Our success is a culmination of so much hard work here in Starkville. I get to work with family everyday who want to win. This year we had four great seniors who really wanted to fight together and win it all. It always hurts to lose the last one, but we've done that two years in a row now. Hopefully we can get up off the mat and do it again.
It's been so much special getting to coach my daughter Blair everyday. To see her make herself into an SEC basketball player has been fun. She may be too small, too short and too slow, but she's also too tough. I'm a little partial, but it makes me most excited to see her on the all-conference defensive team.
I think we stay busy enough that I haven't let that loss get to me. I still think about it everyday, that last minute and how it ended. I wish I could do it again. That was probably one of the greatest weekends in the history of our sport, so I was glad to be a part of it. I still feel like we were the better team and should've won, but that's not how it happened. Give all the credit to Notre Dame. They made one more play than we did and that was the ball game.
It's a huge honor to have the opportunity to speak at the Brazos County A&M Club Muster ceremony. I agreed to it so long ago that I had to move some things around as it got closer. It's a busy weekend for us in Starkville, but I'm not going to miss Aggie Muster. To have the opportunity and the honor to speak is second to none. My dad was in the Army and I represented him at Muster and called his name, so I know how special this day is.
Obviously 2011 was a special team and run, I have a lot of great memories. I can also talk about my time at A&M when we used to kiss on first downs instead of touchdowns because things were so lean. I grew up in a blue collar family who worked hard. We didn't have a whole lot, but we always had our A&M season tickets. I've been on row 48 of DKR stadium with icicles on my ball cap, but we would never leave early because my dad was not a two-percenter. I was there for Jackie Sherrill coming to campus, seeing him wearing the suit and walking across campus. I've seen a lot at A&M, I guess that means I'm getting old.
Coaching against Coach Blair is really difficult for me. I don’t look forward to it at all. Me and Gary have shared so many great moments together, it's awkward being in the gym and not sitting together. I have so much love and respect for him. Congratulations to him and his team on another Sweet 16 appearance. The guy is constantly working. What's he in, six hall of fames now? I definately learned a lot from him.
Their friendship appears to have been strained this season by some less than sportsmanlike last minute scoring by Vic. Hosting the players that Blair has trained may be the last straw. I know it is for me.
Vic is in eternal memory hell because of that loss in the championship game. I don't like seeing that happen to anyone.
I also think his recruiting of Howard is very bad form. Whether he signs her or not, he has diminished himself in the minds of many people, and when the dust settles I believe he will regret doing it.