On if he looks forward to returning to Texas for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge:
“I have a great respect for the University of Texas and I have so many wonderful friends and people back there. In the past I’ve never really wanted to do it because I just didn’t want to go back and be about me. And 17 great years, I really loved it. ESPN has been asking for that to be quite honest with the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. And now, with them closing the arena—an arena we spent 17 years in and certainly had some great memories there—and talking to some of our former players who’ve asked that we come back and be a part of the last year of the building. I’ve said it before, the fact that my grandkids are back there and my grandson’s birthday right around there is a nice benefit.
“And I know Chris Beard, two of my former assistants are now on his staff and I just felt at this point in time there were a lot of things. I still don’t want it to be about me coming back, I really don’t, but I know there will be something to that. But the fact is where our program is, where their program is and now that they’re coming into the league it makes us look smart enough to get a jump on what it’s going to be like in Austin.
“Will it be a tough game? It will be, because coach Beard and his staff are terrific basketball coaches and they do a great job. Will I expect the arena to be a full house? I do, which again will be great for our guys but we will have gone through some of that prior to that because it comes in the middle of the SEC season. But again, this is the last year of the Frank Erwin Center and then they’ll go into the new building. Chris Del Conte, the athletic director, is already trying to hit me up about coming back and opening the gym up. That’s another talk, they’d have to make it well worth my while.”
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