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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Coach Cutcliffe Talks About His First Practice With Ole Miss
6/21/1999 | Football
December 18, 1998
DAVID CUTCLIFFE INTERVIEW AFTER FIRST OLE MISS PRACTICE
Q: How did your first practice go?
A: "I really did think it was a good start and that's what I told the team. But it's just a start. Offensively, I thought it took us a while to get going. We had too many incomplete passes and we need to understand what we're trying to get done. Generally, after a layoff, your defense is going to be ahead of your offense. From an attitude standpoint, there were some people who caught my eye. Deuce McAllister, I thought, had an outstanding practice. Rufus French was making catches all over the field. I don't think anybody here could miss that. We had some real positives, offensively. Defensively, I thought our guys came ready to play. I thought they competed well, defensively. We're looking forward the next outing. For everybody to be as new and as green as we were, as to what we were doing ... we changed the practice schedule ... the players handled that. The coaches were kinda on the run. Some people came here after practice started and one about an hour before. I saw a lot of work and a lot of coaching going on. I felt really good about the start."
Q: What about Romaro (Miller) and when will you be able to tell about his status?
A: "I think he did more than I expected today. He probably got three-quarters of the practice time. We just decided not to continuously throw him through there. We don't want to press our luck, but he threw the ball well early in practice and we'll just try to follow the doctors' and trainers' recommendations and increase his work a little bit every day. I was really pleased and I think he was pleased. He had some fun. He was glad to be back out among the team."
Q: How did you feel when you walked out on the field for the first time? Did you have any thoughts about the significance of the moment or were you just too involved in getting started?
A: "I think the significance of the moment was to look over there and see Coach (John) Vaught. Having the opportunity to see him, and understanding what he accomplished as a coach, I think that was just an inspiring moment to me. After that, it just felt good to finally be on the football field. After what I've been through the last 10 days or however many it's been, 100, I think, it really felt good to be on a football field. I thought our guys felt good about being on the field. They generated some energy for me. I thought it was good energy on the field. They couldn't, but I could stay out here a little while longer."
Q: What type of schedule will you have during these practices?
A: "For three days, we'll follow the same schedule we followed today. We'll take Sunday morning off to allow them to go to church and then resume practice Sunday afternoon. We're meeting in the morning, having walk-throughs in the morning, and conditioning with weights in the morning. After lunch, we have more meetings and then an afternoon practice. It's a pretty full day for them. There's a lot to learn, a lot of classroom work along with the field work. We were a little over two hours (on the practice field) today. We'll work Tuesday morning and let them get out of here midday, so they can get home in time to buy Mom or Dad some Christmas gifts. We won't be traveling to the bowl as a team. We'll just meet up in Shreveport on the 26th."
Q: You have just gone through a full day, including practice, and now will be getting on the phone and talking to people.
A: "I'm getting ready to fire out here and go recruiting tonight. I'm getting ready to get on the plane right now and make some home visits. I'll get back in here sometime late tonight and worry about what's in the office then. I guess I should make a public apology about not returning phone calls, but I just can't do it right now. I'm going to take care of business first. That's important. I've got a whole lot of friends mad at me, but they'll just have to stay mad. I'll get less Christmas gifts than I usually get."
Q: Does this give you a little more energy getting into this schedule?
A: "Without question. This what you need. This is what you coach for. People can say what they want. I love recruiting and meeting people, and I really do. I like getting in the film room and getting on the boards, but I love the practice field. This is what it's all about. This is your opportunity to take advantage of that special relationship (with players). You see people get better. This is where it becomes functional ... all the work you do, recruiting, X's and O's, playbooks. Everything becomes functional. This is what it's all about."
Q: Will you look at a lot of film from today?
A: "Yes. We're going to have to look at it. We have a lot of new coaches who will be asking a lot of questions. They are trying to feel their way through some of this, as well. I don't know when we'll get to it, but we will sometime. Some of the coaches not out recruiting will have a chance to look at it tonight."
