If I'd known there was this much prep work involved, I wouldn't have done it.

When I got ready to leave, I recommended two people - R.C. and John David Crow. Fortunately, they were hired and they were able to keep things going without missing a beat. R.C. had all the ingredients to be a head coach. He was an outstanding recruiter. And he had a good feel for managing a staff from his work as defensive coordinator.

I had a list of all the possible [assistant] coaches. I asked input from a lot of people - the administration, the alumni, the players. And R.C.'s name kept coming up.

Those Mountain West officials weren't going to call any pass interference. Those guys do that [call games involving spread offenses] 24 hours a day out there. [Alabama] lucked out on that.

I always wanted to coach against the guy who jumped up and down on the sideline and got up on the table at halftime and hollered. Put it like this: When you line up and a guy knocks the slobber out of you, you're not thinking about what the coach on the sidelines is telling you.

Trust me when I say this: Steve doesn't want anybody's sympathy. In fact, he wants people to make fun of him because the more they make fun, the tougher he will get. And here's a warning to anybody who might make fun if he struggles early: You better look out when he finally gets his players in there. He's on a mission. He will get the job done.