Quotes from LSC head coaches

Each LSC head coach spoke in reverse of order of predicted finish, meaning for the second straight season, Incarnate Word head coach Mike Santiago went first since the Cardinals were picked to finish last.

Mike Santiago, Incarnate Word - "Last year we played for respect from you guys; this year we're playing with a purpose, and that's for me not to go first in this deal next year."

Guy Morris, Texas A&M-Commerce - "That poll is OK because it's not where you start, but where you end up.  We're very proud to be a member of the Lone Star Conference, and we're proud to be playing with the big boys again."

Mark Ribaudo, Eastern New Mexico – "We feel really good about our offense, and we've brought in several new defensive players that we feel really good about.  But we feel good about our team and feel like we're going to field a very good team.  The trophy has been in Portales, N.M., a few times, and our goal is to get it out there again."

Cary Fowler, Tarleton State  – "We endured a tough year last year with a lot of injuries.  We open up with Abilene Christian, and in my 20 years we've never been beaten as badly as ACU beat us last year (65-3), so we know that game will be extremely tough.  Our biggest addition is Lee Hays as the offensive coordinator.  Anyone who knows him knows that we're going to throw the football and we're excited to see how this shakes out."

Bill Maskill, Midwestern State – "We were 8-3 last year and it was a disappointing year.  We just weren't as good overall as we were in the previous season.  We got drilled in the Kanza Bowl and it left a bad taste.  We're not willing to accept an 8-3 season; our sights and standards are set higher than that. We've got guys than can play, but we're lacking in experience and that's going to be the challenge for us."

Don Carthel, West Texas A&M – "Defensively we feel like we've got a strong team; the most talented group we've had.  We might have our first QB controversy since 2005 with Tanner Marsh and Dustin Vaughn.  Both are tremendous prospects, but neither has much experience.  We're optimistic; it's going to be tough for our offense early, but we think we have some guys that can help us win some games.  Our offensive line won't scare anybody getting off the bus, but we've got a really smart group with some high GPAs.  I hope there's a correlation there, but sometimes you want some guys on that line who struggle a little bit in the classroom but can get after it on the field."

Bo Atterberry, Texas A&M-Kingsville – "Pre-season No. 2 ... if it doesn't have a No. 1 beside it, we're not very interested in it down in Kingsville."

Chris Thomsen, Abilene Christian – "We talk a lot in our program about cornerstone players, and the three we have here today are those kind of guys: Matt Webber, a walk-on from Paradise, Texas; Mitchell Gale, a fourth-year junior.  Aston Whiteside is a fifth-year senior from Vernon, Texas, and graduating in May.  Happy that those kind of guys represent our program.

We had a really fun season with great senior leadership; those guys held it together and took us through the season.  We lost a lot of cornerstone guys, but we have 16 seniors on this year's team and a lot of those guys have been in this league for a while and know what it takes to win in this league.  We've got some inexperience at linebacker and receiver, but have some players who we believe can step up and fill in those spots for the guys we lost."