Dave Christensen: my goal will always be to win a championship [INTERVIEW]

In June, the Panthers Wrocław will begin competing in the European League of Football. In order to rejoin the fight for the highest goals, the Wrocław team has thoroughly rebuilt its coaching stuff, headed by new head coach Dave Christensen. How does the American coach assess the potential of the polish team? What changes has he made to the organization? What does he think about the level of American football in Europe?

The first Panthers training sessions are behind us. How have you been working with the team lately?

The last two weeks, since I've been here, we've spent quite a few hours in the office, seven days a week, working on our preparation, planning for practices, having practices, watching video and evaluating each and every player after each and every practice. So the majority of our time we spent up here in the office getting our culture of our program implemented within the organization.

How do you assess the team's preparation for the season so far?

I think our camp has been outstanding. Our players have bought in 100%, what the new culture is here, they did a great job of listening and focusing on meetings and taking what they learned in meetings out onto the field and implementing our procedures in all areas of the program. And so I think that, the preparation in those eight practices that we had was outstanding, and it exceeded my expectations.

So how do you assess the team's potential? And what is the Panthers' goal for the 2023 season? 

Well, as I told the team when I first got here, my goal is always going to be  winning a championship. That's the ultimate goal. I think our team has potential. But we have a lot of work to do between now and the start of the season. The key is going to be, our players working hard each and every week, getting better each and every week. We are making sure that they spend time on their preparation away from the program and that we execute our plan each and every week at a high level. I think we have potential to compete against anybody and everybody. And if we can go out and play a physical brand of football, protect the ball and not make mistakes, we have a chance to be a really good one.

What do you think about the sports level of American football in Europe?

There's a really good football community in the ELF, but it's hard to compare it to the United States. What I always say football is relative, the level of players really doesn't matter, because it still comes down to execution. It could be at the NFL level, or it could be at the high school level, if you turn the football over, you're going to lose football games. If you have a lack of discipline, and get penalized, you're going to lose football games, and it doesn't matter the level that you're playing at. And so what I've done is I've brought a culture here, what I believe, and has been successful for me, in building a winning culture of an organization. That's what we're trying to implement here. It’s relative because everybody's at that level. So, to compare it to somewhere in the United States, that's not fair for me to do, because I haven't really been here yet through a season to make that evaluation.

How will the functioning of the team look from week to week during the season? Will you focus heavily on your opponents? Will the training plan be highly individualized?

We have a plan, and the plan is already in place, of how we prepare each and every week for our opponents. And so we have a seven day plan every week and we follow that plan. It allows us to prepare for each opponent individually. And so will our total focus on every particular week be. Each particular week will be the opponent that we're going to be phased in that week.

What do you think about the Panthers' coaching staff? Is it possibly the best?

Well, I think it's the best in the ELF. I'm very pleased with the guys that I've been able to attract to come here, all but one is here right now, the defensive line coach will be here in April. We've got really good young coaches, they work extremely hard. We've got great leadership. Our defensive coach Likins is just a tremendous defensive coordinator. So I'm really pleased with all the coaches that we've been able to bring in, and in the work ethic that they've shown so far. 

What do you think about the American players signed by the Panthers?

They're not here yet. I had a say in all of them that we signed, I think that certainly they have the potential to be impact players over here. Until we get them here and actually see them in practice, it's hard to get a full evaluation of what their ability level is, and what their strengths are. But we felt good in our evaluation of them and we are excited to have them involved in the organization.

Have you had any job offers recently that you had to turn down due to being tied to the Panthers contract?

No, I'm not in the job market. I'm excited to be the head coach of the Panthers. And that's my complete focus. 

What needs to function differently, better, so that you can fully focus on your work, and for the team to be successful?

We just need to come to work every week with the right mindset. And that they've got to do a great job in their preparation each week for each opponent. And then, we will practice three days a week, and we've got to go out and have great practices consistently each and every week. Our preparation throughout the week is important for our success on the weekend. We just want our players to get here, they've got to be focused and driven, to go out and make sure that we utilize the short amount of time that we get with them in our preparation so that we're prepared to play each and every week.

You are now returning to the US for a short time. What is the job of a coach who lives hundreds of miles away from his players?

That doesn't change anything for me. We’ll still have staff meetings on Zoom, we'll have coaches here still in the building. They'll be working with players off and on. I'll be working on preparation as far as training camp scripts and plans and game plans for our first game and those types of things. The thing with the internet is we can do all of our work from different areas and still get a lot done. So yeah, I'll still work daily. From my house I'll take care of the operations of the organization. We'll have some Zoom meetings with the staff to catch up on things. There is going to be constant contact with our players and so really it won't change a lot.

You will return to Wrocław with your wife, right? How will you spend your free time?

Yes, she will be joining me in May and is excited to get over here and be a part of our season. She is absolutely excited about it. I think she was tired of having me at home retired. I'm back to work and she enjoys football. So now she has a chance to be more involved again.

Unfortunately there's not a lot of free time when you are a football coach, but so far I've been able to get out and check out a lot of the malls and the different areas of the town. We've worked most of the time that I've been here, but there's a lot to explore. There's a lot of history, a lot of restaurants to try. So we'll take in the city and the culture and enjoy that on what short time off we have.