He was excellent. He was interviewed by one of the old time SA sportscasters, then took questions for maybe 45 minutes. He was in top form.
I asked him the question about Stoops comments last week, when he said 'I wasn't on the field playing'. I asked him if he thought that was the right thing to do. He said he would have said the same thing. He said it was obvious to him that the players didn't come out to play, and that the coaching staff undoubtedly did everything they knew to do to get them ready, but sometimes you just don't get through to a bunch of 18-22 year old guys. It's great 'coach-speak' to fall on the sword, but the kids need to know that they messed up, and there is no one to blame but themselves. He went on to say, 'look how they did against K St. If Stoops had taken the blame, would his kids have played as well'? Maybe they would, and maybe they wouldn't, but he was glad the coach said 'what needed to be said in public'.
He had several complimentary things to say about Kliff, and Kliff's dad, Tim was in the audience.
He mentioned that in his last game as head coach we were playing OU, and trailed 28-10 at half. Because we had injuries at the QB position, Kliff got the nod (as a freshman). They were going into the locker room at half time, and Spike said someone hit him in the back (said it almost gave him a crick in his neck he hit him so hard). He turned around, and it was Kliff who said, 'we've got 'em right where we want 'em'. Coach said he thought his QB was either crazy or really confident.
He also said there was a lot of talk when he left as to whether he left of his own free will or he got fired. He said, 'my mother said I left of my own free will. My mother-in-law said 'the son of a bitch got fired'.
There were about 200 in attendance, and the audience was rolling in the aisles.
I asked him the question about Stoops comments last week, when he said 'I wasn't on the field playing'. I asked him if he thought that was the right thing to do. He said he would have said the same thing. He said it was obvious to him that the players didn't come out to play, and that the coaching staff undoubtedly did everything they knew to do to get them ready, but sometimes you just don't get through to a bunch of 18-22 year old guys. It's great 'coach-speak' to fall on the sword, but the kids need to know that they messed up, and there is no one to blame but themselves. He went on to say, 'look how they did against K St. If Stoops had taken the blame, would his kids have played as well'? Maybe they would, and maybe they wouldn't, but he was glad the coach said 'what needed to be said in public'.
He had several complimentary things to say about Kliff, and Kliff's dad, Tim was in the audience.
He mentioned that in his last game as head coach we were playing OU, and trailed 28-10 at half. Because we had injuries at the QB position, Kliff got the nod (as a freshman). They were going into the locker room at half time, and Spike said someone hit him in the back (said it almost gave him a crick in his neck he hit him so hard). He turned around, and it was Kliff who said, 'we've got 'em right where we want 'em'. Coach said he thought his QB was either crazy or really confident.
He also said there was a lot of talk when he left as to whether he left of his own free will or he got fired. He said, 'my mother said I left of my own free will. My mother-in-law said 'the son of a bitch got fired'.
There were about 200 in attendance, and the audience was rolling in the aisles.
