Titans Online has put out the full transcript from today's press conference with Bud Adams, Jeff Fisher, Steve Underwood and Mike Reinfeldt. Here are some of the key statements from the presser:
Some excerpts after the jump.
Bud Adams
Unfortunately I must say though, organizations and coaches almost always reach a point when it is time to change and this is where we are. This isn’t personal, it is just time for change and I believe both the team and Jeff will benefit in the long-run from this move. I am still confident about our future. I think we have some good young players. I believe in Steve Underwood and Mike Reinfeldt to find our next head coach and I want every one of you to know I continue to have high hopes about our team. I’m not giving up. We are going to get in that Bowl game again.
Jeff Fisher
This is one of the top organizations and efficiently run organizations in the National Football League and they will be successful. My regret is that I won’t have a hand in that process back to success. I have no regrets. I have nothing but very, very fond memories through the move, through the name and the naming rights, the stadium, the success we had in 1999 and all the way through with the players and coaches I have been associated with, all of you that I have worked with on a daily basis throughout the year, it has been a tremendous experience. I am forever indebted to this organization.
My favorite part there is that he says he has no regrets, but then goes on to talk about a regret.
Here is a classic Fisher dodge:
(on if he signed assistant coaches to extensions during the season that the administration wasn’t aware of)
There was nothing that really took place along those lines. I did my best; what I have done every year from start to finish, to move forward to the end of the season and planning for the upcoming season. I’m not going to go into the specifics. They have been worked out, they have been dealt with. Again it is just time to move on.
Another funny part of the press conference (Steve Underwood talking):
(on if he gave contract extensions to assistant coaches that may have not come to light until later)
As Jeff indicated is his remarks, we are not here to talk about the specifics.
(on the topic in general)
In general, we had differences that we were not able to resolve. That is the only time in our experience with Jeff that that has happened. When you are not able to work through differences, you work out an arrangement where you part company and that is what we did.
Here is part of the exchange between Clay Travis and Steve Underwood:
(on why fans should trust them to make a good decision in hiring a head coach)
I think the question that you’re asking illustrates sometimes the frenzy that goes on in connection with modern professional sports. Sitting at this table is 70 years of experience in our league. I think we are in a somewhat better position to judge whether or not the process has been chaotic. As we have all mentioned in our remarks, Mr. Adams made a decision almost a month ago. Subsequent to that decision, we ran into some difficulties that we weren’t able to resolve. I don’t think see any—
(on if they were "secret" difficulties)
If it makes you happy to call them secret, I’m OK with that. Why don’t you let me finish my answer. Are you OK with me finishing my answer? … So as part of running into those difficulties and having to reverse course, there’s no chaos involved in that in particular. All that’s happened is that decision that we made a month ago, together, ran into problems several weeks later that we were not able to resolve. As a result of our being unable to resolve them, Jeff has decided, and we have agreed, that he step away. I don’t see chaos in that. My definition of chaos must be different than those fans who have that observation. We’re going to go through a very deliberate process in selecting someone else to lead our football team. I think that our fans have reason to have confidence in us. You know, we were looking upstairs at our coaching staff and our executive staff before we came down here. We have almost 200 years of NFL experience on our coaching staff as players and coaches. Mike and I together have about 35 years apiece in the process. We want to do it in a way that reflects the tradition of both our Houston and Tennessee franchises and comes up with the right person for our organization going forward. What I hope is that our fans have confidence in us to arrive at the decision like that and come up with something that will lead us into the next generation of our franchise.