In addition to today’s story on the men’s basketball program’s rebuilding process, here are a few interesting quotes that were left on the cutting room floor:
Head coach Karl Hobbs
On what he learned the past two seasons:
“That was the biggest lesson, to maintain the character first and then the player second.”
On whether he is out to prove himself this season:
“I think every year you have to prove yourself because we’re in the business of what have you done for me lately. It is what it is. People don’t want to know what you did yesterday. They want to know, what are you gonna do today? They want to know how you’re gonna bring these ships in. They don’t care how rocky the water is. They don’t care about how bad the storm is. They just want to know how you’re gonna bring those ships in today.”
On looking back at the team’s success from 2004 through 2007:
“When we went through that run, people always said, ‘Oh, can you maintain it?’ I always felt like hey, you know, clearly we were overachieving. Those were milestones… When you’re going through it, you’re working so hard, you’re exerting so much energy, and you’re so into preparing for the next game, you don’t realize what you have accomplished along the way. When you look back and you look at all those things, you go, ‘Really?’ We lost one game that year in the regular season. We went undefeated in the Atlantic 10.”
On his general goals for the program:
“Just to consistently be a team every year that puts itself to be in the position to be in the NCAA tournament every year. And that’s a hefty dream to have. That’s gonna keep you working your tail off every year. You’re gonna have to not make many mistakes in recruiting. You gotta almost do everything right and you gotta do it consistently and that’s a hard thing to do, but that doesn’t mean that every year you can’t give 100 percent effort to try to make sure that happens.”
On the outside pressure and discontent last season:
“When you’re a basketball coach, you’re in the public eye. And so you can’t go around tossing bricks back at everybody that tosses bricks at you. If someone raises an issue that’s legitimate, you listen, you take it in, and you make the change. If it isn’t, then you move on. So I don’t waste a lot of time focusing on that and tossing the bricks back and forth. That comes with the business of being a coach. That’s what we do… Everybody’s got answers. Every coach will tell you that. Everybody has coached a better game than we did, but that’s part of it and that’s what makes sports a great thing. Everybody has an opinion.”
On whether the outside pressure and discontent bothered him:
“What bothered me is not rebounding the basketball. What bothered me is us turning the ball over. What bothered me is us not finishing plays. What bothered me is us not finishing plays down the stretch when you had an opportunity to win, that’s what bothers me.”
On the goals and expectations for this year:
“It’s not where we’re picked, it’s not any of those things. Stay focused on the process. Don’t look to the left; don’t look to the right. Just stay focused on what we need to do as a team. Try to get back to developing a consistent system, that’s the key. Get back to a consistent system based on sound fundamentals.”
On the team’s perspective entering this season:
“I always joke with the players that hey man, we are a team that, once the season starts, once we get on the boat, we are taking off. Once we get to the other side of the island, we are burning the boat. That means you can’t go back. Once we start, you can’t go back. So that means at that point, it’s either we conquer or we perish. That’s it.”
Director of Athletics Jack Kvancz
On the decision to retain Hobbs:
“I have seen no change in Karl from when I hired him nine years ago and today in terms of being a person… If he was okay then, let’s get some players and see what happens.”
On the importance of players to good basketball teams:
“On a Sunday afternoon in a park, the best players stay on. Who’s coaching them?”
On the importance of building through freshmen, rather than transfers or junior college players:
“If I’m building a house, I don’t want to build it on sand. I want to build it on concrete. I want to have a nice foundation.”
On the basic solution to the problems:
“Get some players and win some games and then we’ll put this to bed.”
On how he thinks Hobbs will do in the rebuilding process:
“I’m optimistic. I do trust, because he’s done it, that he can do it again.”
Senior Vice President of Student and Academic Support Services Chernak
On Hobbs’s energy and demeanor entering this season:
“I think that he realizes that it’s time to turn over a new leaf.”
On comparing this current situation to that inherited by Hobbs in 2001:
“It was a similar situation I guess, but not quite as bad. This one with Karl is, so to speak, a little more self-imposed. It wasn’t another coach that left the cupboard bare; he left the cupboard bare.”
On the new hot dogs at the Smith Center concession stands:
“I had a tasting. Mo, you know, from Sodexo, the manager? He’s been researching on hot dogs. You know, what kind of hot dogs to have at the games, and he wanted it to be a great hot dog. He said to me, ‘Look, even if it’s a terrible game and you lose, I want people leaving the Smith Center saying wow, that’s one of the best hot dogs I’ve ever had.’ I go, ‘Wow, I’m glad you feel that way, Mo.’
“So he goes, he does this research and now he’s discovered this hot dog, it’s by Nathan’s – but it’s a special Nathan’s hot dog. It’s skinless, it’s all-beef, no preservatives, it’s bigger and we’re gonna grill them and then serve them, so they’re actually gonna be, you know, on the barbecue. So none of this like boiled crap that’s sitting in water for like five hours. Fresh, from the grill, into the package, and then he does research on the package to make sure that it can have the condiments in it and all that so you just get it and everything’s there.
“It was delicious… Really good – I mean, this is like a great hot dog. So the moral of the story is every single aspect of what we want to do is have a better experience at the games. That’s part of the change.”
On why John Kuester wasn’t fired after going 1-27 in 1988-89:
“We weren’t just going to make a termination unless we knew we were going end up with an improved situation. Just to make a change to make a change, unless you end up with someone that you feel has the competency to correct what the problems were that got you to the losing state, then it doesn’t make sense. You’ve got to actually know those solutions before you make a decision.”
