‘Ready for that fight’: What Trent Bray said at his introduction as new Oregon State football coach

Oregon State President Jayathi Murthy and athletic director Scott Barnes were on hand Wednesday to introduce Trent Bray as the Beavers’ new football coach.

Bray, who was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach, takes over for Jonathan Smith, who departed last weekend to become head coach at Michigan State.

Barnes held up a No. 44 Beavers jersey as he introduced Bray at a news conference at the Valley Football Center in Corvallis. Bray wore 44 during his playing days for the Beavers.

Bray talked about a range of topics, including his excitement to lead the program, his timeline for assembling his staff and his feelings about Smith’s departure.

Here’s a transcript of Bray’s remarks. It has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Trent Bray: I just want to express my appreciation to Scott Barnes, President Murthy, DHR Global, everyone that’s involved, the players. The players and the reception they gave me last night when I was announced. Just this university, this town. There’s not a place I want to be. I’ve said that before, I’ve never had an interest in leaving this place. It means a great deal to me, the community, the friends that I have, the relationships I’ve made as a student-athlete here, as a coach here. I’m just very appreciative to everyone involved and I’m excited about this opportunity because I feel what we’ve done over the past couple of years with Coach Smith and the place he’s left this program for me to take over is in great position. And we are excited to keep this thing moving and compete at a championship level and a top 25 level. That’s the expectation. And our kids are ready for that fight, I am ready for that fight, our administration’s ready for that fight. So I can’t say thank you enough for this opportunity to lead this program that I love and am so committed to. Thank you very much.

Q: A year ago you said you didn’t want to be a head coach. What’s changed in the last year?

Bray: Last year, the question was, “Are you open to being a head coach?” And to me that was, “Are you looking to be a head coach somewhere?” I was not. I wanted to stay at Oregon State and continue what we’ve done here. When the opportunity was presented to be the head coach at Oregon State, that’s when it became a real, OK, this is what I want to do. This is the program I want to lead, the only program I would want to be a head coach at. So I’m very excited for this opportunity.

Q: You had a lot of players come out in support of you. They wanted you to be the guy. What does that mean to have the backing of the players?

Bray: Like I said, I just appreciate them. It means a ton because that’s what we do this for. That’s what we coach for is the players and our job is to help them be better versions of themselves. To have them feel that I’m the guy to do that and the trust that they have in me to do that was remarkable and I appreciate them very much.

Q: You said last night when you met with the players that you would not be coaching in the bowl game?

Bray: Yeah, as of right now, all the work that I have to get done to build a staff, recruiting. I don’t feel that I can give the correct amount of time to these players that they need to go out and play the way they’re capable of playing. And I have total trust in Coach Kefense (Hynson) and the rest of the coaches that are here to lead them on the field and am very anxious and looking forward to watching them play.

Q: What is your philosophy when it comes to recruiting?

Bray: We’re going to be aggressive. We’re going to be aggressive in trying to acquire talent.

Barnes: That’s a surprise. Aggressive? (Laughs.)

Bray: We feel this a great place and there’s a lot of great stuff because of a lot of people being gracious and their donations and their support. We got great facilities, great coaches, and that’s only going to get better. The coaching staff is going to be remarkable. I’m excited about the guys that are interested, and the interest that I’ve had, just hundreds of texts and calls of interest from people all over the country. And so I’m excited about what we’re going to build here and continue to build here.

Q: How long will it take for you to build a coaching staff, and of the guys that did not go to Michigan State, how many of them do you plan to keep?

Bray: I’ve talked to a couple about staying and they have expressed to me they want to. I’ll probably build an offensive staff faster. Being the opposite side of the ball. I can sell the defense, I know what we’re going to do. But we’ll try to put it together as fast as it needs to be done without, we’re not going to rush it and put together a staff that’s not 100% the right staff, and I feel confident that we’ll get that done.

Q: We talked a lot to Jonathan Smith about kind of what his conversations were like, with athletic director Barnes, just about what the future looks like for this program. Were you involved? How involved were you kind of with those conversations? And how much have you kind of learned in the last, less than 24 hours, about kind of what you need to do now stepping into this role for the future of this university?

Bray: Scott laid out a perfect picture of where this university is and where it’s going. And that was a big selling point to me when we first sat down, about the strength of where we’re at, where we’re going, and what we can do here in the future. And that’s the big reason that I’m sitting here today is because I believe in what’s going on here. I believe in what our administration is doing, the fan base is doing, the players that we have here to play and excited to get it done.

Q: Trent, how will you shift around coaches, some may have left so you got to positions to fill to prepare for the bowl game?

Bray: There’s a group of coaches that have committed to staying through the bowl game and appreciative to them to do that. And then we’ll maneuver around that as we bring coaches in that have to do their work here at Oregon State, but they have been committed to finishing out this process with them.

Q: Coach, obviously you had the opportunity to potentially remain as just the defensive coordinator here at Oregon State. What made you feel like you were ready to take that next step and be the head coach of this program?

Bray: A little bit of a sense of responsibility to this place for its care, to make sure that this place continues to go in the direction that we know this place is, which is a top program in the country. And so when I was offered that responsibility to make that happen, I took great pride in getting that done.

Q: You mentioned recruiting, but how important will it be to re-recruit members of the current roster? How much time will you be spending on doing that and what will your pitch kind of be to the current members of the roster to stick around?

Bray: I think that’s college football in general nowadays. You’ve got to recruit your roster every year just as hard as you recruit new players to your roster. And it’s really painting a picture for them of where we’re going and what we’re going to do and making them feel good about the place that they’re in. And then from there, it’s the trust and relationships that you build that you hope make them want to stick around, they feel valued in your program.

Q: You made a comment last night to the players about the College Football Playoff and how you felt like the program is as close as it’s ever been. What leads you to believe that and how much of a selling point will that be to players and recruits?

Bray: I hope it’s a big one because I truly believe it with what we’ve done, the players that are in this building right now. We are more than capable of getting to the College Football Playoff with this expansion next year. We’re excited to go out on the field and do it, and I think they’re excited to take that step with me and I’m excited to take it with them.

Q: You’re obviously an OSU alum. Specifically, how is that helpful in this position, especially at this point in time for the program?

Bray: I think it’s always good thing when you know this place. You know how it operates you know its strengths, you know the things that you’ve got to improve. I think that’s probably my biggest advantage. Knowing this place, the landscape, what it’s like to recruit here, I’ve recruited here for many years. And then the relationships with the players and the community and the fan base is a tremendous asset of mine. And continuing to push that and make this place better.

Q: It seems like last night when you were announced as head coach to the team in the video, I mean, you got a very big round of applause even some hugs before you even got to say a single word. Just what was that emotional feeling like and what does it mean to you to kind of have the reaction from the players knowing that the mood in this room would be a lot different now if you weren’t sitting in your seat?

Bray: Yeah, that was a big part in my interest in this is, one, again the players is where it started, making sure that I took care of them and this university. And so it was overwhelming, to be honest, when that was the reception, and very thankful to them for having that belief.

Q: Scott, when will you release the schedule for next season? If you could talk a little bit about the process of putting that together.

Barnes: Yeah, a little bit like herding cats right now, but very soon. It’s a model that would be six Group of Five (games), five Power Five (games) and then an FCS, which as Trent and I have talked about is a really exciting path to an expanded playoff potential spot. What’ll happen is we’ll have an announcement of a bulk of that soon. And then, until the ink dries, you can’t really announce games. So there’ll be a couple that trickle in afterwards. So you’ll hear an announcement very soon on a portion of that.

Q: Trent, there was a press conference yesterday at Michigan State where the coach seemed to really emphasize that he was at a place where he truly believed that he can build a winner. My question is, one when did you know that he was going to be leaving? And do you truly believe that you can build a winner here?

Bray: I’ll start with the latter. Yeah, I truly believe we can continue to build a winner here. I think we’ve proven over the last couple of years to be capable of doing that. I found out real late in the process and it didn’t sit quite right with me, which is why I wasn’t in a hurry to get on the plane when he asked me to go. And then when I was presented this opportunity, I stayed even longer and wanted to hear this out and see where this could go and, best decision I’ve made.

Q: Scott, you mentioned Trent being you know a players’ coach, having that connection with the players. How many conversations did you have with those guys on an individual group basis and how much did that influence your decision to promote Trent?

Barnes: You always start when you’re searching for a coach, you start with the leadership capacity, the integrity, the fundamentals. But when you when you look at the assets that a coach brings, and I said it more than once, the connection — now more than ever with the transfer portal — the sort of free agent marketplace that’s occurred because of NIL, absent guardrails and a transfer portal that was absent any specific windows until recently, makes it even more important to have those relationships. I’ve obviously been around Trent for six years. And I’ve watched him work. As I connected with our student-athletes, and to be honest with you, Trent’s relationship with the student-athletes you see every day, so it wasn’t a surprise. So whatever I heard from the student-athletes — and we had several meetings, we had team meetings, we had more individual meetings, smaller group meetings — that comes out in spades. What influence that has at the end of the day, when you check the box on all the other things you need, what rises to the top is that. And I’ll say it again. Given today’s marketplace and the situation we’re in — not at Oregon State, in college athletics — that relationship means more than anything. When you couple that with Trent’s chops, you look at his pedigree, his dad was a coach. He’s been mentored by some of the best in college football history. And you look at the results on the field, all of that plays into it. But it does go back to an important element and that is his connection. And I want to say this about it because he and I have had a lot of conversations. And I was taken aback really, Trent, by how close those relationships are. He works at it, and it’s sincere. This isn’t somebody that’s just blowing smoke. He has a deep, sincere care factor as I call it for those student-athletes, and they know that. And if you’re blowing smoke about that, they’ll see right through it. So this is a genuine care factor that Trent has for this place, generally and for the for these student-athletes, and because of that, there’s a trust level between them that I don’t see very often.

Q: Trent, down the final few weeks, there’s some players are a little unhappy with how Jonathan went about going and getting this other job. Are there some fences that you’ll need to mend with some of these players and how would you go about doing that?

Bray: The good thing is I have experience in this field. As a player, I went through a coaching change where we won too many games and our coach took off. So I have some experience in that. And yeah, there’s initial anger and all those things. But I think it goes back to the trust that’s built over time that I’ve been fortunate enough to build with a lot of these guys. It’s a little easier to mend those fences when there’s trust and belief that’s already here. So it hasn’t been too hard. Conversations have been really good. They like it here. I’ll give Coach Smith a ton of credit. He built a great program where these kids feel valued and welcome, and so every player on the team. So we continue to push for that kind of culture that the team has, and hopefully take it to the next step.

Q: To be here at this part of your life, the head coach, is this a dream position for you?

Bray: Yeah, because like I said earlier, this is the only university that I would want to be the head coach at. And there were other opportunities to go coordinate and do all that, which I love. I love coordinating and hands on, day-to-day coaching. But the opportunity to lead this place, especially, I think real leaders show up when times are hard. And we’re in a little bit of a tough situation with everything that’s happened over the last year in college football, and to me that made it so much more important that I that I step in the fight and help this place.

Q: For Scott, did you find any candidates with trepidation over the situation that the school is in right now? And for Trent, same thing, any thoughts of trepidation about the immediate future?

Barnes: Obviously uncertainty, but what’s different is when you get in the room with each of these candidates — we had a great pool of candidates as I had mentioned earlier — and you’re able to articulate a plan — honestly, a plan that I can’t get into specifics with publicly but I can talk more about and lean into in private — resonates. Both how we’re going to fund ourselves, what our schedule looks like and what our goals are. And so, no trepidation. In fact, you have a preconceived idea because of what you read as to what might be the circumstances, and once we broke it down for them, everybody leaned into it and embraced it. And I think Trent did as well.

Bray: Absolutely.

Q: Coach, when you talk about the relationship with the players, did you see that modeled by your own dad when you were a young man, having players in the house, building relationships when you were a kid and saw that and other coaches maybe mentor-type coaches that influenced you along those lines?

Bray: Yeah, I’ve said it forever. Both my football knowledge and the way I go about my work, the foundation came from my father. And watching him and seeing how he interacted with his players. The care that was taken for them, not just as a football player, but as a person. And so that’s always kind of been my model of how I move in this business. And then I’ve been fortunate enough to have a ton of other mentors along the way that were very similar in Coach (Mike) Riley, Coach (Dennis) Erickson, Coach (Mark) Banker, that it was more than just football. And it is. And I think when the players believe that you care about them more than just as what they can do, a stat line, I think that’s when real trust and belief is built, and that’s a huge part of this game.

Q: Coach, I don’t know if you saw the sort of grassroots effort in the NIL world, 44 for bravery, whatever exactly it was. It gained a lot of momentum quickly, in that space, in that world. I know that happened apart and separate from you and your own input, but it was organic. What did that mean and how important is that space right now for what you’re going to do here?

Bray: I think just the excitement in the program. Especially over the last couple of days there was a little bit of worry with Coach Smith taking off, but I think just the excitement in the program is good for this place. It’s good for the players to realize that this fan base cares and they’re still excited about what’s going on here. And there is life after Coach Smith. And so I think it was great that way.