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Rice University Athletics
Chase Clement and Brian Raines Transcript
1/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Chase Clement
"To all the commitments that are coming in, the people that are following Rice, all the fans we want you all to know that we're not worried about anything. It is what it is, and we're planning on going forward and taking the next step and going on to win the conference championship, going to the bowl, winning the bowl game. Coaches come and go. That's the way it is all throughout football. The things that this team overcame and went through this past season, we've got a close group of guys, and I think we've come together so much I'd go to war with any one of them. I think we've gone through so much that we're going to win regardless of who comes in here. Whoever wants to come in here and coach us, they're going to be part of a winner."
(on what he thought when he found out Graham was leaving) "A lot of things good and bad. You hear a guy say he's committed to you and he signed an extension and say he wants to be here. Sure enough, the next day that's not the case. It is what it is. We can't worry about it. We've just got to look forward to the future."
(on the meeting with the players) "Last night is really when I first heard word of it. I think all of us kind of heard what was going on. We didn't really know it was just all speculation. A lot of phone calls had been made to various people just to find out information. A lot of us were together last night, we all went to eat and just talked about the whole thing. Everybody's been kind of upset about it. This morning we all agreed that it is what it is, and we're going to continue without him. Whoever comes in here, they're going to win. We're going to make sure of that, we're going to work towards that, and we're going to keep the same goals we always have been."
"He came in at 6:50 am and just told us what the situation was and why he was doing it. He made sure that he talked to each one of us. I haven't seen him personally to talk to him or anything. I don't know where he is, but he made sure to talk to us."
(on Major Applewhite as a HC candidate)"Personally I think he could be [a head coach]. He's a great coach. I learned so much from him when he was here. He knows so much about the game of football. He knows how to run. He ran the offense extremely well. He did a lot of good things. He could be ready for it. He's a tremendous coach. Not only that, but through the course of the year all the guys on the offense got to know him really well on and off the field and we really think that we play for him. We do a lot of things for him. He was there for us through thick and thin. He's a good guy on and off the field."
Brian Raines
"I think a lot of the guys when they heard the news last night were pretty upset because we came back this season and we made a lot of goals, we're going to take another step forward, the bowl game was nice. We just figured that we wanted to take Rice football to the next level. Coach Graham came in and got everybody revved up about it, and now, in the middle of the night, to hear Coach Graham is leaving, going back to Tulsa, of all schools to go back to, kind of got everybody a little fired up. It is a little betrayal, somewhat. I understand that he has to do what's best for his family, what's best for him. When I think about it the best thing I think of is this team is about perseverance because that's what we've said all season. This team has persevered over everything that we've come through. This is just another thing that we have to persevere through to keep going, keep Rice football moving."
(on how difficult it will be to adjust to a new coach) "I think for a lot of the players it's going to be pretty difficult because Coach Graham came in and put a lot on this team to get us ready for this season. It's hard. It's going to be really hard. I think with Chase and a lot of the other team captains we can bring together and get things rolling and not waste any time and continue the goals that we said we were going to set for this year"
(on what he would tell recruits) "If I had a chance to talk to recruits I'd tell them come on to Rice football because we're going to hit the ground running and keep on going. This thing just keeps on going. Come be part of a winner. We're going to a bowl game. We're going to a bigger bowl game. I feel that we have a good chance to win the conference and that doesn't stop. We've already talked to the team. Everybody's going to be out there, right behind us on this field doing seven on seven, throwing, going through our basic drills, footwork, keys, checks, communication, stuff like that that we've been doing so we don't just get lackadaisical and sit down and do nothing all this time. Tell the recruits to come on. Nothing's going to change really.
