University of Houston Athletics
Kevin Sumlin Introductory Press Conference Quotes
12/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 14, 2007
HOUSTON ATHLETICS DIRECTOR DAVE MAGGARD
Opening Statement:
"I would like to thank everyone for being here today. This is a great day for the University of Houston. It is a great day for our football program, our athletic program. It is a great day for this community. The tradition here at the University of Houston is a great tradition, its great history. It is time for us to establish a new tradition and build on the tradition that has been built here for so many years here at the University of Houston. This program is going to achieve the heights that all of you want but is going to be with the help of all of you (fans). That is the only way it is done in any great program. The great programs have great support from the University, from the community, from the alumni and they have great people who are working within that program."
On the coaching search:
"This search began on Nov. 28 and I had the opportunity to visit with lots and lots of people all over the country including high school, college and professional coaches, professional general managers, presidents, student-athletes, and alumni. This has been one of those things where any change like this is viewed as being very difficult. This has been a great opportunity for us.
"As we move along in the future of athletics here at the university we will find that the only goal and the only vision we can have with this football program is to be back in the national picture. It is not to be in the middle of Conference USA. The goal for us is to achieve at a very high level. We had to find someone who had experience in the coaching world, someone who knows the world of football and someone who understands the athlete today. Someone who sets expectations and has high standards, who expects discipline and who gives respects to the athletes and that they in turn respect him and we have this person."
On new head coach Kevin Sumlin:
"Everyone that I have spoken with around the country has very high regards for this man, Kevin Sumlin. He is someone who has tremendous respect throughout the athletic community and the football community. Kevin has been many great places and involved with programs that have achieved at a very high level including Texas A&M and Oklahoma and now at the best university of all, the University of Houston. Those places have been successful and during that time he has recruited the city of Houston and this entire area. He knows this area very well. He is highly thought of by high school coaches in this state and in this area. It is essential that we have high-caliber people on our team, that's the only way you have success. The recruiting will be dynamic and very successful. He will achieve great things and he is going to do it with our help. He is going to do it because everyone here and in the community wants success. There is no room for failure or being tired. This place has to be energized. It has to be a place where people look at us and say they want to be a part of the University of Houston.
On the support at the University of Houston:
I can't look around the room and give the names of everyone that is here but I would like to call attention to a few. The regents of the University of Houston have been very supportive. They are doing great things for this University and the athletics department. I would like them to know how much all of that is appreciated. They are the people that set the tone for this University in many different ways."
On Welcome Wilson:
"Welcome has been so excited (about the hire) that at a get-together we had this morning he drew up a couple of plays. The only thing is he had eight guys on offense and 10 guys on defense. It's a new kind of football. I am only kidding, Welcome knows his football."
On Lynden Rose and Calvin Stephens:
"The other two gentleman who are here, also great people for the university; Lynden Rose who gets so much better as a basketball player every year. He really is pretty good now. But Lynden, you're the man, you're the champ. The other regent here today is Calvin Stephens who is from Dallas but also a University of Houston alum. He's been a great regent, been a great friend. These people are tremendous people for this university and I want them to know how much I really appreciate them."
On Interim President Dr. John Rudley:
"During this period of time over the last several months we have had an interim president here at the University of Houston. Someone who has been at the University of Houston for the last five years, plus he's been a tremendous vice chancellor, sometimes I call it the chancellor of vice. He doesn't always appreciate that. He's been a vice chancellor and he's an interim president now at the University of Houston.
"John has done a terrific job, not only as the interim president but as the vice chancellor, vice president of business and finance. He is a great personal friend and a great friend to this university. He believes in athletics and has been very, very supportive of athletics during his time here."
On the support staff at UH:
"I want to thank those folks, and there are many, many more. It's always great to have coach Yeoman here with us. He's here, he established this great foundation that we've talked about before. He and A.J., we're always glad to have you with us, coach."
On Guy V. Lewis:
"When I was asked to assume this position, the first two people that I called from California were number one I called Bill Yeoman first and the next person I called was Guy Lewis. Guy is here with us and Guy, of course, is the other person that has set this great standard and this great foundation for athletics and basketball. This is a man who continues with his therapy every day. He is one of the toughest men that you will ever find in your entire life. He is a great Cougar, he's done so many great things for this university. Thank you for being here with us today."
On the core of support UH has: "There are others who have been as I've said a core support at the University of Houston who have lived and died with what this program has been for a very long period of time. You can't express enough gratitude to those people because they've hung in there in so many different ways for such a long period of time. Those who are in the audience here I want you to know how much we appreciate all the great support that you have given to this university. I know that as tim goes along we're going to add to that core. Kevin (Sumlin) is going to help us with that and other people within the athletic department."
On how Sumlin will approach the OU bowl game and his recruits:
"I want you to know what great support he's going to have. He's going to be a great success. We talked about when Kevin comes on board and we're going to talk more about that this afternoon and some other details on him coming here. As you know they're (University of Oklahoma) in a bowl game and OU has been a pretty successful football program. We discussed this, Bob Stoops wants him to coach in the bowl game and if he wants to do that then that's the right thing for him to do. That's the ethical thing for him to do. He won't be recruiting people that he's already recruited for Oklahoma. He's going to be recruiting people that have commitments to the University of Houston."
On Sumlin's hiring process
"During this period of time he's going to hiring staff, he's going to be talking with staff people. I know you have a lot of questions in terms of who he's going to bring. We've talked about some of those people, he's going to bring a strong staff. I think the mark of a secure person is somebody who is going to have strong people around him, he will. He'll have people that can help him get the job done and can enhance this program. Some of those people obviously have jobs, he's careful about talking about them. I have recommended that he interview everybody on our staff currently."
On Interim Head Coach Chris Thurmond and his support staff:
"Chris Thurmond has taken this, he's the interim head coach, he's going to coach through the bowl and he's done a tremendous job. He's a loyal person. We have not won a bowl game since 1980. The streak will begin, the first one of many, on December 28th when we play TCU here at the Texas Bowl. The team has responded well to him and believe me, he's done a terrific job. I want to make sure he receives the credit for taking this on and doing what he's doing, and all the other assistant coaches who have decided to stay here and work through the bowl. Everyone knows that all of these people have professional lives. It's not easy for them, but they're going to work through it and we're going to work through it as a staff."
On Sumlin meeting with the players and what he'll bring to the team:
"Coach Sumlin is going to be talking with the team. He's going to meet with the team today at 3pm. I think that he's going to talk about some of his philosophy and his expectations. I want all of you to know that in this search, we did talk with a lot of people up through the evenings and through the night, but as I said before this is no time for anybody to be tired, this is a time that we should all be energized. This guy here is going to energize this program; Kevin Sumlin."
HEAD COACH KEVIN SUMLIN
Opening Statement:
"Thank you. Real quickly I want to get some special thanks out of the way. Obviously today is a very special day for me as a coach, to be a head coach at a Division I program. Especially at a great university like the University of Houston, and a great city like Houston. I want to say thanks to my ex-boss, coach Bob Stoops and Joe Castiglione (OU Director of Athletics), for really giving me a foundation. I also want to thank my family, my wife Charlene, Jackson, Joey, Shelby and Courtney, my kids, for putting up with me through this process. Coaching is not easy but they support me, they have fun, they love football and they put up with me."
On head coach Sumlin's vision of the University of Houston
"A week and a half ago we started talking and this situation came up. During that process I got to know Dave Maggard. At first, I saw The University for what it is. I saw it when I drove down here and recruited for ten or fifteen years and didn't really understand. I've always looked at the University of Houston as a place that should be at the top of this conference. It has all the resources, all the talent pool and is really a tremendous place."
On how much Sumlin wanted to be head coach:
"As I began to discuss this issue with Dave Maggard I really started to feel good because here is a man who is not satisfied. Here is a man who sees the University of Houston as a conference championship team every year. He has goals and wants to be a BCS team, an at-large team. The more that I began to discuss this job with him, the more that I really thought it was the place for me. Towards the end I started to try to convince him that I was the guy for the job, so it kind of flipped there for a second."
On the goals, expecations and support there is for University of Houston:
"It becomes easy to make decisions when you know people are all on the same page. I've been really fortunate to be around some outstanding coaches in my career. Some guys who set great examples and created great models for winning. As I began to speak with Dave about the situation, his goals and where he sees the University of Houston, I feel exactly the same way. You hire a coach, and when you have expectations like that from an athletics director, you have the support.
"As I look around the room I see many friends, guys that I've known for a long time and the people of this community. We've got the support, we've got the leadership up top and as a coach I've come in here to win championships. All that being said, I think it's really important that you have a feeling of where you are, what's expected and it starts with the leadership up top. I look around and see support in this room today. When I came through that locker room and came down that elevator with that band playing, I was thinking I can't wait to get to work and I can't wait to get our first championship next year."
