Best of Garrett and Kenny: Inside an Offensive Overhaul

Building a winning football program from the ground up requires more than just a scheme; it takes an absolute refusal to accept losing. As the college football landscape shifts toward instant gratification and high-stakes transfer portals, understanding how to engineer genuine belief and mental toughness is the real competitive advantage for any organization. Today, we sit down with Arkansas State’s new Offensive Coordinator, Garrett Altman, to unpack his unconventional journey from a TCU graduate assistant to orchestrating one of the most shocking cultural turnarounds in SEC history at Vanderbilt.

We dive straight into the tactical realities of transforming an offense when the odds are stacked against you. Coach Altman breaks down the anatomy of a Heisman campaign, the mechanics of managing a high-stakes quarterback battle between a high-potential freshman and a veteran, and how to build a locker room culture where players demand daily accountability from each other. He also shares his core coaching philosophy on why individual success is purely a byproduct of team achievement, and how a leader's relentless, front-line work ethic is the only way to get a locker room to buy into a seemingly impossible vision.

Walking away from a secure future in dental school to share a single office with three other graduate assistants is just the beginning of the coaching grind. He opens up about the heavy weight of starting 1-5 at New Mexico State, the pressure of making pivotal roster calls that alter young athletes' careers, and the 6:30 AM discipline required long before the stadium lights turn on. You will walk away with a clear blueprint for engineering personal resilience, managing high-stakes career transitions, and the understanding that true leadership requires showing the work rather than just talking about it.

If you care about offensive scheme architecture, leadership accountability, and what it really takes to rebuild a college football program, you will get a lot from this conversation. Hit the subscribe button to stay updated with more real-world coaching insights, and share this episode with someone who is building a team from the ground up. What is the biggest professional risk you have ever taken to pursue a career you actually believed in? Drop your story in the comments below.

0:00 Intro & Coach Altman’s Journey from Dental School to Football
2:58 The TCU Days and Building Lifelong Coaching Bonds
5:08 Turning Around New Mexico State & The Diego Pavia Gamble
8:55 Inside Vanderbilt’s Historic Run & The Heisman Ceremony
12:48 Applying the Winning Blueprint as Arkansas State's New OC

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Okay, thank you for tuning in again with Red Wolf Saturdays. We've kind of started this journey. The first session you heard from Chauncey Cobb, who's a current wide receiver for us. And then we kind of ventured into the former player. It's hard to believe Cory Rucker is actually a former player, but we spoke with Corey Rucker and now current member of the Las Vegas Raiders. It's amazing how a few days changes everything, kind of changes your life. And now in the third edition, we're going to do something a little bit different. We're going to introduce everyone to our new offensive coordinator, Coach Altman, Garrett Altman, who comes with us from Vanderbilt. And then our running back coach, Coach Kenny Hill, who obviously was a great quarterback back in his day. And so I think these two have a great story from a personal standpoint, from an individual coaching standpoint, but also from a personal relationship as well. And, you know, that's the thing when you're going through changes and you're bringing people into your program, how can they elevate your program? You know, the different experiences that they have, but everything also is about relationships and trust. And these two definitely have each other's trust. So, Coach Altman, let's start off with you. First of all, Coach Alman, kind of take us through your journey, young coach, where you played and your journey to kind of Arkansas State.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Yeah, so I'm originally from a little small town, Burnham, Texas. Uh bluebell ice cream, that's all we got.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

But what's your favorite flavor?

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Oh, homemade vanilla. Homemade vanilla isn't it? Now I say we're close. That and Rocky Road. That and Rocky Road, that's it. All right, so their Rocky Road, what is in there? Like it's chocolate, it's got marshmallows, it's like got some chocolate, dark chocolate chunks in it. So it's big time. Have you had bluebell? Oh if you live in Texas, you've had okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

So what's your favorite two staff? See, he didn't even hesitate.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

No, he don't hesitate, but like look at him. He used to be a bigger kid. Now he's slimmed down. So coming from you, that's crazy. He's numb.

unknown 2:05

All right.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

So I'm from Bruntham, Texas. Uh went and played my uh college ball at TCU for uh Gary Patterson. And then two years into my career there, Kenny transferred in, and then we got close from there. And then right after I got done playing, started uh being a GA, um, Gary asked me to GA, and I was on track to go to dental school, medical school. That's what I wanted to do. Um, he asked me if I really, really wanted to go to more school, and I was like, no, no, like and I'd rather take a break and coach football for a year, and then here I am a couple years later.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

What was your family's reaction when you gave up dental school to be a coach?

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Uh they were they were pretty shocked because like my dad had a practice in Brenham, and then um all my like family like had done something in the medical field.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

So, how did y'all's like friendship really start to grow and kind of evolve?

SPEAKER_01 2:59

You know, like it was like one of those deals, like you know, I lived with four different dudes, you know, three old linemen and weirdly enough, a linebacker that we were from the same area of Texas. And then so Kenny transfers in, and then all of a sudden it was just random, I guess, want to be a quarterback around the old lineman. And so he would just show up at the house, don't really know anybody, you know, trying to show food. Yeah, yeah. He would show up and then like we'd have a couch and a different living room or whatever, and and he would just sit there and finally we got tired of him, and he would just hang out in the living room and everybody else would go do their own thing. And but he was just constantly over at the house, and then after we got done playing, we shared an office when uh he came out. As as G A. As G A. So were you one year together as GAs? No, we're two years together. Two years together as G we were there for four years as coaches together, yeah. And uh, so actually it was me, Kenny, uh Michael Downing, and Charlie Reed. We all shared an office together, and we were all seniors together in 17 and GP hired all of us.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

And so we all shared uh like a Q. I don't know if that was the uh smartest looking back on it, but he hired all of us.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Okay, so then you venture off and you go to New Mexico state. Okay, New Mexico State. All right, so when you split up, yeah, so then where do you go?

SPEAKER_00 4:16

I went to Cal. You go to Cal. So I go to Cal for the year, for the one year, and then went to Incarnate Word, but it's because of like like is it like in I would think you know this as well, just coming up like in the coaching ranks, like the guys you GA with, and you I mean, you spend so much time like cutting your teeth together, you know what I mean, like trying to build your way up, and all you talk about is oh man, when we make it, when we make it, when we get to get that coaching job, when we get to coach together, like and when we separated, it was like, all right, one of us is gonna get a job at some point, and we're gonna make sure that we're back together. Like we talked at least once a week for the whole topic.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

It was one of those deals, and it was like the defensive guys, and we were all like, one of us gotta make it, one of us gotta make it, and you know, like we got the opportunity, now we gotta go make it.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Like, you know. All right, so you go to New Mexico State, kind of take us through the journey and then your journey going to Nashville.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

So, our first year in New Mexico State, we signed a kid um out of Norman, Oklahoma. His name's uh Gavin Frakes, he's in the quarterback battle led Northwestern now. Um, we signed him and then obviously Diego from New Mexico military and you know, Coach Beck and Coach Kill uh obviously know they went to the semifinals game and watched Coach Pitt because Coach Pitt, our D-line coach, played for Coach Beck. And so they went to watch Pitt play in the JUCO semifinals and stumbled, and and Pitt was like, I'm just telling you, you need to take this quarterback. And so that's how the process started. And you know, from there we signed him, and we're in a we're in a dilemma where one and five our first year in New Mexico State. Um, which like, do you play the young freshman who's got a lot of potential, or do you play the older guy who at the time we only thought had two years left? And um, you know, right, wrong and different world of college questions. And so right, wrong, indifferent. We decided to go with Diego, we play in a bowl game and then play bowling green that year and win. And then the next year we play in a conference championship, and then we get the opportunity. Coach Beck comes to me and goes, Hey, uh Vanderbilt has called me in to be their offensive coordinator. You want to go with me? I'm like, Yeah, my wife was six months pregnant at the time, and Coach Kill I knew was in limbo about not doing it and retiring. So I had the opportunity to go, and Coach Lee was great, gave me the opportunity to coach the quarterbacks, and and Coach Beck, you know, just letting me take those reins and run with it, and it was phenomenal. And then we were able to our first year kind of up and down, but it's the epitome of a of a team that what was your record your first year? Seven and six at the end of it. We started, we beat Virginia Tech, who at the time was preseason ranked high. Then we beat Alcorn State, the FCS team, and then we roll into Georgia State. Um I remember that. Georgia State that year. They went three and nine, and one of their wins was us at Vanderbilt. It was the definition of uh we were smelling the roses. Um then we got back on track, lost the double overtime to Missouri, had a bye week, and then we beat Alabama and then started to roll from there. Um, then played Georgia, a good Georgia Tech team in the bowl game, and then follow up the next year, like it was different. Diego was on a mission. At the time, we didn't know if he was gonna get another year, and he did, and uh sent the whole world into a JUCO frenzy and added years for players, and it was got an opportunity for him, and then he's been great, and then just signed with the Baltimore Wraiths.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

I think you always tell, you know, the great thing is our lives are a byproduct of our experiences and the wisdom. And you always talk about the outside persona of Pavia, but with you explaining to our players, you know, for the listeners, you know, what makes him who he is when you really look at changing a culture, a mindset of a program, and peer pressure. Um, I don't know if there's ever ever ever a better story in all of college football than his.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

No, and it's all credit to him. He him being super, super competitive is where it starts. And then him not being afraid to like to say what he wants and what he believes. Like in our minds, like, right, wrong, and indifferent, like I believe we were gonna win the national championship of Vanderbilt, and I believed he could win the Heisberg. And running through that, like on the road recruiting, I'm telling coaches that, and it's okay, whatever. Like, you laugh, and people laugh outside, and I get it. And you know, for him, like that was everything, it it was all team success because we always talked about like team success breeding, individual success, and no different than we do here. And it's like when you explain it in the way of like if you go 0 and 12, there's not gonna be many NFL scouts that should show up, but we go 12 and 0, there's gonna be all 32 teams and scouts and all that that are gonna show up, and just understanding that and his belief in himself and confidence, yeah, and then it bled over to the offense and then bled over to the whole team, and then we got the whole city behind it, and it was like, well, maybe they can do it, and then once you get any momentum rolling like that, you just set it momentum.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

So, what was it like going through the Heisman Trophy, um, festivities, right? Kind of all that experience, and you really look at it, you know, those opportunities very rarely come around multiple times. They will. Um, but just what was that experience?

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Like it was it was I'll never forget it. So we fly in on a Friday and we actually fly into Baltimore because he's getting the Johnny Unitis award. So we fly into Baltimore, um, we do that Friday night, and then fly actually back to New York Friday night to get ready for the Heisman, and I'll never forget it. Like you show up, and it's from at from Doug Flutie's there to like you name it, everybody's there. And and it was cool because Vanderbilt actually got like the start of no alignment there, and they actually made it like a whole experience, and just because it doesn't happen often, and just trying to get everybody there, and it was really cool and credit to Coach Lee and and Candace Lee, just getting awake and all that happened because all the other contestants were like, How did you get all these people in here? Because we take the picture with the Heisman Trophy, and it's all of Diego's family, and uh starting of the line and a couple running backs, and it's just like like we had a a walk-on quarterback from the year before get in as a media member. Like he dressed up as a media member and started asking questions, but he got in. And it was just cool to see how electric he was. Where did you sit during the ceremony? So I sat up in the in the room, and it was uh Coach Kill, Coach Beck, me, Theo Vaughn, and then a recruiting guy, Kendall Lawson. And so we're all sitting up there and just watching it happen. And were you nervous? I was nervous, and then when they started to open the thing, I was sure he was gonna win. Like at that point, like I was just like, oh, he's winning it. Like I just felt it in my stomach, like he's gonna win it. And then he didn't, and he handled it, you know, at the time, right in the moment. Well, and then obviously after, but he he what he what makes him different is he he puts on this persona, but when it comes to the work, he's in the building at 6:30. He doesn't like he puts on this persona of a party guy or whatever, and he has a good time, but like when it comes time to work, like he's in the building before everybody and he's gone after. And if if the the reps say 40 push-ups, he's gonna do 50. And that's just him, and that's how he felt that he was gonna get and bring others along with him. Correct. And because and in his mind, and and it's what you know we talk about in our program, The Rulingless Will to Win, like people saw that and were like, I can't let him down. And that's how like he ultimately was able to connect and be a leader because when he showed up, he was in a quarterback battle. Like he showed up and wasn't the guy right away. He actually missed spring ball our first year because he had to graduate from the Mexico State still. So he had opportunities to go places he actually committed to Nevada because they could get him in right away. And then um, Coach Kill, Coach Beck, myself, Coach Lee, and talking to his mom. And his mom actually was the one that was like, No, you're gonna go play for Coach Kill. And uh, so it was just he took 21 credits that spring to graduate so he could get into Vanderbilt because they they don't just let anybody in. And so he did that and then didn't show up until the summer um full time, and so just working like that's how he became a leader. It wasn't, and because you're in a quarterback battle, it's like you can't just always give lip service, you got to show people what it looks like.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Okay, so now we're switching to coaching. So the experiences that you have at Vanderbilt, now you get a great opportunity to come here and be the offensive coordinator. What are the things that you've taken throughout the course of your career that you're applying here to Arkansas State? And then what have you learned in a short period of time about actually coordinating an offense?

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Yeah, so like some things that like we talk about, like and you when you called me the first time, we talked about just the alignment, like and by the way, he ruined my Christmas.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

So we're sitting at home and we're going through the negotiations and everything's great. And I fall asleep on Christmas Eve, and his representative sends me a message, and I don't get it till like 1:30 in the morning, and it says, Call me ASAP. So I've been there done that before. So I'm trying to call him. It's Chris, now it's really Christmas morning, and I can't get a hold of him. So then I get up at six o'clock in the morning, call the representative right away, and he didn't really want anything. He just wanted to say Merry Christmas. So uh we were able to get that wrapped up. Um he could actually enjoy Christmas at the end, but it's funny when you're going through different life-altering changes, whether it's you know, a new job, leaving a job, all those things. But sorry to interrupt you, but keep keep the process going with the with the coordinator and the things you've learned along the way.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Well, like to be real honest with you, it was all like like you called me, and so immediately like I was at uh lunch with the quarterbacks, and uh, we were out to eat, and uh so you called me and and I I went back home and then we spoke again that night, but I turned on the Arkansas State film, and the thing that stuck out to me was how hard they played, how hard the kids played. Um, because like him, he and I talked like I was in a good situation, um, but at the same time, like I have goals that I want to achieve. And like this is this was the opportunity that I had been waiting on and talking to my wife, and it was a no brainer, especially because like the foundation was set. Like we weren't going in there and having to to change a culture at that point, especially not being my first opportunity.