Sumlin, Stoops share stage in last pre-bowl presser

Transcript provided by the Cotton Bowl.

Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin

Opening comments...

“First of all, thank you. Texas A&M is extremely excited to be here at the AT&T Cotton Bowl. I can’t tell you after the year we have had, to come to Dallas, the hospitality has been fantastic at the Anatole. I want to thank our practice facility people at SMU and at Highland Park (High School). Coach (Randy) Allen has put up with us the last couple of days.

“For our fans, the location, the venue, everything that is going on in our time slot Friday night for viewership nationally, it is going to be a great atmosphere at Cowboys Stadium. We are excited to be here and are looking forward to Friday.”

On the recruiting battles between he and Bob Stoops and how that works when they are good friends...

“As long as you are not doing unethical, you are friends. It is like playing golf, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. You might get upset a little bit, but you come back through it. That is just the way it is.”

On whether teams can use extra time before bowl game to insert new things on offense and defense for the game plan...

“The time factor with us playing the (Jan.) 4th, I think has helped us with all the award things going on and gave us some time. That four days past New Year’s has helped us just because we had so many guys running around all over the place in early December. I think how you manage that becomes important.

“The players — which is something I learned when I was at Oklahoma — the later the game, if you do things too early, the players can get bored. You've got to keep them interested. Like I said, the way things are done here at the Cotton Bowl outside of football practice allows you to focus on what you are doing because our kids are having a fabulous time and being treated in a first-class manner so that all fits together.”

On whether he realized what he had in Johnny Manziel when he arrived...

“Well, based on the fact we didn’t name him the starting quarterback until two weeks before the first game, I don’t think in the spring we had any idea. We talked to him in the spring about taking care of the ball. He is obviously very talented, but there were a lot of things he needed to work on from a ball security standpoint. He continued to work through that in the summer and through two-a-days.

“You never really know, especially with a freshman, with so many moving parts going into a game. But the first game, that being a (College) GameDay-like atmosphere, with everybody there, playing Florida, how he responded early in the game you had to feel like he had a chance to be a good player. As things played out the rest of the year, you never knew that was going to happen.

“As well as he played, I think he would be the first to tell you that he can improve and work at improving. That is probably his best characteristic, that he is honest with himself and he is probably a little harder on himself than we are. He is a great competitor.”

On the culture of past on-the-field shortcomings at Texas A&M...

“The first thing we did was we didn’t talk about it very much, what happened in the past. It seemed to be what everyone wanted to talk about externally, but internally we just didn’t talk about it. I think, any time you have to get over a hump or clear a hurdle, you got to win a game in a certain fashion. The come-from-behind win at Mississippi, I think, really helped us.

“So a lot of those times our seniors guys who had lost a bunch of games like that, to go on the road and win regardless of what you say as a coach, you’ve got to be in that situation to be successful. I think when that happened, a lot of things changed for our team.”

On what he learned from working as an assistant coach with Stoops...

“I think you just heard him talk about it a couple of minutes ago, how you do things day to day, the competitive nature that is in the building, the expectation level, I think I said that two weeks ago when I was talking at the original press conference. You can hear it a couple minutes ago.

“I think the expectation level of everybody, starting with him, everybody in the building, coaches and players, is a big, big, big factor at Oklahoma. And it starts with the head coach. All that in how you do that with the involvement of your families and your whole lifestyle is a big deal because it is not like that everywhere. To be successful, to have the amount of success he has had and deal with the number of coaches that have come out of the program to become head coaches, the number of families that are still close is a testament to how he does things.

“Winning games is a big part of that, but the other part of the culture and the relationships that go on there are an even bigger part of really the atmosphere that he created or that he creates now.”

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Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops

Opening remarks...

“I want to compliment all of you, Tommy Bain, Rick Baker, and all those associated with the AT&T Cotton Bowl. You all do things in a first class manner and it has been a fabulous week in all ways. Whether it has been practicing in Cowboys Stadium or staying at the Gaylord Texan, a fabulous hotel, everything has been fantastic. The players have enjoyed it and we appreciate all your hard work.

“Our players have handled themselves well this week among meetings and practice. We understand the challenge ahead of us in facing Texas A&M. Kevin has done a great job there and I want to congratulate him on a great year this year. I know our fans are excited about this game considering it sold out on the first day and our players are as well. We are looking forward to Friday and can’t wait for the challenge.”

On recruiting battles vs. Kevin Sumlin...

“Business is business. We are still friends, but you have to do your job. As long as we aren’t doing anything unethical, we understand that it is the competitive world we live in.”

On the extra time given for bowl preparations...

“Anytime you are playing you can add a wrinkle or two. I think everyone does when you have this amount of time. Even though on a weekly basis you can add a wrinkle or two as to what fits and what you are doing. For instance, early on moving forward you work on some things that you plan on doing next year with some younger players. That is what we did with some of our quarterbacks that may be able to run the ball a bit more.”

On becoming the winningest head coach at Oklahoma...

“I never had imagined doing that. I’m not the type of person that operates in that way. I have high expectations, but I don’t sit there envisioning things like that. I’m more of a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month trying to get better type of guy. In our business, you can’t look to see what might happen in fifteen years, but more so day to day. I don’t think about all of that; right now I am thinking about Kevin Sumlin and Texas A&M here in a few days.”

On Sumlin as a head coach...

 “You see it in what he is doing now; he is an incredibly bright coach, I knew that. He is competitive, great worker, and I think what Kevin brings to Texas A&M is the way he relates with his players and how those players want to play for him. He has a way to bring attitude to his team. I thought the same thing when he was with us. He brought attitude and relationships with the players. That is what you need to be successful and compete at a high level.”

On the long-term success at Oklahoma...

“It is difficult. There are ebbs and flows to all programs. You look over the last fourteen or fifteen years, we have been fortunate to maintain a strong level of championships and bowl games. I credit a great administration. We have a great president in David Boren, a great athletic director in Joe Castiglione, who has given us great support. I’ve had great assistant coaches like Kevin Sumlin. We have had good solid players. Fortunately, I believe we have done it the right way.”

On the distraction of having players with accolades like 'Heisman Trophy winner'...

“As Kevin said, when you play a later game it is beneficial to that player. It is a distraction early in December, but then that fades away coming into bowl preparations. I’m sure Kevin has done the same thing; you manage those couple of weeks as to what his obligations are. You go ahead and start to minimize those so that he can concentrate on playing ball.

“There probably is a bit more made of it than it actually does affect the guy. Again, I think if there was an earlier bowl game it may be a bit more problematic.”

On Sumlin having to hire a new offensive coordinator...

“For Kevin, he has already done a great job hiring those guys. You want someone that is going fit your style of players. Their offense obviously has been very successful. I bragged a lot about how he has played an entire SEC schedule and they’re third in the nation in total and scoring offense against all those defenses.

“I’m sure he will find somebody. We have always tried to find somebody that fit our players and the way we want to play. I’m sure Kevin has his ideas.”

On being comfortable in getting into a shootout...

“Well we have been in a bunch of them. Our players have played in some tight situations in the last several weeks and have responded well. They have competed all the way to the end of those games. You never know how it is going to go.”

On the importance of beating an SEC team...

“I don’t look at it that way. It all is propaganda and what the media does. We need to win for other reasons. I’m not worried about the media war. I am sure they have lost some of those games already, so I don’t get into that stuff.”