November 16, 1998
“As I’m sure you’re all very aware of, early Sunday morning, we got a call that one of our players, Artie Steinmetz and Scott Brock — a good friend of the program — and Jason Watts had a crash. On behalf of our team and our staff and everybody connected with UK football, first let me express our deepest sympathies and condolences as we mourn with the families of the three young men. This is a very sad occasion.”
“We’ll have a team meeting after this, where I will point out to them that God has a plan for everybody’s life. Some of those plans are shorter than others. That does not diminish their brief time here on earth. They inspired us.”
“For seniors, we’re going to try to maintain a somewhat similar week from tomorrow on. We’re going to have an hour meeting with our team and discuss the situation. Then, we’ll end up discussing some of the things that need to be discussed in terms of bowl preparation. After that, we’ll let them go for today. We’re not going to review the Vanderbilt film or practice today. We’ll have the weight room open, if any of them would like to work out and we’ll have a film available if they choose to watch it, but if they’d like to just go off on their own, they’ll be able to do that.”
(On Artie Steinmetz)
“Artie was a guy that was just a delight to be around. Obviously, he was here for just a short time, transferring from Michigan State. What a guy. He never failed to have a humorous comment for me walking down the hallway before practice. For a guy that’s going to go out there and be on the scout team and not really practice for a game, that says a lot to me. He came in and in a short amount of time, he made a lot of friends on our team.”
(On Scott Brock)
“I didn’t know Scott Brock, but I know he was great friends with several members of our football team, including my son. I know Tim Couch went directly to Leslie County after the accident. Scott Brock was a dear friend to him.”
“This is something that won’t go away in a hurry. What we’re going to try to do is deal with it today and then move on. I’m going to try to tell our team that both of those young men — their wishes would be that they would not want this to be a distraction and take away from Tennessee. I hope I can get our guys to understand that. This is one of those times when the Lord teaches lessons that are greater than football. We’re all only one brief heartbeat away from eternity ourselves. What our team takes away from this and the lessons they take away from it are far more important than the actual game itself.”
“Always keep in mind that we’re mourning for a period of time here. We’ll attend Artie’s funeral as a team and I’m sure that several members will attend Scott’s. Those arrangements aren’t complete. If we have to miss practice, then we will.”
“The number one lesson I take from this is that you don’t really know how long your journey on this life is, so you’d better be prepared for what’s beyond it. Faith has held this team together a lot. This is a team of tremendous faith. We have a devotional before games that isn’t mandatory, but a lot of our players take part in it. Everyone has lost loved ones. These guys will handle this situation the same way. I know the outpouring of support from the entire commonwealth of Kentucky is going to be great. We’ve received several calls and faxes of support.”
(On experiencing the death of a player)
“This is the fourth time. None of them were during the season. The most emotional happened prior to the season. I really don’t want to go into that. Let’s not detract from this by bringing up the past.”
(On visiting Jason Watts in the hospital)
“Jason was fairly coherent. Obviously, he’s had a lot of painkillers. For a guy in that state, he was pretty coherent. We did our best to lift him up and let him know we loved him. God had a plan for him, too. That’s why he’s still alive.”
“There were several players that planned on going (on the hunting trip). That’s pretty common. Our guys love hunting and outdoors stuff. When we first found out, we didn’t have all the details. We only knew that two people had died and that Jason had survived. So, there was a period of about 30 minutes where June and I panicked, because we knew it was pretty common that Matt (Mumme) would go.”
(On honoring the deceased on their uniforms)
“That’s something that we’re going to discuss at the meeting. Our seniors have done a great job all year, collectively, with their leadership. I’m going to let them decide. They may want to do something individually, but that’s something that I’m going to leave up to them.”
(On coaching tactics for the week)
“I think being consistent is the most important thing. Sometimes I’m a disciplinarian. Sometimes I’m their best friend.”
(On replacing starting center Jason Watts)
“Of course, the center makes all the calls. We’ll miss Jason’s competitive spirit and his desire to win. Those are the things that will be hard to replace. Your center makes all of the line calls. It’s very important that he gets that right. Obviously, if you get that wrong, you’ve got bad protection.
I talked to Guy (Morriss) briefly about it today. Right now, I think we’re going to go with Aaron Daniel. Nolan DeVaughn has done a great job in the junior varsity games and practice, so he’ll be Aaron’s back-up. Aaron played a lot in the Arkansas game. He played the fourth quarter and did a good job for us.”
(On injuries)
“Marlon McCree will probably be able to practice by Wednesday or Thursday. He’s got a deep thigh bruise. Marvin Love is ready to go. Other than Jason, those are our only injuries.”
(On Tennessee’s offense)
“I know Tennessee is extremely athletic. They’re very deep. They didn’t get to be the number one team in the nation for no reason. They’ve got three wide receivers that are very dangerous. Tee Martin can get hot and he’s very dangerous.”
(On the Tennessee defense)
“I put on some film and let it run for about an hour yesterday of Tennessee. They’ll do a lot of the same things as they did last year on defense. Hopefully today, we can move on to Tennessee. We usually finalized all of our game plans on Sundays. We haven’t started on that yet. That’s not a big concern for me at this point in the season. They may beat us, but it won’t be because of that.”
(On needing a perfect game to beat Tennessee)
“I’ve been doing this for over twenty years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a perfect game, except for baseball. Of course, we’re going to get a flag. I don’t think you have to have a perfect game in a football game.”
