ASU’s offensive analyst discussed with reporters his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his first year on ASU’s staff.

Opening Statement

Kevin Mawae: “An analyst who happened to be a hall of famer not a hall of fame analyst. No, thank you! No, it was awesome. I’m still floating on cloud nine right now and I wanted to make sure I was back for the beginning of Spring ball and be around the guys and the team. But yeah man, I don’t even know what to tell you guys, it’s unbelievable. I’ve cried five times today and that’s just on top of the 48 hours that I’ve cried almost every 10 minutes in the last two days. Man, I’m a hall of famer, that’s awesome. So, what’s up…?

When did you first think you had a chance at the Hall of Fame?

Kevin Mawae: “I never thought about it. It was never something that I ever dreamed of, and it was never a goal of mine, I just loved playing football. I started playing when I was eight years old, and my goal was to be an NFL player, there was no ‘Plan B’ for me. And, not because I didn’t have a plan, or have other options, I just didn’t want to do anything else. I mean, I made up things- I had to do a speech one time as a freshman in high school and I made up something like I want to be a psychologist, and the reality of it was I wanted to be a football player. But you do research on football and you always get the same answers, ‘well, you know, not many people get to do that’ and I wasn’t taking that for an answer. I remember as an eight grader- seventh grader I had to fill out paperwork. Because I went to school with a lot of military kids and you had to fill out a form for the federal government, the school, and whatnot, and they had a category on there for professional athletes. It was in the same category as attorneys and professional teachers and stuff like that, and my seventh-grade teacher scoffed at the idea of an athlete being considered a professional, and I still remember it stung a little bit because that’s all I wanted to do. But, it wasn’t until about year 12, 13 or 14 in my career that people started saying that you might have the opportunity to be in the hall of fame and I just did some research, found out what Centers were in the hall of fame at that time, and found out there were like five modern-day guys, and then I did some more research to see how long they played, their average careers. The average time between the end of their career and their induction and just kind of what it took, and then I knew there were three guys that were out there still that hadn’t been in. One in particular in Dermontti Dawson never got in, I had no shot. So yeah, I was pretty aware by the end of my career that I had an opportunity, that I might.”

So, do they call you when they make the announcement?

Kevin Mawae: “Yeah you don’t want the call. So, the way it works is, they, you know, you have things to go to on a Thursday and Friday night leading up to the Super Bowl and on Saturday morning you’re free all- most of the morning and then by- they want you in your room by 2 o’clock in the afternoon, because they start the voting and deliberation at 7 a.m. and the goal was to be done with the vote by 3 o’clock and you’d know by 4. And the way it works is, with Mr. Baker since he’s been the director of the hall of fame, is he will personally knock on your door if you were voted to the hall of fame. If you didn’t get it, you get a phone call, and you don’t want a phone call. So, you avoid ordering room service because you don’t want them knocking on your door, you know, you tell everybody not to call you. So, today- that day I actually had a friend of mine text me and ask if I was in the room because he knew I’d been through this two years in a row. And then, I got in the shower, I got out and my phone rang and my heart sunk, because I came out of the shower and I told my wife ‘I’m not going to get in,’ I just didn’t have the feeling I was going to get in, and it turned out to be the same friend, I’m like ‘dude what’re you doing?’ He’s like ‘did you get a call yet’ I was like ‘No, you’re not supposed to call. You don’t want the call.’ So, you know he’s like ‘oh my bad, whatever,’ then that was about 2 o’clock and then I didn’t find out until 4:20 and there was a moment in there, after playing this stupid game on my app on my phone for two hours and seeing all these text messages come up that I just put my phone down and just put my head between my legs, and then as soon as I did that it led to a big- and it’s not like a *demonstrates soft knocking* it’s like a BOOM, BOOM, BOOM (demonstrates harder knocking) and when that happened I jumped up out of my chair, I looked at my wife and I started crying, and she started crying and…we did it, you know, and I’m sitting there looking at her, I’m balling and she’s like ‘go answer the door!’ And yeah, so I opened the door and I- I’m assuming you guys have seen the video, you know, it’s all over the internet now. Yeah, it was just buckets coming out and I couldn’t contain it, so yeah that’s how I found out.”

How has it been being at ASU and sharing your experiences with Herm Edwards?

Kevin Mawae: “This- me being here with Herm is special. I was trying to get in the coaching ranks prior to him getting the job here. It just turned out that my daughter had an opportunity to swim here for coach Bowman and his staff, and so we moved here prior to her senior year when coach Graham was still the head coach here and I was waiting for the cycle to start, meaning the cycle of hiring and firing, and was trying to pursue an NFL coaching job. I met with Herm, you know, he was the consultant to finding the next coach and when I heard that I sent him a text, and Herm doesn’t send a lot of text messages back, it’s like all emojis. So, he sent me a “thumbs-up” emoji I’m like what does that mean, and then two weeks later he gets hired as the head coach and I said ‘coach, I want to be on your staff. I’m in town, I was with the Bears last season.’ And he gives me another “thumbs-up,” and I was like ok, does that mean I’m getting a job or does that mean…so, but I went through the interview process. I was interviewed by, at the time, it was John Simon, and more importantly, Rob Likens. After the interview, I felt it went well, and they chose to hire coach Christensen for the offensive line job- that’s the one I wanted- but they offered me the quality control job, or the analyst or whatever the title is, and it worked out. The hard part about the role I am I can’t coach, and it’s well-discussed that I’m out here and I can’t coach because of NCAA rules. So, as an analyst in the NFL you can be on-field and you can help coach the position, be an assistant coach or coach’s assistant, which is two different titles, and so we were going to pursue that and Herm’s like ‘you go and pursue that we’ll help you get a job,’ and I said ‘well if it doesn’t work out I’d love if you could hold it,’ and he said ‘it’s your job until you say no,’ and because it was relationships, and that’s what this business is all about, it’s about relationships. A coach doesn’t just hire somebody just because he played in the NFL for as long as I did, you hire somebody because you have a relationship with them and you trust them. So, I went through it, I thought the process through, it didn’t make sense; my daughter’s going to be on-campus, we love Scottsdale, we live there in Scottsdale and we didn’t want to go anywhere. So, I came back and asked if I could still have the job and then I signed on and started like in March, and haven’t looked back since and haven’t regretted it.”

What part about getting into the Hall of Fame, whether it’s just the hard work that you put in or…What is it exactly that makes it so emotional?

Kevin Mawae: “See, I knew I was going to get choked…Do you know how many people play the game of football? Like that’s the thing it gets me it’s, and Mr. Baker shared it yesterday in the measurement Monday meetings that we had. Over 500 people have played this game from every level from literally all the way up to the very top level, over 5 million, and there’s only 320- this class will make it 326 hall of famers, and there are only 188 gold jackets that are living, including this class, and…I’m one of the best, I’m one of the best that ever stepped foot on the green grass, and…I don’t take that lightly, I don’t take it lightly at all. It means I did something that 5 million other people wish they could do, and I did it to the highest level, and not just me Champ Bailey, Tony Gonzalez, Gil Brandt, you know, Ed Reed, we all did it. Ty Law, and all the guys that came before us. But we come on the backs of those 320-something guys who are in the Hall of Fame, we come on their backs and we get to set a stronger foundation for the guys that come after us, and it’s not because we were just great football players, we changed the game. In whatever aspect and respect we changed the game, the way I played the Center position, the way those guys played tight end and DB’s and…for somebody that loves the game of football, not just playing it, but just loves what it’s all about, this is the- it doesn’t get any better, it doesn’t. You know, I got to be at Curtis Martin’s induction, I’ve known Kurt Warner everybody in Arizona who’s fond of Kurt, and they were the best, and I get to be with them. I get to go down a hallway and be in a room where ghosts live, and…I don’t know.”

You talked about you being limited in terms of your coaching on the field, but you’re still around these guys and can interact with them over here. How do you think of what you’ve achieved works for the players at this level that’re aspiring to get to the NFL?

Kevin Mawae: “You know, I think every kid thinks that he’s good enough to play in the NFL, and that’s what makes sports so fantastic is that every kid has a dream. Sometimes that dream ends at high school, and for some kids it continues on into college, and it’s not always a scholarship kid, sometimes it’s a walk-on, and sometimes the guy they said ‘you’re too slow, you’re not tall enough, you’re not big enough, you’re not fast enough,’ but somehow their dream is still alive and they make it to college whether it be by scholarship or walk-on, and for whatever reason something happens. Maybe they get a growth spurt, or they develop in those four to five years of college, or for somebody like me, it was just another step in the process. It was another step I had to take to reach my dream in my reality, and so for me in the role that I’m in now I’ve been there. I’ve been through every level of this. I’ve been through the recruiting process, I’ve been through the being redshirted, I’ve been through talking about you’re not good enough, I’ve seen other guys get starts over me early in my career, and I’ve been through it all. There’s nothing that these kids- I flunked a class in college and had to overcome it, I’ve broken up with girlfriends because they didn’t understand the football…so I’ve been there. I’m 48 years old, I’ve been married 26 years, I got two teenagers, two of them are in college, I understand the college life, I lived in a bubble where the average age is 26 for 16 years. So, mentally your mind...sometimes my wife says to my detriment, she’s not still thinking I’m 26, but I’ve been where they want to go and I know how to get there. So, with that knowledge and that wisdom that comes with experience, I have the ability to mentor these guys. My passion is to see young men like this that grow up to be mature young men that love their wives and treat their children right and become productive members of the community, and you have more of an impact at this level then you do at the NFL level, in those terms of growing men into men, and I really believe that I’m here for more than just coaching football. I believe I’m here to take a guy like Cohl Cabral and kind of mentor him into the process of becoming an NFL player, but teaching him what it’s like to be a man. And I know he’s got a father, he’s got a mother and he’s got- he’s tight with his family, and I’m just using him because I’m more closely to the offensive line guys. But to see a kid and say ‘dude, you got what it takes,’ because that’s all it takes for some guys. Somebody to tell a young player who thinks he’s good enough but not quite sure to say ‘you got it, you got what it takes, I’m proud of you.’ You know how many kids are playing this game today that nobody- they’ve never heard the word ‘I’m proud of you’ before from a man figure in their life, and that’s something to me that’s important, that guys know that they’re- there’s worth in what they do outside of the game of football. So, you know, I’m not going to be an analyst my whole life I can promise you that, but the time that I am here and what limited actions I can do, I can affect lives, and that’s part- that’s why I’m here, that’s why Herm has me here. Because it’s more than just football, it’s about teaching men to be men, and so that’s what’s so cool about being here.”

DevilsDigest: At this time last year Herm was talking about the offensive line needing a lot of improvement. How gratifying was it for you in your first year here as an analyst to see that improvement of the group, with (running back) Eno Benjamin obviously a record year, sack number going your way down…

Kevin Mawae: “You know, it’s a testament to Dave Christensen. I mean he is a veteran offensive line coach, he’s been a head coach, he’s seen it all, done everything, especially at this level, and it’s a testament to him and what he was able to do, and I just add commentary really to be honest with you. I do my job as an analyst, I evaluate, I scout, I do advanced scouting and things like that. But, to work alongside coach C and giving him the ‘hey, I’ve seen this. I’ve tried this before I think this will work with our guys,’ it’s our guys being willing to learn. We didn’t have a real starter at guard last year, we had three or four guys rotating through, and I joke around; we won seven games, some of it was smoke and mirrors. But our guys played their butts off, and they never let down. At LSU, Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan 7-5’s not going to be good enough, and it’s not going to be good enough here at ASU and Herm will tell you that and coach C will tell you that. But we’re headed in the right direction. There’s a culture that Herm is building that’s unlike anything that’s been here in years, and that’s not a knock on the last couple coaching staffs, but he’s different. That’s why I’m here, that’s why I’m in college football because Herm is different, and he and myself and I’ve got teammates that know Herm, they all hope we win the big one because we want to prove you can be different and do it in a different way. So, to have a guy like Eno Benjamin to be the number three rusher in the country, man, are you kidding me? You know, and to rack up 300 yards rushing against Utah and to put Michigan State, you know, out of the running- those are big games, and that’s something to build a program off of and that’s what we’re doing, and that’s what our guys are buying into and that’s what they believe in. Now, we got a lot of work to do this offseason in this next month, trying to find out who our quarterback’s going to be, and you know we got new starters coming in and every year in college football is a rebuilding year. You don’t get to assign the same guy over and over again, I mean you got four years, and some of these guys leave after two and three years. So, the challenge is in building a culture that guys want to stick around and not get out of here as quickly as possible, and then on top of that is bringing great guys in, we got a great signing class coming in. You know, we signed 17 out of the 19 that we wanted in the early signing period, we got a special day coming up tomorrow, and those guys are going to add value, and we’re going to win games with these guys, and we’re not going to win just two games next year I can promise you that.”

I’m a little worried about you making it through the induction speech

Kevin Mawae: “Oh I’m going to cry like a baby. No, there’s no doubt. Did you see the knock on the door? Yeah, I’m going to cry- Mr. Baker, he asked me he says well h- because I guess all the guys take bets on seeing who’s going to cry first every year, I was like ‘just don’t even put the money down on me,’ I mean it’s a losing bet because I’m going to be the guy, I’ll cry when I come up on stage, and it’s just the way I am. I walked to my locker, and I don’t know if you guys saw the equipment manager’s Twitter the other day, and Jada Kitna is one of our equipment managers and Jared, I was joking around with those guys last week I said ‘man, if I make it to the Hall of Fame I want to come in, I want all the gold stuff in my lockers I’m going to rock it on the football field,’ and on Sunday morning Jerry Neilly our equipment guy sent me and he goes ‘check out our Twitter feed and see what happened,’ and I did and I cried when I saw that. You know, it’s…and I think it’s a testament to me but it’s a testament to the people they got working here. You know, you treat people right they’ll treat you right, and I played with Jada’s dad, Jon Kitna, and so that’s even more special, and my daughter, you know she’s across the way, she helped out with some of the stuff, and I walked in this morning and had balloons, and a cake and, you know, blown-up pictures and edits and one of my favorite pictures with Herm Edwards is in my locker- it’s me hugging him after we won a game in New York, and that’s what makes it special. So, my wife is going to be the one that presents me at the Hall of Fame because she’s the most special person in my life. She’s the only one that’s been through everything with me. Mom and Dad, you know, two, four years six years, you know whatever, but I’ve known my wife 26 years, and 29 if you count the three we dated and were engaged and she knows every bruise every broken bone every surgery, she knows every complaint I’ve had about every coach, she knows every teammate that I- well, I think she’s forgotten more teammates than I’ve remembered, but you know, when you have- when you share something like that for so long with somebody, you can’t just say I want a coach I had for three years to be that person, it’s going to be my wife and nobody else deserves it more than her. So, but I’m going to cry.”

What the process of getting your Hall of Fame bust made?

Kevin Mawae: “So yeah, there’s a man Bustwell? I think. I can’t remember his name. Actually, he’s a former player from BYU back in the 70’s and 80’s, and he’s the one that does it- him and his crew that’re all trained under him. They do your bust, but I sat there yesterday and they took, gosh, about 50 measurements from every angle of your face and your head and they take pictures from every angle and so they started with that, and then somewhere between now and June I got to go to his place in Utah and sit with him for a day and so he can finish it up, and then you won’t see- I don’t think you see the final one until the day of or maybe the day before or something like that. So yeah, I don’t know that’s pretty cool.

His name is Blair Bustwell…

Kevin Mawae: “Not bust, right? But it is pretty appropriate, right. But yeah, so yesterday Randy Moss was there and spoke to us and kind of gives you ‘this is what the next six months look like,’ because he just got inducted last year, and one thing he said, you know ‘Mr. Bustwell can come to you,’ he goes ‘but it won’t do you any service, you need to go spend time with him.’ And you sit in front of him, and you sit inches away from his face and he just talks, and I don’t know I’m not an artist- I was an artist on the football field, but I have zero creative design in my head and for that kind of stuff. But, so he can sit there and capture your face and what you’re really about and all the intricacies and details of your personality and, so I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait to go to Utah, I think Salt Lake City and hang out with him for a few hours and just get to know him and his story. He actually played for Norm Chow who was one of my offensive coordinators, and so that’s pretty neat too, so we’ll have something to talk about.”