Oct. 8, 2008

Women’s Basketball Head Coach Dawn Staley

Q: How do you feel your team is gelling together?
A: “I think that our team has very good chemistry, both on and off the court. They have been working extremely hard, and they are hungry. I think we have some pieces that are there, but as coaches we have to get our hands on them and instruct them to bring out their best. I am excited. Some our younger players are poised to get some playing time, and our experienced players are fighting hard to keep their spots.”

Q: With such a young team, have you had to modify your goals for this season?
A: “Our goal is to get to the NCAA Tournament, and the best way to do that is to win your conference. That is what we are shooting for. We want to be the best. We are playing in the underdog role, and we relish playing in that role. Our kids need to have the mindset of winning the Southeastern Conference, and that is what we are going to try to do. Ultimately, our goal is to win a national championship.”

Q: What is your biggest challenge as coach at a new school in your first season?
A: “I think the biggest challenge is to figure out who does what well and can do it the way we like as a coaching staff. We have had about 12 practices with them, and some days some players look great and on other days they don’t. As a coaching staff it is our puzzle to figure out who is going to start and play the best for us. We have to figure out who is going to be in the game when there are two minutes on the clock. We have to figure out who can play in the moment, who can start the game, who can come off the bench and who can play in certain situations.”

Q: Do you feel like all the players have bought in to what you are trying to do?
A: “I think that our players understand what we are all about. We are about working hard, and doing things the right way. I feel that is very easy to understand. There will days were they are uncomfortable, but that is ok because that means they are growing as players and as people. Then we will let the results take care of themselves.”

Men’s Basketball Head Coach Darrin Horn

Q: How’s your transition here going, especially in light of the trip to Europe?
A: The transition is going great; it’s been more seamless then we had anticipated. I think the difference has been the people. Not only our university community, the people we deal with on a daily basis, the people we work with like Eric Hyman and in my case Kevin O’Connell and those kind of people, but also people in the community as a whole.

Q: How much did the trip overseas benefit the team?
A: I think it helped. I think the biggest part of it was not the game, or the trip, which was nice, but just the practice time. Getting to have practice and getting to have an opportunity to talk about our terminology and to instill some of the things the way we want to play. And everyone carries that out in games, and into other competition. Overseas the best example of that was the third game, which was against the best team that we played who was a very good basketball team with some legitimate pros. We were down and could’ve folded, and just continued to fight and won the game.

Q: What’s the biggest challenge as a coach in your first year here?
A: Just getting them to understand what we want and things are just different and new, and recruiting. For us trying to play catch up. People are spending two years and getting recruit commitments from juniors, and we’ve had four months to do that same amount of work. And I think just things that go with transition in the job. But there’s so many positives, we haven’t really been focusing on that we’ve just been working really hard.

Q: As far as the players go, what have you seen that has made it seamless?
A: I think as a whole they’ve done a really good job adjusting to the way we want to do things and they work extremely hard. And we’ve had a good fall and conditioning, and work out and we want our guys to be a little uncomfortable too. We want them to push themselves and want it to be a little challenging. So far along they’ve adjusted really well they’ve showed some good signs that have gotten me really excited as well.

Zam Fredrick
Q: Has it taken you awhile to get used to the new coach?
A: “Not at all. They come and put their best foot forward at first, we know where they stand. We are going to be a disciplined team, and we’re going to do exactly what Coach Horn wants us to do. You just have to get on board. Once you get on board and stop trying to fight the system, you’ll be alright.”

Brionna Dickerson
Q: What has it been like with Coach Dawn Staley so far?
A: “Just the other day, we had our first big workout as team, and it is really demanding. We are ok with all of that hard work because we see her experience and her success. We know that when she speaks it is coming from someone who knows how to get where we want to be.”