Mickey Loomis Quotations

We're going to get the best coach available to us. The right man for the job. Obviously, we'll pay accordingly.

If we can uplift anyone, obviously that's worthwhile to us. We're representatives of the people of Louisiana and the people of New Orleans.

But even if we had it available, where would our people live? Half our people's homes are OK, but the other half are not . . . and there's a shortage of housing.

From what I've seen on TV, what we can all see, that's what you would speculate. It doesn't look very good.

I don't think it will be difficult. This is a good job. Obviously, we have some challenges in front of us, but frankly I wouldn't want a head coach who's not willing to face challenges.

I wouldn't say it's overwhelming. They understand they have a job to do. They know their families are safe. Once you know your family is safe, you go back to your business. What's overwhelming is what's going on in New Orleans, Mississippi and the entire Gulf Coast.

It doesn't seem like we'll be able to return to New Orleans in the near future. We've got (players and staff) that have kids that need to go to school and a lot of other issues with families. We think it's fair to them that we establish a base here.

You kind of feel like a derelict after a while, wearing the same shirt every other day. Through all this, no one is complaining. Everyone sees the plight of others . . . and we know we're fortunate. We have incomes.

We mutually agreed that it was the right move for the Saints.

We've had firsthand reports that it's a mess.

With the experience we went through last year there was considerably less chaos than there might have been.

We don't have enough information to even make a guess at it.

We are working to create competition at every position. Michael has experience and has been a solid, explosive player throughout his career. We will add him to the mix at running back, where we already have some depth.

We would like to play our games in Baton Rouge. Obviously, the league has a lot of say. They'll be involved in the decision.

This was a decision I made that came with great consideration and thought. It wasn't a move I thought necessary without careful evaluation of all of the factors involved this year and in past seasons.

We're disadvantaged enough without having to go in every stadium in the league and be a visiting team,

We're disadvantaged enough. We don't want to go through the whole season and be the visiting team.

We went into the free agency period aiming to improve our depth at running back, and we have accomplished that goal with the signing of Aaron. He is a proven player who we can depend upon to take over at running back if needed or just to give Deuce a rest during a game.

Our facility has been commandeered, which is fine, it's a good spot for them. We'll bring back what we can.

And that's only assuming that we are going to take a quarterback. Maybe there's another player at another position that we think can have a greater impact... . Or who's to say that some other quarterback doesn't rise up out of nowhere to be the pick?

As John Fox told me, personally, Sean Payton has the 'it' factor. And I believe him.

As we go forward, there is a mental and physical exhaustion factor that comes into play,

It's been a tough season for everyone. We haven't made the playoffs in the last five years, and we haven't had a winning record since 2002. It's a cumulative effect. Certainly, the situation we had this year made it tough for Jim, the coaches and players, and everyone in the entire organization.

I knew what his desires were, but we didn't get to that point. We talked about four or five different scenarios.