Coach Bruce Tall Continues to Grow
5/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sitting at his desk in Schembechler Hall, defensive line coach Bruce Tall looks like a high school principal. He appears studious, reflective and in control. He measures his words throughout most of our conversation, but when talking about his defense or his passions off the field, Tall leans forward and his voice picks up tempo.
With 27 years of collegiate coaching experience, Tall has studied football for nearly four decades. He is a defensive specialist, working with secondaries, linebackers and defensive linemen since the early 80s, watching offensive and defensive systems come and go and excelling at every stop. Tall has already earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the All-America Football Foundation and he's not nearly through.
What keeps Tall motivated is a philosophical approach to life and coaching and the drive to continue to adapt and learn. He is passionate about coaching and interacting with his players, but he is just as driven by the pursuit of knowledge, which he achieves while sitting in a coffee shop with a good book and exploring new ideas.
"I'm a boring guy," Tall says halfway through our conversation, maintaining his principal veneer. "When I do get a chance to relax I like to sit in a nice coffee shop and read a good book. I get excited about a good book."
Tall's voice speeds up a little as his evident enthusiasm for learning peeks through.
"If you would have asked me back in college if I would be a big reader I would have told you it would never happen. I've changed. I enjoy reading just about anything. I'm always looking for a different way to present concepts I've always preached to players and if I can get a good motivational book, I really get into it."
When we spoke, Tall was in the middle of Tony Dungy's first book "Quiet Strength" with Dungy's newest book, "Uncommon" on deck (he has since finished both books in record time -- see below). When meetings, practices, recruiting and the business of life allow, Tall likes nothing better than to escape to one of Ann Arbor's many coffee shops, order a steaming cup and sit down with a book.
"I lived in Boston for nine years, so I know a little about coffee," says Tall. "I have a card at Starbucks and a card at Caribou and one at Panera," he continues, tugging on his fingers one by one. "I love them all."
"I like a dark roast coffee," he continues, "without any garbage in it," shaking his head, "just a nice straight black drink." As Tall's eyes light up, one can imagine him standing next to the projection screen in the team's darkened meeting room with his defensive linemen, passionately going over strategy for an upcoming opponent.
Tall's hobby helps give him new perspectives on his bread and butter, coaching Michigan's defensive linemen. Despite a wealth of hands-on experience, Tall is always looking for a new ways to achieve age old goals and find new solutions to old problems.
"Every week I give my players reminder sheets with a theme or a thought process to focus on," says Tall. "I might tie in a quote or a concept I've gotten from a book or maybe use something I picked up from another coach. I try to utilize motivational speeches from everywhere, the bible, business books, everywhere. We have one of my favorite quotes in big bold letters in our defensive line meeting room."
The quote is from Danish journalist and photographer Jacob Riis and outlines the mindset that Tall tries to instill in his defensive linemen.
"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet, at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before."
Quotes like this help Tall get his message across to his players and lead to slogans like "Pound the Rock", which is stenciled in giant letters inside the defensive line room.
Tall has seen new offenses emerge and transform the face of college football, most recently the spread, and his attitude has helped him and his team's adapt and keep pace.
"The more that offenses spread the field, the more the type of player playing defense changes," says Tall. "Certain guys don't fit the mold anymore and speed is more important than ever. The corner becomes a safety, the safety becomes a linebacker and the linebacker becomes a defensive lineman. You don't get the big plugger on the line anymore because you don't need them as much. You need guys who are big and active."
Tall was blessed with a stable of big and active defensive linemen in his first season with the Wolverines, inheriting all of Michigan's starters and back-ups from the previous year. In his second season with the Maize and Blue, Tall and the defensive line corps will be faced with the challenge of overcoming the loss of three of last year's starters to the NFL. What was one of last year's known quantities becomes one of this year's question marks. Tall has faced it all before and his expectations for this year have not been reduced.
"Our younger players got a taste of playing last year and they benefited from being around three very experienced players who were great leaders," says Tall. "They learned what it takes to play. Our guys are sharp young men and they cherished and respected their elders. They took advantage of our senior leadership and molded as a group, understanding what was expected of them and excited for the challenge. They want to take steps forward and get better and we have high expectations."
How the Wolverines' defensive line coach handles a relatively young group will factor heavily into the team's fates this year, but Tall has prepared himself for the challenge. Through 27 years of coaching and an unending passion to learn and improve, Tall will be sure that fans can count on their defensive line to be up for any challenge and have a pretty good resource to go to when they're looking for a good book.
Bruce Tall's Reading Recommendations:
Quiet Strength and Uncommon (Tony Dungy)
"Tony Dungy's books are unbelievable. I finished them faster than I have any other books. I would recommend them to anyone."
Your Best Life Now and Becoming a Better You (Joel Osteen)
"Both of these books were very good and they offer a lot of practical advice."
