September 20, 2005
Talk a little bit about the possibilities of what happens if this game does move to Thursday, and how it affects you?
"Well, you know, if that's what we have to do, that's what we have to do. Our first priority has to be the safety and welfare of all our athletes and our staff and our fans and their families and, you know, we need to keep that in mind and hopefully we can get this game in and reschedule it. Obviously in light of playing last Saturday, we would have to make some adjustments and changes in practice and our schedule and how we would handle it. We would probably be a little bit at a disadvantage in that regard because they were open last week so they've had more time to prepare. But what happens in college football is they tell me what time we play and I've got to get my team ready to play at that time. We'll do what we have to do. We'll make the adjustments we need to and maybe help us refine our game plan a little bit more in places but the main thing is we've got everybody safe and difficulty or problems with anyone and put them in precarious positions and get ready to play and we need to play this game. We need to play. We don't need to play a game, take a week off, play a game, take another week off. That's not a very good schedule for us in that regards. So we do hope we get to play.
Have you had discussions about it and what are the chances of it being on Thursday?
"All of this started late last night when we heard the weather forecast and -- I don't know how to tell you what the chances are. Obviously there's some pretty good chance of it I would say right now with the forecast. We're preparing for that as a distinct possibility."
Have you had any conversation or heard anything from the folks over in San Marcos?
"Our administrators have had conversations with their administrators."
What would you guys need to know to make a decision in order to be able to pull this off on Thursday?
"I would think it couldn't be any later than maybe noon tomorrow. I know that we're going to have some more meetings this afternoon about possibilities and you know, I kind of hope we make a decision some time today rather than noon tomorrow, but it could go as late as noon to try to give the weather an opportunity to sort itself out to see if it continues on the path it's continuing. Obviously with what happened a few weeks ago we don't want to push the envelope in that area. I don't want to be in any more hurricanes. Virginia Tech was enough for me."
What was it you saw in David Bailiff that made you retain him on your staff at Southwest Texas?
"First off David was an alum, and he knew everybody and knew the university, and so initially that to me looked like a good link for me and the staff. And then obviously he was really an outstanding recruiter. He just seemed to fit in and blend in and it was important for him to get to stay at Southwest Texas and, you know, I like that. That was important to me that people wanted to be there and obviously it worked out very well."
He's obviously done a pretty good job of turning that program around as well. Can you speak to that?
"That program was in disarray when he arrived. He did not inherit a very good situation, and for him to be able to do what he's done in the short amount of time is really positive and you really have to pat on the back for him to be able to do that. I think he's the perfect person to be hired at the time that he was hired. They needed someone that loved the university. They needed someone with integrity that would work at it and understood what needed to be done. And David's done that and recruited some good players. He's gotten a number of Division I transfers. I think they're going to win a lot of football games."
He's said you were a great teacher and mentor for him as a young football coach. How does that make you feel for him to say that?
"I appreciate that. You know, it's a little bit like I guess being a father in some ways. Ever since the day I left Southwest Texas one of the first scores I check on Sundays has always been theirs. That's really a special place for me. To see David doing such a nice job of turning the program around is something I'm proud of, just like when Gary Patterson does well. For Gary and any of the coaches that have been under your guidance at some point in time continue to do well makes you feel good."
What did you see with Texas State in the direction the program was going when you left, and how would it be now if you never left (laughing)?
"(Laughing) I don't know how to answer that."
"I'd like to feel like we left it in a lot better shape than when we found it. They had had five straight losing seasons and we did have two winning seasons back to back and felt like we were pointed in the right direction. Obviously our work was not complete, and I felt a little bad about leaving in that light, but there was an opportunity for us that we felt like we needed to take. They built a nice end zone facility there. It's a marvelous little town and great location with a wonderful university. They have every ingredient that they need to be successful-a good coaching staff now, and a great place to go to school. I think they're going to win lots of games and I'd like to think maybe one less game, but you never know the answer to that one completely. They are really headed in a good direction now and I'd like to think we left them a little bit better."
Everything you just said that about that campus, great looking campus, a bunch of students...do you ever see it having the potential to be a Division I program?
"I do. I think this game was probably scheduled-I don't know this for fact, but I would guess this game was scheduled when two or three years ago they announced intentions to go to Division I. I'm under the assumption that's when they scheduled this game. I do believe that they have the ingredients that it takes. There's only two properties in a situation like that, manpower and learning, and with both you can do anything. But that school has the ability, with the resources and student body and many other areas that could help it achieve that kind of status."
When you came here from Alabama you expressed a desire to return to Texas, that it felt like home. How much of that foundation was set in your two years in San Marcos.? Obviously you were at TCU so maybe it was because you enjoyed yourself so much in Fort Worth?
"No, it was San Marcos, too. I had recruited Texas for a long time but I hadn't been fortunate enough to live here. Our experience in San Marcos was so good that we developed a strong love for Texas and living in this state...and the high school football and the pride that people take in this state, and the pride they teach their children. We just felt so good about our kids growing up in this environment and the support that the schools have and give to the children. It was a big part of Kim and I developing a fondness for living in the state of Texas. I like it because there's good football players here but I like it for a lot of other reasons."
You referred to San Marcos as a special place for you. Can you say that about every place you've coached, and if not, what was it about San Marcos itself that made it so special?
"We obviously have been very fortunate in our career. I don't think we've had hardly any place that wasn't special to us. For Kim and I, at that point and time in our career, and opportunity for me to be head coach at a I-AA school and to coach in Texas-the specialness was created by the people. Billy Miller was our A.D. and he was a wonderful guy to work with. He was a football A.D. and a good administrator. We had a community that was hungry and starved for a winning football team, and at the end it was just a great place to live, to raise a family. We still have friends that are very close to us from our days at San Marcos and still some great stories about living there. I believe this in my heart that if it had worked out in my coaching career, and I would have only coached at Southwest Texas for the rest of my life, that would have been okay. That would have been fine with me because it was a great place to coach."
Can you bring yourself to call it Texas State?
"It's hard for me to do that. It is. I don't mean to be disrespectful by not doing it. It's just that I grew up with it as SWT and Southwest Texas and it's hard for me to say Texas State sometimes when I should but I only mean that coming from a fondness for the place."
Having seen what Texas Tech did to Sam Houston, when you're playing a team that you're obviously, especially division I-AA, obviously better than, when do you feel like is the time to start easing up?
"Well, I hope I have to have lots of times when I have to figure that out."
"You cannot go into any game thinking about that. You've got to go into every game respectful of your opponents and understanding there's a way to win for everybody on any given day, and if you don't understand that you have to look no farther than last weekend when Stanford lost to Cal-Davis, a I-AA school, and they got beat 20-17 Saturday. You know there are fine differences between I-AA and Division I. I have always thought the top 25 teams in I-AA would compete well with most Division I. This is a school with 15 Division I transfers in their two-deep. I think they're starting four or five on each side of the ball. It's almost like you're playing a Division I team as far as the top 22 go. One of the things I think happened a little bit against SMU is our depth was probably better than theirs. With the temperature on that day it probably enabled us to make SMU look a little worse than they really are. I don't think they're a bad team and I still believe they're going to win a lot of football games, but on that day the heat and the ability for us to play over 80 guys-you hope that the depth is always going to be a plus for you in a game like that."
Is it hard to get your team to get up for a school that would not have been on the recruiting radar for the players on your team?
"Not many of them were recruited by Clemson."
"The thing that we have talked about as a program is that -- this is about us right now. This is our last game before conference play. We are just now getting into a rhythm. It doesn't so much matter who's in the jerseys on the opposite side as what our spunk is like and what our competitiveness is like and what our ability to improve now. You heard me say this a hundred times that you should make improvement from game one to game 2. I'm not sure our game one in some ways wasn't last week. I mean, it wasn't. We know that. But you play a game then you don't play and you kind of get extra practice time and you hope you make improvement from that one to the next one but I still believe that having been able to play right again the next week would have been a factor in that somewhat so we just need to be focused on us. We have bigger challenges obviously in conference play. Conference play is the ultimate challenge and we can't worry about what's on the other sideline as much as what's on our sideline right now and how we respond and how we play.
On the flip side of it, if you'd been at Southwest Texas State in '90 or '91 if you come to A&M and played, would you have been excited and realized what would be there for you?
"Let me tell you: one thing I know is Coach Bailiff and that team will be torqued up to come here and they will be ready and play very hard and intently, and if we don't put ourselves in a position to fight just as hard we're going to have a hard day and we can't do that. We've got to get ready to play and ready to improve. You can't improve by giving a half-hearted effort. You only improve by giving a good effort."
If y'all were to play on a Thursday would that give y'all more time to prepare for that Big 12 opener?
"In everything there are pluses and minuses and that would give us a little bit more time to prepare for that game which would be a plus."
If y'all waited until Saturday and then cancelled this game would it not be made up?
"I don't know when it could be played. You know our open date is the 19th I think of November, and that's when they're playing Sam Houston State, which is their arch-rival, and I think they've got a great chance to make the I-AA playoffs. I believe those start the next week. They're not going to want to mess with the game with us. Their A.D. may want to but you know they're going to want to get in the playoffs and play. So I don't know what other option is out there other than to play Thursday night."
Coach, speaking of improvement and things talk about defensive third down conversion rate. They had 18 against SMU. Is that worrisome?
"I don't think we're pleased with that. I think the disappointing thing that we're evaluating probably is I think four of those were third and longs and if you stop those three out of four third and longs now you're 5-of-18 and you're much more respectful in that regards. So that's the part of it that I think we need to evaluate our calls as coaches, that kind of situation we put our players in; make sure that we are putting them in the best call for that situation. Trying to be too aggressive on third and 18 or trying to not be aggressive enough. Whatever it may be. It's still a concern we continue to dwell on."
You were able to play a lot of defensive secondary people against SMU. What are your thoughts on those positions?
"Marquis Carpenter has been a - I don't want to say a pleasant surprise -- but he's been a guy that I think I've been impressed with his play. He's got the temperament to play out there on the edge. He's made a lot of good plays, been a good tackler, grabbed two interceptions. I don't know how many pass breakups but I think he's got the makings of being a quality football player. Keep in mind he's only a sophomore in eligibility. Danny Gorrer has made some nice plays and he's going continue to get better. Brock Newton is progressing. That entire group is a little bit of work in progress, but they're making progress. We want them to continue to make it as fast as we need them to make it. That's the key. But Marquis really is. We did get to play some freshmen in the game. Every one of them that got experience can be valuable because we're going to need them in nickel and dime situations as we go through the season and playing more and more defensive backs so you know in this day and age of college football you need lots of receivers and you need lots of DBs on football teams. We're a spread offense that needs lots of receivers and we face enough spread offenses that is you need lots of DBs. When you start thinking about nickel and dime and want to be too deep in those positions for training purposes, you're talking about 10 to 14 defensive backs that can play in a football game and you just need numbers today more so than ever before because of the styles of offense."