University of Houston Athletics
Football Press Conference Quotes
8/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 29, 2006
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Opening Statement:
"As a coach I am extremely happy that this is a game week. I know our players are too. Yesterday, I was sitting outside the locker room I was talking on the phone and I saw a couple players and I said to myself what a privilege this is for me and for our coaches to be able to coach some of the best young people across America. It's not just here it's all over the United States of America. It's something that I don't take lightly as a coach and as an older figure of society the impact that these young people can have on society. To me it's just a great honor to be able to hang around those guys everyday and then to go to battle with them. That's what we are going to get to do this Saturday. We are going to get to band together and go to war with each other. That's what makes it fun, what makes it exciting and why I am doing what I am doing and why they are doing it. Football is a special sport that involves special players and I am honored to be able to be a part of it."
On the team's expectations for the Rice game:
"We have to go play. We are attempting to go 1-0 in conference play and that's the way we are looking at it. We don't look at it as a big cross-town rival or will it decide this or that. We are trying to go 1-0 in conference and to win a conference championship. We need to get conference wins and this is a chance for us to exhibit ourselves as a championship team. We act like champions, play like champions and prepare like champions. Now, its time to go perform like champions. That's all there is to it. We need a lot of support out there Saturday night from the Cougar faithful and we need to come out of there happy about 11 p.m. If we walk out of there 1-0 and healthy we will be a happy football team."
On preparing for the Rice game:
"They ran 54 out of 79 times they snaped the ball so that has been a contradiction of everything they have been saying since January 1. We don't have a clue, honestly. We have some ideas of some things they might do with their offense from our defensive standpoint. We are just going to have to get into the game and make adjustment as we go along. The good thing from our standpoint is we are not going to have guys gasping for air. We have 10 returners who have played a whole lot of football for us the last three years. We are going to be calm, understand what's going on and make adjustments. It's not a good feeling going into a game and not having a good idea of what the opponent is going to do from the offensive standpoint. From the defensive standpoint, we can assume that they are going to do things pretty similar to what they did at Tulsa."
On Rice Head Coach Todd Graham:
"Coach Todd was a coach in the metroplex in the mid-90s. Personally, I did not know him at the time, just knew of him as a coach and watched him as a coach he went through his career. Todd has done a great job, a very energetic coach and has brought a lot of hope and expectations over there. They can do whatever they want from this week out. I hope they go 11-1 but this week is not the week to be hugging and shaking hands."
On Rice Head Coach Todd Graham preparing for his coaching debut:
"It's no different than when I was an assistant coach at Sundown getting ready to coach my first Class A game. Football is football. You can make it or not make is anything you want it to be. You get with guys, you work with them, you trust them, and then you take the rest to the field and you play. Both sides are trying to win. The team that plays the best, performs the best, makes the least mistakes, carries momentum when they have it and takes advantages of opportunities wins football games. I didn't get into coaching to attain this or that. I got into coaching because I love being around young people and I love competition."
On being ready for the season opener:
"We really hope there are fewer ifs and there really should be. Everyone has good people and everyone in the nation has good players. The advantage we may have is that we have been around our players a little bit and a lot of them have played in a lot of games and been in different circumstances. We have a pretty good idea of how they are going to respond in different situations. I would like to think that we are past the "if" stage and to where this is what it's going to be. We are in good shape as a football team. We have an issue or two in some areas but we are ready to roll. We have good football players and we are ready to get them on the field and let them play."
