Tom Jurich talks Louisville baseball, fighting to keep Dan McDonnell, and possible Jim Patterson expansion

Here are the highlights:

--Dan McDonnell has done another remarkable job. He's the best in the game. All the cliches like "he doesn't rebuild, he reloads" fit with this program. You can see Dan's attitude in the coaches and the kids.

--Ever since we moved the stadium down to this corner it's been a real benefactor. The community really blossoms once tournament time comes and the excitement level is at a fever pitch. I'm biased, but you can talk to the people at ESPN and they'll tell you this is their favorite place to do a postseason game. It's just great to see that type of atmosphere every year. I encourage everybody to come out and see it.

--Dan has kind of made this like an annual two-week holiday around Louisville, and that's fantastic. College baseball is a tremendous sport, and there are a lot of people within college athletics who will tell you that the College World Series is the best event in college sports, better than the Final Four and better than bowl games.

--It's my job to do everything in my power to keep Dan here. I think he's one of the best coaches college baseball has ever seen. What he's been able to do here in a Northern setting is unbelievable. I will go down fighting to keep him. He's turned himself into an icon in this community.

--One of the things I'm most proud of right now is how much all of our coaches pull for each other and help one another.

--To me, this looks like the best built team we've ever had. But this is baseball, and sometimes crazy things can happen.

--I want to give Dan every resource he needs. I've always said you hire great people, you give them what they need, and then you get the hell out of the way. That's what I do with him.

--We do have plans to expand Jim Patterson at some point. I want to get the football one going first, and then this will probably be the next one we start looking at, because we have to. Even with some of our midweek games this year we've had overflow crowds, which is great to see. It's a great problem to have.

And here's the audio: