Q & A With Todd Sievers
Aug. 14, 2002
Hurricanes senior placekicker Todd Sievers enters the 2002 season firmly established as one of college football’s finest kickers. The Iowa native led the nation in field goals per game in 2001 and is in position to contend for Miami career records in field goals made, kicking points and total points scored. A member of the team since 1998, Sievers has seen the Miami football program re-emerge as a national force. Sievers recently discussed the prospects for Miami’s 2002 football season with UM Sports Information Director Doug Walker.
What’s the biggest change in you as a kicker since coming to UM? Is there a particular element of your game that has improved?
TS: “Kicking is almost all mental. Like they say, it’s 90 percent mental, 10 percent physical. It’s all confidence. That’s really changed over the years. I used to be kinda scared when I was a freshman and my second year, too.”
What was scary about it?
TS: “I don’t know if I was really scared, but I would have butterflies when I went out to make a kick. I was too worried about what other people would think about me. Like, I was worried about the press. I saw what Andy (former UM kicker Andy Crosland) went through. But I think that also was part of your general maturity process, too.”
Do you think all of that is probably the biggest positive thing you’ve taken from your UM career?
TS: “Definitely. Because, when you get your confidence everything falls into place and I didn’t have it early in my career here. I’ve always had the strength and the technique, but the biggest change for me has been confidence.”
If you had to pick a word to describe your 2001 season, what would it be?
TS: “Vindication. I’d already been through a lot since coming here in 1998. The diabetes, the struggles I had with my consistency early on. I would have to say to experience a lot of that – and not just stuff that had to do with my own performance, but with the program really rising up – that has all made me a better person. It’s been a long ride for me here.”
After the great season last year, do you feel any pressure this season to make it just as good or even better?
TS: “Well, the only pressure is the pressure we put on ourselves. It’s all internal. I think the philosophy has been and will be that we can’t beat ourselves. We have to play Miami football. Smart, hard nosed football and make the little things count. By doing all the little things, we make the big things possible.”
Has that mindset always been so since you’ve been here?
TS: “It’s like Romberg (UM center Brett Romberg) said in the paper the other day. When we got here it was a situation where we didn’t really know where things were headed. Butch (former UM coach Butch Davis) was the only one who really showed a lot of confidence that things were going to turn around. You could really tell that with the team’s performance. The attitude of the team has totally changed from being worried about what might go wrong in any possible situation to where now we look at everything as an opportunity. Now we’re always thinking, ‘We’re gonna pin them inside the 20 every time. What can we make happen from that?’ We went from being controlled by circumstances to controlling our destiny. That’s made all the difference.”
What did you think of Coach Coker’s first year as head coach?
TS: “It was awesome. I was so proud of him. I’m glad that they chose him to be the coach. He’s definitely a player’s coach. He has the best job in America. He steps into a legacy. What this university does as far as alumni and everything and the support staff he gets is tremendous. He’s the perfect man for this job. He lets his players play and the coaches coach. That’s his goal and it’s perfect for this program.”
You hear the words “player’s coach” thrown around a lot. In your words, what is a player’s coach?
TS: “To me, it’s someone who is one of us, who will come down here (to the locker room) and hang out with us. When we go to a CanesFest he doesn’t go off and do other things, he’ll sit right at the table with us. Everything we do, he’s right there with us. At practice today I saw him take Eric Winston and the tight ends over and coached them in a drill. That’s a player’s coach. You look at some other programs and the coach is up in a tower all day, says nothing and does nothing all day, then goes down and talks with the press and goes to his office. That’s not a player’s coach, in my view. Coach Coker is out on the field and will come to us and we know we can go to him.”
Is there any particular game you are looking forward to this season?
TS: “I’d have to say Syracuse. And it’s that way every year for me. Because ever since that freshman year in ’98 when they beat us so bad. That’s always stuck with me. When we went up there and did that we were so embarrassed to even walk out of the locker room afterwards and to even talk to our families. It was terrible.”
That game had to be a big factor in what has happened since then. There have been bumps along the way, but most people point to the following week against UCLA as the time when the program started its way back to the top. Would you agree?
TS: “I think so. It really showed us that, wow, we really are capable of accomplishing anything. Going to the bowl at the end of that season was fun for us. Then we come back the next year and blow the Penn State game and got down on ourselves for a while. But we bounced back in ’99 partially because of what we had been through in ’98. The Syracuse game will always have meaning to me. Plus, I like playing up there. It’s a great place to play. It really rocks when the crowd gets into it. And the conditions are perfect with the turf and an indoor stadium. So, there are several reasons why Syracuse always stands out when I look at the schedule.”
What is the one song that gets you fired up for a game?
TS: “Any song by Linken Park.”
From what team member have you learned the most at Miami?
TS: “Matt (Walters, Sievers’ roommate and senior defensive tackle). My roommate. He’s done an incredible job balancing a demanding academic schedule and excelling on the field. I’ve seen what he’s had to go through here and it’s amazing what he’s done. I’m sure when he came here from high school a lot of people thought he was just some throw-in. Nobody really knew him and I think some people thought he’d just be a washout on scholarship. But the way he works at everything is just amazing. The glory he’s getting now is just awesome and the respect he gets from everyone for all the hard work he does is great. He’s so well-deserving that you just can’t say enough about him.”
What is the worst feeling you’ve experienced in football?
TS: “When I lost my coach. When Coach Davis left. It was hard for me because it just didn’t sit well with me at first. I understand now why he had to go but, at the time, that’s like you father leaving. Right or wrong, that’s what these coaches are like to us and to lose him was tough for me. But I got through that after a couple of weeks of talking to my parents. It was just a shock at first. It’s good now, though. I saw Coach Davis when he came down for NFL Timing Day in April and we talked a while and he said some nice things.”
Who do you think is the best pro player at your position?
TS: “Olindo Mare (of the Dolphins). Because I respect him and I know him. Him and Adam Vinatieri of the Patriots. Both kinda came from nowhere. Olindo was at Syracuse, but most people didn’t know who he was when he got the Dolphins job. Adam came from South Dakota and was a total unknown. To me, that’s pretty cool because I’m from Iowa and play so far from home. I’m sure a lot of people didn’t know a thing about me way down here when I signed. So, I can relate to what it’s like for them and it helps me.”
Do you have a favorite football movie?
TS: “Remember The Titans. It gets me fired up. It was amazing how they came together and how it was between whites and blacks back then. It’s amazing that people were like that to each other. I don’t understand how it ever could have been like that. It’s great how they came together back then and it’s a good example for a team.”
What is the one thing you hope to accomplish this season?
TS: “As a team the national championship is the obvious goal. Individually, I just want to keep getting better. Get more consistent. But as a team our real goal is to come together like we did last year. Every team I am on from now on will be compared to last year, in my mind. That team was unbeatable. And that was mainly because we were so together. With this team, we have to rebuild our chemistry. And I’ve seen that happening in the summer. Everyone’s hanging out together again. We’ll have a test – as every team does – in a game this season. Probably more than one test. And every team has to go through that, but I think we’ll handle it fine. We’re pretty tight on this team.”
