Dec. 8, 2000

"Good morning everybody. Frank and Houston, it's great to have you and your school here. I hope your team has all kinds of fun right up until kickoff. Out all night the night before and all of that."

"We had practice going to a bowl because we had to go to Hawaii to qualify for the thing. And keeping tabs on your players in an environment like that or an environment like this makes old coaches older."

"It's particularly fun for me to see (Arkansas AD) Frank Broyles. Like all of us that are in this profession for a lot of years, you have people that you hold up as the ultimate. When I started in coaching, Frank was one of those people. He was the young coach at Arkansas who had a historical impact on football. He called it the Monster Defense we called it on the West Coast, the Slant Defense. But Frank was one of those guys who changed the game, or set a standard in our game that everyone like me tried to be like. There were four or five men that represented that to me, and Frank, you did. It is a privilege to be involved with your school."

"Houston Nutt and I met just last year. Houston and a good friend of mine, he coaches at Tulsa now -- Keith Burns, have been longtime friends. So I went back last year and got a chance to see what they're doing. He's done great work there."

"It's the best of times and the best way of life. College football has been my life. I took a couple of years of missionary work in the NFL but I got back into college coaching. I honestly believe that one of my best years has been this year because of the players involved. Anything in college football comes down to the young men that are on your team and the influence that your school has on them, the opportunity it gives these kids. And then when you get to go a bowl, the fun they have. All of you who are providing this environment here in our city, I don't think you quite realize that the fun that our teams are going to have the memories they are going to have. It's just really a big thing for us to have a chance to participate."

"Our football team is very young in terms of history. We're trying and we're getting better. And we look forward to this game. I think our team is very entertaining. You can't leave at halftime, you gotta stay with us the whole way and that's been great. It's a huge deal for our team. The look in our eye after the Hawaii game was fun. Whenever you win a close game or a big game, the coach always comes in and says "Well, we gotta play next week so knock it off and get serious." They wouldn't even listen to me after the game. They celebrated for a half hour in that locker room because they'd never done anything like this before. So this is the best of times and college bowl games are just fabulous experiences."

"I like everyone else want to thank all of you for making this possible. We want to sell this stadium out. I think it is going to be a game that is worthy of a sellout. That's a big issue for us here in town and I think we're all going to do it. This is going to be a really good game. I think the teams are both going to play the kind of football that is entertaining and you all will enjoy it. Again, thank you very much."