As 2014 draws to a close, take a look back at our original profiles on some of the athletes that made this a memorable year for Austin Peay athletics. Today we revisit the day spent with head coach Kirby Cannon in preparation for an Austin Peay football game.

Kirby Cannon knew the score.

This was two weeks ago, the Thursday before the Mercer game. The 'Beating of the Mules' hadn't occurred yet. At the time, Cannon was a coach winless in his tenure at Austin Peay, winless in 2014 and owner of the longest losing streak in FCS. A football lifer like Cannon knows to say and do all the right things, but at the same time – that zero in the win column looms a little larger each week.

I wanted to follow him around for the day. See what made him tick, what a day with the coaching staff at Austin Peay might look like. The first win was right around the corner – Cannon just didn't know it yet.

8:45 a.m. – The day begins proper. Cannon's not a big 'everyone sleeps at the office' guy – coaches need the time to rest and reload, just like players. With coffee's and cola's in hand and aided by two large boxes of Shipley's Donuts, the staff starts settling in for the morning meeting, beginning at 9 a.m. sharp.

Listening to the conversation flow, you wouldn't know this was an 0-5 team. The conversation is loose, Cannon soliciting feedback and the coaches providing it. There's a blend of youth – Leron Eaddy was playing for the Govs last year, and he's coaching guys he used to line up with now – and experience, with Jim Hite, the tight ends coach, serving as a kind of Tom Hagen-esque consigliere.

Thursday is a day for planning. The coaches review Wednesday's practice, map out Thursday's and plan the weekend. The journey to Macon is going to begin at 8 a.m. the next morning, and between travel, eating, walkthrough and getting settled at the hotel, it will be every bit of a 12-hour day. The coaches leave no stone unturned, mapping it out to the hour, to the minute.

Injuries come up during the 50-minute meeting. "Who's going to step up if Player X can't go?"… "Player Y was really excited by the increased playing time he saw last week when Player Z went down."

Contingencies are put in place in case something comes up on game day. Nothing is left to chance.

They wind the meeting down with recruiting call recaps. It's not about what's being said – coaches have to read between the lines, assess how a recruit says and interpret how they might be impacted by the other schools after a player. Coaches know who they're up against – there's rapid fire discussion around the table about which school is bringing in what player, who they've already got committed and how it affects the coaches discussion as they proceed in that players recruitment.

A coach throws out that a certain school is bringing an Austin Peay target to their campus for a visit.

"Good," Cannon barks. "That place is a dump. That just makes us look better."

9:50 a.m. – The initial meeting segues nicely into recruit film review. This week is offensive lineman review – coaches later tell me that of the film review, it's the one I'm least likely to understand, and I'm inclined to agree. What they look for goes way deeper than 'Is he big?', 'Can he move?' and 'Does he like to hit people?', which is what I think most would look for in a lineman.

Hudl.com is best friend of coaches and recruits – one-stop shopping for coaches, and the best place for recruits to upload film of their best work. Offensive line coach Jason Palermo leads much of the conversation, even though Austin Peay gives coaches regions to make first contact. The word 'projectable' is thrown around a lot – depth is going to be a necessity for the O-line in 2015, with the Govs losing a lot from the line to graduation.

Coach Cannon mentions he had former NFL lineman Tony Siragusa in for a visit when he was coaching at Iowa State. I make a mental note to ask him how it went, and immediately forget. I assume not great, since Siragusa graduated from Pittsburgh.

Psychology comes into play again. Discussion is had about whether it's the right time to offer a certain player, and whether it should be for a full or partial ride. As the dominoes fall – recruits committing, recruits de-committing, transfers looking for new homes – and Signing Day draws nearer, this process will no doubt become more intricate.

11 a.m. – Meeting breaks up. Coach Cannon has a standing commitment with Austin Peay play-by-play man David Loos, first for video and then for a radio spot to air during the pregame show.

Maybe it's just because I'm sitting there, but Cannon seems like a guy who's the same on camera and off, easily controlling the flow of conversation. He knows who he is, what he wants said and how he wants to say it. He compliments Mercer for building with freshmen and sophomores. He mentions they haven't faced the competition Austin Peay has to that point. He'd probably make a good politician – saying everything while saying nothing.

11:45 a.m. – Defensive meeting. Cannon is the rare head coach who serves as his own coordinator – after the departure of Granville Eastman in the offseason, Cannon decided to do his own stunts, which is why he leads the discussion in front of assistants Eaddy, Kyran Weaver, Brandon Jordan, Ryan Ettinger and Alex Smith.

The coaches run through things, setting the script for practice later in the day. Smith cues up film of Mercer, Eaddy's attention is rapt on the screen. It occurs to me this is a cramped room, with guys basically on top of one another.

"I'm good," Cannon growls. "Next play."

We watch the same play probably two dozen times. Mercer likes the 'Belly G' off third-and-short, reading the defensive end to decide whether the quarterback hands off or keeps the ball.

Watch it again.

Watch it again.

What is he looking for?

Cannon sees the inches on screen the average football consumer takes for granted. Rotating hips, forcing guys one way or another. For these guys, it's a way of life. For the players, it's the difference in forcing a punt and staying on the field. The truth is, offenses have gotten so sophisticated there are options for everything. Cannon's job – the defense's job – is to limit those options.

1 p.m. – After a quick lunch, it's back to the main table in the football offices for another meeting. It occurs to me these guys have a lot of meetings. Before the meeting starts proper, Cannon quizzes Ettinger about the Belly G problem.

Same guys, same spots as when the day started. Run over the practice schedule. Run over the weekend. Everything is drilled down; no mistakes.

After about 15 minutes, everything breaks up to offense and defense again, and scripts are written for practice. This is as close to a lull as I see during the day. Cannon spends a few minutes talking to assistant offensive line coach Bobby Brockley – a recent retiree from the Army – about his time in Afghanistan.

1:45 p.m. – You don't think of coaches as artists, yet here Cannon sits, Sharpie in hand, drawing out his cards for practice. It's not Picasso, but it gets the job done.

Over the next 45 minutes or so, I ask Cannon a lot of questions he'd probably rather not spend his Thursday afternoon answering. After all, he's got a job to do. However, he's also a man of unceasing patience and good humor, and he entertains questions great and small with considerable aplomb. Some highlights:

• Coaching only goes so far, especially on defense. "The best defenses are player-driven, not coach-driven," Cannon says.
• On philosophy: "When I would interview for assistant coach positions, I would come in and they'd always ask 'What's your philosophy?' and I'd say 'Whatever yours is.' I think most of those coaches appreciated that because in reality, it didn't matter what my philosophy was; I was there to enforce the philosophy of the head coach."
• After sitting in his office, I almost went out and bought stock in whatever company manufactures Wite-Out; it's right up there with coffee and Hudl.com on the 'must-have' list for coaches.
• "It's frustrating, losing. But if you're really in the program, you'd be amazed at how well we practiced. Including our kids in the plan and being honest with them has helped, too. It hasn't been a surprise. A lot of times we tell them flat-out that we have to play a perfect game. In a lot of ways, it relaxes those kids and lets them go out, play hard and take a shot at it."
• On recruiting: "At the I-A (FBS) level, it's easy as far as identifying who the players are because they're just so dominant. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. At a lower level, you have to decide who to put your scholarships on and how much, and it can be tricky projecting those kids."
• More on recruiting: "Your best recruiters are your team. If they do a good job, you'll get a kid and if they don't, you won't, no matter what a coach says."
• On gameday psychology: "I'd rather be stern on the coaches, who can handle it and won't take it personally. If you're too negative on the players, you can talk them into being non-players. If you're going to criticize, it better be criticism with an answer."
• At one point, I'm given APSU's football coaches handbook, a list of expectations Cannon has for his staff. It's thicker than a dictionary and way more detailed, with instructions on behavior, recruiting, how to represent yourself and the program.
• On practice: "I've always loved practice. Whether as a player or a coach, practice to me is fun. It's a chance to teach the game, have some fun and enjoy not being in class."
• Two seconds later: "Of course, academics would not want me saying that."

2:30 p.m. – I step away from Cannon and walk across the hall to an empty classroom in the Dunn Center, where Ettinger is conducting a positional meeting with the safeties.

As I listen to Ettinger wax poetic about 'clouds' and 'sally', I realize I have no clue what's going on. The vernacular is impossible. Ettinger, who cut his teeth as a student assistant for Cannon at Central Michigan, later tells me that it took him two years to pick it up and equates it to learning Spanish. Since I can't speak Spanish either, I'm inclined to agree.

It's part of the reason why this staff is assembled as it is. Every man on the defensive staff has worked or played for Cannon and therefore, knows the terminology he wants used on that side of the ball. If everybody speaks the same language, it cuts down on communication break downs. It cuts down on the time it takes to make corrections on the sideline after each series. Simplification makes everyone better.

Ettinger cues up some shots from the previous afternoon practice. He's part teacher, part self-esteem coach, showing one guy what he should've done on a particular play, praising another for a great job on a different play. They'll need the pick-me-ups – practice is about to start.

3:30 p.m. – More media, this time with Robert Smith of the Leaf-Chronicle. Sports Information Director Brad Kirtley shows up too. Say this for Cannon – a lot of coaches bristle at media. A lot would've told me to get lost when I pitched my idea to follow him around (and get in his way) for a day. But the guy stands in, does his interview and usually hangs around to shoot the breeze for a few minutes if the conversation holds his interest. Obviously, football usually dominates the discussion but Cannon was a stand-out baseball player too and he and Kirtley can get downright obnoxious over their beloved St. Louis Cardinals. Maybe it's an act, but it sure seems like he just likes people and likes to get into the same minutiae all fans discuss.

Practice isn't going to be heavy on the hitting this close to game day, but it's no less intense. Some coaches loudly make their points – J.D. Sellers hollers at a redshirting linebacker for hitting during a non-contact drill (Sellers has a point). Some get back to the sideline to make their point – Hite holds court with his tight ends every couple of plays, instructing and critiquing.

As the session winds on, some players emerge for their energy. Corey Teague and Malcolm Goines go non-stop, chattering at teammates, the training staff, pumping up the defense, talking smack to the offense after a stop. It's clear the confidence Cannon is trying to instill has caught on at least with these two.

5 p.m. – Horn blows. Players huddle at midfield. Trainer Seth Billings and Hite give some training room and equipment notices. Sellers reminds guys that the bus is leaving at 8 a.m. the following morning. Cannon gets the last word.

"Good practice. Good energy. Let's break it down."

Teague steps forward, his teammates huddle around.

Peay on three, pride on six!

One, two, three… PEAY!

Four, five, six… PRIDE!