Exclusive Interview with Head Football Coach Ed Mulitalo: “We’re Going to Come Out So Much Better and Stronger”
By Lily Ghiz
On March 30th, Southern Virginia named Super Bowl Champion Edwin Mulitalo as the head football coach.
Here’s an in-depth look at Coach Mulitalo’s plans for the team, his personal philosophies, and why he’s here at Southern Virginia.
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was the deciding factor that brought you to Southern Virginia?
We felt it was right, me and my wife. I knew Coach Danny DuPaix and Joe [DuPaix] a little bit. We felt really good. For those of us that are members of the Church we know that there were promptings and we felt it was right after we prayed. It felt like a really great decision and it was. It’s crazy how things just happen. I believe we are in places where the Lord wants us to be.
Man, it has been a great move for us to come here and be in this environment. All of the people we have met, the students, the staff, the president, those were confirmations to us that we are supposed to be here.
Why did you decide to stay here?
I’ve turned down things. Obviously it feels right but another big part of it is my family. Being here allows me to do a lot of things with my family. It allows me to be at lacrosse games, it allows me to coach my son’s team. I don’t know if I would be able to do that if I took other offers.
At the same time, it allows me to do what I love, to be around football. Being a father, making sure that I’m there for them, is more important than my career. We’re here and we’re happy.
You have experience as a player and as a specialty coach. How has this prepared you for becoming head coach?
Nothing really can prepare you for being a head coach for the first time. For me right now, it’s relationships. My relationships that I have with the staff and the relationship with the players that I’ve built over the years, and being able to build those relationships genuinely, these are probably my biggest strengths right now. [The relationships] have prepared me to take this job.
Now that you’ve been made head coach, what’s in store for this upcoming season?
Every coach has their own philosophy and they are all kind of similar in one way or another. I’m a big believer in doing things the right way even if it takes a little longer.
I’m big on toughness but at the same time I’m big on love. I know it’s a cliche, tough love, but I’m really big on it, especially in the atmosphere when you’re talking about football. There’s a certain amount of physical toughness and mental toughness. At the same time, the only reason why you’re going to play well is for the love of the sport or the love that you have for your teammates.
So for me, I’m going to be big on toughness and love. I don’t know if that’s going to change things. I plan to. That tough love, that demanding the best out of a player is going to be huge and hopefully that produces wins.
How is ‘tough love’ manifested in practices?
We have to be demanding. You can’t just let things slide or see an act that is undesirable for me as coach and then think that, “Oh okay, it’s going to get better tomorrow.” I address it right there. That’s the job of a good coach, to have high demands and to not settle.
Last fall, Southern Virginia announced that they will be joining the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), starting in the 2019 season. How will you prepare for that and how do you see this change affecting the football team?
First of all, academically, the type of changes that come from the mere fact that our games will be played in Virginia, this location shift is going to be huge. It’s going to play a big part in how the athletes play. We’re not going to be getting off a bus after an eight hour drive, having not slept in our own beds, so that’s going to help.
With going into Old Dominion, I think we should be a really good fit. We’re going to be playing schools kind of like us, size-wise. I think in that aspect it’s going to be great for competition.
Plus, we want to recruit more around the area. I think [playing in the ODAC] helps us out. For all those kids around Virginia, we’re another avenue for them.
You mentioned your philosophy of ‘tough love’, do you have anything else that ties into that philosophy?
I always tell [the players] the story of my dad being a blacksmith and the tools that broke usually were the tools that didn’t stay in the fire long enough. So for me, embrace the process, embrace the fire. After you come out of the fire you’re stronger than ever. That’s kind of my whole thing.
[The players] have been in the fire these last two seasons and there are guys who are with us and guys who have left. Those guys who stick with us, who have stayed and believe in the process, we’re going to come out so much better and stronger for that.
The other things are just surround myself with coaches that share my beliefs, but at the same time will still give me good advice. They’re not just yes-guys, so it helps me grow. I don’t want to just be the only one pointing fingers.
When you see a player who is struggling to ‘stay in the fire’ what do you tell them?
If they trust me, if they trust my staff, my ability to genuinely love them, that’s where staying in the fire comes in. The guys who have been here, hopefully they know that I love them. So when things are tough and they can’t see the end, they can see me right in front of them, and if they trust me and know that I love them, I can encourage them to just keep going.
How has your relationship with the community also benefited your commitment here?
Football is the glue that can bring a community together, just like basketball, just like music and food, just like those things. For me, it’s football. As I go out into the community and this is what I know, I’m hoping that football continues to bring the community together.
One of the first things I want to do on Monday is go and introduce myself to Perry McClure and Rockbridge High School, just to let them know that I’m the new head coach and that I’m here and I want to be involved in the community.
As mentioned in the NFL Films feature, how are you helping your players “grow as men?”
For me, it’s by example. For me, asking them, “Hey can you help me help someone else?” That’s the biggest part of this whole thing. I said it in the feature that one of the main reasons why I love coaching is it feels like service. It feels like service because guys will get better and when it’s tangible and I can see it, I feel good. I feel like I’ve helped someone.
So that’s one of the biggest reasons I love coaching. Football, wins and losses, those are fun too. But that doesn’t last. After the win, we have to get another win. The feeling of service you felt helping someone get better at football or even by mentoring, because football happens on the field and off, I want my coaches to be mentors. I want my coaches to be engaged with the players and know them. They don’t have to be best friends, because we’re not peers, but I want them to know about their lives and be genuine with them.
I hope that through my example and how I act towards my kids when they’re around, and how doing service is something good, and because I believe in having a relationship with Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven, that guys will want to be like me. That’s who I am. If we get more people to be better examples for these men, to look up to. I had great examples. I consider myself to be very fortunate. Man, I’ve had such good men in my life and good mothers all over the place. So I want to be a part of that for these young guys.
How have you been able to balance your faith with those who don’t share your same belief?
I don’t expect them to come to the YSA ward but I do expect them to continue to worship because I believe with my whole heart that if you have a relationship with a higher being, with God, or Jesus Christ, then that’s going to help you become a better person.
If they come in with a different faith, I do encourage them to continue to worship their faith and do that on Sundays, because here, at our school, we have dedicated that day for worship. We have plenty of churches here in Buena Vista. I know that.
How do you balance family and coaching?
If you ask my family, they know that I don’t take coaching home. Football is over, now let’s do this. That’s how I always was growing up and then obviously when I was dating and got married and had a family I never wanted to take football home.
I just feel that, and this is another motto that I stand by, that there is a time and a place for everything. I tell my players this all the time. When you walk across the line onto the football field I want you to be warriors, I want you to be aggressive and everything that you can be. I want you to be that on the football field. When you come off the football field I want you to be a man, a man with high character.
So yeah, I’m a believer that there’s a time and a place for everything. For me, when I come here, it’s football. When I leave here, it’s not football. When I go home it’s family time, and I know it’s not like that all the time but I try my best to separate it.
What has been your most memorable coaching experience here at Southern Virginia?
Well definitely our first win, and it was our first game with a whole new coaching staff, at Earlham. So that’s a pretty memorable one. And then obviously this whole change, from here on out. But really, that first win, we were proud. We were glad to have that and to see the look on my kids’ faces.
