University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Larry Fedora Weekly Media Conference Quotes...Nov. 15, 2010
11/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 15, 2010
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -
Head Coach Larry Fedora's Weekly Press Conference...Nov. 15, 2010
Opening Statement:
"First of all let me start out by saying that this football team played a heck of a game last Saturday - a heck of a game. The coaching staff did a tremendous job of preparing them for that game and the players played their hearts out and fought back from down 14 and played a great game. Obviously, that game has been overshadowed by this tragedy that has happened with our football team. This whole team is concerned with the health and welfare of their teammates, and their brothers, but also their families who are in town and they have a lot of support.
"They are all in fair condition right now. I just got back from the hospital a few minutes ago where I spoke with each of them. They are all anxious to see their teammates to be honest with you. All three of them are very anxious to get a chance to see their brothers."
On the players' health:
"The only thing I am going to comment about is the status. From my understanding, and from being over there this morning, that all three are in fair condition and all three of them had good spirits. As far as their specific injuries that would have to come from the hospital."
On how Many other players were with the three injured last Saturday:
"From my understanding there were about eight to 10 guys that were there the other night. I am not aware of any of them being involved in an altercation."
On player stipulations:
"We have some stipulation (on the players) and there are places that are outlawed and this was not one of them. Actually, right now, everywhere is off limits until we get this situation handled. We talked about it as a team last night and they are all very aware of it. They understand that what is important is getting these guys healthy and playing good football."
On the players having a curfew:
"Yeah, we have a curfew but not on Saturday night after a game."
On other steps taken for added security:
"I will be honest with you, I think our team and our student-athletes are perfectly safe. I do not think there is anything that we have to worry about and there is nothing that we have to do differently as a football team to be honest with you. The people in charge of those areas such as Hattiesburg police will handle all this."
On if the players living off campus had anything to do with the incident:
"I do not think it has anything to do with it. They were at a club. They could have been at McDonalds or Waffle House. It happened at this club and that is all there is to it. I do not think that the University can protect our students at a night club."
On the players being out at 1:30 a.m. at a night club where alcohol is served:
"Anytime you have alcohol involved you have problems and that is anywhere in the country."
On players' decisions:
"We constantly talk about making good decision with our football team. These are 18-, 19-, 20-year-old kids. Unless you are that age you probably do not think the same way they do. I know I don't. Making decisions is part of the growing process and coming from a young man to a full-grown man. You have to make decisions on your own and understand that there are consequences to every decision you make. We talk about that all the time. Kids are going to make mistakes and they are going to pay the consequences for those mistakes and they move on and learn from them and grow. That is how they become a full-grown man."
On if any of the other players on the team who were there would be facing disciplinary measures:
"Am I going to discipline them for being at a club? No."
On what the police has told him at this point:
"They are still conducting an investigation so they have not given me many details at all. I do not think they want to do anything to jeopardize the investigation."
On the way he found out about the incident:
"I got a call at 2:08 a.m., from one of my assistant coaches. One of the players called him immediately. I went to the hospital and I was able to be in the emergency room with all three of them. It was pretty chaotic at that time but let me tell you that the hospital did a great job with the people they have working there and just everyone involved and the security they had. They did a tremendous job."
On how the rest of the team is coping:
"Probably about how you could imagine. They are very, very concerned for those guys. In the team meeting, yesterday, is when they kind of found out what was going on and it was a very quiet team meeting. There was not much talking. They were very quiet on the football field last night at practice. We did not change our routine. We went right back to what we needed to do and still feel like that is was very important for them to get away by doing what they do."
On how tough this is personally:
"It is tough on everyone. First of all its tough on those three guys. To go over there and to talk to them and to hear them say they are sorry for letting the team down and for Tim Green to write it down that he is really sorry he hurt the team, because he cannot speak right now, that's tough. They are still thinking about the team at this point and the team is worried about them. All we want to do is make sure that they are taken care of and they get healthy."
On how this will affect the rest of the season:
"We will have to see won't we. We talked about it as a team last night. Basically everyone in the country is going to be watching how we react as a football team and not just Saturday night when we play the University of Houston but throughout the week; how we handle this situation. It is something that as a football team you are probably as prepared as you can be. You have to handle adversity each and every day when you are on the football field. It is going to happen. It happened last Saturday at UCF when we fell behind 14 points on the road at a ranked opponent and they just fought back. They are going to fight back right now and they are going to prepare themselves and get ready to play on Saturday night. I am confident that these guys have a lot inside of them."
On how the team moves forward from this:
"You have to be sensitive to what is going on, obviously, but we have a job to do. Our football team has a game this week. That is not going to change. Our team has to be prepared and our coaches have to prepare them, not only physically but mentally. We have to try to put this behind us as quickly as possible but at the same time keeping those guys in our thoughts and prayers. We are going to treat it as a normal week, but we have grief counselors around and we also have a team chaplain who is very close to all of our guys. We talked about as a coaching staff in our meetings what to be aware of and what to look for in these guys. We have assigned buddies to each player so they can watch each other. There maybe a few things different, but the best thing will be to get back into our routine. The guys are off today as normal. They will come back tomorrow for meetings and we will practice. We plan on getting after it just like we do every Tuesday."
On if other players are allowed at the hospital:
"They were not allowed in yesterday, but they will start going today. We have assigned times that our team is going to be going in. The hospital can only handle so many people at a time, so we have got assigned times our players can go over and visit."
On if this Incident will bring any other preventive measures for the team:
"I think we have things in place but unless everyone moved in with me and rode to work with me and went home with me, I do not think that we are going to be able to stand over them for 24 hours a day. It still boils down to the choices you make. You have to try not to put yourself in a bad situation and, unfortunately, that was a bad situation."
On whose injury is the worse:
"I cannot tell you who is the worst. I do not know that. You would have to talk to the doctors. Verbally Tim cannot communicate right now and the other two can."
On if there was consideration to delay the Houston game:
"I have no idea. That is not something I would deal with anyway. It is above me. I just know that we play at 7 p.m., on Saturday night and we have to be ready to play."
On Martez Smith:
"Martez is a senior and a kid that when we got here was not sure if he was going to really buy into what we were doing here and actually thought he was going to leave several times, but coach (David) Duggan did a great job of pulling him in and from that point on Martez has become a heck of a player for us. Not only a player but a heck of guy, a good person. He is in his last class to graduate this semester. On the football field, the guy was tremendous as a linebacker and special teams player. He is the kind of kid you are always looking for. He is always flying around hitting someone and having fun. He has not been on the field for us since the East Carolina game and we have missed him as a team. The thing about it is that he has still been around every day, still at practice, still encouraging players and doing the things he can to help this football team."
On Tim Green:
"Tim has been a journey man for us. He has been a starter on our special teams for the last couple of years and been a very integral part of our special teams. The other day, because of injuries, he played his first extensive time (on defense) in the game versus UCF and played very well. Today was the first time I have even been able to tell him about that and he wanted a copy of the film so he could watch it over there. He is excited about the way he played. He is a kid that I enjoy kidding around with a lot - all three of them to be honest with you. Tim is from Columbia, S.C. and is a long way from home. This is his family (away from home)."
On Deddrick Jones:
"He is a defensive end for us, a starter and has been a great player for us all year. He is from Bastrop, La., and has a large family. He has nine brothers or sisters, and his younger brother plays at the University of Arkansas. He has been a heck of a player for us all year and the last three years to be honest with you."
On talking to the players families:
"I did not recruit any of these three guys but it was difficult to go in and see their families. But at the same time, it was comforting to me to see the support that each of these guys have. The families are all in good spirits, about as much as you could be. They are here and (being) taken care of and able to be with those guys all the time right now."
On if the University helping with any of the expenses:
"All the players have insurance. All football players have to have it, but that is something that I really do not know the answer to."
Have any of the three players talked about the incident and what happened:
"I have not said one word about it to them. I have not asked them a single question. Right now, that is not what I am concerned with for those three guys. My main concern is that those guys get out of the hospital. I talked about the incident with some of the other players who were there after the team meeting last night to see if I could get some insight. Any information that I have gotten I have passed along to the investigating officer, which is why I cannot comment about it."
On if this was all started over a girl:
"No one has indicated that to me."
On if the shooter was one person or multiple people:
"I have no idea, that would be something to ask the Hattiesburg Police department."
