First, can you let us know what you’ve been doing with yourself since your time in the NFL?
Well, I own 12 Dunkin’ Donuts franchises now – eight in Oklahoma and four in Kansas City, Missouri. I opened them up in 2012 – the first one in Kansas City and later the first in Omaha in 2013. At the time Dunkin’ Donuts was expanding rapidly Westward – they had an aggressive growth strategy. I was able to got those territories then.
What got you started in that business?
I knew nothing about it really when I got into it. I got started on the operations side and got operational training to understand how to assess what makes a store successful. The only way to understand that was to get my hands dirty. I had a few partners and we decided I’d take on that operational role.
I later moved up to CEO and eventually bought my partners out. Knowing the operations was key – how to execute success – what a store is supposed to look like and how it can be successful.
Stepping back to your NFL career – were you surprised to be drafted by the Steelers in 1999?
It was a real surprise. There wasn’t much communication with them leading up to the draft. A couple of other teams cam to my workout at Nebraska – some even sent their special teams coaches. But Pittsburgh just sent a scout and we didn’t have any conversations with them afterwards.
I was excited to be drafted though. Really I was excited to be drafted by any team, but I was thrilled to go to such a storied organization.
Did anyone help you to adjust to the NFL and the city – on and off the field?
Well as a kicker, the punter and long snapper are the guys you’re around most. Josh Miller was a big influence – he was there for four years and knew the city. Me and Schneck started together but it was a bit awkward at first. The Steelers had brought in an undrafted free agent kicker from Wisconsin as well – he and Mike were close- he was Mike’s kicker at Wisconsin and his roommate there too. He was pulling for his friend of course. But I won the job and now, today Mike and I are best friends. It’s funny how life’s sudden turns happen – we have an awesome relationship now.
I also latched on to some of the younger guys there too and asked questions of them. It’s really all part of the growing up process – moving away to a new city and exploring what makes it great.
Any big adjustment for you kicking in the NFL?
The biggest adjustment was focusing on performing on a daily basis. In college you had other things going on as well – school, other distractions. In the NFL it’s just football. You have to get into that frame of mind every day.That was the biggest adjustment – the focus on football 100 percent of the time.
A lot has been made of the difficulties kicking in Heinz Field. Any thoughts on that?
Well, it was 17 years ago, and I am guessing things have gotten better. But then the hard part was the playing surface. It was a difficult field to kick on – especially later in the year when we shared it with Pitt, and in November, with high school teams too. On Sundays, the field may have been played on two or three times before our game. Playing on it could be a challenge.
A big deal is made of the wind and the open end of the field, but that wasn’t as much of a big deal really. The playing surface was the real issue. There were other stadiums that had wind issues too.
Every kicker has slumps they go through if they are in the league any length of time, How do you work through those as a kicker?
You have to go back to what got you to the point where you were good enough to become an NFL level kicker. It’s a unique position – there are only 32 at any given time in the league. Just one on a roster.
There was clearly a period of time where you were making kicks consistently. Then you have a miss, and maybe one more, and it starts to creep into the back of your mind. You start thinking about the misses instead of what got you there. You have to start with your process – the warmups through the kick. Like a baseball player who’s in a slump and starts thinking about trying to get a hit versus going through the process. You need to focus on your routine and go through that in your head and take care of that stuff. When you’re in a slump you reverse that. You think about making the kick instead of the process leading up to it. You have to do what got you there – what got you those 15-20 kicks you made in a row before the slump. That’s the challenge.
Did anyone help you through those slumps – if so, how?
It’s funny because no special teams coaches were kickers. They don’t know exactly what you’re going through. Most of it is mental – it’s not about technique. Most of the coaches never played the position so they can’t talk to you about their experiences working through things like other positional coaches can. They can only tell you what they see on film and many are hesitant to say anything and add to the problem.
I did go through struggles in late 2001 and later hired a sports psychologist to help. I checked in with them on a weekly basis just to keep my mind in the right place. If I was out of whack I had someone who could objectively help put me back where I needed to be. That added four or five years to my career.
Any fun stories of your time in Pittsburgh you can share?
There was a period of time in my third year there when me, Josh and Mike were talking. The rest of the team were in meetings – I think it was during OTAs in June.
We were talking about 40 yard dash times and I told them my time in Nebraska and they didn’t believe me. I guaranteed I could still run that time and of course you know Josh, he made a big deal of it. It went to Jerome who got the whole locker room involved. Friendly wagers were placed on whether or not I could run that time.
We all went out and I ran in front of everyone. Three guys had stop watches on me and a lot of guys bet against me. Needless to say, I won. Jerome later admitted he bet against me -he said he didn’t think I could do it.
I think Bill was maybe a bit concerned that his placekicker was running the 40 and could pull a muscle, but that didn’t happen!
So, what was the time?
All three stopwatches had me under a 4.56!
Any thoughts on kickers and the kicking game today in the NFL?
It continues to impress me, the number of attempts and made kicks from over the 55-yard threshold now.15 years ago, 55-yard attempts were extreme – you had to have extreme conditions to even attempt one. Now, I’m amazed at the 55-to-60 yard kicks now. And that the coaches are sending them out to kick them.
I think the guys today are better athletes – they are more honed in on techniques and are spending more time in the weight room and on training work. They’re in better shape. The percentages of made kicks over 50 yards, they are just more accurate than they were before.
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