"During the season, I didn't feel it was appropriate to address speculation about other coaching vacancies. I felt it was important to maintain our focus on winning one game at a time. I want to make it clear that I'm not interested in any other coaching jobs, and am happy at the University of Louisville.
"I'm extremely proud of our players and assistant coaches in winning the Conference USA Championship. As I stood on the sideline against the University of Cincinnati, and saw the emotion and feeling of accomplishment on the faces of our players, I knew that I had something special at the University of Louisville.
"I'm very excited about our move into the Big East, the opportunity to play in a BCS bowl game and the chance to compete for a national championship. Dr. James Ramsey and Tom Jurich, through their hard work and dedication, have made this the best job in the country. As I've stated before, Louisville is the perfect place to raise a family and I plan for all four of my children to graduate from high school in Louisville.
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"Our team is really excited about our matchup with Boise State in the Liberty Bowl. The players have taken a lot of pride in our top 10 national ranking and are looking forward to sending our seniors out with a win."
U of L Athletics Director Tom Jurich
"Did you seriously think you were going to lose him?"Yeah, you have to seriously think you are going to lose him. Right now, he's probably one of the hottest one or two young people in the country. I just got back literally five minutes ago, from the Football Foundation [National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame] in New York, which is the biggest gathering of football people in the country. He was truly the buzz. Just about everyone there had him painted as gone."
Comments on similar coaching situations happening for the university every year
"If I were the athletic director at any high profile university other than Louisville, he'd be the first guy on my list. There's no doubt about it. He's proven it. He's put together a magnificent product. He's done it week in and week out when most people didn't give him a chance. Everyone has thrown obstacles at us and said we couldn't jump through this hurdle or that hurdle, but he's met everything head on. He's done a terrific job. He's a great one. I've always said I'd rather have people want my coaches than not want them."
Comments on the difficulties of competing with larger universities
"I'm going to continue to be aggressive with his contract. It's very difficult for me to compete with some of the schools that were out there. The one thing I don't have here is a great abundance of money. I want to make sure I make it as competitive and as family friendly as I possibly can. I think Bobby loves what he's been able to build. The one thing he's been able to do here is put the Bobby Petrino signature on things. I think his family is very important to him, that's come through in all of our discussions. He's always in a very difficult situation because he is in such high demand. Like he said, it's the players that put him in such high demand and that's a credit to him [Coach Petrino]."
Comments on his discussions he had with Petrino
"I gave my pitch to Bobby. I laid things out. He had to come to grips with what he wanted to do. Every school out there had [hopes of] him filling their opening, there's no doubt about it. I heard his name being the final name for every single one of those major jobs. I think it really came down to him and his family. I think he loves it here and loves what we are building." "I just tried to lay out what he's accomplished here and what he can accomplish here. This is his program and it does have his signature on it. I think it's the best fit there is. I truly believe this is one of the top five college football jobs in the country."
