But suddenly at the beginning of this year, we were told Dennis would leave and players would be sold. It was hard to take when we were close to sixth and had games in hand on the teams in the play-off places. That put paid to any momentum we had.

I sold some of my tickets this year. I did. I told the league that and I told [team owner] Red McCombs that. I'm not going to lie. But if I'm going to be thrown out this year for selling tickets, then I'm a scapegoat. If I'm guilty of anything, I'm guilty of selling some of my tickets. I am not guilty of buying any player tickets since I've been made the head coach [in January 2002].

I've told these guys, we're a good team. We don't have great players like we did last year.

I'm very happy for Adrian. At the beginning of the year we told him, 'We're playing for you.' He's been here for five years, and he's put his heart and soul into the program. Without him, we would have been in trouble.

I told him there was a lot of historical property there. (Dennis Chapman) allowed me to salvage all of it.

I told our players I couldn't be prouder of them. We fought extremely hard all year. I really appreciate them taking me with them.