An Interview With Coach Petercuskie

After graduating from Boston College in 1974, Jerry Petercuskie has coached at 8 different schools within the college ranks, and has coached practically every position on the field. At Boston Colllege previously and NC State currently, Jerry is the Special Teams coach and the Recruiting Coordinator. Petercuskie is a Pennsylvania native who is married and the father of three children. We had the privilege of interviewing Coach Petrcuskie and we hope that you enjoy it.


WPP: Tell us a brief story of your life up until coming to NC State.

Petercuskie: My dad was a coach for 40 years. He coached in high school, college and the NFL. Both of my brothers have coached at all different levels. My whole family background has been around football. My family critiques me more than anyone else. It’s been a great ride. When I look back on all of the years of coaching, what I love the most is watching a young guy develop. In coaching Special Teams I get to work with a lot of young guys and watch them establish themselves as position players. It’s very rewarding. I began coaching at Liberty, and then I left there to work at UVA with O’Brien, and followed him to Boston College. At BC I was the Special Teams Coach and I was also the Recruiting Coordinator and I am in the same positions down here as well.

WPP: What is it like working with Coach O’Brien?

Petercuskie: Tom is a very good man to work for. He is a great coach but he is an even better person. He is an honest man, what you see is what you get. I’ve been working with Tom for 15 years now: 2 years at UVA, 10 years at BC and 3 years here. His ability to keep continuity on the staff is unheard of this day in age. With Tom there is a trust and loyalty factor that is very unique.

WPP: How has the transition from BC to Raleigh been for you?

Petercuskie: The biggest difference was the passion of the fans. I really appreciate their passion for the game of football. It’s encouraging and challenging to see people that really love the game and adamantly don’t want to see a bad product on the field.

WPP: Who are your key guys going to be this year on Special Teams

Petercuskie: Each year you try to develop a core group of players that will play on the 4 main areas of Special Teams. You need around 5 or 6 guys in that core. Bobby Floyd, Earl Wolff, Justin Byers, Audi Cole, Sterling Lucas, Terrell Manning, Dwayne Maddox and Taylor Gentry will all be big. Again, It will be critical that we find that core of 5-6 that can play numerous positions on each area of Special Teams.

WPP: What are dynamics of a quality Special Teams player?

Petercuskie: #1 is toughness. Playing on Special Teams you have to play longer than your opponent. They are the longest plays in football. You have to have some speed. Secondly, we preach that you have to put on the ‘hat’ of special teams. You might have just dropped a 3rd down catch, but now you have to wash that aside and take on a new role right away. Players have to be willing to wear the Special Teams ‘hat’ in order for us to be an effective team.

WPP: Tell us about this years ’09 class.

Petercuskie: As we looked at things we wanted to continue bringing in some good offensive linemen. We established ourselves at Corner and Defensive Line. It takes a number of years before you build a football team and then the objective becomes to recruit a complete football team every year. The ’09 class is a Defensive class.

WPP: As the Recruiting Coordinator, what are the main things that you look for in a recruit?

Petercuskie: For us, we’ve made our living on high motor kids that our self-starters. They need to be talented in the specific area that they play. You have to take into account their height, weight and speed to compete here to win championships. You look for kids that are tough, yet teachable. We don’t look at our job as motivating high five coaches…we are teachers. We want kids that our good citizens that want to get their degree. We don’t like getting players that are pigeonholed. We like them to have the capability to play numerous positions.

August 3, 2009.