Florida State offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and defensive coordinator Tony White hold their first press conferences since they were hired on Wednesday.

Below are transcripts from their interviews.

What about this opportunity to be the offensive coordinator at FSU was appealing to you, considering that he was UCF's head coach

"I started out as off as an offensive coordinator in college football. I love coaching. I'm an old-school football coach. And it was a great opportunity for me. Obviously, with Coach Norvell, we have a history together. And then this is a place where you can win the whole thing. Of course, I’ve coached against Florida State in big games before and so just happy to be here."

History with coach Norvell and his message to Malzahn coming off a down year.

"My second year coaching college football. I was the offensive coordinator at the University of Tulsa. Rhett Lashlee was my GA the year before, he decided to get married. So I was looking for a GA, had some connections. That's how I got to know Mike. And you could tell he had something special about him. He wasn't your normal GA, and he ended up being our wide receiver coach as a graduate assistant, which at that point I'd never heard. He earned that. So we're really close. I'm just really excited to be back with him. We were really good together. I think we were the No. 1 offense in college football two years in a row. We broke all kinds of records and all that. So we're really close, and I'm excited to be here to help."

Had this been on your mind about moving from head coach to coordinator or was it the opportunity.

"First of all, I think everybody knows, the landscape, the job description of a head college football coach has changed dramatically in the last two years with everything — transfer portal to collectives to agents and everything that goes with that. I'm just an old school football coach. I love coaching football, and head coaches, it's hard to do that a lot. So that had something to do with it. And then the opportunity and being familiar with Mike and and having so much respect for this university, coached against this university in the national championship, I know what this place is capable of doing. And so it was kind of really all of the above as far as making this decision. And then my relationship with Mike was probably the major thing with that."

Fundamental things you’re looking for in a QB.

"First of all a winner. Somebody that has the ability to make people around them the best they can be. Someone that has the skill set to play championship-level football, pushing the ball down the field, being able to extend plays. I've been very blessed to have an assortment of different of kind of quarterbacks that had different skill sets, and we build it around their strengths."

Evaluating the current roster and meeting with players.

"We hit the ground running. I got here on a Sunday, I think, after I told my team (at UCF) at 4 o'clock (Saturday), and so the first thing I did is evaluate what we have. We've got some extremely talented young people I really enjoyed. I've met with them all. I got a chance to try to get know them the best I could, try to evaluate and then trying to figure out what we need to play championship level football on the offensive side. So it's been fast, but it's been fun. Mike's done a great job with the type of people, the young men that he's recruited. They're wonderful young men. Looking forward to getting to know them, the short meetings to try to get to know them and start that process of relationship building."

Norvell and Malzahn at Tulsa, bringing that prolific offense to FSU.

"Coach (Herb) Hand is going to be our offensive line coach. I've got a lot of history with him. But he was with us at Tulsa, and he was our offensive line coach. And we had great success, us three together. He's one of the best in the country, if not the best offensive line coach in all of college football. Really excited to have him working with us and he'll be a big part."

Experience with Norvell, as his experience has evolved, how similar is it in scheme.

"Our foundation offense is from the same family, the same foundation. He's got his own wrinkles, and I've had my own wrinkles and all that. But there is a lot more things that are in common. We still have the same terminology, the way we identify things and things like formations and player alignment, numbers. It's from the same family. So that's why it's a really, really easy transition. We're going to play fast. I think that's the No. 1 thing. We're going to play fast. We're going to run the football downhill. We're going to throw it vertically. When we've been our best, we've been one of the better teams in college football in yards per completion. Just get back to the basic fundamentals as far as that goes. We're really looking forward to the working together and putting it all together."

Malzahn and Norvell have experience as play callers. What’s the approach.

"I'll call the plays, but during the week, we'll put together the plan. Being very similar helps in a lot of different ways. Mike's a real smart guy. Having herb with us too. I think that really helps, too. Really looking forward to putting it all together."

Reflecting on the FSU-Auburn 2013 national championship game

"I've got to walk by the picture of the guy catching the ball (Kelvin Benjamin) as I go to the office every day. That was a real special game. There were a lot of great players on the field. It went down the very end. It was probably entertaining or a great game to watch. It was tough, obviously, to be on the losing side. That was really one of those special games with a lot of great players."

With rosters in flux, does it change how you implement an offense

"Ideally, you're able to recruit young guys and hold on to them and retain them. That's a challenge for everybody. That's ideal, and at least as many so you have a foundation, and then each year you can go in the portal and just plug in your needs. Obviously this a unique situation, coming off the year that they had last year, and losing some older guys and having young guys. So this year is a little bit different, but there's been great response to interest in what we're doing here. And so right now, this is a very critical time the next two weeks, putting our roster together, so that's what we're doing. But you can tell there's a whole lot of great interest in the top players in the portal right."

Diversity of quarterbacks in his coaching career, how does it translate as you evaluate FSU’s quarterbacks

"Obviously, with the guys we have here, met with them. Real impressed with the guys that that I've met with. We're looking to see that possibility of a portal guy, but whoever gives us the best chance of winning is what we're going to do. We've had passers like Jarrett Stidham or someone like that or Bo Nix. We’ve had Cam Newton in this offense too. So it's just really who's going to give us the best chance of being successful, and those traits that I was talking about earlier that we look forward."

Did the Auburn coaches have the signs in the 2013 game with FSU.

"We didn't, but I'm not saying we weren't trying (laughing). They thought we did. We had a receiver coach had been here before, but I know he was trying like crazy. But, no, we did not. But he probably tried."

Running back signee Ousmane Kromah

"He does everything well. He's a special, special player. And I've been real blessed to have some real special running backs talent-wise. I'm really excited to work with him. And we've had success with true freshman running backs. We've had the MVP of the national championship game as a true freshman. So he's got a unique ability, and we're excited to coach him."

The run game is the bread and butter for you. What did you see are FSU’s issues and how much of a quick fix is it.

"Schematically, honestly, I'm not completely evaluated. I did more individual evaluate. I'm a big believer you got to run the football downhill. It makes everything better as far as pass protection, better on the quarterback, everything. I think the big thing is just the emphasis of the downhill run game and being committed to it. And we'll get that done."

You can’t have a downhill running game without physicality and how do you incorporate that into the practice plans.

"I think it's a mindset. I think if you're truly going to be that, it's got to be who you are. It can't just be talk about it. You do that on the practice field. You do that instilling in every one of your players, not just the linemen and all that. So really excited for that aspect."

Did you ask for opinions from players or start with a clean slate.

"I like to first of all make my own determination without hearing anything and just evaluating what I see on film. And then transition into then getting information. Whether it's position coach, whether it's head coach or whatever. Just gather information before I started my one-on-one meetings, getting to know the guy. So that was the process that I went about."

Jayvan Boggs was committed to UCF but FSU was able to get on him quickly

"We go way back. He's phenomenal. He's a playmaker. He was really at the last place I was at a priority, and that didn't change when I got here. Really excited to coach him. He's got a special gift. He's not your normal young guy, freshman that'll be coming in. He's a really, really special guy."

On familiarity with FSU staff before taking the job

"It's funny, as you grow in the profession, I think you're always one or two steps away from Coach. We had a lot of mutual ties, especially from my time at Arizona State. I worked with a lot of coaches that worked with him. And then I think I tried to hit him up one time when he was at Memphis about a position (coach) job or something like that. I think I was at San Diego State at the time. You're always a couple degrees of separation from a coach. I always watched him, watched his success in his career. When this opportunity came, it came up so last-minute, just out of the blue, I thought it was an opportunity that I had to take. You just couldn't pass it up."

What about this opportunity was something you couldn't pass up?

"You talk about Florida State, you talk about one of the true, great, historic football programs. And then obviously what just happened a couple years ago, them giving themselves a chance to be in the mix for a national championship. You take the area and the young men that you're able to recruit down here, I think some of the best football players in the country are from this area regionally. And then, the way Coach (Norvell) has put stuff together down here, this is truly a place, I walked through the building, me and (DL coach Terrance Knighton and safeties coach Evan Cooper) and I read off the ACC championships and it was unbelievable. I mean, it was like 93, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, I was just going off. That is truly something different. The ability to be down here, the ability to recruit the talent we're recruiting down here, the way coach Norvell has put together this staff and the way he's been shown to do things, the success that Florida State has had in the past and just recently, I think this is a place that we'll do it all again."

How would you describe your defense/what you do to hamper the opponent?

"I think the most important thing is always the players. I think you can get kind of pigeonholed into, saying, 'I run this and I do this.' And the great thing about the experience at Nebraska and under coach (Matt) Rhule was we were trying to figure out the way to incorporate all the personnel and all the talent that you had. Coming over here and looking at the roster, there's some really, really talented individuals here. Some really, really good football players, some really good young men as I get to know them. We're going to be multiple, we're going to put the guys in the best positions possible to go out there and let them play really fast and not confused. Be really physical, be really aggressive, the things that Coach Norvell wants. And really just kind of tailor what we do to the players we have and the players coming in."

How do you translate what allowed your Nebraska defense to be successful, like stopping the run, to FSU?

"No matter what scheme you run, I truly believe in number one, the process of which you do things and the pathways you give to the guys to go do those things. So we've got to set a vision of what it's supposed to look like for the guys, this is how we are going to play and then everything you do has to translate into that success, right? Because you can talk about being as physical as you want, but if you don't practice that way and you don't prepare that way, you ain't gonna be physical, right? You can talk about playing with so much effort, but if you don't demand it on the field, it's not going to happen. So you have to set this vision of how you want things to be and then you gotta give the guys a pathway and a process through which to get there. In doing so, when you invest in the process, that builds confidence. Confidence is not walking around looking good and pretty in the mirror. Confidence is knowing that you put in the work and you put in the time and you put the effort and strain to put yourself in a position to go get what you want. If we can get the guys there to believe in the process and to really embrace the process and do those things and give them a pathway to see that vision, I think we'll have a lot of success."

How does 3-3-5 defense work philosophically and what is the importance of being multiple and integrating formations with four linemen?)

"I think the 3-3-5, traditionally, has been in places where it was a little harder to get defensive lineman. The first introduction to a place being able to recruit really good defensive fronts was Nebraska. That was the first place where, again, just sitting back and listening, with coach Rhule's vision, being able to come up with different ways to attack an offense, that's the thing. We're playing defense, but really you want to attack an offense and make it really difficult on them. Putting together different packages, seeing the success in having certain individuals in certain packages and how that is beneficial to you. So I think the 3-3-5, just in its shell, has been very easy to teach and it has been very easy to give multiple looks, different personnel packages, get guys in the game in different spots to where they can really hone in on what they do well and again, just attack an offense in an untraditional way. Offenses are too smart now. You saw the offensive coordinator (Malzahn), the guy has been a head coach and a successful one. These guys are too smart for you to sit there in one front and one defense the whole game and just think that, you're just gonna physically beat them like that. That doesn't happen. You look at Georgia and Oregon and all them, you see them jumping in different fronts, stemming different personnel packages, different coverages. You see all that variety in there. So a lot of the defense is used across the country. It's just disguised different ways. And so we're going to do that here. You've got some elite talent that that is in the building and that you can go and get readily right here in your own backyard...We can attract some of the best young men, student-athletes, football players in the country. It's going to be cool to put together the things, let them go play some ball and have success."

Why did you want to bring new DL coach Terrance Knighton and new safeties coach Evan Cooper to FSU after working with them at Nebraska?

"The relationship. As you get older -- and I don't see myself as being old like that, but I guess I'm older -- the times where you have the most fun is when you've had the best relationships with the guys. You see their investment, they see your investment and it's like a partnership, right? Those two individuals and the way they connect with their groups. I used to see coach Coop, I used to see him get up at four o'clock (a.m.), be in the weight room and be on the field to help guys with footwork drills. They didn't feel right about their footwork and he used to be up there helping them out. Their investment in the young men I think really, really stands out, and then us collectively coming together for the first time at my old school and being able to put a product together on the grass where the young men really made it their own. Really went out there and they played so hard, those guys played so physically. Guys who were backups and guys who were really rotational players that maybe didn't even play got a chance to go on there and become stars on the grass. That investment in the young men, that that really bonded me with those guys and then the being able to have the same kind of vision for what it looks like on the grass, I think those are the two most important things."

What have you learned about the defensive personnel you're inheriting at FSU?

"Very athletic. Especially you look at the back end and those guys can fly around. Those guys can cover. It's kind of cool because in my meetings, I have fresh eyes, I don't know what they can do. So I don't know who they are, I don't know any of their profiles. I see a lot of talent. I see a lot of talent in the back end, whether they're experienced or not, that comes with it. You can't say somebody's not experienced and then not play them. You have to play them, that's just the way it goes. Experience comes with the trust in the process and all that stuff. So we've got some athletes in the back end. Up front, I think we're going to be younger. It obviously hurts when you lose the Twin Towers (Darrell Jackson and Joshua Farmer) in there. I didn't realize how big of individuals that were. You see them on on the paper, oh 6-foot-6, whatever. Then you shake their hand and you're like 'Oh my lord, this is ridiculous. You guys were playing with these guys?' It hurts that but it's really cool because this is their dream to go to the NFL. This is what you play ball for so it was good to see them fulfill that part of it. Up front, I think we're gonna be young but extremely athletic. And at backer, you're gonna have a chance to see some young guys really blossom into good college football players. I see a lot of potential back there. I see a lot of athleticism. I see a lot of guys who maybe played, but not played a lot. It's going to be our job to make sure we provide them everything they need to go out there and play fast and physical."

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