Anthony Campanile – November 24, 2020
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Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Linebackers Coach Anthony Campanile
(I was just curious about why LB Jerome Baker played by far his fewest snaps as a Dolphin on Sunday, which continues a trend from the previous week.) – “I think every game plan – we have a game plan going in and sometimes those things change in the game. You’re just trying to adjust personnel to the offensive personnel. He’s done a tremendous job for us the whole year and he’s played a ton of snaps for us this year, so really nothing more than that. And the snaps he played the other day, I thought he played really, really well. I think he’s doing a really good job for us and some of that is just like I said, within the game, sometimes things change.”
(Thanksgiving is coming up this week. I’ve got to know – I know you’ve got some good Italian food coming up on the menu. What’s a Thanksgiving look like in the Campanile household?) – “Thanksgiving is – that’s one of my favorite holidays, obviously. So you’ve got to start with antipasta. You’ve got to have that before everything else. Then you’ve got to go with macaroni and then you go for the bird and all the Thanksgiving food after that. That’s a New Jersey Thanksgiving, for sure. I think everybody does that. (laughter)”
(I imagine in any other year, this week coming up would probably be a big family week for you obviously with the Jets game coming up, your first I guess NFL game as a coach back home. I imagine – what will that be like for you and your family? What have conversations been like? Obviously you guys can’t see each other and things like that, but I guess how happy are they for you being in this experience that you’re dealing with now here?) – “It’s been an unbelievable experience. Obviously – all my brothers are coaches. My brother Vito is a coach. He’s the head coach at Bergen Catholic (High School). My brother Nicky is a coach at DePaul High School in New Jersey and my brother Nunzio is a coach and has been at Rutgers for the last few years. So we always – obviously my father is still coaching. He coaches the freshman team at Bergen Catholic, so everybody is addicted to coaching. We talk about it all the time. A lot of our family life, social life, professional lives; it’s all intertwined. So football is really front and center in most of our conversations. The hardest part about all that is I haven’t seen my family in a year. We’re very, very close – like crazy close – so for my children and my wife and myself and everything, that’s been the hardest part. So I’ll be excited to get back to New Jersey and obviously really, really excited for this game this weekend. Wish I could see them, but that time will come soon enough.”
(Earlier, Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman mentioned that LB Andrew Van Ginkel maybe brings a little more juice than we get to see as media. I’m wondering if you can elaborate on some of that since he seems to be a pretty quiet guy for the most part.) – “He’s just such an extremely detailed guy. Always looking for extra tips, and like I said earlier in the season, he’s constantly doing extra work. Every little bit of information you give that guy, he puts it to good use. You can see him trying to work it on the field. He’s all over pretty much all the coaches. Whether it’s myself, ‘Coach Hobbs’ (Defensive Line Coach Marion Hobby), Coach Crossman, Coach Clark (Outside Linebackers Coach Austin Clark), (Assistant Defensive Line Coach) Robbie Leonard, (Defensive Coordinator) Josh Boyer, everybody; and I think everyone really appreciates that on the team and on the staff. He’s just a really diligent worker and really a great person, too.”
(I wanted to ask you about LB Kyle Van Noy. It seemed to me that the Broncos ran towards him and I know he’s been playing through a hip and a foot and a groin and a hand. He’s showing toughness, but what does Van Noy and anybody who’s in the position that he was on the field, need to do against the run?) – “I think more than anything, I think I’ve got to do a better job coaching at times in the game. I think he did a lot of really good things the other day, to be honest with you. I think I’ve got to do a better job in the game. I said that to the guys with some of the things. It’s a team game and that’s staff and players together. He’s a guy I couldn’t ask more of in terms of trying to do things right, working in practice and getting the most out of himself mentally and physically every day. I thought he did a lot of good things the other day. I think I just have to put him in better position at some points in the game, so that’s something that coming away from the game, looking at myself, looking inward, that’s something I want to make sure I’m always doing.”
(You’ve obviously taken on a bigger role here with some of the coaches out the last couple weeks. What has that been like for you? I know we probably can’t get into what the end goal in coaching probably is for you, but could you also see yourself maybe hiring some of your brothers or some of your family members on a future staff maybe down the line?) – “My dad said we all got into coaching because nobody would hire us for a real job. (laughter) But no, I actually worked with my brother Nunzio when we were coaching in high school back years ago. That was a great experience and it was probably one of my favorite experiences ever obviously in coaching, and if that day ever comes, I would be grateful for that opportunity to coach with any of them again. I’m trying to answer your question the right way, but I think the guys here throughout the season, with everything that’s going on with the pandemic, have done an unbelievable job – our players, really is who I’m talking about specifically in terms of taking a lot on themselves. I thought they did a tremendous job with that throughout all this these past few weeks and really through the whole season so far. So really like I said, I’m grateful. Obviously I’m grateful for the way they’ve handled everything as well.”
