Notre Dame Fighting Irish College Football Pregame Quote, 01/07/2025

Question: On the journey you’ve had to be this close to the ultimate in college football. What does just being on this stage mean?

It means everything. I mean, that’s why you do it. You know, to have this opportunity and to navigate what is, which is a challenging road, like it’s hard to get here. People think, when you get here, you’ll be back next year. I was just saying to somebody the other day, you think you’re going to get back to that game, or wherever you thought, you would be when you were there. And I don’t take anything for granted at my age. I’m very grateful for this opportunity and just staying focused, just staying humble, just staying in the moment, not worrying about anything, whether it’s the fact that I went to Penn State, or anything on the outside, just concentrating and just being really, really focused on the moment and being the best I can for these players. They deserve that.

On South Florida

I love the people that I had to form relationships with when I was here. Obviously, the student athletes that I had the chance to work with, but kind of reconciled that stage and had great moments since I was sitting there hugging my kids. We had this amazing photo in the Sugar Bowl the other day, and I just said to my youngest daughter, I said, three years ago, we did this. We were in Arrowhead Stadium. We did the same thing, brought the stage out, and we were going to Super Bowl, and I said, that’s where we’re at. You know, we have that, that kind of opportunity. That’s the magnitude of where we are.