Oct. 17, 2007
Can you give us your evaluation of what you have seen from your team during practice? What kind of impact will the freshman have on the team this year?
I think to answer your second question, the freshman have really, really stepped up. I've seen a dramatic improvement on their play from Friday night to yesterday, our last practice. I think their starting to understand the intensity of college basketball, the speed of the game, the strength of the game. So I think they are coming along very well and I think all three of them are going to have a pretty good impact on our team this year.
My overall impressions of the team are that one, we work very hard, and that is one of the things that I like about this team is just that our intensity in practice, our dedication to get things right is really good, really strong, and we have got outstanding leadership from our captains and they are doing a fantastic job of making sure that we are improving every day in practice. A lot of things look ugly right now I'll be honest, but if you come in practice and the first week of practice everything is looking good, you are either very, very blessed to have a great team or you're just not really looking at your team the right way. So things are looking ugly but they should at this point in the season. We're coming into our form and things are starting to improve so all in all I'm very pleased with where we are right now.
Coquese, when you were hired in April you were asked sort of about becoming Coquese Washington, not Rene Portland's replacement and how far do you think you have come in that and how much are you looking forward to just breaking that and asserting yourself?
I've had about 36 years of being Coquese Washington so I feel pretty comfortable about being me. Honestly I don't spend one minute, one thought of trying to be like anybody else other than myself. I can't do anything else but be me, and I think if your question is am I getting comfortable being in the head coaching role, certainly. Am I getting comfortable being here at Penn State and doing the things that I have to do as the leader of this team, absolutely. The first six months have been definitely a joy, a pleasure, I really embrace being here at Penn State and I can't say anything more strongly than to display my joy in being here.
Is there a sense of urgency this preseason because your schedule is front loaded with those three games?
There is a sense of urgency. We have to get better quickly and our freshmen have to come along quickly. We talk about that as a team, that we don't have the luxury of taking our time to get acclimated and taking our time to get things right. We've got to get things done; we have to get them right because we start out with a monster of an opening season tournament. So, we definitely feel a sense of urgency about us, getting better quickly.
Can you kind of assess how the post is shaping up with Amanda (Brown) leaving us and Charity (Renfro) too, sort of a big void to fill? How are things shaping up?
They're young, our posts are young and we don't have a tremendous amount of experience down there, so their development is going to take some time. Absolutely, we have two freshmen who have never played college ball and we have a junior who has played very limited minutes over the course of her career here. So, within one week have they filled the void. Talking about Charity Renfro and Amanda Brown with them leaving the void that they fill can't be filled in three days not in four days but they definitely have the talent and the capability and we will have to be patient with them, their growth and development over the course of the season.
What kind of temper, what kind of style are you planning to run? Are you going to sort of keep the same thing or mix some things up this year?
I think we're doing some things differently. Again what I would like to do ideally and what we are capable of doing with us having, really right now we have nine players healthy. So can we run as much as we like to? No, not right now. We just don't have the numbers to that. So as we get healthy, and as we get more experience, we need to do more things. But our style will be somewhat different than what the team played like last year.
What's been your biggest difference with just the first practice being head coach as opposed to being an assistant coach?
My throat is a lot sorer. I talk a lot more. So that has probably been the biggest difference. Just talking out loud and making sure that all 10 players know exactly what I want, know exactly what I'm trying to say and understand exactly what I'm getting across to them, as opposed to one on one on the sideline with one or two players [as an assistant coach]. So that has been the biggest difference.
What has been the biggest challenge or adjustment that you have had to make coming here to Penn State from South Bend and taking over this program and getting to know your players?
Well you know what; honestly, it hasn't been a big challenge getting to know the team. They are a great bunch and they are not shy. So, they come by the office, they have us over to their apartment, they come by our houses. So that hasn't been a big adjustment getting to know them. So getting to know the team and the players has probably been one of the most pleasurable aspects of becoming the head coach I have experience here.
How about all the administrative stuff and getting into the recruitment?
I think the biggest challenge has been that I am a task-oriented person. I like to go sit down at my desk and do x, y and z. I found that I haven't had those long stretches of time to do those things I need; to open my mail, to do things like that. But I have amazing administrative assistants who help me out a lot. They keep me sane. They probably know what I'm doing more than I know what I'm doing in terms of my calendar and things like that. So, that has probably been the biggest adjustment, not having as much time to do things that I normally do.
What are your expectations this year with this team, obviously they have had a couple of rough seasons?
You know I think that question is kind of hard to answer. One, in particular, because of our conference. Our conference is just really influx. There's really, outside of Ohio State, I don't know if anybody really knows what teams are going to look like. What they are going to play like with all the coaching changes and injuries and what not. So, normally you come into a season thinking you want to do certain things within your conference, and that is really hard for us to measure right now in this point in the season. So our goals right now are to get better, you know. To find out what kind of team we are as early as we can in terms of how people contribute on the floor, and to just continue to keep getting better and keep getting better throughout the season. We haven't sat down as a team in said we need to win x number of games or we've got to do x, y and z. We simply want to get better. We want to figure out how to play together, how to play with the intensity that is necessary to be competitive in the post-season. And really just focus on ourselves, and again, getting better at every single practice. Those really are our goals and expectations right now.
You guys have advertised a little bit for a walk-on. Have you found anybody who is going to be able to help you out?
We did. We did find one young lady (Nicole Arcidiacono), and if I try to pronounce her name I know I'm going to butcher her last name. It's written in your notes so you can spell it and go for it that way (laughs). But she is a really, really great kid, and I think she has a pretty good basketball mind. And she's very mature and intelligent, picks up things well. So I think she's going to be able to help us out in terms of numbers and giving us some more bodies to be able to compete in practice.
Last year the Lady Lions did pretty well at home, only losing one game, but weren't able to translate that to away opponents. How do you prepare for that and make sure that home feels just the same as away and that away feels just the same as home?
I think one of the things that you have to try to do is have a routine. You have a home routine, you have a road routine. And so we will get to work early on, on what our routine will be like on the road, and try to make things as friendly and routine as possible as we can on the road. But again playing on the road is tough. That's why people like home games and try to schedule as many home games as they can. Because playing on the road, in particular in our conference, is one of the tough things that we have to overcome. So we will just try to make it as routine as possible, learn how to compete on the road, play within ourselves, and see where the chips land in that respect.
What do you think going into this season are your biggest strength as a team?
I think our biggest strength is definitely our guard play. Our most experienced and our top scores are guards, our perimeter players. We are definitely going to rely on our perimeter players to carry us in some respects. Both offensively and defensively. So, that is our biggest strength.
Can you asses the leadership you have on this team and who has stepped up into that role this year?
Our captains, no question. Kam Gissendanner, Brianne O'Rourke, and Mashea Williams have definitely taken a leadership role on this team. They are great in the locker room, they are doing a fabulous job on the court and we have good followership, as well, so that speaks a lot of things to what they've done in terms of grabbing the bull by the horn, so to speak, and taking ownership of the leadership on this team.
How were they decided and how important will they be in the whole transition period in getting acclimated?
The team voted for captains. So their teammates voted them captain. Coaches, we didn't have anything to do with it whatsoever. That's a testament to what they have done in their teammates eyes. They have been an extremely important bridge for the coaching staff. We have captain meetings, I speak with them all the time about anything that is of importance to the team and things like that. And they have done a great job. They haven't had any problems coming to me and letting me know what the team is thinking, what the team is feeling, so as much as they have done, they have been phenomenal.
Coach can you assess your coaching staff so far of what you have seen?
They are all very energetic. They are very energetic, excellent teachers. They are willing to take all the time necessary to make sure that the players understand what we are asking them to do. I think if I had to grade any particular trait it would be their enthusiasm, A+. And their teaching ability is an A+. Those are the two qualities that are most important to me in hiring them. I have not lost one moment of sleep over their abilities to do those things. I have been very pleasantly surprised in how they are able to do that in practice situations.
Do you feel that you can coach this team to a tournament appearance even though you have ten players, and what is your focus right now in practice?
Our biggest focus in practice right now is defense. We have to become a better defensive team in order to compete in our conference in order to even think about post-season play, we have got to become a better defensive team and that is what our focus is in practice. Do I think we can be competitive with a roster of ten? Absolutely. We only need five on the court at a time. So if you have five quality players, five players that understand what they are doing, then we will be okay. So, ideally would we like a couple of more people in practice, absolutely, but we don't talk about that, we don't worry about what we don't have. We focus on the 10 or 11 healthy bodies that we do have and that is certainly enough for us to be competitive.
Looking at the schedule where do you feel will be some tough roads ahead, and then also you were talking about your 10 or 11 players and do you feel like they have come and gelled together to really stick it together?
Well we have had like four practices, so we have a lot of time to continue to gel. Practice is going well, we are coming together but, when you have a new system. Everything is new to everybody. We don't have seniors or juniors who are going to be able to teach the freshmen and the sophomores. Everything is new for every single player on the team. So as a coaching staff, we have patience with the way the pace of their learning curve. The team works really hard, and we are getting better every single day. Are we ready to go out tomorrow and play for a national championship? No, not yet, but give us another three or four days and we might be ready (laughs).
Coquese, obviously you haven't even thought of a rotation yet, but at what point in the preseason do you start thinking about that especially with the fact that you're going to have to use so many young players in the post?
We'll probably really getting into that stuff next week before the exhibition game. And we'll start playing what we think may be some starters together and getting certain rotations out on the floor, certain combinations out on the floor that we want to see competing together. But right now we're really in a teaching mode and fundamentals and really getting the basics of our offense and the basics of our defense down.
You and your staff are putting together your first recruiting class how is that coming along? Are you looking to bring in a lot of numbers because you're a little short handed here at the roster at the present time for the future?
Recruiting is going pretty well and we are looking at probably bringing in probably three kids this year maybe four. Just depends on how things shake out and in the future again we'll assess. Our plan is to slowly build the roster. We're not necessarily going to bring in five or six kids this year just for the sake of having bodies. We want quality bodies, we want players who are going to be able to contribute in a certain way and be a piece of a whole plan. We're not just recruiting and signing people so we have bodies.
Tyra Grant had a really great freshman year, what do you like in her game how has she progressed? What do you expect out of her?
Well I'll tell ya, her aggressiveness is one of her strong traits. She is in attack mode at all times, in particular at the offensive end of the court. She's very dynamic and creative in being able to put the ball in the basket. She can just flat out score and I've been pleasantly surprised with her ability to shoot the three. She's worked on that over the summer and she's shooting the three ball very well for us right now.
What are you expecting out of the fans this year that go to the games? Are you very excited?
Yes! I'm absolutely 100% excited. I've heard a whole lot about the Penn State fans and we get a lot of people in the stands and they're noisy. When I came here last year with Notre Dame and we played the fans were incredible and made it a tough place to play. So, I expect that they will continue along that path and get better just like the team does over the course of the season and their enthusiasm for Lady Lion basketball.