New Bucs defensive coordinator Mark Duffner was at the podium for the first time since the announcement he was taking over for Mike Smith who was fired on Monday. Duffner answered a number of questions, but was coy about his plans to change the Bucs style on the field.

Below is the full transcript.

On taking over as defensive coordinator:
“In this business things happen and as a coach, no matter what capacity you’re in, you’ve got to be ready to assume responsibility and that’s what I’m doing. I’m just doing my job as directed and doing it to the very best of my ability.

“I think every coach has aspirations of taking over more responsibility. I’ve been a defensive coordinator in the NFL before and I’ve been a head coach, so was it something I was dying to do? I just love coaching. I just love working with young men and trying to help them get better so that’s really what my aspiration is, to help players get better.”

On where the defense can improve:
“All of us are coaches, we’re all trying to get better and that’s our task every week if we’re playing great, we’re playing average, we’re playing whatever, we’re trying to get better every week positionally and coaching-wise. That’s been the objective for us and that remains the same. My attitude towards that hasn’t changed a bit. Each and every day you’re trying to get better in terms of how I present to the players and how I teach them and always striving to find ways to make them more productive.

“First of all, in terms of coordinating and stuff like that, I’ve done this in the league as a linebackers coach before. Offensive coaches do it and everybody has their own way to do it. We’ve all been collective in terms of the input to the defense and the preparation of the team each and every week and everybody’s role will continue in that regard. It’s a little bit more relative to me, in some respects, in terms of maybe the organization part of it but we’ve all be integral parts in the formulation of the game plan and the practice plan and techniques and fundamentals.

“Our challenge is to get better and every single day we’re trying to get better, whether that be this week or today on Wednesday or tomorrow on Thursday. Each and every day we’re trying to get better.”

On changes to the defense:
“I really don’t want to share too much. I want you to know that we’re very engaged in making things better in terms of the execution of our defense and I don’t want to give anyone any competitive advantage by saying too much relative to anything other than that but nothing has changed in terms of the focus and the energy that we’ve got to try and develop this team to be as productive as it can be on defense.

“That’s my personality. I hope it’s been a big part of it with them but I believe we live each day to the fullest and if it’s drinking water or coaching linebackers or whatever it is, I’m going to try to do it the best I can and have the most fun doing it. So that’s where I’m at on that.”

On his coaching background:
“I learned a lot from a lot of coaches. I’ve been blessed since the very beginning being with Woody Hayes and having the chance to learn from him as a 21-year-old, wet-behind-the-ears coach and certainly all of them have had a big impact on me and certainly Coach LeBeau did in a big way. I had the privilege to work with him for six years and on a daily basis learn from him and the transition from being a college coach for 22 years, and I’ve been a coordinator for nine and a head coach for 11 and then I’m in the NFL and I couldn’t have had a better mentor, if you will, to be under and learn from than Coach LeBeau. And many, many other coaches I’ve had the privilege to be with.”

On stopping the run:
“The goal is to keep them out of the end zone and whatever it takes to do that, against the run and pass, we’re going to do. I still believe that it starts with stopping the run so that you can try to get them off track and anything we can do to disrupt their ability to execute plays, run and pass and in fact their game plan, we’re going to try to get done. Right now there’s a lot of splash and yards and so forth and when you look at teams that get to the playoffs and win you see that they can either stop the run or run the ball pretty darn well. I just think that’s still a component to success.”

On the linebacker unit:
“Our linebackers are, in every defense but especially in this defense, they’re very central to the core of the defense. They’re involved in the run and the pass so everything goes through them so their responsibility really doesn’t change. It’s been paramount from day one and we have to continue to be as productive as we can at that position and all positions.”

On how he will influence the defense going forward:
“The influence that we’re going to do going forward will be that I’ve been a part of it to this point and I’ll continue to be a part of it and so will the other coaches. It truly is, it’s never been a one man show, anywhere that I’ve been coaching. That’s why they have coaches, plural. We’re here to teach and improve these players and all these guys’ responsibilities will be a part of that.”

On getting to know players from the rest of the defense:
“I’m pretty close to all of them. I spend time with players and I believe in that. I think that the more you know your players and the more they know you, not just who you coach individually, I think you miss the boat if you don’t get involved with your players as a team offensively and defensively. I believe that’s how you can impact the team as people and so that’s an objective I’ve had and that’s the objective I’ll have as I try to get to know you too.”

On learning from Woody Hayes:
“I was as lucky as I could be. I think the good lord probably dipped into his well to help me on this but I sent 100 resumes out to colleges and I got about 96 no’s and four yes’s. I was fortunate to have a chance and go to Syracuse under Frank Malone and NC State under coach Holtz when I played for him, that was a connection there, Dick Crumm at Miami of Ohio and then, low and behold, Ohio State University. I got that opportunity to visit with Coach Hayes. It was March 17^th, 1975 and I went there and he talked to me. I thought I was going to be interviewed but I listened and he spoke. It was a phenomenal experience to be around a man of the highest integrity and energy and memory and enthusiasm. Great, great man. Great, great coach.”

On leading the defense:
“I’ll continue to be aggressive and when I say aggressive it doesn’t necessarily mean we blitz or pressure, it means that you play hard, that you play physical, that you play smart. All those words kind of go into that word aggressive. You can play aggressive coverage and be in zone defense. You can play aggressive run defense and not be in a pressure situation. I think aggressive and physical are what we have to be on defense, the defense has no room for being soft.”

On Browns QB Baker Mayfield:
“First off I see a guy that’s also energetic, he plays with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of confidence. As far as what we’re going to have to do, it comes back again to improving our skills and fundamentals on the defense called so we can execute. He’s a pro football quarterback, an NFL quarterback, who’s a first round pick who wouldn’t be there if there didn’t have some things that were pretty special about him so we certainly have a challenge with that in front of us.”

On whether or not he’ll coach from the sidelines:
“I’ll be on the sidelines. There are a lot of ways… Sometimes the best seat in the house can be upstairs, sometimes you feel like you’re away from where the real action is up there because you’re somewhat secluded. I think you can kind of look at what the scenario is each and every time to decide where you can be most effective and I think in our scenario I’ll be more effective on the sideline.”

On his long term relationships with players:
“Just like you folks, with anything you’re involved with I think it’s much better for everybody involved if you show care. If your players know you care about them I think they’ll respond in a positive way and they know if it’s genuine or not. I love what I’m doing. You get a chance to see people in a lot of different scenarios where you can assist them whether it’s off the field or on the field. In terms of interaction with them and really getting to know them, how lucky have I been? Jeez, it’s been unbelievable.

“They’re professionals. They’ve signed on to be the best they can possibly be as pro players. They’ve worked hard to get to this point and each and every one of us has a job to do so the expectations… We’ve signed on to do this, we’ve signed a contract, we’re getting paid so again, we only know one way to do it and that’s to the best of their ability.”