[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 13 (Monday, March 29, 2004)]
[Pages 448-450]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Honoring NCAA Fall Championship Teams

March 23, 2004

    Thank you for coming. Behave yourself up on the balcony. [Laughter] 
That would be you. This is champions day here at the White House, and it 
is my honor to welcome some great champs. We are proud you're here.
    I want to thank those who represent the universities. Here present: 
James Moeser, the chancellor, and Dick Baddour, the athletic director of 
the University of North Carolina. We appreciate you being here. Mike 
Garrett, who is the athletic director of the University of Southern 
California, is with us today. Bill Jenkins, who is the president of LSU, 
along with Roger Ogden, who is the chairman of the LSU Board of 
Supervisors, and Skip Bertman, who is the athletic director, we're proud 
you're here.
    As you can probably see, we've got some Members of the United States 
Congress with us here today, and there seems to be quite a large and 
vibrant delegation from the great State of Louisiana. Senator John 
Breaux and

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Mary Landrieu are with us today, Mighty Tiger fans. Richard Baker and 
Jim McCrery and Chris John and Rodney Alexander, thank you all for 
coming. We're proud you're here. From California, Congressman Chris Cox 
and Diane Watson are with us today. Thank you all for coming. 
Congressmen David Price and Mike McIntyre from North Carolina are with 
us as well. Thank you all for being here.
    First, it's my honor to recognize the football cochamps this year, 
LSU and USC, fantastic group of athletes and teams that battled to the 
end. Any good team obviously requires good players; these teams have got 
good players, but it also requires really good coaches. Pete Carroll and 
Nick Saban are two of the finest coaches in the United States. We're 
glad you're here. There was quite a lot of discussion about who really 
was number one. My attitude is, the South Lawn is a pretty good size. 
[Laughter] Never mind. [Laughter] I appreciate the class of these two 
programs and the grace they demonstrated under pressure. Both schools, 
LSU and USC, are, in fact, national champs. And we're proud to call you 
national champs.
    Obviously, in order to be a national champ, you've got to field fine 
players at every position. I particularly want to say something about 
USC tailback Reggie Bush. Where is he? His teammates call him ``the 
President''--[laughter]--``President Bush.'' You must feel pretty 
comfortable here at the White House, ``President Bush.'' [Laughter]
    I also want to say one other word about an individual who is not 
with us today, and that is Jeff Boss, who was the equipment manager for 
24 years for LSU. Last October he died from cancer. The Tigers named 
their locker room in Jeff's honor, and they kept his family in their 
prayers throughout the season. You all know and I know that Jeff would 
be incredibly proud of the fact that LSU won its first national 
championship in 45 years. May God bless Jeff and his family, and may God 
bless both the USC team and the LSU football team. Thank you all for 
coming.
    Now it's my honor to welcome back the Lady Trojans volleyball team 
from USC. They did pretty well this year. They were 35-0. [Laughter] 
Last year, I had the honor of welcoming my friend Mick Haley here to the 
White House. See, Mick used to coach the University of Texas volleyball 
team, and I used to work out at the gym there, and he used to come over 
and give me pointers all the time about how to strengthen up and look a 
little better. My advice is, when you see the Governor of California, he 
doesn't need many pointers, Mick. [Laughter]
    Mick's a good man. He coaches a group of great ladies who are, in 
fact, national champs. I asked how many of them are coming back next 
year. Of course, one of them asked if I was. [Laughter] But he has a lot 
of returners for next year, and this group of champs is welcome here at 
the White House any time. Thank you for coming.
    Then we honor Coach Anson Dorrance's UNC Tarheel women's soccer 
team. Anson's got a pretty good record. He's coached for 25 years, and 
he's won 18 national championships. That's the sign of a good coach who 
knows good talent and knows how to mold everybody into a good team. This 
year they were 32-0. When I had my honor of having my picture taken with 
the team, I asked what was the closest match, closest game. One of the 
ladies said it was 3-0. That's a heck of a team, 32-0 and the closest 
game is 3-0. UNC gets a lot of attention for its basketball team, but 
let me remind you of what the legendary coach Dean Smith said. He said, 
``UNC is a women's soccer school.'' And once again, these ladies have 
proven Coach Dean Smith correct. Welcome back.
    Jerry Yeagley is here with the Indian Hoosier men's soccer team. 
He's been with the Hoosiers for three decades, and in those 30 years 
they have won 6 national titles. He retired last fall with 544 wins, 
more than any coach in NCAA Division I history. Coach Yeagley, we're 
proud of you. We're proud of the team you've brought here. We're proud 
of your dedication to athletics. I want to thank you for working so hard 
to teach the young men of your teams the difference between right and 
wrong and how to play as a team. Today we honor your coaching career at 
the same time we honor the great Indiana Hoosier soccer team. Welcome.
    These are impressive athletes behind me, but I think if you really 
look beyond the athletics, you'll find some decent and compassionate 
people as well. These athletes, in the

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most part, understand they have a responsibility to uphold to the 
communities in which they live. They understand it's one thing to be a 
champ on the field; it's another to be a champ off the field by setting 
the right example for some youngster who is wondering what it means to 
be a champ.
    By sending good messages about right and wrong behavior and by 
volunteering in their community, the USC football team makes a trip to 
the USC Children's Hospital every year to visit patients and to give 
gifts and to sign autographs. You know what they're doing? They're 
bringing some sunshine into somebody's life, is what they're doing. The 
LSU football players visit hospitals, and they teach elementary school 
children how to read. They're taking their talents off the football 
field and putting them in the classroom, so some child in Louisiana has 
a chance to realize a better life. The USC women's volleyball team 
raised money and participated together in the Race for the Cure for 
breast cancer research. They took their athleticism and put it into 
practice to help save somebody's life. The UNC women's soccer team is 
helping to build a Habitat for Humanity house near the campus. They're 
using their God-given talents to make sure somebody has a place to live. 
And finally, the Indiana soccer players volunteer as coaches and mentors 
for youth soccer teams in Bloomington, Indiana.
    All these players have understood it's important to serve something 
greater than yourself in life. They learned to do so by working together 
for a team, and they're learning to do so by making the community in 
which they live a better place for every citizen.
    It is my honor to welcome true champs here to the White House. I 
congratulate you for your hard work. I wish you all the best for the--
whatever the future may hold. God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 3:21 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Pete Carroll, head football coach, 
University of Southern California; Nick Saban, head football coach, 
Louisiana State University; Mick Haley, head coach, University of 
Southern California women's volleyball; Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of 
California; Anson Dorrance, head coach, University of North Carolina 
women's soccer; Dean Smith, former head coach, University of North 
Carolina men's basketball; and Jerry Yeagley, former head coach, 
University of Indiana men's soccer.