On leadership:
“I think it is something you get by impacting other people with the example that you set and being somebody that somebody (else) wants to emulate. We have leadership seminars and leadership groups that are constantly trying to educate and enhance guys to be good leaders. I think we do have some good leaders on our team, but I think the key to being successful is to have great leadership on your team. It takes a lot of maturity and a lot of players who are interested in the welfare of the team and are willing to try to influence and inspire other players on the team to help everybody do what they need to do in terms of their role to be responsible and accountable to do their job.”
On moving on from last season:
“I think you sort of have to redefine your team every year in terms of what you need to do to make that particular team realize what they need to do to sort of have a legacy for what they want to accomplish. I think sometimes the more success you have the more difficult that is to do. I think the important part of it is everybody’s got to buy into the principles and values of the organization and remember what helped them to be successful. It’s not really easy. We certainly respect our league and all of the great competition that we have in our league as well as some of the other opponents that we have to play.”
On being ready for important/key plays:
“You never know when those plays are coming up so guys who aren’t committed to the kind of preparation that it takes to be able to play every play like it has a history and life of its own, then you are really not going to be in position to make those plays when they come up. It takes a lot of dedication, commitment and everybody buying into being responsible to do their job and be accountable to do their job on the team.”
On guarding against complacency:
“To me, everybody always asks, ‘Why aren’t you happy about this or that?’ (and it’s) because I am thinking about the next thing. Michael Jordan says it best when he said, ‘No matter how many game-winning shots I’ve made, the only one that matters is the next one.’ That’s how it is. That is what we keep looking forward to trying to do the best we can to help our players be successful personally, academically and athletically. That is challenging, and we certainly want to have the best program that we possibly can to help them do that.”
