns the record for longest interception return in school history versus Wayne State in 1997. He remembers the play well. The No. 1 receiver ran a vertical while the No. 2 ran an out route. Joseph jumped the out route in the end zone and took it to the house
100 yards.
"I'm not the biggest guy," he said, "but on that play, I was the fastest."
A football addict even in his playing days, Joseph couldn't stay away from the game. One of his closest friends was a member of the Drake coaching staff, and so whenever a big recruit rolled through, Joseph was always appointed to be his host.
When he graduated in 1999, Joseph found himself gravitating toward the coaching office, same as he always had, and so there he stayed as a graduate assistant.
Inspired by his coach Chris Ash — who is now the head coach at another Big Ten school, Rutgers University — Joseph took his first assistant coaching gig at Eastern Illinois in 2003.
Now, he takes pride in being the source of inspiration for those athletes who have followed in his footsteps and become coaches themselves.
"I love being able to mentor young men into becoming better people," he said. "In today's world, it's challenging at times. The thing that I like most about what I've been able to do in this profession is a lot of guys I've coached have now gone into coaching. I know one of the reasons I got into it is because I really liked my coach and wanted to be like him. Hopefully that's why they're getting into it as well."
Joseph's most recent mentee is safety prodigy Jonathan Crawford, who led the Hoosiers in interceptions last year, including in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.
A true freshman, Crawford started in every game last season and played almost every snap. He blocked the game-winning field goal against Southern Illinois in his debut, and at the end of the 2015, he was named Indiana's defensive newcomer of the year for his efforts.
"He seemed to have a nose for the football," Joseph said. "He didn't always make the play, but he was always in the position to make the play. We as a staff knew 'Hey, we need to do everything possible to get him on the field, because he's going to make something good happen.'"
Crawford has always had a knack for being in the right spot at the right time. Now, with a year of experience under his belt, he'll be able to make the right play more consistently, Joseph said.
The same goes for the rest of the defensive players and staff, who — being the football addicts that they are — have vowed this season to treat every week like Shark Week.
"We're a little bit simpler than we've been in the past," Joseph said. "And when you're simple, guys understand what they're supposed to so they can have more confidence and play faster and attack more because you're very sure of yourself.
"Sharks are predators that attack. Instead of being on our heels as a defense, we want to make sure we're always attacking."
Players Mentioned
DB
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