UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 1, 2005

David Cutcliffe

DOUG WALKER: Thanks a lot. Good afternoon, everybody. Just wanted to make a couple comments before Coach Cutcliffe joined us on the line here. Earlier today about an hour ago we had a previous are brief press conference with Coach Weis where we released a statement including a statement from Coach Cutcliffe, and also had a listen and tele-conference at that point for Coach Weis. The transcript of that tele-conference press conference should be on our web site shortly. As well as our complete release of Coach Cutcliffe's statement. We'll also have a complete transcript of this phone conversation later on this afternoon on our web site. That's at und.com. If you have any further questions for my end, my line here at Notre Dame is 574-631-9471. And my e-mail address is dwalker@nd.edu. And that's about all I got for now. I want to go ahead and turn it over to Coach Cutcliffe and he'll handle your questions after some brief comments.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Thanks, Doug. I have issued a statement, but just to give you a synopsis of the statement, and I just want to thank Charlie Weis and the University of Notre Dame for being so good to me and my family. And it's been absolutely wonderful, their care and concern. And I value the way they treated us. This health issue became, it was just a sudden thing, it kind of snuck up on me and it's put me behind. I wasn't able to participate in spring practice and just didn't really feel like I was ready to jump in and give my best. And that's the only way I would do it. And I didn't feel like I was capable of doing justice to the players and the staff. And I was really looking forward to being a part of something special, such a special university, a special group of people. I want to thank Kevin White for the job he does and the tremendous espirit de corp of the entire Notre Dame Athletic Department. And I was fortunate to be a part of that for a short period of time. But I'm excited about the future, I'm excited about trying to continue to get better, which I am doing now. And looking forward to what the future brings. With that, I'll go ahead and take questions.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: No, it's just my health. Like I said, that kind of jumped up and came on so quickly, just there's a lot of opportunity out there, but I'm just not ready to jump back into it at this time.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: I'm still in cardiac rehab and just to be able to continue the recovery and be able to get my strength back through the surgery and such I lost about 30 pounds. So it's been just a tough ordeal. And I think it's the best thing for me and my family.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, I hope I have the opportunity to do that. But you never know what the good lord brings and we'll just kind of see what the future holds.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Yes, we're going to be moving to the East Tennessee area where my wife is from. And put our kids in school there. And then we'll just kind of see what happens from there. It's one of those things where I think the future is a little unclear, but I certainly know that I'm planning on rejuvenating myself physically and mentally and trying to eventually get back into what I love to do.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, when I first had the surgery, I had two or three different complications. And I was put back in the hospital, it really slowed me down from what we originally thought it might be. But Coach Weis has been just more than fair and given me plenty of opportunities to try to get back. I'm just to a point now with where I'm just really getting into the rehab good, getting some endurance. And as I said, I just know me, I'm not going to be ready to jump back into it with the ability to do the kind of job I expect from myself. So I'm just trying to be fair to every one, players, coaches, everyone included.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: No, I haven't gone into any details with him on that. I don't know what his plans are at this point.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, you know, I had a serious bout of pancreatitis and that was no fun. And I've been through some health issues. This one has taken more out of me than actually the pancreatitis did. I don't know that I would ever have thought that could happen. But I talked to my wife a lot about this, I do value my family more and more after these issues and so there's a lot to think about. And we just felt like it was the best avenue to take.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: No. Definitely not. Again, I expect -- I said in the statement in the release -- and I do feel this -- that I'm healthier than I've been in years. I didn't know I was feeling that bad. But I've got a good start, I just want to finish it and reach back and reach to what health level that I feel like I should be.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, they're excited about just the opportunity -- I've never had -- I coached for 29 years in a row and I never really had a lot of time around my family. So I think that -- I think they're excited about me being home a little bit more. Sometimes you might wonder about that.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: I appreciate it. Thank you.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, just the last couple of weeks. It's something that my wife and I started talking about when it was kind of time to return back. And I was, you know, all along I didn't know where I would be at this stage, obviously. And as it came down to time to go back, I just knew I wasn't going to be able to do the kind of job that I felt like Coach Weis and Notre Dame deserved. And that's where I first kind of approached my wife about it. And then we talked about it and I talked with Charlie about it, and as I said, I do want to reiterate that, how awesome he's been throughout this whole process.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: I was going to try to get back end of May, 1st of June. So obviously that's where we are right now and it just, like I said, we didn't feel like -- we really feel like this is the best thing for me and my family. And I certainly feel strongly that this is the best thing. But I also feel very strongly about Notre Dame and the people there and, you know, I'm excited for them, the future they have. I just wish I could have been a part of it.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: It hasn't been real good. I think maybe stress had something to do with this heart problem because a year ago I had a heart work-up and everything was perfect. And then suddenly kind of out of nowhere this hit me. And it hasn't been fun to go through. But I know that the most important thing right now is to try to get fully recovered. And that's why I'm doing this.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, it's different. I think anybody that's ever had it will tell you it's a very emotional thing to go through. And I guess some people look at it as routine, because they do so many of them. But if you're the one under the saw, you don't understand it. And it's different for everybody. Different recovery periods. And I've had some people tell me it's taken them over a year to get back to normal. I had people that tell me two to three months they're back to normal or close to it. But it's just different for everyone, but it's not a lot of fun to go through.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: A little bit. I'm sure I'm going to have some of the high school people approach me and I don't know what the opportunities are there that are out there. And I haven't talked with very many people about this. So not a lot of people know at this time. But I think that as I said, the No. 1 priority for me is going to be making sure that I can rehab and get myself back to where I think I need to be.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Yes, I have doctors that are friends of mine in East Tennessee, having spent 17 years there. And that's one of the other reasons that it's a good relocation for us, besides my wife is from there. And so we have already got that arranged and I've figured out where I'm going to continue to rehab and we actually worked on that this morning.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Yes, I'm at the hospital in Oxford at this time.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Just a couple of weeks at the most at this time. We are planning on being gone mid June.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, nothing, other than the fact that there was one reason that my family stayed here was to let him graduate. I've got a daughter that will be in 11th grade and we're trying to get the best possible situation for our children academically, and that's important for us. But Chris was able to finish his senior year here and he -- I wish Katy could finish here. She's had a great experience here, but she knew that we were moving on and obviously it changed abruptly as to where she thought she was moving to.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, he's a brilliant young man and he has a lot of opportunity to do a lot of things right now. Right now he's still talking about coaching. But I tried to talk to him about some of the pitfalls and some of the things that the profession is going through right now. But I'm certainly not going to -- it's a great profession, the opportunity to work with young people, an opportunity to make a difference in young people's lives, that's something that I cherish and I no he that if he gets involved with it, he'll cherish as well. So whatever he wants to do, I'm going to support.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Back in December I gave it some thought and talked with my wife about it. And an opportunity like Notre Dame -- I was not going to jump at anything, but I was only going to go to an opportunity that I felt excited about. And when the opportunity came along to go to Notre Dame, and that was such an exciting opportunity, that that kind of put to rest any thoughts I had about sitting out.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: I talked to a number of them on the phone. They called and wished us well with the recovery. And I talked to them all along, even when I was at Notre Dame, and I had good conversations. But those guys -- the guys around the league and the guys in this profession tend to be positive people, optimists, so all of those talks were real upbeat. We didn't get into anything that's negative that's going on. So for the most part all of that was real upbeat and optimistic and those calls were certainly appreciated.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, they don't, they really can't give you that. I'm doing much better, but I'm on a lot of medication and I'm looking forward to getting off some of that medication, but they can't give me a timetable as to when I'm going to get off that. The rehab, I've, I'm about halfway through the rehab. And I've got some endurance, you know, it's kind of like with anybody working out, you can't judge how much you're going to gain, how much ground you're going to gain, so you just jump in and do the best you can. And I'm hoping that I can reach a level of feeling good some time this fall. Where I'm as excited as I've ever been about coaching again and I just want that energy level back. I want to feel what I felt for most of my life. And I'm looking forward to that opportunity.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: That's an interesting question and you never know if you're in a job that you've been in and you're not going through a relocation and not going through some of the changes, and that I might have felt good enough to continue on with certainly the health problems. But I just have, at this stage, I know this is the best thing. And it's hard to speculate on something that you're not part of. Hopefully, I'll get back to that position again one day and stay healthy and have a great opportunity to spend the rest of my career coaching football, have a lot left of my career to coach football.

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, they treated me wonderfully, but that would be totally up to Coach Weis. And I can tell you this, I don't think many people are going to be leaving. So I doubt that there will be very many openings in the near future. Because I think it's going to be an exciting time for Notre Dame. I feel very strongly about that and Coach Weis will do a great job for them. I appreciate everyone, I appreciate all the prayers for me and my family and everyone out there listening, you appreciate the way you've treated us.