Rodney Terry Gets Emotional Reflecting on This Year’s Team
It was a tough pill to swallow for interim head coach Rodney Terry and the second-seeded Texas Longhorns, who seemed to be well in control Sunday afternoon in the Elite Eight and on the way towards becoming the fourth different Big 12 team in the last four tournaments to cut down the nets in a regional semifinal, and perhaps the third straight to cut down all the nets. But the final few minutes arrived and their 67-55 lead with just more than 10 minutes to play evaporated, ultimately turning into a heart-wrenching 88-81 defeat at the hands of No. 5 seed Miami.
That had Terry incredibly emotional afterwards, as an incredible season came to a close.
“I love these guys,” Terry said. “Not only will I just love these guys for the time I got to coach them, I’ll love them for the rest of their lives. I’ll be at their weddings. I’ll be talking to those guys when they have their first born.
“It was all about this team, man, and I enjoyed every single day of this journey with this group. I’m going to really miss — I’m going to really miss working with this group,” said Terry, as he was choking up. “It was never about me. It was always about these guys. I love these guys.”
The Longhorns finish the season at 29-9 overall. They won the Big 12 Tournament Championship just weeks ago inside this same T-Mobile Arena where their campaign concluded. They were ultimately just three wins shy of their ultimate goal.
Now all the discussion will turn to what Texas decides to do with Terry. Will it remove the interim tag? CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein adamantly said that should be the case.
“I haven’t really had a lot of time to give a lot of thought to that, to be honest,” Terry said about the prospects of that. “I’ve been so wrapped up and invested in my team. Again, I love these guys. Not only will I just love these guys for the time I got to coach them, I’ll love them for the rest of their lives. I’ll be at their weddings. I’ll be talking to those guys when they have their first born.
“It was all about this team, man, and I enjoyed every single day of this journey with this group. I’m going to really miss — I’m going to really miss working with this group. (Crying). It was never about me. It was always about these guys. I love these guys.”
So, everyone will wait and see. But for now, it’s a bitter pill to swallow considering the Longhorns were up 13 at one point and seemed headed to the Final Four in Houston.
