The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Mack Brown 2007 Reporting Day press conference transcript
08.05.2007 | Football
Head Coach Mack Brown
It is exciting to see all of the players getting back and finally have the opportunity to get to see them and talk with them.We are always excited about the start of football season and I cannot wait to see the guys tonight at the dinner.
I would like to apologize from our staff, players, and our coaches to the administration of The University of Texas, the athletic department, the student body, and our fans for the incidents that have happened this summer.It is something that we are not proud of, but I can promise you it is also not indicative of who this team really is.This team is as good a group of young men that we have ever coached, and they will continue to move forward after today and prove that on and off the field.At a time where we have had extra things happen outside of football that we are not proud of, I want to make sure that everyone understands that there are so many more young men on this team that will have the opportunity to show their class as well.
Everybody is back, and they will be eating dinner from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. and we will meet at 6:15 p.m. as a team and start the season off.We have a great message from Vince Young that was taped last week, so Vince will be our guest speaker tonight at our team meeting.We are very proud of him and the message he will be giving to the team, and he will be the one that will close the meeting tonight.
We will start practice tomorrow.The issues with practice are still who is going to be the back-up quarterback.We have evolved far from the beginning of the summer, but it is still a wide-open race for that position and who will be the back-up tight end and tailback.Colt [McCoy] and Jamaal [Charles] have worked so hard this summer and they have both gained their weight, so they will have the opportunity to step-up and hopefully have banner years.
Defensively, we are in a position where we have some older guys and younger guys in the secondary and linebacking core, so we will just have to separate all those guys.We also still have some issues with kicking at the moment.
Andre Jones's issue will be handled through the legal process and he has been indefinitely suspended.That is not something we will deal with other than to be cooperative with the legal process and be supportive of him until findings come out.He will not be involved with practice or our team in any way.
The two young men that had DUIs earlier in the year, Henry Melton, and a few weeks ago, Sergio Kindle, will report today.They will be involved with community service and with a mother who works with Mothers Against Drunk Driving who had her son badly crippled in an accident and later lost his life.So during the first few days of practice, these two young men will be sitting down, visiting with her, and let her explain to them how dangerous it is to be in a car after you have been drinking.They will also do community service for us and alcohol counseling, and they will be rejoining the team as soon as they get some of these things done, which could be as early as the end of the week.But they will miss the first three games of the season.They will not dress for those ball games or travel to those ball games.They will not play against Arkansas State, TCU, or Central Florida.At that time, I will sit down with both young men and see if we feel like they have learned from their experience and are ready to move forward as teammates.Obviously that penalizes our team as they are both talented football players, but with the problems with drunk driving and drugs in society right now, we thought it was a great opportunity for our team to stand up and take a strong stance against both of those actions and help get the attention of young people and adults in society.Also, it is a time where I need to stand up as a head coach and take responsibility for anything that is negative, be a strong leader, send a strong message and move forward with our football team.
We also have a very difficult thing that has come up with our team over the last week, but it is something we will manage. (Running backs coach) Ken Rucker has prostate cancer and he is here with us today.He will have an operation on August 27, the Monday before the opening game against Arkansas State.Obviously, he will spend time recuperating, but we do not know how long he will be away from our football team.But we will manage it with Greg Davis, Mac McWhorter, Bruce Chambers, and I will work tight ends and running backs after Ken goes through with his operation.From that stand point, I am wearing a "Live Strong" bracelet in his honor today.We will tell our team tonight and we will have our thoughts and our prayers with Ken.We think he will have a full recovery, and he is such a nice and well-mannered coach that he was willing to have the operation at the end of the season.But I told him that was ridiculous and we will not have a coach who has cancer to be spending time with football when his health is at risk.He will practice up until the week before the first game and he will leave the staff at that time and have his operation and return whenever he feels better.I can't believe he is actually going to coach for the next month, but he is so involved in this running game and getting it straightened out and getting it turned around that he couldn't back away right now.I am proud that he offered to stay for the whole year, but that is not something to do when your health is at risk.
Another thing as Ken makes his way up here, is that Jordan Shipley tweaked his hamstring at the beginning of the summer, but we believe that he will be fine.He may not be at full speed for practice starting tomorrow night, but I do not think the doctors and trainers are concerned for the season, but just concerned about early practice.He has been around long enough that we do not need him pushing his hamstring early at two-a-days.As for Cedric Dockery, he has been released for practice.We will probably have to watch Cedric because of his knee and his operation he had earlier.
Ken Rucker
As coach mentioned, I found this out about a week ago, but with time, I will be fine.The big thing is for me to have the operation at the end of the month and at the same time just instruct and mentor the running backs and the football team.Coach Brown understands family and told me to put that before anything.I am excited about getting started tomorrow and see the kids again.I appreciate you keeping my family and myself in your prayers. Coach is right. I should get it out as soon as I can, and I want to be strong by the end of the season.We expect a great year and I want to be there at the end to experience it.
I found out I had the cancer at a regular check up, and I suggest at annual check-ups that everyone get their PSAs checked.Mine had raised some and that is how I found out.But I don't hurt and that is why you have to get yourself checked.I feel great and I have been working out everyday, and like I had said, I had no idea that I had anything.The doctors should be able to completely remove the cancer and there should not have to be any treatment after that.The recovery period really depends on me, but history has shown that I should be able to walk out of the hospital in two days and the rest is up to me.I have a great mindset going into the operation and hopefully I will be ready as soon as possible.
Head Coach Mack Brown
So our job right now is to have Ken Rucker to fully recover and not have him come back too soon because we know he wants to get back with us sooner than he should be able to.
Is everyone else ready to go based on their physical health? Based on that, we will be monitoring Jordan [Shipley] and Cedric [Dockery].Based on routine, when you have a knee operation, within a year you do not go through both sets of two-a-days, so we may limit Cedric some but that will be based on what we see during practice.Besides that, everyone is in summer school and ready to go.Ironically enough, over the last 10 days of the summer, we are in the best shape academically we have ever been for a Texas football team, so that is good news.
Would you say you were more in shock or disappointment after all these incidents? I think disappointment would be the right word.When you look at your responsibilities as a head coach, the first thing you feel is disappointment for the parents.I am a parent of four children and I know that nothing hurts you worse when you have children is to see them make a poor decision or see them in pain.So at any time when there are incidents, whether it is one or four, it hurts The University of Texas and I am responsible for that.It is my job to step up and make sure we discipline them in the proper way.Some of the things are out of my control, but when they get back to me, it will be my decision.I also want to make sure that we all understand that kids are never guilty until the end of the legal process.And there have been situations that have happened over the past few years in sports that we have talked so much about how someone is guilty but then the charges are dropped.We have to make sure that we are as fair as we can be at a time where there is a ton of pressure on us.We have always told our kids that we are the most scrutinized, or among the most scrutinized, programs in the country, and if you are going to do something wrong in our program that it will be public.But I think that is a good thing because if you are doing something wrong, it should be public and you should be penalized for it.
I just gave the two harshest penalties I have given, other than cutting a scholarship, which I did earlier this summer, so my rules have already changed.We have had a zero-tolerance policy this summer and that is one of the reasons why those guys are missing three games for DUI instead of missing one or two games in the past.But like I said, the large majority of this team is listening and the few that aren't will be disciplined and punished.
Is this tougher on you than trying to pick a starting quarterback like last year? Definitely, this is tougher on me personally because it affects kids' lives.Somebody asked if it affects my reputation, but I have been around this game a long time and I am not worried about that.It is not about me, or even our team, but about young people who make poor decisions.If you're about the drugs and alcohol, we have a real problem, by my estimation, nationally and especially with young people, although it is not strictly limited to them.I think we all need to take a hard look at drugs and alcohol and when we have an opportunity to make a strong statement, we need to make one.I think when I became a parent, it probably changed my life more than anything did because you love your children.I asked my dad before he died if he was happy and he responded, "Yes, because I have three happy and healthy children and you are only as happy or healthy as your most unhappy or unhealthy child," and I will never forget when my dad made that statement, it changed my life.
Do you think there are any tie-ins where if there had been better leadership or chemistry with the younger players that these incidents wouldn't have happened? No, I really don't think so.It seems like, for whatever reason, after you win a National Championship, more incidents happen, and I never understood that.Most of our issues have been with the younger players that were not on the National Championship team, and that is why our slogan for the year is, "Earn the right," because some people seem to be taking advantage of being at The University of Texas and not taking advantage in the right way.It is my job to make sure that the guys that are playing have earned this right through hard work, class, and character, and not by taking shortcuts. I think they have great leadership on this team right now, and even after Henry [Melton]'s incident occurred earlier in the year, our guys really stepped up and started talking to all the younger guys.It is more difficult now than ever because you have such an early process in recruiting and we are probably not getting to know the guys as well as we used to, because you are recruiting guys now that are sophomores and juniors and committing them way earlier.And the second thing is that we are having freshmen come to summer school and our coaches can't be around them at all.Those are the two issues we really have to look at.Most of our older guys live off campus whereas the younger guys live on campus so they aren't really around each other all that much.As serious as the incidents were this summer, we are not going to hold it against the guys who have done everything right for so long for this program.
How much do you learn from the first couple of days of practice? The first thing we learn is who is in shape.So it will be obvious tomorrow night who looks good and who is not tired after a two-hour practice.The second thing we learn is about the freshmen.It is so different now because the freshmen have been here since June 1, but we don't know them because we haven't had time to be around them.I just barely got to meet them when they came in and I haven't seen any of them do anything.So seeing them work with the other guys will be interesting to see, and we will get to see if they are the guys we thought we signed and if they fit in different groups.Lastly, you can't tell what the chemistry of the team is like on the first or second night, but usually by the end of the week when the guys have been tired you can see who steps up to be great leaders.Most of the time when we have a very difficult thing happen like what we had happen this summer, it helps your leadership, chemistry, and it makes everybody understand what zero-tolerance means, and if they don't act right they will lose their opportunity to play.
Do you think you are a top five team right now? I still despise preseason polls.All we are doing to me is talking about who finished well after the bowl games and who has the most guys coming back.To me, we have way too many question marks right now.None of us were proud of the last two games before the bowl game, but to me, we potentially can win all our games this year, but we also can potentially be a very average team as well.I am seeing now that so much has to develop within the team throughout the summer and throughout two-a-days and into the early half of the season before you can really determine anything.It always comes down to where you get in trouble.The last two times we have been to Stillwater [Oklahoma], we have been in trouble.We had trouble at Kansas State last year, and in the past two years, we have had troubles with teams we didn't expect to have troubles with when the season started.
