Derek Mason hit the ground running after being introduced as Middle Tennessee State University’s football coach Dec. 6. He began assembling his staff, landing recruits, engaging fans — and attending the Murfreesboro Christmas Parade, where a 2-year-old girl waving vigorously caused him to jump out of a pick-up truck to meet her and greet many other potential Blue Raider fans.

All in with MTSU, Murfreesboro and the region, Mason is a guest on the February episode of the “Out of the Blue” television magazine program.

You can view the segment below:

A veteran coach and educator, Mason said it is “a new opportunity, a new chance to reinvent ourselves … that day (when he was announced as coach) was surreal as I’ve looked and thought about MTSU. The idea of stepping into Blue Raider nation and talking to that group about what we wanted to be, which was blue collar. Understanding that the opportunity to compete for a Conference USA title was something that we were going to be steadfast about.”

In the emotion-filled moments at the announcement ceremony inside the Student Union Building, Mason said he wanted “to give our fan base this strong idea of what my values were to student-athletes and to the university, which was the idea of graduating, the idea of making sure that we give a better product back to parents than the one they drop off. Those are strong statements that I’ve hung my hat on over the last 30 years of coaching.”

Mason said he tells his student-athletes that “every day is a job interview and you have a new opportunity every day to meet somebody, to make an impact. … If we’re going to be blue collar, it’s about the work and the work has to be intentional.”

“Out of the Blue” with host Andrew Oppmann, vice president for marketing and communications, is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 and 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; NewsChannel5+ at 3:30 p.m. Sundays and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings.

It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play and as individual interview segments on Spotify at https://spoti.fi/453hxg3.

Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” at https://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)