Once you're a football player, you're a football player for life. You always think of yourself in terms of that. We all do. It's hard to get rid of when you can't play anymore.

Relentless pursuit to find a competitive edge.

It isn't about the words you say. It's about the energetic message you send.

Recruiting is the lifeblood of any program, so you can't put anything above that, ... But it wouldn't matter who you had here if you didn't have the right mental attitude and work ethic. You need all those elements to come together to do something like we are doing.

I had no plan for that year but it wound up being one of the most important years of my football coaching career. It hit me along the way that I needed to really get at the heart of what's really true to myself. And then I was able to mold it and shape it in the years at SC to become the approach and the concept and the culture that we try to create here at Seattle.

I would say that we have to explore and find ways to make our game a better game and take care of our players in whatever way possible. Regardless of what other stigmas might be involved, we have to do this because the world of medicine is doing this.

And sure, there's a universe where I made a bonehead call that blew the Super Bowl. But that's not my universe.