I would just love to know, first and foremost, when you were first exposed to the inner game, did someone give it to you?

Really, I was way back, 1973.

I was in graduate school at University of the Pacific, and my master's teacher, uh, knew a, a guy that he had met, guy named Michael Murphy, a guy that was one of the founders of, of Esalen back in the day, a Stanford grad and all that.

Um, and he had heard about this guy named Tim Gallwey, and he eventually got to go visit him in San Francisco.

The whole class went as kind of a field trip.

We had dinner and sat around and kicked it around and, and was in-- just basically introduced to Tim and his work.

Didn't know anything about it.

Hmm

Well, Pete, after that performance Julius Jones did last week against Pittsburgh, do you commit to stopping the run right away? We always do.

And that was obvious last week that that's how they won the football game.

So we're going to come out like we always do.

We've got to take care of the run first.

Can you explain this moment, this opportunity to come in here and play against Notre Dame in Notre Dame Stadium, how tough it is, the challenge? Well, it's a great challenge.

A lot of people have done it before us.

Our children's families have all been part of this for a long time.

We want

It was actually his 16th year.

At UCLA, he won his first national championship and smacked that book down and went, You know, it took him 12 years to win his first national championship because I knew what happened.

He won 10 of the next 12 or whatever it was, you know, and he was unbeatable.

The thought that hit me, the epiphany was, once he got it exactly right, he couldn't be stopped.

And Carroll knew he wouldn't get nearly as much time as Wooden had to get it right.

If I was going to define myself, I'm a competitor.

And so I built everything and made the central theme in the program competition.

And so all of that came together, just came pouring out of me.

Just maybe not the Super Bowl, a hard moment where you and Kippy were able to make hard work fun.

Yeah, well, Kip was never going to be knocked off his kind of mentality.

He was strong and believed in himself and was true.

And when things went wrong, he didn't think that he was messed up.

He didn't go in the tank ever.

He was always seeing the bright side of things, and that – that ability to bounce right in the, in the face of difficulties, you know, in, in front of guys and in, in, in the way you handled them and you approached him and you hugged him up and you loved him up and, and also the ability to be tough with them.

He just had a way, you know, and, and I would like to think that we saw things similarly in that we both kind of, we weren't going to take what somebody might've passed judgment on us very seriously.

you? One of them is getting some golf balls thrown at him in Oxford, Mississippi this weekend.

Just maybe not the Super Bowl, a hard moment where you and Kippy were able to make hard work fun.

Yeah, well, Kip was never going to be knocked off his kind of mentality.

He was strong and believed in himself and was true.

And when things went wrong, he didn't think that he was messed up.

He didn't go in the tank ever.

He was always seeing the bright side of things.

that ability to bounce right in the, in the face of difficulties, you know, in, in front of guys and in, in, in the way you handled them and you approached him and you hugged him up and you loved him up and, and also the ability to be tough with them.

for you? One of them is getting some golf balls thrown at him in Oxford, Mississippi this weekend.

What is that like game planning for for a dynamic athlete and player like him?

Well, first off, you know, I like to think of the preparation is really focused on us.

You know what we got to do.

And because that's the only thing we really can control.

We can't control the other guys.

But there are players at times that are so extraordinary and are so capable of.

of controlling things in a fashion that you have to make an exception to the thought of how you're going to prepare for them and how you're going to get your guys ready to deal with that.

So you just having asked him gently this past year of the talent there, but then the Seattle teams of Marshawn Lynch and then the Legion of boom, you know, what is something from the greats that you see behind the scenes that, that allows in their preparation to be great?

Yep

... what we gotta do, and, uh, 'cause that's the only thing we really can control, and we can't control the other guys.

But there are players at times that are so extraordinary and, and are, are so capable of, of controlling things in a, in a, you know, in a fashion that you have to make an exception to the thought of how you're gonna prepare for them and how you're gonna get them, get your guys ready to deal with that.

And with a guy like Lamar, he is so gifted and so explosive and, and such a dynamic playmaker.

Um, you know, there's the regular guy takes the ball and drops back and step, you know, steps up to the f- the football, you know? Those plays are basically all the same.

[laughs] They don't change much.

It's what happens after that guy, you know, after that m- opportunity arises.

Yeah, please

[laughs]

I'm sorry, Petey, I didn't mean to let your secret out.

I'm sorry, man.

I'm sorry.

Petey?

Did he get exiled from Wales to Ireland on this day or something like that?

Whether it's players or philosophies, would you say there's any building blocks just around the building that make you optimistic for the future? How do you continue to build around that? Well,

we're just going to keep going like we go, and just try to make it as hard for everybody as possible to compete to be the player that they're capable of being.

And there's going to be opportunities now, tremendous opportunities for acquisitions to add to the team.

We'll see how that goes.

But we'll just try to continue to make it as competitive in all spots as we can possibly make it.

Our guys have taken to the mentality.

They know when I say stuff like that, they know what I'm talking about.

Bring your

Yeah.

A little lofty at the time.

(laughs) He's like 38 at the time.

He's looking at me like, "What the heck is this guy saying?" But, um, uh, but I meant it, really.

And, and so, uh, I think that through the time, you know, he, he's developed.

It was, it was kinda his turn.

And there was a lot of big changes that were gonna happen in, in ... that were gonna, you know, they were gonna have to come.

So we did ask him, "All right, hey, what'd you learn in your year away?"

(laughs)

You know, you know, I, I have a real strong feeling about, you know, the, the, the, how hard it is to be a head coach, you know? And, and, uh, the, the, the, the challenges of the job and the rigors that, that you face aren't ones that you practice until you do it.

And, and, uh, it's why it's so hard for young coaches to, to make it and be successful.

And, and, like, I got on my butt fired twice being a, a young head coach and didn't know what I was doing.

And I fortunately figured stuff out, you know, in the year between New England and, and USC that, that changed things for me, and I've been pretty much the same ever since.

And, and, but it, it's, uh, you know, there's a lot that goes into this job.

And, and, and now, there really...

Um, but Brock brings up that interview, and they must have asked, "Hey, what happened at the end?" And, and what's the answer to that? What, what did happen at the end?

(laughs)

... you know? You know, I, I have a real strong feeling about, you know, the, the, the, how hard it is to be a head coach, you know? And, and, uh, the, the, the, the challenges of the job and the rigors that, that you face aren't ones that you practice until you do it.

And, and, uh, it's why it's so hard for young coaches to, to make it and be successful.

And, and like I got my butt fired twice being a, a young head coach and didn't know what I was doing.

And I fortunately figured stuff out, you know, in the year between New England and, and USC, that, that changed things for me.

And I've been pretty much the same ever since.

And, and, but it, it's, uh, you know, there's a lot that goes into this job.

Um, but Brock brings up that interview, and they must have asked, "Hey, what happened at the end?" And, and what's the answer to that? What, what did happen at the end?