OPENING STATEMENT:

“It was a good win on Saturday for us, won another conference game, won back-to-back games, so that was good. I thought our kids really played hard throughout tte game, had to hang on there at the end, but proud of their effort and what we were able to accomplish. Now we have a bigger challenge this week against a team from the SEC in Missouri who is very fast and very athletic. We are going to have a great challenge ahead of us. Look forward to having a great week and getting prepared to play that one on Saturday evening.”

WHAT HAVE YOU TAKEN AWAY FROM YOUR TEAM IN ALL THREE PHASES & HOW YOU’D ASSESS THEM AS YOU MOVE FORWARD?:

“One of the things is they are understanding how to compete, understanding how hard it is to win and the amount of energy and preparation that goes into getting yourself ready to play. I see things that we’ve gotten better with each game. As long as they continue to have that same attitude and drive when they come to practice each and every day, then we have a chance to continue to get better and continue to improve.”

WHEN YOU’RE IN A PROGRAM LOOKING TO BUILD TOWARDS SUCCESS, WHAT CAN YOU SAY ON WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED THE MOST THIS TIME AROUND & IS IT A CULTURE WHERE THE KIDS ARE BUYING IN RIGHT AWAY?:

“It is different than the last time. There are different circumstances and issues that we need to deal with and work through to overcome. The biggest thing is we need to get that culture back and that enthusiasm and will back to what it was when we were here before. You can see it coming. Things don’t happen overnight, but the kids are working, they’re trying and that’s all that you can ask for. As long as they are putting in their best effort each and every day in everything that they do, that’s all I can ask for. There are some other things that will need to be addressed to make us better, but as long as they are coming in here with the right frame of mind and then they go out and put in the effort that it takes each and every day and do it with enthusiasm and do because it’s the best for the team and not their own benefit, then we’re on the right track. I think that’s what they’ve learned to do, we still have to get better at it, but they’ve come a good ways since we started.”

DID YOU HAVE ANY PRE-CONCEIVED NOTIONS ABOUT WHERE YOU’D BE AFTER THE 7TH GAME OF THE YEAR AND IF YOU DID, HOW DOES IT COMPARE?:

“I really didn’t because I had no idea how these guys would react in games and how they’d react to how we prepare for games and what the expectations are. Until you see guys going against other people, I don’t think you can get a good feel for it. I really didn’t have expectations. Of course you’re expectations are you want to win every game, but haven’t seen these guys in those situations, it wasn’t there. All I know is we’ve had a chance in one other game where we had an opportunity to maybe win it, but we didn’t the things necessary to make that happen. As long as we can do things each and every day to get better and compete, go out and play hard for sixty minutes, then you have a chance to win. Before you can win, you need to make sure that the process that you have is correct and that the kids go through that process, can do that process to win. You don’t just go out there and win on Saturday, it’s that process you need to go through. I think they’ve gotten that. They understand this is how you have to work and this is what you are going to have to do if you want to win on a consistent basis. What we need to do is keep drilling that home and they need to keep preparing and understanding the demands and the level of expectation is always going to be set very, very high.”

MATT SCHONVISKY / SITE CREATOR