We don’t want defeat in life. How are we going to be beaten? All right. We have to deal with those things. What’s going to cause us to lose the game, whatever the game might be?
All the years I coached, we sent a card to every professor for each kid I had, and I was able to keep track on a daily basis who cut class or who was dropping a grade average.
I also believe that when something negative comes out about you in the media, that’s only one person’s opinion. These guys sometimes believe they’ve been ordained from on high to give the general opinion of the populace, and that just isn’t the case.
When I first started coaching, one of the worst things that I think I heard was ‘It will be O.K.’ I would wonder, ‘How the hell is it going to be O.K.?’ The worst word in the English language is ‘hope.’
I recognize that I have a problem with my temper. For those times it has ever caused me to do anything that gave anyone understandable and justifiable reason to be upset, I am sincerely sorry.
My overall point is that ‘one and dones’ are not healthy for college basketball. I should not have made it personal to Kentucky and its players and I apologize.
Pat has been instrumental in what we’ve done here so far and the most selfish thing for me is that I want to see what we’ve done placed in the hands of the most competent person, and that’s Pat.
