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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Football Weekly Press Conference
9/17/2001 | Football
Sept. 17, 2001
Ole Miss Athletics Director John Shafer
Opening Comments
I just got off a conference call with the league's athletics directors and SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer, and it is our plan to reschedule the Sept. 15 conference games only for Dec. 1 with the SEC Championship Game scheduled for Dec. 8 in Atlanta. So, it is our plan right now to play Vanderbilt in Oxford at 1:00 p.m. (CT) on Dec. 1.
The games which involve a league member against a non-conference opponent are being worked on as we speak. They will have an option of playing on Dec. 1 or if they can match common open dates to play the game that was postponed last weekend.
Q: Do you know of the logistics the conference had to go through to get the Georgia Dome for Dec. 8? Was it a huge deal?
A: I assume it was a huge deal when you talk about hotel rooms for fans, the media hotel, the team's hotels and the availability of the Georgia Dome. I imagine it was a large undertaking to get all that done, but obviously it has been accomplished.
Q: Was there an event already scheduled for the Georgia Dome on Dec. 8?
A: I don't know first-hand if there was an event in the Georgia Dome on Dec. 8. I had heard the Georgia high school playoffs were scheduled for Dec. 8 in the Georgia Dome. But, as I understand it, they (Georgia high schools) cancelled their games this past Friday night, so that extended their season another week and moved those playoff contests to Dec. 15.
Q: What about television for the Sept. 15 games that are now moved to Dec. 1?
A: I don't know how this change will impact the games that were to be on television. I'm sure that, in the coming days, television will make a decision. Clearances, programming and other things for television will have to be resolved. At an appropriate time, I'm sure there will be an announcement about television games. Right now, we are planning the Ole Miss-Vanderbilt game around a 1:00 p.m. (CT) start.
Q: Do you expect a reversal on this decision like last week's decision to play, then not to play?
A: Obviously, these are uncharted waters, and I'm not going to say they this decision will not change. I'm going to say that I don't believe there are going to be further changes, but there is no telling what might happen in the future and you can't anticipate that. As of right now, our plan is to play Dec. 1.
Q: How does this affect the men's basketball game against George Mason on Dec. 1?
A: Since the conference call, I have alerted our basketball office through (Assistant Athletics Director) Derek Horne to what we are planning. There are a lot of scenarios here because the football game may or may not be on television. We're just alerting our opponent, George Mason, as to what is going on, so they will be aware that there may be a change in the basketball game's start time.
Q: Did you feel hurried with security measures last week when you heard we were playing on Sept. 15?
A: We didn't feel hurried because our staff did a great job. We met with local and state officials and the University Police Department. We pulled from past experiences that some of us might have had such as working with the Olympics. We called around the country to see what other people were doing. The one thing we do have now is the opportunity to see security in action at games this weekend (Ole Miss has an open date Sept. 22). Also, we're not at home again until Oct. 13 against Alabama. Obviously, we can pull from other people's experiences and use them when we play our next home game. We were prepared to go forward with the Vanderbilt game this past Saturday from a security standpoint.
Q: Will you attend an athletic event at another school this weekend to see what security measures it is taking?
A: I don't know that I will go to an event. I will say that we will talk with game management officials at our sister schools to find out any concerns that they had and how they addressed them, so that we are prepared and everybody feels comfortable in a crowded setting.
Q: What are some changes that fans need to be aware of when they come to the next home game for Ole Miss on Oct. 13 versus Alabama?
A: I'm not going to get into details about the security measures we are going to take. I will say that security will be heightened, and that fans should arrive to the game early because it will be slower access to the stadium.
Q: What about parking, especially around the stadium?
A: That will be addressed, and those people will be notified as to what is the best way to handle parking.
Q: Did you get some guidelines or a memo on security measures?
A: You get a lot of minimum recommendations, and different states and federal agencies have different minimums that they recommend. What we're going to do is put all these things together and talk with people and federal agencies in our own state and come up with a plan that is best for Ole Miss.
Q: Has the state of Mississippi declared a "no-fly" zone?
A: No, not to my knowledge.
Ole Miss Head Coach David Cutcliffe
Opening Statement
I do not have a lot to say, but briefly, our team will feel relief that we know what is in front of us at this time and what is expected of us. We have decided on our schedule. We are going to practice four days this week. Obviously, we have the challenge in front of us to play on the 29th in Lexington (Ky.), after not having played a game in quite some time. We will have to manage that well. I feel good about our schedule. Our players are going to work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They will have an early-morning conditioning workout on Friday and then have the weekend off. We will resume our normal game-week preparation next week.
Q: What did you detect last night at the team meeting as far as the mood of the team?
A: They are still looking at us with a lot of questions. They wanted to know what the schedule was, first of all. They wanted to know what they were going to be facing. I told them that I thought we would play a Dec. 1 game against Vanderbilt, but I could not guarantee that. Young people, like all of us, are wondering what tomorrow brings. I told them I could not give them a definition of what normal is right now. I talked to them about remaining flexible. I talked to them about taking care of their responsibilities. Their responsibilities include being the best person they could be, and that does not change. They also have responsibilities as a student. It is a challenge to remain focused. They also have a responsibility as a football team. That is what our focus is and that is what we are going to attempt to do.
Q: Could you tell if the players had lost focus or if they were ready to play had the game been on last week?
A: I think we were all emotional when we were set to play Wednesday and going into Thursday morning. I felt like we were going to play okay and be okay. I was concerned with our Wednesday practice, but I really did not think it was the chain of (national) events that had caused the problems. You can get emotionally drained and we all worry about that, but there was some therapy involved with going out on the practice field. I thought Thursday's practice - even when we found out we weren't playing - was outstanding.
That is a tough question to answer. I do, as I have said, believe that when people looked at the situation, they made the best decision. I told the players that we would go along with whatever the circumstances are and not playing was fine. I am sure any athlete, whether professional or amateur, still will have the challenge of being focused when trying to play an athletic event when such events are taking place in our country and around the world.
Q: Have you had instances where you have had to take of your coaches' hat and put on the hat of father or counselor?
A: I think that has been a big part of it. I do not think that is something that we could separate right now. I think that is a big part of our profession. We are training young men. Part of what we are doing is training them to play football, the other part of it is training them to productive citizens and outstanding students. You can never separate them. We talked a lot about it (the attacks) as a staff, and the staff talked about it in their individual meetings with their players. I addressed the team numerous times. We have had a lot of team meetings we would not normally have. I think it has been good for them. That was an information source for them We could tell them a little bit about what was going on, but I felt like that was an important part of the week, and it is still an important part of what we are doing.
Q: How do you feel about possible security changes and were they possibly overdue?
A: I do not think anything is overdue. You have to look at our entire country and see that we live in a free society. I feel very good about the security and what we are going to do. We will have the very best security that you can possibly have. I think that is how we are all going to live our lives. We are going to live our lives on our hopes and not on our fears. That (security) won't be an issue with myself or our team. There are other people in place such as the game management people to handle the security. I have complete confidence in John Shafer and his staff to run it the way it should be run. We will go about doing our job and doing what we are supposed to do and that is preparing to play a football game that day.
Q: Does a missed tackle right now seem a little less important?
A: I would be a liar if I said no. I think they do. I think that is part of the challenge we are all facing. My mind, as well as those of the players' and staff members', is difficult to focus. I would not call what we are doing trivial because what we are doing is training young people. Maybe it makes the outcome of football, baseball, basketball or anything else seem a whole lot less important to all of us at this point in time.
Q: Is there anyone on the team now that is involved with ROTC or anything like that?
A: We have a senior walk-on, Shawn Clark, that is a national guardsman in the state of Mississippi. I visited with him and he is keeping me posted, but at this time he has not received any kind of call. I have asked him just to keep me posted and he has checked in with his commanding officer. At this point in time, they would be one of the last to be called from what I understand. I do not know how accurate that is, but he is well aware of the potential situation and we are as well.
Q: What kind of incentive do you have with a three-week off period during the middle of the season?
A: Certainly to try to improve as a football team. Part of getting better is playing games and part of getting better is going out on the practice field. One part of the formula is gone so that makes it easy to look at. We did not have a game this past weekend and that is the entire difference. We have conditioned and we will do a little bit more conditioning, but those games do condition the players, especially the early games. We will have a little more live contact than we normally would this week because we have to. We will also have some controlled full-speed work. We will try to maintain the speed of the game so to speak, but outside of that there is not a whole lot we can do besides focus on Ole Miss on that practice field and try to get better as a team.
Q: Was anybody on the team or staff directly hit by this?
A: We had some players touched by it. Jay Hepfer's father was in New York, but his father was not in the World Trade Centers. Rich Bisaccia had three first cousins who were actually in the World Trade Center. All of them were able to get out. When it first happened, obviously there was a lot of anxiety. I know Rich was talking to an uncle in New York and they had some troubles reaching his cousins. There was a lot of anxiety involved for him and his staff throughout that time. These were three first cousins, and they were very close. They were all able to get out safely.
Q: Was there any thought to playing Vanderbilt this weekend?
A: I do not know if there were any serious thoughts. There were different scenarios and that was one of them. There are all kind of logistical problems when you talk about moving a game. He mentioned the problems with moving the championship game in Atlanta as far as hotel rooms and all that kind of stuff. You get into the same mode when you start changing games from how they were set. They looked at different scenarios, but it was not just us we were looking at. There were a lot of people involved in this decision. We had to make a decision that was best for the whole.
Q: When do you start preparing for Kentucky?
A: We are already looking at Kentucky. We will start our preparation this week. I told our squad last night that part of our work will be on Kentucky and part of our work will be just on improving ourselves. It allows us to look at some things we are doing well and correct some things we are not doing as well. Before the week is out we will be pretty deep into plans for Kentucky.
Q: Have you talked to the players at all about the possibility of this just being the first part of a long drawn out war?
A: We have talked to them a lot about being flexible. I will go back to what I referred to earlier, I can not tell them what normal is right now. I can't give them that definition. None of us know. We cannot draw on any past experiences. Whether we were around for Vietnam or Pearl Harbor, this is a completely different situation. We have to remain flexible and try to do what we are instructed to do. Our leaders have told us to go back and do what it is that we are responsible for doing. That is what we are going to do. We are going to take it one day at a time and always remain flexible. It is a good lesson in life anyway. So many things happen to us along the way, and part of what we have to do as people is remain flexible. That is as far as I have taken it, but I have talked to them about that because I want to be honest with them and tell them that I do not know what two weeks will bring. We cannot predict the future. We just plan and move forward day by day.
