Opening Statements
"Good evening I would like to address a couple of issues before we talk about Gary and our football program. First of all I would be remiss if I didn’t take time in all the craziness of the football program to take a minute to recognize Mark Simpson who we lost to cancer on Monday. We will have a memorial service Saturday at 6 o’clock here in the Coors Events Center and that’s open to the public. Again I would be remiss if we didn’t take time to think of Mark."
"Secondly, I think it’s really important to apologize to all those associated with the University of Colorado athletic program, and particularly the football program for how this played out. It was never our intention to have information, or the direction we were going, to have that information out before I had the opportunity to visit with Gary or the players, our fan base and the people close to the program. I think one of the risks of trying to be inclusionary in the process is to have too many people aware of the direction we may be headed and to provide appropriate feedback and involvement. Unfortunately that led to a premature announcement. So I think it is important for everybody to understand that I recognize that is an issue here on our campus and in our department. And I’m committed to try and fix it."
"Related to Gary, first of all, I would just like to thank him for his contribution to the University of Colorado. Gary’s a real professional and he did things here that will allow us to create a foundation to grow. I think there is no question that his passion and commitment to the University exists and I think he displayed that here tonight. I think that it is also important for people to understand that as athletic director I think that it is imperative we respect and honor our contractual obligations. I believe that is what we have done in this situation, and I was pleased to hear Gary say that he said he was treated very fairly, that’s important to me as well."
"I would also like to take a minute and talk a little bit about the young men on this football team that Gary had an opportunity to visit with tonight. I want it to be real clear that I’m going to do everything I can to bring a great football coach to this university and for those young men. And for those considering coming to this institution to come and be a football player please know that the University of Colorado is a goldmine as Gary said, and we are going to work our tail off to bring a great coach to this program to match the academic standing of this institution. This is a great community, a great state, a great conference and it will be my job to help others understand that in this transitionary process. So if you are a young man thinking of playing major college football, the Univeristy of Colorado is going to bring you a great coach that will inspire you to be part of the Colorado Buffaloes. I’m committed to that and that will be my sole focus until we find a football coach."
"I would also like to talk about the national appeal of our program, and it is clearly our goal to be a perennial top 20 team. That’s our goal, that’s our expectations. And our expectations are high here. But I think our expectations are based on our great fans, our tremendous student body that supports us, and a great environment. So obviously we’re committed to proving that and ultimately that’s why we made the deicision to move in the direction that we are headed in."
"I’m going to talk a little bit about the search process. It has already begun. And obviously we are going to try and move as quickly as possible. I believe that’s an obligation that we have to our players, to our kids, and our student-athletes, and also to our fans in the community. We are going to look for the best fit we can find for the Uinversity of Colorado somebody with passion, somebody with energy, somebody with a competitive spirit that matches that of our fan base and of this institution. I talked a little bit of the academic standing of Colorado to have four Nobel Prize Laureates, I think that’s the type of stature we’d like to have for the University of Colorado athletics department. I’m very excited about our future. I’m excited about our future with our new women’s basketball coach, I’m excited about a lot of the other things that are happening, but clearly is will be important to us to continue to be a team. I was really appreciative of the support from the Chancellor and the administrative team on this campus to help us with this process. It is going to be that type of teamwork that really pulls us through this situation and allows us to reach the lofty goals that we have. It also extends into our donor base, our season ticket holders, to students, to the community in general to help us recruit, to help us build great facilities. And to help us do the things that are essential in doing this."
“I know you asked Gary a lot about that. No single factor or incident led to this decision. Not one. I think that if it is reported that way it’s erroneous. It really came down to a sense of where we really were as a program and how fast can we escalate the growth of the program and in my opinion that has to do with new leadership. I believe with a lot of things associated with the program and Gary’s performance on many fronts it was really time for a change. There’s no question about it that a lot of our fans and a lot of the constituents that make up a successful program were polarized on different issues. It will be imperative for us to rally around one effort and to bring in some leadership with a level of freshness that really gives us an opportunity to grow."
On the timeline of the decision
“It’s interesting that you ask about a specific time. I’m not sure there really was a specific time. I think it was an ongoing process. I know you asked Gary about an extension. Sure we talked, we did. We did have some talks about an extension, and some concepts, and some thoughts and ideas related to that. But ultimately, similar to a final exam, when it came down to it a lot of things were revealed in the last month in many, many fronts. It became clear to me that the way for us to move forward was to make a change. It is really interesting that is how it transpired. I really felt that I gave Gary, and his staff and those kids our best effort to support them for them to be successful all season. We had many successes associated with that, and a lot of that credit has to go to Gary and to those kids. Unfortunately in the in it turned out that the right thing to do would be to make the change.”
On what was revealed
“Well I think a lot of things were revealed in the sense of the performance of the team, of the swagger of the program that is really had, of a sense of confidence, drive, and determination that maybe had come of our shield a little bit. I thought it was important for us to bring that swagger back. This is a rich tradition at the University of Colorado and we’re looking forward to building that back up.”
I think that’s speculation to try and polarize it around winning or losing one particular game or a series of events would be wrong.
On finding a new head coach
"We will move as fast as we can in the process to select the coach. I have a commitment to the faculty to have them involved in that process as well. My commitment is to our kids and the young people that we are going to try and recruit to bring to Boulder to be a part of this university and this great program. I have not contacted any successors at this time. I will not reveal any names at this time associated with the search committee or any potential candidates.”
On the bowl game
“The initial plan with the bowl game was to have the kids off until next Thursday. A little time out would be appropriate for them right now. Obviously we have some talented coaches on this staff and we’ll work that out. Hopefully I’ll have an announcement here soon.”
On the $3 million dollars
“The $3 million obligation we have to Gary, we’re really respectful of our obligation to that. The majority of that will come from the 12th game that will come in 2006, and the successive game behind that, and utilize the resources of the football program to fund.”
"I certainly don’t want to imply that it is something that we didn’t take very seriously. I felt like from day one that Gary was a pro. He was committed to helping us grow, and restore so many things for the program and I felt like we were a good team. And we worked hard. I wanted it to work, but ultimately in the end so many things were revealed that just showed that maybe it was best to ask Gary to step down. I have the utmost respect for Gary and couldn’t appreciate his professionalism enough."
On potential candidates
"It’s imperative for us to consider all candidates. We’ve been in contact with the BCA and have gotten information from them and we’ll continue to explore that."
"Being a head football coach means being an expert in a lot of areas, and we expect our head football coach to represent us in so many ways and do so many things that all those things enter into it. It is not one thing, it’s not just winning or losing, or any single thing associated with the program."
About conerns
"Well I’m concerned about a lot of things. I’m concerned about our players, our student-athletes, and creating an environment for them to be successful. Ultimately that’s my responsibility. We need to focus on recruiting great student athletes. I can’t give you a formula for success, but I can give you one for failure. And that’s one person trying to be everything, to everyone. I think with new leadership I’m hopeful we can rally everybody around in a united effort that is Colorado football that everyone can have fun with, be proud of, and enjoy, and really raise us to a new level."
"Being new and only being here for eight months, I can’t really speak to the effects of developments prior to my arrival. All I can speak to is the time that I have been here and I think Gary and his staff and his kids were working hard, and in the end ultimately the sense was that we have to find a new leader to really move us forward."
About Recruiting
"You’re the one that said it’s not really good for recruiting. I’ve seen programs around the country that have turned around and got great recruiting classes and so that’s why it is my charge to find a new leader as quickly as possible so that we can capitalize on that, feature the great things of this university, the great community, the academic setting here in Boulder and all those great things. I’m not resolved to a recruiting class that is below our standards, I’m committed to assuring young people realize we have a nice foundation in place, we have a lot of great things going on on-campus, we’re committed to building an indoor facility. We’re committed to making it a great experience. I think the experience and Folsom and in Boulder rivals many across the country."
"The minority student-athletes are some of the happiest we have. I’ve had the opportunity to meet them, and my hat’s off to Gary and his staff for bringing in great kids to this campus and they’re the ones that are going to help recruit student-athletes here and I’m confident we’re making progress in all those areas."
"We want to make sure we get the right fit. If that means taking a week or less that’s great. If it takes longer then we’ll take that to make sure we are thourough and that we get the right fit for Boulder and the University of Colorado."
