Dan Hooks Quotations

Nederland is always such a sound and solid football team. Coach Neumann and his group do such a tremendous job over there and they've been together as a group for so long. I think they've been to the playoffs 10 straight years or so. They always have some good-looking kids. They look the same as they did in 1981. They have big kids that work hard year around. They look like they're just cut from a different mold. They just seem to reload every year with the tremendous depth they have. Another key to their success is that they don't turn over the football. They've won a lot of games over the years doing that.

I felt like he was going to win it. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. He's talked about winning it all year long and I like to see good things happen to good people.

He's a great athlete. I thought his passes sputtered a little bit, but you know, overall he's a difference maker.

I think our young linemen are getting better every week. We have a bunch of sophomores and juniors playing in there. They're starting to get off the ball a little bit. Our little backs are firing in the hole. Garrett did a good job; Earl (Thomas) did a great job, and also Kendrick Leblanc.

We have a mega-school powerhouse district. We're used to being in a 4A league that was rough like that. I thought we might be in a five-team district but it didn't work out that way.

To be behind to Nederland 10-0 and comeback was a great accomplishment. We fought back and toppled adversity and thought we did a decent job tonight.

The point-spread, you know, I don't enjoy that, but I thought our kids played really well. In that last quarter, we had our backup players out there so we weren't trying to run up the score. But I was really proud of our football team, especially our defense in the second-half.

Yet another week in a 'bulldog pen' for us. What a charming non-district schedule we have, huh. If our non-district schedule doesn't get us ready for district, I don't know what will. It's as tough as you can get.

We have 23 people. Our kids are playing both ways, so it's a battle of the numbers. We're working hard in practice and just came away with two big road wins.

We want to do whatever we can to help.

To get in there and get it done faster seems to be a better option. It gets a little dicey as far as planning things like the pre-game meal and getting all the equipment and stuff ready to haul but I really think it will be a good thing once everyone gets adjusted to it.

Beasley is a great football player. He's intelligent and knows what it takes to win a football game. We were up against a good football team that was well-coached. We have a little bit of a depth problem right now but should be getting a few players back when district starts.

At my age, I kinda look at it as a year by year thing but each year is so darn enjoyable. There is always something to look forward too.

It was the consensus of the coaches to go ahead and go with the 7 p.m. start. It gives us 30 less minutes to worry about our stomachs turning inside out.

It was a tremendous win for our kids and it's always a big deal around here when we beat Jasper. The kids are so excited about getting things started with a win. They're not really getting the big head about it either. We've had a good couple practices the last two days. This group is not hard to refocus.

It's a really big thing for the players to be honored here tonight. There are no losers out of this. Success or failure in football doesn't matter, they're both not permanent. It's what you turn your life into that matters.

It's truly been a tremendous ride and I'm not ready to let go of it just yet. Coaching is something you have to love to do. You like to see kids succeed on the field but what they do in life is what's most important. To hear all the success stories, that's what makes a coach, a good one, the proudest.

It was a great team effort for the Mustangs. You may get (defensive coordinator) Cornel (Thompson) in the first half, but he'll come out at halftime with some adjustments and did tonight. We put Beasley in on defense and kept Butler to just a few crossing patterns and nothing deep after that first score.

This has to be the biggest honor I've ever had the opportunity to receive. To be selected by a group of your peers makes it that much more special.