On whether he has any indication of how Reid is doing: "I don't know that and I'm sure he'll address the situation when the time comes. I will tell you, I was down at the store buying a water the other night and they had a big sign up with their condolences. I'm sure I can't speak for him but I'm sure that the family, the Reid family, appreciates that very much."
On what personal coaching experiences he has drawn on to help him through this situation: "There's been several, but most of those are personal and private. I think most have had some experiences with these sort of things. There's a possibility that some of players haven't though. (Head Athletic Trainer) Rick Burkholder has done just an outstanding job. Our security men, outstanding. So, everybody has just stepped it up."
On how different the practices have been without Reid present: "It was quite different. Any time that your head coach is not available, it is always different. He's the leader of this football team; there's no question about that. I will tell you though, and it was a little fortunate because we went inside the day before if you remember, I do believe the players had their legs back. It was a fast, crisp practice and it was fine."
On how he believes the players are holding up, as Garrett Reid had been working with them: "Yes, and (they're) certainly saddened and shocked. They were very close, but everybody is doing fine. We'll do this thing together. We'll pull through it together."
On how tough it is to find the balance between football and the events away from the field: "There is a balance to it. There is much grieving going on. However, the players and coaches have done an excellent job once they cross the white lines or once they go into the door of a meeting to have complete focus and that's what we're trying to do in this situation."
On whether he believes it is good for the players to be back on the field for a sense of normalcy: "I think so. I think you're right. Their minds can be free and focus on football once they cross the white lines here onto the practice field."
On how the leaders on the team have helped keep the tempo up at practice: "We have many leaders that have stepped up as you've seen and if I named them, I wouldn't be able to name them all. One thing I've learned is that we have an awful lot of leaders here that stepped up and certainly helped in this situation."
On what he can share about Garrett Reid and his personality: "That's for another time. That's personal and private."
On whether he has received any indication on when Reid will return to the team: "That will be up to Andy. This is his personal and private situation. It's a family matter and I will tell you, Andy runs this organization family-first. But we have great responsibility to this football team. So, whenever he's ready, and I will just tell you my personal opinion knowing Andy: Andy's a rock. He'll still be grieving but I would expect him back pretty quick at some point. I can't say when. That's going to be up to him."
On how he would describe this challenge: "We haven't talked about the challenge. We've talk about, simply, our responsibility (which) is doing our job. So, that's where we're at right now."
On the players being emotional once they leave the practice field: "You're correct and there's no question about that. I think that's pretty normal."
On how he expects the team to respond on Thursday in the preseason opener against Pittsburgh: "We'll see. The players are doing a heck of a job. We have just barely started on Pittsburgh. Today, we will up the preparation against Pittsburgh and then tonight, of course. Then we have the funeral coming up. So their legs should be good and that's a good thing. But the preparation will be key and we'll see. We'll see Thursday night."
