Feb. 1, 2006
On how Hurricane Katrina affected recruiting visits:
"In most cases perception is not reality and in this [Tulane University] is the one case that definitely wasn't. Give tremendous credit to Dr. Cowen for getting our university up and running in time to showcase it to the student athletes we were recruiting and I thought that over all the excitement around campus the two weekends we had recruiting was very evident in the class that we signed. I think the biggest challenge we had this year was getting players to come down and take a look. We had the most amount of parents we ever had come with them and that was very encouraging. We worked very hard to get that done. We had 27 sets of parents that came with the players out of 34 visits. Their biggest concern was about what they've seen the last three or four months [in the media]. It's very exciting to know that we were received this well on today's date."
On showing different areas of the city to recruits:
"We didn't hide a thing from them. We showed everything and the biggest thing was the fact that we gave them every opportunity to see any facet of the city they wanted to see. You know, the areas of the city that are most devastated aren't areas that we as student-athletes frequent. We made sure that was pointed out. They had an opportunity to see all of our facilities - the good thing is because of this they're going to get brand new facilities in August. I think that played a part in it also."
On if it is a different type of signee this year:
"It's a tremendously different feel. The average SAT of this class is 1050, the highest class that we've had. You add in their character and athletism, those three factors shows they've done there research; they know that there getting into; they know what they wanted. For them to end up here after all the negative vibes sent throughout the country about New Orleans and Tulane University, it shows they are very mature in the fact that they overcame all of that to end up here."
On whether it was more of a sell to parents or to student-athletes:
"It was as much the kids as it was the parents. First we had to sell ourselves [as coaches], like in any case. Then we had to make sure that they understood again I go back to perception and reality. The perception is out there that the city is completely devastated and in reality the city and Tulane are making progress really fast in coming back.
On the quarterbacks in the class [D'Metres Hill and Kevin Moore]:
"D'Metres is a very athletic-type quarterback. His numbers in the passing game aren't normally where our quarterbacks coming out of high school have, but I think the potential is there for him to develop as a passer. On the other hand, Kevin is a guy that I probably have as much respect for than anyone I've signed here, because Kevin committed last summer, he never waivered, came to practice at Dallas to see us [when the team was displaced]. He was recruited by other universities throughout the year. He never flinched through the whole September, October, November and that right there shows me we signed the right type of person to be a leader for our football team one day. He wasn't in a very pass happy offense but numbers are there. He's a three-sport letterman at a 5A school in Texas. He's a big kid and I think a chance to really develop into a good quarterback."
On difficulties of recruiting local players due to their displacement:
"That's probably why numbers from Louisiana are down this year somewhat. We were displaced as a football team all fall and a lot of the [high school] players were displaced. The time we had to locate them; we just didn't have that time this year. The families throughout the whole recruiting process are very important and we could not locate many of them. The kids we did get from Louisiana were ones we were recruiting for a while and we're glad to have them.
On planning ahead to bring recruits to games away from home:
"Yes we did, but not many players. Players set there visits pretty early and every two or three weeks we were setting are home schedules a little later, so we didn't have many players come watch us play this year on game days. It was a unique situation for us."
On how he planned and prepared for recruiting:
"The main thing is every day you had to take it as a new day. Nothing was done by the book this year, nothing was routine. Things had to be planned and organized daily or weekly, that was about as far as you could take it through recruiting, through today.
On losing recruits due to the New Orleans situation:
"We lost one that was committed. A family member came into town early in December and said he didn't feel like he should come here. The hardest part was getting them to come and see for themselves. We lost kids that didn't come to take a look."
On how other universities dealt with the situation:
"Several universities helped us. SMU was one; we had people all over that helped us with names. But you always remember this you guys, all's fair in love, war, and recruiting. There's no hard feelings, you don't take it personally. You're trying to do what you can to get players to come to your school. The ones that sell our program the most is the players that are on our team now because there able to back how we are. I think that was a tribute to the staff from the fact that our players that were on the team last year there is not a parent in America that could say we didn't take care of our players.
On whether Tulane will play in the Superdome in 2006, now that the schedule has been moved up:
"I haven't addressed that but [Athletic Director] Rick (Dickson) and I will go over it in a few weeks."
On whether he wants to play in the Superdome:
"Absolutely."
On how University President Scott Cowen helped with recruiting:
"He came over and talked to the largest group we've ever brought in and that was very helpful, but the main thing that he did was get the university up and running again. The presentation we were able to show is where he helped the most."
On whether 34 visits was less than what he usually has:
"We usually average about 45 visits. We weren't going to bring in anybody unless we felt really good about them. It wasn't going to be a New Orleans site-seeing tour; we didn't want anybody using Tulane University for a visit to New Orleans. We wanted people that fit our profile that were serious about coming to play football and get a degree from Tulane University. If we on a home-visit with them and didn't feel good about it we nixed them.
On how tough the year was on the team and recruiting:
"There is not anyone in America that can walk in the same shoes these players walked in this fall - from an athletic standpoint, not life - from an athletic and competitive standpoint. The Saints had a lot of the same problems. But you can't describe it. If you are a competitor, it's going to wear on you. To bounce back and have what we have here on this board right here, what I think is as deep and as talented a class as we've brought in, is an exceptional job by our staff and the players on our football team. Yes, it is a relief that it's over and when I finish up this week, I will take some time off as will my coaches."
