We're proud of Edgerrin. He's a fine young man. He worked hard at the university, made his grades or he wouldn't have been playing, and he's a great football player. People asked me last year, do you think Edgerrin James made a mistake by not waiting and graduating from UM, and I think it's presumptuous of me to answer that question, frankly. I think that long term, most people are better served by having an education and that degree than they are by leaving early.
Education is forever, and football is ephemeral.
But I probably would have made the same decision if I'd been that great an athlete, which I wasn't. I guess I'm really proudest of the overall quality in the institution that we've been able to build in these 19 years. I'm just one of many who've worked on it, but as I look around and I see what we've been able to do, I do take enormous pride in the work of my colleagues, because I don't have any illusions about it. They are the ones who are writing the books and teaching the good classes. I'm just trying to help them.