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Maurice Linguist excited to return to Bulls as head football coach at UB

Linguist returns to Buffalo nine years after serving as assistant football coach for the Bulls
Credit: AP
Dallas Cowboys defensive line coach Jim Tomsula directs the defense, with defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist, right, during an NFL football game in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth)

BUFFALO, N.Y. — University at Buffalo head coach Maurice Linguist is no stranger to Buffalo.

He was the Bulls former assistant coach back in 2012 and 2013, coaching the best player to come out of the program, Kahlil Mack. 

Now, nine years later, Linguist returns to run the ship after Lance Leipold’s departure to run the Kansas football program.

As the players are very important, so are the fans. Linguist said the fans are in for a treat this season.

“We want to incorporate a strong aggressive play of football when we touch the field.  We’re going to preach to our guys what that looks like what that sounds like and what it feels like to really play at that hard level. We can get into the x’s and o’s but more than anything we want to lead the nation in effort.”

“We want to play hard as heck play for one another, play confident. We feel like if we put those things together, we’ll have a chance every single Saturday," he said.

As Linguist prepares for life as a head coach, there’s also the pressure of taking over a successful powerful program after Leipold. For Linguist, it’s that very “pressure” that he and the team welcome.

Credit: University at Buffalo Athletics
UB PRESS CONFERENCE: Maurice "Mo" Linguist is named head football coach of the University at Buffalo by Athletic Director Mark Alnutt on May 10, 2021, at Murchie Family Fieldhouse. Photo by Paul Hokanson/UBBulls.com

“This is the pressure you want every single year. You want expectation. I think you’re at a place where football matters when there’s a pressure to win but I think the pressure we have is really internal.

“It’s the pressure to be the best every single day. We accept recognize what we’re inheriting but by no means are we satisfied where Buffalo is at. The expectation to grow and to build on the info structure that’s been laid out. I think lance and his staff did an amazing job moving the needle and taking the program to a very stable place and our expectation and our desire is now to continue build and climb and build what’s already been in place here,” said Linguists.

Again, this is Linguists first head coaching position, so he wouldn’t tell 2 On Your Side's Ashley Holder if there would be some tears that first game day once he throws on the head set on. All he could finish with is “the fans” will see a team that plays hard and together every single Saturday.

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