LISTEN: Stepp joins AFCA podcast, talks coaching and recruiting philosophy

Arkansas wide receivers coach Justin Stepp was a guest on the latest “Inside the Headset with the AFCA” podcast. He talked about a variety of topics during the 35-minute interview, including his coaching journey and his recruiting philosophy.

To listen to the full interview, click here, but here are a few interesting tidbits from the podcast:

~ Stepp wanted to begin his coaching career as a graduate assistant, but instead ended up spending a year as a high school coach at Fort Mill (S.C.) in 2007, where he was also an elementary P.E. teacher. He said it took only about two weeks before he realized he needed to find a football job somewhere.

~ His first college job was at North Greenville, a Division II school. He didn’t get paid much and said he was sleeping in the football offices. He broke into the college game when Dabo Swinney took over at Clemson and hired Billy Napier as his first offensive coordinator. Stepp and Napier were teammates at Furman, which gave him an in with the Tigers, and he got a job as a video graduate assistant after pretty much stalking Swinney.

~ Once at SMU, Stepp said the mission was to get the Mustangs’ brand out to all of the kids in Texas, specifically the DFW area, which was difficult because Dallas is a professional sports city. The key to them getting it turned around, he said, was Chad Morris’ respect from the high school coaches.

~ Fun fact: Stepp’s wife, Brooke, is the daughter of the Elysian Fields school board president who hired Morris for his second coaching job way back in 1998. Their families were really close, so Morris hired her as the director of recruiting at SMU, which is where she and Stepp first met.

~ The biggest thing Stepp said he tries to do when recruiting a player is being transparent and honest, because “you can’t BS these kids” in this era. He learned a lot from Brad Scott, who was a long-time assistant at Clemson. Stepp also said he texts, Snapchats or direct messages on Twitter with recruits on a daily basis. “You can get to them whenever you need them now,” because of cellphones, he said.

~ Fun fact: Stepp and offensive line coach Dustin Fry were roommates at the 2001 Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas. They both played high school ball in South Carolina.

~ When asked what his favorite part of being at Arkansas is so far, Stepp talked about how it was different than everywhere else he had been because in South Carolina, you had Clemson and South Carolina fans and in Texas, there were a bunch of schools. “You are the show in Arkansas,” Stepp said. “You are the pro team. You are everybody’s college team. Even Arkansas State fans are Hog fans. It’s an interesting and really cool dynamic.” … Aside from that, he said the cost of living is a lot cheaper than Dallas.

~ While speaking at an AFCA event, Stepp said Ken Hatfield asked him a question and he nearly fainted. He grew up watching him coach at Clemson, which was his first stop after his tenure at Arkansas.

~ Fun fact: Stepp has a twin brother, Josh, who is the tight ends coach at Georgia State in the Sun Belt.

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