TC: When did you realize, “I’m not going to play in the NFL?”

BB: I went through the normal cycle. When I was cut the first time (by the 49ers in 1977 after being drafted as a tight end in the 11th round out of BYU), I said, “Well, I’ll give it one more chance.” So I went through training camp in 1978 with Dallas and prior to the last preseason game I looked at the numbers and said, “This isn’t going to add up.” I knew there would be that knock on the door. And I realized it readily. I took my two shots, and I was pragmatic about what my potential was, and I went back to BYU and began working on my Master’s. I actually got a call from the Redskins a month or two into the season and they wanted me to go out there, but I realized that would only be for two or three weeks until someone got healthy, so I said, “No, I don’t think it will happen for me.” I just didn’t want to pass up or put on hold the chance to finish what I started at BYU.

TC: You’re well read. Because of that, you’ve no doubt seen the words “Billick” and “arrogant” in the same sentence. Do you agree with that?

BB: When that’s thrown out there ... you know what, if you’re a head coach in the NFL, at some point that term’s been used about you. Even a guy like Tony Dungy’s heard it, and who’s better as a person than Tony Dungy? I’ll use an old Winston Churchill quote on the topic: “Sir, you have mistaken conviction for arrogance and passion for ego.” Have I lapped over from conviction and passion? Sure. But I hope not to the degree that some may think. I think the people in the media who’ve actually met me and spent two minutes with me have a different perception than that I’m arrogant. You do need a strength of personality to do this job, though. You need to have the ability to say, “You may perceive how I’m acting as arrogance, but I can’t care.”

TC: What are you reading this summer?

BB: Actually, I love James Michener, and a book called “The Source” is one I hadn’t read so I’m into that. I just re-read a book called “Caravans” which is about Afghanistan after World War II, and I can just advise: Read that book. It’s stunning the validity and parallels that it carries to what’s going on today in Afghanistan.

TC: You’re 54 years old. Your daughter just got married. Are you wondering, “Where did the time go?”

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BB: This is not what it’s supposed to have been. I don’t feel like I’m 54 with a son-in-law. I did not think when I was younger that this is what 54 would feel like.

TC: When was the last time you cried?

BB: Obviously, there was the moment at my daughter’s wedding when we had the father-daughter dance. My daughter thought we were only going to dance to one song, but my other daughter and I arranged to also dance to a song called, “I Loved Her First” by Heartland. That got her, and when it got her it got me a little bit too.

TC: What’s the hardest you’ve ever been hit?

BB: The first instinct is to think it was when I played but, God, it’s been a lifetime since then. I do know I took a fall off my horse a year-and-a-half ago. That hurt. I don’t know if it was because it was a hard hit or because it was a 53-year-old falling off a horse, but it was, “Oooohhh….!”

TC: What’s the favorite pet you’ve owned?

BB: My wife has a thing: when something living leaves, something living takes its place. A daughter goes to college, a dog comes into the house. We have horses, cats, dogs ... it’s hard to pick a favorite. Although my new horse, Doc, there’s kind of a bond going on there. He’s my most recent favorite.

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