It's not fear of striking out that makes me reluctant to step up to the plate. It's the fear of getting hit in the head by a 90 mph fastball, the pitcher coming off of the mound to stomp me with her cleats while I am down, the rest of the opposing team rushing out of the dugout hurling insults as they kick me and spit on me, while all along the crowd in the stands is cheering them on and laughing at my failure. So, no, it's not the fear of striking out that keeps me from stepping up to the plate.

In my mind and the committee's mind, Jimmy Tubbs became the standard that I judged all the other people against.

In a lot of ways it is. We've tried to change as much of the support structure as we can and were still working on things. Somewhere along the line, you have to start winning and this was a good win for us.

The few incidents described in recent media reports are not the sum of the alleged violations in the program. Those incidents would not, in themselves, warrant significant action on the part of the university.

It's natural at my age that people will speculate on when I will retire. I'm not going to make any public statements on when I will retire until I meet with the president.

Our goal is to win championships at SMU. Our strong finish to the 2005 season only strengthened my belief that Phil Bennett is the man who will lead us to Conference USA titles and bowl games in the years to come.

We're in pretty good shape, considering the current landscape.