Sept. 3, 2012

Opening Statement

"Thank y'all for coming. We came in yesterday and worked out. The kids have a pretty good workout. We cut it a little short because of the monsoon outside. The kids showed up ready to go to work. I expect the exact same thing tomorrow. Obviously, last week was disappointing and we're ready to move on and go to work for Arkansas State. We have a tremendous challenge in front of us. We're looking forward to getting our kids focused on the task at hand."

On getting in the right mindset for the next game

"I don't get any of that sense from `here we go again.' Our kids and coaches are upbeat and understand the process. We understand where we're at. The program is getting healthier daily."

On the team's play last Saturday

"I thought we played with really good effort. I thought we displayed some toughness. We did not play intelligently. We made too many mistakes. I want to go out of my way and make sure and say that UT Martin played a great game and deserved to win. But, we hurt ourselves. We're not talented enough to turn the ball over three times and win, regardless of who we're playing."

"When we got here, we looked at some of the numbers of where this program had been. In the last two years, the number of fumbles we had before we got here was staggering. We made that an emphasis from the start. To not hold on to the ball better than we did was really disappointing. I'm not sure what it should be attributed to other than we didn't get the job done. The penalties are a couple of things. I do think one or two of them were our guys playing hard and they were a little out of position. A couple of them are from lack of discipline to do the right thing every single time you're out there. We're not going to tolerate that."

On the attitude of the fans after Saturday's loss

"I think that people have to understand where we're at and what we took over. I have not taken this job and made crazy promises and outlandish guarantees. I've been quite frank at where we're at and where we're going to go. I would implore the fan base to get behind us. They were behind us. They did a great job. Our kids are not going to quit working. There are two groups that I really care about, and that's our players and coaches and our fans. I feel obligated to do a great job for our seniors, our freshmen, our kids that have been through so much, our coaches and their families and for our fans that have been through so much as well. We're going to have to build a program, not just make one appear."

On what to expect in the upcoming games

"I think you'll see us continue to get better. We play so many young guys. There were so many guys on the field that played their first college game. There were starters that had never played college ball. Quite a few of them played admirably. I was pleased in a lot of those aspects."

On the feeling of coaching his first game as a head coach

"It was really good right until the end. In all honesty, I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed being with the coaches and the players. We were prepared for scenarios. I felt we had been through every single thing. It wasn't a deal of where kids were uncertain about where to go or what to do."