University of Washington Official Athletic Site - Football
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Transcript Announcing New UW Football Coach
January 11, 1999
Rick Neuheisel Press Conference Quotes
Don James Center, University of Washington
Washington Athletic Director Barbara Hedges
Opening remarks:
"It certainly is my pleasure today to introduce the next coach of the Washington Huskies, Rick Neuheisel. I do want to recognize his wife, Susan. When I began the search on December 30th, my goal was to find the very best coach possible, and to make a statement about the importance of the University of Washington football program. I believe I have done that.
"During the search, I talked to some of the most prominent people in college football both regarding their interest in the position, and to seek their opinions about candidates. It was very clear to me that this is a coveted job. From the very beginning, the focus was on trying to hire an existing head coach. However, we did have telephone interviews with assistant coaches. Ultimately, I settled on four candidates: Gary Pinkel, Chris Tormey, John Mackovic, and Rick Neuheisel.
"The process has always been that the interview team makes a recommendation to me after the interviews are concluded, and then I make the decision. The recommendation made to me by the interview team was unanimous: it was Rick Neuheisel.
"The contract is a seven year contract of approximately one million dollars per year. The compensation is in three parts: University compensation, outside compensation, and performance incentives. All of the revenue for this contract comes from athletic department resources, not University resources, and not State of Washington resources.
"The interview team for this process are the following: Rob Aronson, law professor, and faculty athletic representative; former football players Carver Gayton and Rick Redman; businessmen Wayne Gittinger and Ron Crockett; ICA staff Ralph Bayard, Gary Barta, and Jim Daves; and I also received input from student-athletes."
Washington President Richard McCormick
Opening remarks:
"On behalf of the University of Washington, I am very proud to join Barbara Hedges in welcoming Rick Neuheisel to our University and to leadership of the Husky football program. I admire what he has accomplished as a head coach at Colorado and prior to that as an assistant coach at UCLA, prior to that as an outstanding student-athlete at UCLA. I am confident that Rick will enjoy tremendous success for many, many years at the University of Washington. I also admire Coach Neuheisels values. He has made clear his commitment to the academic success of our student-athletes and to their personal and moral growth as well as their athletic success. Finally, I want to recognize the outstanding job that Athletic Director Barbara Hedges has done. She made a tough decision announced less than two weeks ago. She brought it before you with courage and candor, and she set out to find - as quickly as she possibly could - the best head coach available in the United States, and less than two weeks later shes done that. Rick Neuheisel is here - Barbara has described the process that brought him here. Barbara, I cannot say enough how much I admire the way that you handled this, the courage and candor that you displayed throughout it, and not least, your success at appointing coach Rick Neuheisel. Coach Neuheisel, it is a pleasure to welcome you to the University of Washington, and to leadership of our football program."
Washington Football Coach Rick Neuheisel
Opening remarks:
"Let me start by saying how thrilled I am on behalf of my family. Susan and I are excited as we can be. This has all happened unbelievably quickly, and yet I know deep down that this is exactly the right thing, exactly the right place, and this is exactly the right time. I am ready to proceed full speed ahead.
"I want to apologize quickly to those of you who had to see me in a cowboy hat yesterday in the Seattle Times, but that was back when I was a kid.
"The reasons that this job is such a shining star in our profession are many. I just want to give you a little background on why I sat and got so excited and enthused about this particular opportunity. I was a student-athlete at UCLA, I walked on there and became a football player. I got on a couple of traveling teams that got to come up here and play in Husky Stadium. Back in 1982, in a game the Huskies beat UCLA 10-7, one of the great college football games Ive ever been a part of, though I didnt play that much. I was in that tunnel the players use to enter this particular shrine to college football, and the lights went out. Two teams, very confined quarters, and the lights go out in that tunnel. It was a big game, I think both teams were ranked in the top 20 in the country. All of a sudden, the Husky players started to bark. Im on record telling you, I was frightened. And I said, This place knows how to do it, this is mystique, this is what you look for when youre a student-athlete wanting to get involved in all thats good about college football. The game was as advertised, a 10-7 game, a great ballgame. But I left the University of Washington on that particular trip very, very excited about what was here, and more clear in what Terry Donahue, my coach at the time and later my boss, had always said: Husky football is the top program in our conference and thats who weve got to match up to - those guys have it going on.
"It is unbelievable to be sitting here in front of you as your new head coach. I leave behind a great University. The University of Colorado was a great place for our family. It provided me an opportunity to begin a head coaching career. I leave behind many student-athletes who I sat in their living rooms and told them all about the University of Colorado. When this offer was plated before me, and I want to thank personally Barbara for helping me through this; I was kind of like a pilot without knowing how to fly. Heres how to land the plane, Rick. So she got me down without having to get the paramedics involved. Going through this, I just felt that this was the place I could realize all my goals as a college football coach. College football is a wonderful game. Although being big business, it is a wonderful platform for young people to experience all that is good about intercollegiate life. There is great competition, there are great lessons that you derive just from the game of football in itself, and obviously you get to come to a great University and experience what we all, as we look back, call the greatest years of our lives. It is an unbelievable thrill, as I said, for me to be here.
"Now, were in a state of change. We can all make rational decisions and we can all move forward, but unfortunately we cant control how fast the train moves. Theres going to be a lot of change, and anytime theres change, theres discomfort. There are people watching and worrying about jobs and so forth. Were going to need to get through that.
"Recruiting is in full force as you know. Recruitings signing date is February 3rd; that will be our number one priority as we begin here, to rally the troops and make sure that we bring in a top recruiting class to the University of Washington.
"My formula for success as I look down the road has always been creating a team. Team means a lot of things. Team is not just wins and losses. Team means no one points fingers when there are bumps in the road. Team means that everybody is in it for each other, not for themselves. Team means no cliques. Team means lots of things and that will be what I preach to the Washington Husky football team, and that is what I will preach throughout the entire Washington Husky family. As I look around the room, there are obviously a lot of people here who have long, long ties to this great program. I want you to know that Im not coming in here trying to change, Im coming in here because of what you have created, what you have built, and I want to be a part of it. I think I can bring enthusiasm, I think I can bring effort, and I promise you I can bring fun. We can have a great time together, and we can enjoy all that is good about college football.
"I also want to build on the great tradition of Washington football. As I told you, I have my own personal experiences having played here as an opponent, but I also have been a great admirer of guys like Don James and Jim Lambright. I spoke to both of them prior to accepting this job because I wanted to make sure, in a roundabout sort of way, that I had their blessing. It is understandable that Don James would want for his former assistants to have this opportunity - thats loyalty, and thats what makes this game the best of all, because there is loyalty. He was excited for me. He spoke about the virtues of this great place, and he said that hed be available if I needed any advice. Ive only called him 72,000 times already, so I think the relationship is going fine.
"I also spoke to Jim Lambright. This is obviously a difficult time for him, because he believes in this program, he spent a great deal of his life here. He and his wife have become close to Susan and I. I didnt want to come in here and make it seem like I was changing everything that he had done; that isnt my goal or my intent. I want his support and Im very happy to report that he unequivocally gave it to us, and said he was happy that the Huskies were getting Susan. He wasnt sure about me, but he was happy that Susan was coming. Hopefully, we can continue to have a great relationship with the Lambrights. Im sure that we can. They are excited, as everybody here would know, for Husky football.
"Its important in these moments, these days of change and attention, that we focus not on what we dont have, but rather on what we do have. This will be a process, and we need to enjoy the process - the process of building, the process of going forward. Rebuilding is a term coaches use to protect themselves, and Im not going to use that term. Were going to refocus.
"Its exciting for me to be back in the Pac-10. I grew up in Tempe, Arizona, and I went to Arizona State games on my uncles knee from the time I was five years old. I walked on at UCLA. I went to two Rose Bowls, and I know what that feeling is like. Just recently, on the 31st of December, I was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, one of the great thrills of my life. Walking on that field between the third and fourth quarter, looking at the sun set down in the Arroyo Seco, its the most beautiful place in the world on January 1st, and I want the Huskies to get there as often as is possible.
"I am really looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead. I talked to the team last night. It wasnt a complete meeting, so I didnt share everything I wanted to share, but I got a chance to explain to them what I envisioned, and why I took the job. I also wanted to explain to them why I left another place, because its important as you create loyalty and trust within the relationships that complete a team that they understand that everythings above the table; I will never hide the ball on them, and they need to know that they cant hide the ball on me. We are going to go forward. We are going to trust one another. We are working for the maximum college experience. That is what I envision of myself in the role of a head coach. I want for the student-athletes at the University of Washington to want for nothing. I want to create, with the great effort and the support of the administration and Barbara and all of the different people connected to our program - I want them to have every resource necessary for them to be successful in school so that they get a great education, because we all know football ends. The cheers will die down, and we need to be excited about the challenges that lie after the last standing ovation. We all know that happens.
"I want them to be excited about the big-time opportunity of big-time college football, and this is a big-time place. They are going to experience the very best that college football has to offer, and were going to provide every resource so that they can be successful in that endeavor. I want them to enjoy it. Sometimes we put their day so full, that they dont have time to stop and smell the roses. Roses is a good term in the Pac-10. Its important that we develop time for fun, for camaraderie, for the things that we all look back and cherish as the best times of our lives. Our mission statement in our football program is for the people that play here, if theyre fortunate enough to have sons that play college football, that they would want them to come back to the University of Washington and experience that same wonderful ride that they had the privilege to go through. That is the goal.
"I told them also that our goals as a football team are not going to be rebuilding. We are going to still maintain high expectations for this program. Im not going to use excuses like, Im going to need time. Although, Im not sure exactly what we have. I havent had enough time to research it, but I can promise you this: Washington football will never take a back seat to anybody in the United States of America. It is a place that can be the beacon program, not only in the West, but in the United States, and thats why I jumped at the opportunity. I told them thats its normal in this process to have a feeling out period, its normal for there to be some anxiety with, whos this guy? and all of the different things that the unknown provides. If our goals are going to be abnormal, meaning lofty, then we have to get through that in an abnormal time, meaning its going to have to happen quickly. Hopefully, that can be done, as long as we all are up front with one another and looking towards the future.
"Finally, let me say again, thank you for the wonderful support that Susan and I have received since we arrived yesterday. Thank you for the encouraging words and the wishes for success. It is abundantly clear in the last 24 hours that the state of Washington is very, very proud of the University of Washington. Seattle is really proud of the University of Washington. To achieve the kind of success that we all envision and expect of this program, it is vital that we do everything we can as a team, as a team, to keep the great student-athletes that this state produces right here in the state of Washington, right here at the University of Washington. When you look back at the great success ratio of the team that have come before, those teams that have gone to the Rose Bowl and the pictures that hang in Barbaras office, there are lots of players who are from this particular area that have come here and experienced the best times of their lives at the U-Dub, as Im told.
"I am thrilled to begin, I am excited to have the platform. Anything can happen, and it will happen. Well find a way to make it work. I am a guy that finds a way, and were going to find a way. I am looking forward to the ride. Instead of focusing on the end result, I think that if we all enjoy the ride, we will get there even faster. Ive jumped off of the cliff, so its time to fly. Go Huskies, go Huskies, go Huskies."
Jim Cour (Associated Press): "What is your recruiting situation?" Are you trying to recruit some of the players youve already recruited?"
Neuheisel: "I am currently trying to reach John Mackovic, who is at the coachs convention in Nashville, who chairs the ethics committee of our coaches association. I sit on that committee. Im not there, obviously, but I am hopeful that I will get a chance to speak to him as to what are the necessary things to do with respect to this particular situation. I want to do the ethical thing to do, but I want to make sure the University of Washington is well protected with respect to recruiting and we will go full speed."
Bob Condotta (Tacoma News Tribune): "Where are you at as far as assistants and when do you hope to have a staff completed?"
Neuheisel: "Well, obviously, the quicker the better. Right now we are in the convention period, so most of the coaches in the country are in Nashville as we speak and Im sure news of this is spreading rapidly across the lobby floor, or has already and everybody is trying to figure out how this will settle out. I have three coaches already that are joining me from The University of Colorado: Tim Hundley, Bob Hauck, and Chuck Heater. Im also interested in many of the former staff, but we can only have nine assistant coaches. As I put together a staff, my chief objective in doing that are people that enjoy what we do as ;much as I do, that dont mind the process, that arent so interested in the end result. (People) That look at college football as fun, a labor of love and also are dynamic recruiters. Great players make great coaches, not the other way around. We need to go out and make sure that we go out and not only provide the character and student that the university deserves, but we also need to find the kind of exciting athletes that will entertain Husky fans for the years to come."
John Sleeper (Everett Herald): "How are you different today from the day you accepted the job at Colorado?"
Neuheisel: "I dont have a cowboy hat on (laughter). You learn a myriad of lessons in this process. As I have said maybe fifteen times in the last two days, there is no handbook entitled Coaching-101, that you can look up and see changing of staff, heres what we do, we do this first and that second. Its a trial and error process and that is why experience is so necessary. I was given a great opportunity at Colorado and I jumped into it with both feet. I truly believe and I still believe that the only way to succeed in this is to be yourself. You cant try emulate who had success prior to you. It wasnt possible nor feasible for me to be Bill McCartney at Colorado, nor did I want to be. It wont be possible for feasible for me to be Don James or Jim Lambright here. Im going to do the best at being me and hopefully providing what everybody here is looking here which is a first-class program with first-class expectations. Yes, I want to elicit all the wisdom and all the advise from those guys that have done so many great things in this program before me, as I did with Ed Crowder back at Colorado. The key to any competitive endeavor is to make sure that competition is the watch-word. That everybody understands that theres going to be competition. That as you choose your team everybody has an opportunity to have that spot, let the best player play. Thats fair, even though it might not be fair from an outsider looking in terms of whos the senior, whos the sophomore, those kind of things. It is always best that the best play and that they get those opportunities. That was a lesson that I had to learn at Colorado. In year-three of my tenure there, I made that mistake. I allowed a senior class to just inherit their jobs rather than earn them. It retarded the growth of my younger players, not giving them an opportunity to earn their chance, but it also retarded the growth of seniors, because, as we all know, competition makes you better, so we struggled. I evaluated myself top-to-bottom and I say myself first because I want to be good at what I do. Although self-analysis is difficult, it was very important that I do it, I even asked all my coaches at the time to write down on a piece of paper how they think I could improve. They didnt have to put there names on it, although I could tell their handwriting (laughter). Heater had a couple of great things to say to me. I looks like hieroglyphics when he writes. I want to be better and the overwhelming response that struck a chord with me is that you cant put individuals ahead of the team. My original goal at Colorado was that every player would have a happy ending, a utopia of sorts. We would work hard to make sure that every kid left felling like it was a great experience that we had envisioned when he had arrived and we still want that to happen but we cant mortgage that for the sake of the team. The team is everything. The team is whats so exciting about this profession, being a part of a group of people that is committed to going to the very top and enjoying the process along the way."
Tony Ventrella (KIRO-TV): "I know that you model yourself after Joe Paterno and Steve Spurrier. Is safe to say when your Joes age that you will still be coaching and winning games here at The University of Washington, is it that type of commitment?"
Neuheisel: "Well let me say this. I could have never envisioned how difficult it is to leave the players that you recruited. I still, as yet, have not had the opportunity to say good-bye to them in a proper way because you guys (addressing the media) are too good. This came out too quickly, although Barbara did a nice job of hanging on to this. They werent back in school yet, Monday (today) is their first day back in school so I hope I will have the opportunity to explain to them why Ive done what Ive done. Having gone through this once, I dont want to go through it again. Im here because I think this is a platform from which all things come. This is a place where you can enjoy college football to the nth degree. Seattles a wonderful city, my wife and I are excited to bring Jerry, Jack, and Joe here, theyre not here because we could never have had this press conference with them running all around here. They are wonderful kids, like I said, I love recruiting and it was easy to recruit my sons I just had tell them that Ken Griffey, Jr. lived here and they were in (laughter). In answering your question, hopefully this is my last stop and I can do this job as long as I can do this job."
Bill Swartz (KOMO-Radio): "Coach is it true that you said no to Barbaras first offer and if so, what changed your mind?"
Neuheisel: "Its true. Im not sure no is the right term, I just said that it didnt make sense with respect to one good job to another good job and that we would do something like that given the timing. Obviously, over the course of the next several days I had time to think about my experiences and time to think about what I perceived to be a very committed institution. You dont make these kind of offers, you dont make these kind of commitments without vision. I am excited to be working with people who are excited and who have a vision of what can take place and what will take place if all of us join arms and go down this road together."
Steve Knight (KIRO-Radio): "Question for Dr. McCormick. What do you say to the college professors who being paid so much less than the football coach? How do you justify that?"
McCormick: "I say much the same thing that I say when Im arguing on behalf of their compensation. To get the best, to get the very best, you have to play in, and pay in, the market. The same thing applies weather you are trying to recruit and maintain faculty and the history department or a coach in football. The market, of course, is vastly different in those areas but the same basic imperatives apply: to get the best, and in Rick Neuheisel we have the best, you have to recognize the market and thats the same case I am going to be making on behalf of the faculty and staff down in Olympia, the legislative session begins today, and thats the message to retain and recruit the best at The University of Washington, you have recognize the market. Markets vary and markets are real, I cant wish them away in football any more than I can in history. Its also very important to observe, and Barbara said this in her remarks but I welcome the opportunity to underscore it, that these are athletic department revenues and that means by and large revenues generated by football. Theres not a penny of state appropriations, theres not a penny of taxpayer dollars in coach Neuheisels contract. They are exclusively athletic department revenues and football revenues, by the way, support the entire Husky athletics program, that includes the womens sports and the Olympic sports. Im very proud to be able to observe that Barbara is successful in that respect and, under coach Neuheisel I expect that success will continue. This is department revenue. Its not state revenue, its not taxpayer revenue, its well spent, but you have to play in the market to recruit and retain the best."
John McGrath (Tacoma News Tribune): "Youre being raped, pretty much, today on the Denver talk shows. Do you have a reaction to that?"
Neuheisel: You dont get into this profession without understanding that, as my father says, the higher you are on the ladder, the more your rear-end is exposed (laughter). My dads a wise guy, isnt he? I think that anytime there is change, this is a process. What I envision will happen is that theyll make an announcement here in the next week or so that they have a new head coach and hell be excited. What has been shock and feelings of anger will dissipate to excitement about their new coach. Its exactly what I saw last night in the eyes of my new team. Obviously, they were shocked with the events of a week ago or ten days, what ever it was, it seems like two years. They were shocked, but last night they were as excited as they could be just about knowing their direction. The unknown is uncomfortable and so when that all gets settled, and it will, its a great opportunity for somebody and its very good team coming back. When it all settles down, theyll go 100-miles-an-hour. And then, as time goes by there will be some that will say I was as good for the University of Colorado as the University of Colorado was good for me. But you cant make decisions with scared money. Youve got to do the things that are right if you want to play in the market place. I feel like I have done what is the right thing, first and foremost, professionally because this is an opportunity with a team assembled and a vision to go to the very top and I want to be part of a beacon program."
Gaard Swanson (KING-TV): "I was wondering where you got your necktie?"
Neuheisel: "My wife tells me what to wear, Gaard. I call plays, I can tell her how to block the trapwhen we first were dating, as a matter of fact when I proposed to her, she was wearing purple, she reminded me of that so it was an omen from the beginning. I can use sugar packets and draw some new trap plays when were sitting at a restaurant, but she pick out the clothing. So if theres anything wrong with it, please direct it to Susan."
Gaard Swanson (KING-TV): "Im wondering what you know about the Husky Football team, I know your coming in cold, whats the talent level here right now?"
Neuheisel: "I dont want to make an assessment. I know this, we got a lot of kids who are committed to Husky Football. Weve got kids here who are here and excited about the future of Husky Football and when youve got commitment, sometimes you can overcome talent discrepancies. Thats not to say we dont have great talent, I just havent had a chance to evaluate. I watched the first-half of the Air Force game, thinking that we were going to be playing Washington on September 5, by the way that might be a big game, you might want to see if you can get tickets (laughter). I cant tell you right now, that will be part of the process. Recruiting right now is our number one priority and to do a great job recruiting we have to fill the areas of need and so there will have to be a little bit of need in the evaluation process but Im also going to have to have some evaluators. Its going to be as busy as a one-armed paper maker as they say. Hopefully we can get the job done as quickly as possible."
Dave Locke (KJR-Radio): "At what point in the process did you know that had the financial package to hire the coach?"
Hedges: "I use the same process to (hire) all the coaches. Jim Lambright, June Daugherty, Bob Bender, I always use the same formula, you might plug different numbers into the formula but its always the same formula. It was very obvious to me when I was talking to Rick and we were becoming very serious about the possibility of him coming to Washington that he was giving up a lot. He was giving up an outstanding job at the University of Colorado, a great institution, a beautiful, beautiful setting and even though we all think that Seattle is the most beautiful in the world, and it is, I was asking a lot of him. If I was going to be able to ask a lot of Rick, then Ive got to be able to put some thing on the table and thats what I needed to do."
Mike Gastineau (KJR-Radio): "Youve talked glowingly about your memories of Colorado. What do you think you can accomplish here that you could not accomplish there in terms of making this a beacon program?"
Neuheisel: "Let me see if I can profoundly say this. We, and I say we Huskies are a have in the Pac-10. There are haves and there are have-nots. We are a have and we will always be a have. We have great resources here in Seattle and in the entire state of Washington. There is not going to be a want for anything. We have everything we need to be successful. To compete at the highest level, which is the expectation. At the University of Colorado it was difficult, not impossible. It was difficult, and I want to be careful how I say this, but it was difficult to get things moving. It was slow, arduous. As a result, it became frustrating. It was a place that had everything money couldnt buy, but there were things that were not available to us that we needed to be successful in recruiting against the Texas, Texas A&M, Nebraska and more recently Kansas State and that is not going to be the issue here. You do not make this kind of a commitment to a coach, you dont make this kind of commitment to a program, you dont make this kind of statement about who you are and who you want to be without envisioning the very best. That coupled with my memories of what has been here and what great support this program receives made this an easy decision for me. Easy on an unemotional level. Emotionally it was pain-staking because I am a players coach and by that I am involved in their lives and when you get involved in peoples lives its very difficult to say good-bye. Very difficult to say Im leaving and going somewhere else. That is what Im struggling with, even in the 11th hour. But after much counsel and a lot of soul-searching, I came to the realization that it was right. This is right, its going to be hard for a while, but the dust will settle, theyll get a new coach that they are excited about. They still have each other, the players, which is what we teach, if somebody goes down you stick together and were going to build the same thing here. And meeting with the players (last) night, many of those elements are already in place so were full speed ahead."
Mazvita Mairie (Sports Network): "Talk a little about the Pac-10 in terms of its rank and how it matches other conferences."
Neuheisel: "As I said, I grew up in Arizona, I played in California and now Im in Washington. It is a great, great conference. It is the west and Im a westerner. Nationally, it sometimes doesnt get the exposure it deserves because the east coast writers have gone to bed. Were playing three hours later than everyone else, sometimes on the national-level, so we just have to prove ourselves. You saw UCLA have an excellent chance at a national title, Washington has won a national title in the 1990s. USC was a program for years that was in the title hunt. The conference has a great constituency of institutions, the right kind of universities, universities that are committed to the total college experience and thats what were going to use as our mission statement here."
Bob Rondeau (KOMO-Radio): "Is your style more suited to the west-coast style, Pac-10 style, than it is in the Big-12?"
Neuheisel: "Im not sure that geography has much to style, but certainly that perception exists. By the way, youve got truly a great radio voice, I thought, that guys on radio. (laughter). The Pac-10 is perceived as a wide-open and flamboyant. As I remember Husky Football and look out at this stadium and notice the defensive stats, over here to the right side of the scoreboard, that speaks volumes to the Husky tradition as well. Were going to play aggressive, hard-nosed football. Were going to do what our personnel allows us to do to be successful. I love to throw the ball. Im a former quarterback. (If) You find a former quarterback that doesnt love to throw, he went to Oklahoma or he sat on the bench (laughter). The truth of the matter is were going to have a balanced offense. Were going to have an aggressive defense and were going to have the best fans in the United States of America. When you put all those things together, youre a hard team to beat."
Reporter: "How did you know that you wanted to stay with coaching after getting a law degree."
Neuheisel: "I had a short career in the USFL, gone by-way of the USFL. I was thinking law was my destiny and certainly, I enjoyed it. I got over to the campus at UCLA and I was given the opportunity by Terry Donahue to tutor this young guy that transferred from Oklahoma so that by spring ball he could be ready to compete for the quarterback job for the Bruins. The kids name was Troy Aikman. Troy and I went over to the side of the field and went through some quarterback drills for four days and realized that this is really boring. I realized that for him to get to where the coaches wanted him to get to by spring ball, we needed to make this fun. So we enlisted kickers, injured players that could still move around and we created something like you would in your back yard, games. When you had odd number in your backyard when you were a kid you played all-time quarterback and Troy was the all-time quarterback. It was a revelation to me, having that kind of experience with young people and watching them have fun, that, although its hard work and requires sacrifice, it can also be fun. Ill never forget the time when coach Donahue called up the players to end practice and make announcements and at the end of announcements when most of the players are going to the locker room and go about their business, the kids who were playing in our game said, come on guys, weve got to go finish. Practice was over and yet they wanted to go continue the game. With that experience and a great relationship I created with a young person like Troy, I got the bug. I had the opportunity a year later to join Terry Donahue on his staff at UCLA as a full-time assistant. I said that I would with the caveat that I could finish law school and so I did both. I realized doing both, that I enjoyed coaching. I finished, passed the bar, and I never looked back. I love what I do and I hope I can do it for a long time."
Aaron Stadler (KIRO-TV): "With this compensation package, is there any possibility there will be an increase in the price of season tickets?"
Hedges: "Thank you for asking that question. There will be no additional charge to season ticket holders and I am very pleased to announce there will be no increase in ticket prices next year."
