On the record

"I tell my kids it's not who starts the game, but what you do when you get in. In this business, most people aren't the first choice. They just don't know it."

Melanie Balcomb

newly hired Vanderbilt women's basketball coach, acknowledging she wasn't Vanderbilt's first choice in its 52-day search to replace Jim Foster

The Tennessean, May 29

"The Bush people are keeping a close eye on the electoral map. He may have won in Tennessee in 2000, but it's not a sure thing in '04."

John Geer

professor of political science, about Vice President Dick Cheney's recent fund-raising trip to Tennessee

The Associated Press, May 29

"If something happened this minute, there would be care but it might be a little dis-coordinated. That's not to say there isn't great capability for this city to respond. We're just working on the details, so the left hand knows what the right hand is doing."

Robin Hemphill

assistant professor of emergency medicine, on Nashville's current level of preparedness for a bioterrorist attack

The Tennessean, June 2

"It's not too far a stretch to compare Vanderbilt and [the University of] South Carolina. I've heard as long as I can remember that you can't win at South Carolina. And they didn't. But they got somebody [Coach Lou Holtz] in there who didn't believe that, and they got the players to stop believing that they couldn't win. I'm a fairly confident guy, and somehow we're going to get it done."

Bobby Johnson

first-year Vanderbilt football coach

The State (Columbia, S.C.), May 31

"We don't want to ever be in a position of declaring victory. If we're successful, that just means we've moved the goal line further down the field."

Michael J. Schoenfeld

vice chancellor for public affairs, on Vanderbilt's strategic plan to put the University on par with the nation's top institutions

The Tennessean, June 2

Compiled by Kara Furlong

e-mail editor