I thought these were the most interesting questions
and answers from Joe's March 26th press conference.
[My comments in brackets.]

Q: Will the quarterback position be an open position
this spring?

A: I think that Zack Mills is the quarterback and it
is now up to Michael Robinson and Chris Ganter to beat
him out. When you go into spring practice, you have a
guy that has done as well as Zack Mills has done for
us in a lot of very tough games. Somebody has got to
beat him out. That doesn't mean that Michael Robinson
doesn't have the ability or will not have a chance to
beat him out because we will try to come up with the
best quarterback that we have. Going into this thing
right now, somebody will have to beat out Zack.

[Thanks. The last thing I wanted was a QB controversy
like KT vs. Casey.]

Q: Are you concerned about the image of the program?

A: No. Why don't you guys talk about our graduation
rate? Nobody here has said, "Are you pleased that out
of all of the teams that were in a bowl, that Penn
State had the highest graduation rate?" Nobody asked,
"Are you pleased with the fact that the African
American football players have graduated over 80%
consistently over the last five years?" This year our
graduation rate, when the new figures come out, will
be 85.7%. African American kids on our football team
will have graduated at the rate of about 87%. If you
want to talk about that, I will be happy to talk about
that. I don't know what the image of the program is. I
think the image of the program is that we bring kids
in here and we give them an opportunity to get a good
education and to play on a good, competitive football
team. If down the line out of about 120-125 kids once
in awhile something happens that none of us are glad
about, it happens. If I could change that, I would
change it. I am not going to be able to change it. If
you said to me, "Would you be embarrassed that one of
our Big Ten colleagues had 39% of their football
players graduate?" I would say, "Yes, I am embarrassed
about that."

[Wow! That sound you just heard was Joe throwing John
Cooper under the bus. And he's right--it's an
embarrassment.]

Q: Does your team return with higher expectations this
season because of the success of last year?

A: I hope so...I am not happy about losing four
football games. I would be dishonest if I told you
otherwise. I always say that I have never been a guy
that hasn't always felt that, maybe, there is
something that I could have done that would have
changed that around a little bit. I hope we are coming
in here with the idea that we can do better than that.
Whether we can do better than that with the kind of
people we have to play against, that is debatable, but
we are going to sure give it a shot.

[Huh? All I hear around here is that Joe doesn't have
high expectations, doesn't really care about winning
anymore, and never takes personal responsibility for
our problems.]

Q: You have coached against some of the greatest
coaches. How much does the coaching affect the game?

A: When Lou Holtz took the Notre Dame job and we were
going to play them, I had felt that Lou Holtz had done
the best job coaching against me by anybody when he
beat us twice when he was at North Carolina State. I
subscribed to the Notre Dame school paper and the
South Bend paper in those days just to make sure I
knew Lou as well as I could know him. That is probably
the only time I have ever coached against a coach.

[He subscribed to the Notre Dame student paper and the
South Bend Tribune?!? Dang, Joe's even more of a
details guy that I realized.]

Q: What was it that you saw in Rene Portland that
impressed you when you hired her?

A: I thought she was kind of cute (laughter). Because
she was a pain in the backside. She wanted my office,
and written letter and everything. I thought if she is
that aggressive, she will give it a good shot. Her
background and her attitude about women's basketball
and where it would come. I'll never forget when we had
to pay Rene a little bit more than what one of the
guys in Old Main wanted me to pay her. I said, "It
will be the best deal you ever make. Some day we will
have 8,000-10,000 people in Rec Hall." He said, "The
day you fill Rec Hall for a women's basketball game,
I'll kiss your ass at mid court." I am still waiting.

[LOL!]

Penn State Proud, Chicago Board of Trade Kevin



__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, forms, and more
http://tax.yahoo.com