December 28, 2007
Texas A&M's Gary Darnell and Penn State's Joe Paterno met the press on Friday morning at the Valero Alamo Bowl head coaches press conference at the Alamodome.
A transcript is posted below. Audio of the press conference is available through the link to the right.
Valero Alamo Bowl
Head Coaches Press Conference Transcript
December 27, 2007 - Alamodome - San Antonio
COACH PATERNO: "Well, obviously, we're excited to be here. We've been here before and we had a great time and it's a great city, and I talked to some of my players last night and they've all had a great time. You're trying to get them settled in and focused on the fact that we've got to play a football game tomorrow night, but I think it's been a great experience, and it's -- I grew up, as a coach, admiring so much what was going on at Texas A & M. When John David Crow was playing down there and Coach Bryant came down and changed it around, it had a great impact on me. I've read that book about how they turned that program around and the -- What were they? They'd won one or two games before he came down, and after that -- So it's been kind of fun and exciting to come play a team the quality of Texas A & M in Texas, in a city as great as this city is and an arena as good as this one is. So, you know, we're excited."
COACH DARNELL: "I think of three things from our standpoint. Certainly, it's an honor to be here. I think it's a privilege to be here, and the other part, in regards to our football team, I think we earned it to be here, and that's -- I think you're supposed to earn your way through life and I think our guys earned the right to be here, but now once you're here, you understand what you -- how important it was or why it meant so much to try and get here and then you throw into the whole mix of things as far as the city, the Dome -- the Bowl itself, the prestige of it. And then I remember there was a day I was sitting in the office and I was thinking, 'Well, here it is,' because I think it was this way. You never know for sure, but it was either going to be Lloyd Carr or Joe Paterno. I mean, I'm thinking, 'Wow. How is that going to be?' And Coach Paterno and I actually go farther back than Lloyd and I do, just from the standpoint of teaching and learning. I got to know Lloyd a few years ago and I tossed Lloyd out there just simply because there was that one time. The bottom line is, what an honor and a privilege it would have been to either play Penn State or Michigan, either one of those or anybody else, as far as that goes, but as it's turned out, you know, for us, for our players, certainly our staff mingling with their staff and seeing the prestige and the class that Penn State runs their program with, and we'd like to feel like we do the same thing, the same way. A lot of things we do the same way, as far as how we feel about stuff, as far as style of football, and doing those things in this city, with the support it always stays special. A Bowl game never becomes unspecial to you."
Joe, did you hear the negative comments that were made about you last night at the pep rally? Did you have a reaction to that?
COACH PATERNO: "You know, actually, I did not. Let me get this thing out of the way here. If I weren't under pressure, I could still breathe easier. No. When I went out to speak, we were in the back room. Gary and I were just shooting the bull with a couple of his players and a couple of my players. We were back there and I didn't hear any of that, anything that went on, but I think everybody's got to take things in, you know, with a grain of salt. It's some young guy up there and he's trying to be funny and he's -- you know, maybe he's accurate. I don't know. I didn't hear anything until my wife said to me, you know, 'You sounded good in reaction to what was said.' I said, 'What was said?' I honestly didn't hear it and I don't -- I don't particularly care about it. I think, you know, hey, sticks and stones, you know. My mom used to say to me when they used to call me a wop walking down the street, 'Sticks and stones will break your bones, but names will never hurt you,' you know, that kind of thing. And who knows, I may have to walk off the field at halftime and get my crutch."
Joe, they're listing Jorvorskie Lane at 263, but he might be 20 pounds heavier than that, maybe 30 pounds heavier than that. Have you seen a running back that size since Ironhead Heyward?
COACH PATERNO: "Oh, yeah. We've played against some big guys. The kid from Michigan State that ran the punt bounced it outside to a 260-pounder that, you know, really won the game for Michigan State against us. No. He's a good -- He's a heck of a back. He's a big, strong, tough kid and we work like dogs in our tackling and making sure we get our tails tucked under and don't try to, you know, to out-muscle him and the whole bit, but he's -- Hey, without blowing smoke, Texas A & M's got a lot of talent. Okay? I worry about McGee or I go to bed thinking about McGee and the back and, obviously, if you overplay McGee, you're going to have problems with the running back."
Gary, with everything that's gone on with the program in the last month or so, I wonder if you can just reflect on your own thoughts coming into the game as your chance to coach the team tomorrow night.
COACH DARNELL: "Well, my background certainly lends to the situation. My experience, I've been doing it for 36 years and I've been at 11 different universities and I've seen it from a lot of different ways and the perspectives, a similar situation I was in in Florida and certainly played, you know, an outstanding team that year in a Bowl game, also, and so, you know, I recall on that, but I think one of the things that I draw upon, I have a little bit of a background in the military and I don't have that much. It's kind of a long story, but a lot of my thinking goes that way. And I think one of the most important things anytime in your leadership position is that you have the poise, you know, to do those things. Nothing would be more frightening than to be, say, the command pilot of a three-man jet and you've got the jitters. How do you think those other people feel? So I think it's real important that, you know, in the firestorms that you have to remain calm and poised and focused on what you're doing and, with that, then the confidence and trust grows and then people can do their jobs. I know the bottom line of what we do or how our management style has been during this transition is to make sure everybody is capable -- is able to do their job. And Texas A & M is very unique, and I will say this: With my experiences at different universities, I don't know of a place I've been where every single person is competent and qualified to do their job that they're doing. There's no -- I don't see any token employees anywhere in our system. So if that was -- The decisions I've had to make have been very easy because, you know, I just - 'Are you doing your job?' That's the only question I've got to ask. 'Do you have a problem with your job? Can I help you with your job?' And when you do it that way, you know, I'm not changing things. I'm just directing things."
Joe, when you were studying the game films of Texas A & M, did their last game against Texas, did their offense appear to you to be any different than it had been in other games, maybe more wide open?
COACH PATERNO: "Well, that's a tough question to answer because, you know, I look so much at personnel, you know, and I let the assistant coaches really kind of get a feel for what schemes they've got to get themselves -- get ready for, but, you know, you always have to evaluate who you're playing against and how you're going to do some things, because the teams that I looked at that Texas A & M played, some of them were just -- were really won -- in a couple of cases, Texas A & M hurt themselves, where they had a chance to make it a game where they had a chance to win, that they did some things that -- well, they lost a game. They didn't really get beat. They lost a game. So I don't -- I think it was pretty much the same offense; although, I -- Don't hold me to that. I know that they were comfortable with what they did against Texas. Texas is a heck of a football team. You know, they had a great change-up on so many things. The play calling was excellent. Their schemes were good and I concentrated more on that, the one they won, than I did on some of the games that they - you know, where they had -- had problems. So it's hard for me to answer that."
Coach Paterno, can you talk about the decision not to have Baker or Bowman and Timmons not make the trip and your concerns about the defensive linemen?
COACH PATERNO: "Well, I am concerned about it. I'm concerned about the fact -- you know, we have a couple of kids hurt, two of our better kids, Odrick and Hays, that were starters that got hurt. Both have had operations. And then when we had to leave Baker home, who was a starter. So we're a little shaky up there up front, but, you know, there again, you play what you've got, and I hope we've been able to -- One good thing about a Bowl game is that I knew I wouldn't -- we were not going to have those three kids two or three weeks ago and we've worked some other kids in there. So, hopefully, the other kids will do a pretty good job. They're big enough. They're strong enough. We're not going in there with a bunch of undersized, under-athletic kids. Experience-wise, yeah, you know, I'm worried about that, and I'm worried about being alert to some things that Texas A & M can do. I mean, you can't -- We've got a tough job ahead of us and we've tried to get those kids ready for that, but I think we're fortunate enough that we've had the extra time you have for a Bowl game. I wish we had not had final exams up until the time we left so that we could have maybe gotten a little bit more work with those kids, but that's what we've got. We've got to play with them."
Coach, did you feel last year, after beating Tennessee, that you got some positive momentum going in the off season and can you talk about that opportunity?
COACH PATERNO: "Well, I think we had a good off season. We've had a good -- There's been a good squad to work with. I've -- We've had some off -- off-the-field problems, you know, a couple of guys that -- younger guys that were not smart enough to walk away from a fight, that kind of thing, and I wish they had and that stuff, but I think we've had a really good off season, had a heck of a spring practice. I think that we've done -- They've worked hard to get ready for this football game. I think they're anxious to play. If we get licked, we're going to get licked. I mean, I think we're - We came off the Tennessee game with an idea we could be a pretty good football team. Unfortunately, we lost a couple of games where we didn't do a couple of things that we could have, but I think we've had good morale and we've had a bunch of kids that can constantly come to practice and practice, trying to get better."
Joe, this will be your 500th game on Saturday. When did you realize that it would be the 500th and do you put a lot of stock or think about the milestones like that much?
COACH PATERNO: "This isn't my 500th game, is it? Here's the guy that's coached at 11 institutions. All right? He's coached 36 years and you guys are worried about whether I'm counting whether this is my 500th game. Baloney, guys. This is a football game. All right? And it's a bunch of kids -- It's not my game. It's a bunch of kids playing each other. Sure, I've been in a lot of Bowl games, a lot of Bowl games, but how many Bowl games are these kids going to play in? It's their game. I mean, Texas A & M and Penn State players are playing the game and I couldn't care less whether it was my 500th or my fifth. To be very honest with you, I didn't even think about it. The other night, somebody brings it up and I just -- that's -- No. I didn't -- It's my 500th, huh? I always like to tell the story about the Italian who couldn't count. They asked him if he could count and he said, 'Yeah, I can count, one, two, three.' And he said, 'Can you count any higher?' He said, 'Sure, I can count higher, one, two, three.'"
Joe, just to follow up on the Baker, Bowman and Timmons, you said two weeks ago that they were coming and then now they're not coming, so I just want to know what happened...
COACH PATERNO: "Forget about it, will you? Let's talk about the football game, for crying out loud. They're not here. What do you want me to do? They're not here and you know why they're not here, so why -- forget about it."
Joe, I have six weeks until -- I'm six weeks older than you are.
COACH PATERNO: "I know you are."
My girlfriend said you can still do it.
COACH PATERNO: "Said what?"
You're in great shape and you can still do it. I think you can still do it. You have been doing it and you will continue to do it.
COACH PATERNO: "What are you talking about doing? Holy smoke, I'm not Hugh Hefner, you know."
COACH DARNELL: "I didn't know these things were that personal."
COACH PATERNO: "Should we bring wives to these things? No. Sure. I can do it. I enjoy it. You know, we were talking last night about -- One of the staff girls came down with us from Tim Curley's office and she's going to be working 35 years and she's going to retire, and I said, 'What in God's name do you want to retire for? You're such a young woman.' And she said, 'You know, I've been 35 years.' I said, 'What are you going to do?' She doesn't know what she's going to do. Why retire? What am I going to do? Why are you working?"
It's fun. I enjoy it.
COACH PATERNO: "Well, I enjoy it. So why are you throwing rocks at me, huh?"
I'm going to keep going as long as you do, which will be a long time, I guess.
COACH PATERNO: "Well, I don't know how long I'm going to go, you know. The good Lord's got some rhyme and reason for some things. I've been very fortunate. I enjoy it. I really, thoroughly enjoy it. I said to somebody last night -- A couple of people were over at the hospitality suite at our hotel with -- said something like that. I said, 'Now, if I wasn't coaching, what would I do this Saturday? Cut grass? No. You can't cut grass in State College. Shovel snow? I don't like to shovel snow.' Okay? I mean, what are you going to do? I don't play golf. I don't fish. I don't hunt. Now, maybe some of the other things you're talking about, can I still do...
Gary, I just want to talk you a little bit about just kind of the different emotions that maybe go into this game for you guys as you're going to -- This is, obviously, going to be your last game with these kids, this staff's last game, you know, with the kids that they've recruited and they've coached for years and just kind of -- Have you thought much about what that's going to be like?
COACH DARNELL: "Truthfully, no. As a matter of fact, I've built in a couple of things to make sure they understood. You know, we do something along the way we call a senior handshake, but it's a deal where we divide the team up by class, freshmen, red shirt freshmen, sophomore, juniors, and the seniors down one sideline and everybody goes through and they shake the seniors' hand. When you do that, you see a couple of things. It's really kind of a neat thing because you see your whole team, and I've told the coaches I've actually made recruiting decisions at that very moment because I could see the whole team, how it looks class-wise and that sort of thing, but by doing that, you know, I wanted them to make sure, you know, 'Hey, seniors, you know, you've fought a hard fight. You've done a good fight. You've done your job. This is your last game. Now, you other guys, you need to be getting ready. You need to see where you fit in this thing, too.' So I think, you know, as far as the emotion of the last game, I don't feel like it's any different than it would be and I -- and, you know, for our coaches, it's not their last game. You know, the only people it's probably their last game is the seniors that's not going on to play professional, but for everybody else, you know, there's another rainbow out there for them to go to and they'll be there."
Coach Darnell, last year you didn't have a great performance in the Bowl game. Almost all those kids are back and a bunch of starters from that game. What's been different in preparation for this game than you saw when you were in the Holiday Bowl?
COACH DARNELL: "Well, the truth -- I think the biggest thing, we're not sick, you know, and I think that was an undertone that we probably never really exposed, but, you know, I saw a team that they'd been traveling with colds, flus and all that kind of stuff. So it was never mentioned before, but because we've come from close by and we haven't been in airplanes flying all over the country to get here and all that, we're healthier than we were a year ago, I mean, just in general. We just feel better. And so that's kind of a big thing at this deal. So that and, plus, the comfort zone of being here, knowing -- you know, having played in the Alamodome before. There's just a comfort zone here that certainly wasn't there. Everything was ga-ga last year. It was something new for them. It's just a better feeling, you know, as far as we're at home. We know what we're doing. We feel good."