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Here's what he had to say.
Chargers.com: Congratulations on your first big decision as Chargers GM
Telesco: Thanks. It’s really exciting to get Mike in here, his wife Kelly, his whole family. We couldn’t be more excited to get this thing rolling right now.
Chargers.com: What made Mike stand out from the other candidates?
Telesco: We had some really good candidates. We had a great list and we did a lot of research. Mike came and clearly stood out from the rest of them. He has such passion for football, you can see that right off the bat. You can see it in his eyes. He’s just very well prepared. If you told me he was a first time head coach I would have never believed you because of the plan he came in here with for the Chargers. We are really excited moving forward.
Chargers.com: Was there a point when you said “This is our guy”?
Telesco: We took a break during the interview, and I turned to John Spanos and said, “Wow.” I knew he was going to be pretty good but not to this extent. At that point, we asked more questions, and tried to probe more and more if this is someone who we want to work with moving forward and it was easy.
Chargers.com: Do you have confidence he will have success here?
Telesco: Oh yes, if you would have told me he was never a head coach before I would have been shocked. He came in with a plan and knows exactly what he wants to do. He has great thought with what he wants to do but he’s also adaptable. I can’t be happier to have him.
Chargers.com: What was your view of him from an outsider’s perspective?
Telesco: He’s very adaptable to what he has, which is huge. He takes your strengths and plays to them. In Denver he had Kyle Orton, Tim Tebow, and Peyton Manning. You couldn’t have three more different styles of quarterback but he used them all in different ways and he used them well. Which is great. And we talked about a week ago in the press conference about what we wanted in a head coach and he kind of hit all of them. He’s a teacher, he has the ability to communicate with players from all different backgrounds, all different levels of experience. He’s certainly a leader of men, when you get a chance to talk to him and see that. He’s a great motivator. I think he can motivate our players to get the most out of our guys at critical times. Those are the three key things and he has all three of those.
Chargers.com: what are your expectations of him?
Telesco: We’ve hit the ground running with him in a way. I already talked to him two or three times last night, and two or three times this morning as far as what we do moving forward getting the coaching staff together. We are moving right now, getting it going, and he wants to win.
Chargers.com: What is your schedule like now?
Telesco: Right off the bat, we still need to get the assistant coaching staff together right away. The Senior Bowl starts Sunday, so I will travel down there to look at the senior talent for the draft. Those are the first two things on the agenda right now.
Chargers.com: How excited are you to start building this organization?
Telesco: I can’t tell you (how excited I am), hiring the right head coach is the biggest part of the puzzle. You have to get the right guy. We got the right guy. Now that’s that done, we get the assistant coaches and start on free agency, looking at our roster, looking at tape, the college players, the fun stuff. I’m excited. We have a plan moving forward, a great process is set up, so I’m very excited.
