Chip Durham Quotations

It affected him a little because once we got back, some of our other guys were a little more fine-tuned and ready to go. It takes him a little while to get in that pattern, but there are guys that do it. It's rare to find a guy who's a two-sport athlete who is not a great athlete. That's what makes him be in a situation where he can do that.

I think that gives them an incentive to go out and play hard everyday and try to have a great season. That way at the end of the year, they're rewarded for it.

We send them all off with a workout plan. We hope they get out there and stay working out so that they are ready once the fall semester begins.

The recruiting trail never ends for us. Once we get recruits for this season, we start looking for guys for the next season. It's a continuous beat and at this level it's all about recruiting big players to come in and play for you.

We have 30 guys, so we have to spread the money out. Losing 1.7 scholarships doesn't affect just one or two people; we're talking about five or maybe six guys. We can't put the program in a position where we get penalized year in and year out with 1.7 scholarships because we're not taking care of our academics.

At the beginning of the semester I told the players that at mid-semester if the grades weren't good then there were going to be punishments. There's no reason for this to happen. We have study hall twice a week and a free tutoring service. I think a lot of the guys took it lightly and they got surprised.

There's no doubt we're sending a message to these guys. The biggest thing is that the one thing I know these guys understand is playing time and traveling and when they're not doing that it hurts them a little more.