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ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEApril 10, 2015Ray AndersonMichael CrowBobby HurleyTHE MODERATOR: I want to introduce Dr.Michael Crow, Mr.Ray Anderson, and obviously Coach Bobby Hurley. Who better to talk about the exciting things not only with what's going on in Sun Devil basketball, but with ASU in general than Dr.Michael Crow. DR. CROW: I just want to say a couple things before vice president Ray Anderson, Vice President for University Athletics has an opportunity to introduce Coach Hurley, and that is first, why we are involved in college athletics. It's kind of funny, almost, reading national magazines and others and talking about all kinds of things: And these problems in college athletics and this problem in college athletics and I keep wondering what these people are writing about. Because at the end of the day, college athletics is about finding young men and young women, giving them an opportunity to compete at the highest level for non‑professional athletes in our society, competing against other colleges and other teams 1200 of which are members of the NCAA, producing most of the athletes that go on to become American Olympic athletes, producing unbelievable future leaders and citizens as they move forward, giving opportunity for education through college athletics. Ray was a college athlete. I was a college athlete. Coach Hurley was a college athlete. Each of us had a part of our lives enabled by being able to be athletes in college; and at the end of the day, that's what it's about, college athletes are students. College athletes are students pursuing their academic objectives by using athletics as a way in which to express their competitiveness but to obtain their broader objective. Their broader objective is sometimes athletic, but most often not. Most often it's something else. I won't give you the percentages, but assume it's 99 percent of college athletes don't have careers in professional sports as Coach Hurley did. Many want that. I wished that I had been a better javelin thrower. And there isn't a big professional career for javelin throwers, but there are other things than competing at the Kansas Relays, but you have to prove yourself. So, second, why we do college athletics: Second is Ray Anderson's assignment. So Ray is a distinguished, experienced scholar athlete, lawyer, attorney, executive, sports executive and now a leading ASU athletics and he has four objectives: One, find students who want to be students who are great athletes, help them to achieve their academic goals. Second, play for championships in all sports and all programs, men and women, everything that we have. Third, make it all work financially. There's this ludicrous notion out there that somehow college athletics is a profit making enterprise. We only hope that we can break even and at some point have the opportunity to give resources back to the university to help the library or scholarships or something like that from our athletics programs, which is not yet the case, Ray. RAY ANDERSON: Soon‑to‑be. DR. CROW: Soon‑to‑be. And lastly, to build affinity, to build community, to build linkage to, tie people to Sun Devil Athletics and in the community more broadly, those four things. If we are not doing those four things we are not being successful. If a coach is not doing all four of those things, we are not being successful. So Ray has found now four fantastic coaches since he was appointed athletic director. I'll just mention one of them before he introduces Coach Hurley. I said to Ray, either we're going to have a wrestling team that's going to compete for national championships or we're not going to have a wrestling team. So you need to find the best person in the world to be our coach. Zeke Jones is our coach: Multi‑time world champion in wrestling, NCAA champion, ASU graduate; and at the time that Ray hired him, sitting Olympic coach for the United States Olympic Team in wrestling, former coach at the University of Pennsylvania. That is the person; the personage, the kind of character that we are looking for. So when Ray makes a decision that we need to move on and find a coach to achieve our goals, I can guarantee you that the best coach that's out there that can help us to achieve our goals will be fine, and so Ray Anderson. RAY ANDERSON: Thank you Dr.Crow. First thing I want to do is to thank the media for coming. And then I also want to thank all of the people in the media for the respect and the patience you showed with us throughout the process. We know that we can be frustrating for you as we conduct our searches. But we do it for purpose. Our searches are conducted with a purpose. And so while we know we cause you frustration, media, we want to thank you and appreciate your understanding. I also want to thank our senior staff that was so instrumental in getting us here today. So to Dave Cohen and Rocky Harris, Amy Schramm and Scottie Graham and Deborah Medlock, I really appreciate your work in making sure we can get this done within the process of confidentiality that was so important. And then I want to thank our campus colleagues: Jim Ron (ph) Jim O'Brien (ph) Rick Shangraw and Kevin Galvin and Joyce Smitheran for their role in helping us logistically in pulling this off in a manner we felt would preserve necessary privilege and confidentiality. To all of our colleagues, we really thank you forgetting us here today. When we embarked on this search, we did so with a commitment to President Crow that we would do this: We would be broadminded and we would be thorough and we would be diligent and we would be disciplined and we would be dogged and we would be patient. And our charge was to go out and find the best and the right fit for this program. And the personality qualities that were required was that we wanted integrity; we wanted passion, we wanted fire in the belly. We wanted an unwavering dedication to provide high‑energy to every task necessary to bring ASU men's basketball to the elite level. And we believe very, very strongly and very confidently that we have accomplished that mission. And so this search process culminated in us extending just one offer for this position to join our university as the head of our men's basketball team. So we are thrilled and proud to say that Bobby Hurley has accepted that offer. And so I'm proud to introduce our new ASU men's basketball coach, Bobby Hurley. COACH HURLEY: Wow, thank you. First of all, thanks, president crow and Ray Anderson, Dave Cohen, guys that were integral parts of the process for me initially. This is a great day in my life for me and my family. I feel like I have arrived at a big‑time plays that I can compete at the highest level and do the things that I did as a player and that I've been doing as a coach so far and just taking it to another level. Before I get into that, I just want to thank some people, also, that are so important to me in my life and support me so much. I'd like to start with my wife, Leslie, who lives and dies the profession with me and has been so supportive of my coaching career and is such a big part of the relationships that I build with the players and my family is extremely important to that process. Also here is my daughter, Cameron, my daughter, Sydney, and my son, Bobby here, who is in the front row who is like an unpaid assistant coach for the program moving forward (laughter). But it's great to have them here, along with a guy, Levi Watkins, who worked with me at Buffalo the last two years and will be joining the staff at Arizona State. You know, I can't believe how much I've enjoyed the opportunity that I was given at Buffalo and I want to thank Danny White and Dr. Tripathi and all the players that gave me their hearts and souls for two years that put me in the position to coach this basketball team. Without everything that my players did for me and the support that I was given from Buffalo and the fan base, again, I wouldn't have this great opportunity. So I have much love for those guys and that team, and they are going to continue to do great things there. I'm looking forward to this challenge. I had a chance this year to compete against Kentucky and Wisconsin and West Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and when I was playing in those type of games, the feeling that I had to be in those games and compete against those teams was something that really drove me. And when this opportunity opened up, it was clear to me that this was the place that I wanted to be, just with everything that this university offers: The campus, the practice facility, the conference, it's big‑time athletics. And the objective, it's pretty clear. I mean, we have a lot of work to do, and it gets done behind closed doors when there aren't cameras in front of you, and we are going to do it at a very high level here. And the vision is clear: We want to bring in kids with high character that are going to work hard and that are going to develop in our program and that are going to get their education, and that we are going to compete for championships; Pac‑12 Championships and we want to go to Final Fours. There's been great tradition in the program, guys like James Harden and Eddie House and players of recently memory like that that have built the program and have taken it to good places and taken it to NCAA Tournaments, and now we would like to take it to another level. So that's something that I'm going to dive in with all the returning players today and to begin the discussions of working towards that objective. So I am so excited and so thrilled to be here. This is a destination job for me, a place that I want to spend a lot of time and to be a fixture in the community and to be a big part of the success of this whole athletic department. So at this time, I'll open it up for any questions. RAY ANDERSON: Can I make a comment? Can I make a comment? Would you like to introduce your parents before they spank you? (Laughter). COACH HURLEY: Oh, geez. RAY ANDERSON: Because you are still their son. COACH HURLEY: Ray, yeah, how did I miss that? Wow. That's bad. (Laughter). It's an overwhelming day, as you might imagine. Mom and Dad, really sorry. (Laughter) this has like SportsCenter not Top‑10 written all over it maybe. So let's do this now. That's my mom here, Chris hurl, she's here, obviously flew in from New Jersey, and my dad, Bob hurl senior, who is a Hall of Fame high school coach with St. Anthony, and had some of the best years of my life when he wasn't yelling at me too bad at St. Anthony, but he's a legend in coaching and so much of what I've learned comes from just being around him my entire life. So I'm glad that they could be here today to share it with me, as well. RAY ANDERSON: Bob, we seniors take care of each other, you know what I mean. (Laughter). DR. CROW: The only time they never have questions is when they are certain everything you said will happen. Q. I'm sure you heard that this program has had trouble sustaining success over a long period of time. Just in your opinion, what is the key to not just making the NCAA Tournament but just kind of building that momentum to get to where you want to take the program? COACH HURLEY: Well, I mean, you have to set out your goals and they have to be clear, and the message has to be clear. And you have to take all the appropriate steps along the way to accomplish that goal. You know, again, it's done for me with building relationships with the players in the program right now, and getting to know them, getting to know what makes them tick, and how to maximize their experience here, and for them to have an opportunity to get comfortable with me and my style as a coach. You know, so we're going to train at a high level. I think I've been exposed to some great things in my basketball life with my experiences at Duke, my time in the NBA, the three great years I spent with my brother, Dan, at Wagner College in Rhode Island. Everything I've seen has prepared me to provide these guys I think with a great structure to work and develop as basketball players and people. As we go through that process, you know, the passion and the expectations that the coaching staff will have, hopefully that will carry over and resonate with our players. When we need to win big games, they are going to have our full support and we are going to coach very hard and we're going to do the best possible job to get that done. It's a blue collar mentality. I have a blue collar background with my upbringing, and nothing ever‑‑ nothing has really ever come easy to me. People have really always doubted my career. As a player, they never expected I would take it as far as I took it. There were questions about my experience coming into Buffalo, and in two years, we won a conference title for the first time in school history. That's with a team that was projected to finish fourth in its division last year. My expectations and what other people's expectations are, are a little different, and hopefully we'll get on the same page with the guys and get that done. Q. Could you kind of expand on your plans to sort of attack the recruiting basis of California and Arizona, which the next couple years is really rich in talent; a lot of people are bringing up your East Coast ties. COACH HURLEY: I think that I have a national name and that I have a name that people recognize in my career as a player in college athletics, and winning championships opens the doors for me. I think my dad being a legendary high school coach that people know; I'd be able to pick up the phone and build and develop relationships with all the people I need to. When I took over Buffalo, people had similar questions about how was I going to recruit the Midwest and be successful in a conference that was based in the Midwest with a lot of East Coast ties. We worked at it. I hired a great staff that helped recruit the major markets in our conference, and because of the job that we did, basically with all Midwest players, we are able to win our league. It's going to take hard work and a lot of phone calls, and obviously just having a great staff. I had a tremendous staff at Buffalo with Levi Watkins and Nate Oats and Ben Wood, and we all worked terrific together, and those guys did a phenomenal job. And we'll continue to build it out here. But we are going to recruit nationally, as well. We are not just going to limit ourselves to any areas of the country. In addition to that, I've decided to retain Stan Johnson on the staff, which I think is going to continue the continuity (applause). Stan has great connections, great ties, great relationships with the players. Had several great conversations with him. I feel very comfortable with him. I think he's going to do a great job for the program. Q. Style of play depends on personnel, but describe what style of play you would like to implement here, and also, the influence of Coach K impacting your coaching philosophy today. COACH HURLEY: Style of play, a lot of it, it's a combination, really, of my experiences playing at Duke and how we played, and then also the influences of my brother at Rhode Island. It's a very aggressive style man defense. I want to put pressure on our opponent but do it in a disciplined way. I'm not the type of coach that typically runs around and traps and then gives up easy baskets. I want defensively our guys to lock down, to force difficult shots, to create some turnovers because teams are just tired of dealing with us at that end of the floor. On the flipside, I give my players freedom. We spend a ton of time on skill development and developing guys' games, and I want to put guys in great positions to make plays. You know, this year, we were in the Top‑25 in pace of play. It's a style that our players enjoy playing. We led our conference in scoring in conference play this year, and that's because we are going to play fast. I think that style fits in very well in this league. We've got to be in great shape to do it and we've got to work on our games at a high level. I don't know if we got a shot clock violation last year. That's not the type of coach I am. I don't micromanage every dribble, every pass. I like to put my players in great positions on the floor so that they could showcase their creativity. In addition, I am the all‑time assist leader, so everyone has to play unselfishly on offense. It's one much the things that we preach and talk about, last year's team‑‑ not this past year, but my first year, that team led our league in assists, and was I think in the Top‑30 nationally in assists. I think it's a fun style to watch, what people enjoy watching. I think our fans in Buffalo enjoyed how we played, and a lot of that had to do with the players that we brought in the program. Those guys were really good and we'll work with the guys here to play in a similar way. Q. You've obviously had a lot of success as a player, and that doesn't always translate to somebody becoming a good coach. What has been different for you? Has it been the influences from your father, brother, Coach K? Why has it translated to success as a coach for you? COACH HURLEY: First of all, it's what I saw growing up. My dad was a coach that carried about his kids a tremendous amount and was very loyal to his program at St. Anthony's and his community, and the players at St. Anthony's were almost like an extended family. So that's what I saw and that's what I've taken with me to. Every place that I've been to try and create that culture of family with our players, and we'll try and do the same thing here. Nothing was ever handed to me in coaching. I started out at Wagner College as assistant coach. I shared an office with two other assistant coaches. We were bumping into each other all day. I did a lot of things related to building a program. I worked very closely with my brother to learn how to be a coach. I spent three years doing it, and then when I knew I was ready, I had a great opportunity at Buffalo and went with it. And then you go maybe in the direction of being a point guard; I just think that position, for whatever reason, you're a coach on the floor, you have to have a great IQ for the game. I never had an extraordinary amount of talent, so I always had to work harder than people and prove people wrong and have a chip on my shoulder and that's kind of how I coach, too. Q. Have you had a chance to meet with your team yet, and if so, what message did you share with them, and if not, when will you get a chance to meet with them and what will your message be? COACH HURLEY: Yes, we had a brief meeting‑‑ DR. CROW: Some of them are sitting right there. COACH HURLEY: We had a chance to meet briefly this morning and again just give them some background information on me and some stuff about my career and then talk about briefly on philosophy and expectations. We'll meet individually and I want to get a better feel for what guys think. It's hard for them. This is not easy when there's a coaching change and they are in a transition. It's a big thing for the student athlete. They are important to me right now just to make sure they are in a good place and that they are comfortable with me, and now we just begin the process of building relationships with these guys. Q. I was just wondering, how much stock do you put into rivalry games and how familiar are you with the rivalry with Arizona‑‑ DR. CROW: You may not know, that newspaper is in Tucson. He's sort of baiting you there. (Laughter). COACH HURLEY: I got a feel for it already (laughter) just in the brief amount of time that I've been in town, you get a taste for it. I've been in a few of those myself in my day, just with Duke and Carolina and what that means. So it's going to be a lot of fun. It takes two to tango‑‑ DR. CROW: Just ask him how it's been going lately. (Laughter). COACH HURLEY: You can just take over. DR. CROW: These are just facts you might not know. I think they are hoping to get above .500 soon. (Laughter). COACH HURLEY: It's kind of what I stated in my remarks. I live for those kind of games, and that's as a competitor and I think I'm a top competitor and those are the games that I want to play and compete in. It's going to be a lot of fun. Q. Talk about the importance of having a good coaching staff besides you to help you in this transition to your new position. COACH HURLEY: It's critically important. Just like I said, with Levi now coming in and joining us right away, and Stan already being in place; more importantly, just for the players right now, they can count on having some people in place that they can trust, that they know; that's going to make the transition easier. Because I'm going to be being pulled in a million directions here and I already have the last few days. So it's amazing where you could be one day and now you're here somewhere else. My mind's racing; I'm going to‑‑ and then obviously we have a big recruiting weekend coming up. There's a lot of moving parts right now, and the staff is always important. I work very closely with my guys and we function very well at Buffalo. It was a big part of our success just having that trust and having qualified, high‑level people that you're working with. DR. CROW: You'll be doing something later this afternoon that will be the most difficult thing you've done in years. The small white ball that you're going to try to get from the pitcher's mound to the catcher's mitt at the U‑of‑A and ASU baseball game tomorrow. RAY ANDERSON: He's going to be recruiting. DR. CROW: Tomorrow you're going to be pitching baseball. (Laughter). Q. You met with the team earlier today. What was your general message? COACH HURLEY: I mean, I stated it before; this team, there is some talented guys in the locker room. Postseason is what it is. Making NIT, you're playing in postseason. And I know it's not the ultimate expectation at a place like Arizona State, but it's still a very solid accomplishment. There are guys that were on that team that I wanted to just begin the process of them getting familiar with me and just learning about each other, and then as we move forward, we'll have individual meetings and then we'll get to business on the court. They will get a taste of how I work and my style, and then we'll go from there. Q. The Curtain of Distraction made a name for itself last year; have you seen it on TV? COACH HURLEY: I have not seen it yet but I've heard a lot about it since I got in town yesterday. It's creative from how it's been explained to me and I look forward to diving in and really figuring that out at a higher level soon. RAY ANDERSON: Good luck on that. (Laughter). DR. CROW: Some of them are in the room, also. COACH HURLEY: I think it's an integral part of the whole college experience and being a student. I was exposed to that at Duke with the Crazies and we worked pretty hard at Buffalo to develop our True Blue. We want to connect with our students and our players connect with them and our coaching staff connect with them so that they support us and enjoy the experience. Because I know the product that we put on the court is something that people and students are going to be excited to see. So we need that type of excitement when our guys play, because they are responding to it. THE MODERATOR: That's going to wrap it up. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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