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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 8, 2016Barry AlvarezGreg GardMadison, Wisconsin An Interview With: BARRY ALVAREZ GREG GARD BARRY ALVAREZ: I would thank all of you for coming out this afternoon. This is an exciting day for Wisconsin basketball. It's also an exciting day for our athletic program, athletic department, and for all of our fans. Today I'm very proud and excited to introduce the next basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin, Greg Gard. GREG GARD: Well, it took me 26 years to get here, so I figured why not just drag it on a little longer. First of all, obviously this is an extremely special moment for me, our family, who you'll meet in a little bit. But I think just special for the state of Wisconsin from the standpoint of being one of their own that's been able to trek through their career at various stops around the state, and to ultimately be in this position to be able to lead your home state institution's flagship school into the future. It's something that I am extremely proud of, I take extremely seriously, or extremely serious, and have great pride in this institution and what it represents and what this state is about and what the people of this state are about. I could not be any happier, more excited, or more proud to be able to be the next head basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin. With that said, there's obviously people I need to thank that have helped make this journey possible, starting first with Chancellor Blank. Conversations with her have always been positive, and she's a terrific leader of this campus and this institution. The UW athletic board, the board of regents, our athletic administration team, specifically Walter Dickey, our sport administrator, Justin Doherty, and coach Alvarez. Coach Alvarez has been a mentor and a tremendous influence on me, not only just in the last three months but over the course of my 15 years here even before he was the athletics director, somebody that I've always leaned on for a little bit of advice here and there. I've always thought that success in sport was not sport specific, and to watch him from afar and then obviously up close as he built the football program and then has continued to lead this athletic department into a bright future, he's always somebody that I've leaned on now and again. He's been tremendous over the past three months in terms of giving me space, but at the same time being there as a former coach to lean on and to ask questions of, and he gave me the best advice of all: Just be yourself and coach your team. Also for all the coaches, teachers, administrators, people that have helped me through my career, I'm looking to see -- specifically I see Steve Randall, who was my high school coach at Iowa-Grant, who went on to Oshkosh West and passed away 12 years ago, his wife Cindy has joined us here today. Cindy, it's good to see you, and thanks for coming. My first job, the AD that hired me, Bill Taylor at Southwestern School District, as an eighth grade coach back in 1990, and then the first coach that really got me off and going, Jim Nedelcoff, the State Hall of Fame coach in both football and basketball at Southwestern, and Coach Jim, it's great to see you here today. And Pauline, thanks for coming. I walked in there with nothing but a warm-up and a clipboard and a whistle, and three years later I walked out well on my way to having a successful career because of the knowledge and experience you passed on to me, Coach, so thank you for all you've done for me over the course of my career. Then it was on to Platteville High School, Greg Quam. I know I've seen him. One year with Greg, and then on to UW-Platteville, and I've obviously got to thank Coach Ryan, his family. He took a chance on me 23 years ago as a student assistant, had great confidence and a vision in me in terms of what I could become and the potential that I had, and obviously I'm grateful for him for the opportunities he's given me over the course of time. For all the assistants and staff that I've worked with at all the places, Southwestern, Platteville, Milwaukee, and then here at Wisconsin, the former players at each stop, thanks for believing in me, thanks for listening, thanks for working, thanks for putting up with me. To our current team, obviously our managers that joined us back there, our management team, are you guys still in first in the Big Ten in the standings? Good. Did you win the league? Good. All right, they played before our games against the other managers, so they've got a conference championship. To our support staff, Peg and Laura, Mark, Kat, A.J., our video coordinator, all the people upstairs that have helped, from day one on December 16th when I met with you, we knew this was going to be a great effort and we were going to have to accomplish this together, and you've been phenomenal since the very beginning from that first meeting. Academic support, Mary and Tracy downstairs do a phenomenal job, Gary and Otto, also in equipment. Henry and Eric, sports medicine and strength and conditioning, two people that make a huge difference and are difference makers in making our student-athletes' lives better. To my assistant coaching staff, Lamont -- where are you guys hiding? Okay. Lamont, thanks for believing in us a while ago when I picked you up at the airport when you came in from Akron. It's been a great relationship. Gary, for all your hard work, and Howard, for giving up that infamous job on BTN and wanting to come back home, I appreciate that. At the time that was a phenomenal asset to us. Obviously to our current players -- where are you guys hanging? There they are. As I've said from day one, this wasn't about me, this wasn't an audition. This was about you guys and how we were going to grow together, get better, learn. As I told you last night, the job you guys have done is second to none in terms of how you've bonded, how you've matured. I'm so proud to be your coach, and I know this is just the beginning, but thanks to each and every one of you for making this so special and to make this opportunity possible for me. To our extended family that's here, I've got mother-in-law and father-in-law, Michele's mom and stepdad, Steve and Judy. Thanks for all your support. I know we've got some watching up in northern Wisconsin, Michele's dad on BTN, so hello to Jim and Peg, and thanks for tuning in. Thanks for everything you've done. My brothers, the only smart one in the group that didn't get into coaching is my middle brother Gary and his wife Sarah and their kids Caleb and Hayley are here. Also my brother Jeff, who's now the head coach at UW-Platteville, his wife Amy and kids Hannah and Vincent. Obviously where this all begins is always at home, and it all started in a little town about 60 miles from here. You all know where it is now. Maybe you didn't 15 years ago, but Cobb is pretty popular today. For my mom, Connie, for you to be here, and Dad is here, as well, he's just watching from above, but thank you for everything, all you've done. And to my kids, Mackenzie, Isaac and Peyton, it's not easy being a coach's kid. I know that. You've given up a lot. You've been phenomenal. You don't ride the wins and losses wave too much. Right, Mackenzie? But thank you for being there every day, and thank you for being supportive, and I'm proud to be your dad. And obviously behind every successful person there's always a rock, and one that really makes everything function, and I can't say enough about my wife Michelle. That's the best recruiting job I've ever done (laughter). I'll never have one top that. Michelle, thank you for everything. This is not entirely possible obviously -- not only the past year and everything we've gone through, but over the course of time. I really appreciate you being right with me side by side. Without further ado, obviously like I said, I'm extremely proud to be your head coach at the University of Wisconsin. This place is special. This place is unique. We're so excited about the future which starts with a couple hours in practice again and then on to the Big Ten Tournament and then into the NCAA Tournament. But we'll do our best every single day to make Badger Nation proud and make you extremely happy to wear the red and white, and On, Wisconsin. With that, I'll take any questions. Q. Is surreal a decent word to describe the last 24 hours or so? GREG GARD: Yeah, it has, because we've taken such a day-by-day focus, and that's really how I've focused my whole career. I've never really got caught up into where I was in my career, never had a barometer set or timeline set on when I needed to be a head coach or wanted to be a head coach. It was always about gut instinct and finding the place with the right people, and I think that's really what has made this place so special. Obviously the Kohl Center and facilities and this campus and this University are world-class, but the people here really put it over the top, and that's kept me here. That's really been the difference maker for me, and hopefully it'll continue to be the difference maker in the future, and it'll be the difference maker for those that come here and play in the future and our student-athletes here. But yes, the last 24 hours, to get back to your question, has been surreal. Everything has been moving so fast in terms of our focus on the season and trying to work one day at a time that you never got too caught up into what was going to happen down the -- you've heard me say that many times about what was going to happen in the future. We were just going to control what was within our grasp that specific day. Q. You talked at some point during their seven-game winning streak about the improvement you had seen, but I'm curious if you can share as that went on and as the season progressed when you first started to get a really solid concrete inkling that this was the direction that this would go? BARRY ALVAREZ: Well, there was a combination and a number of things that went through my process of evaluating. First of all, it was very impressive to me how Greg took the bull by the horns and implemented his offense and gradually improved his team, improved the players, had a plan to incorporate more players to build depth, and you could just see the team -- and I've been quoted as saying this before, you don't have to be a great basketball person to see the improvement as the season went along. But I also look at other things. I look at -- when you have a game, you don't play as well or you get beat, you have a long winning streak, you lose a tough game to a good team, how do you bounce back, or if you have some adversity, how do you bounce back? If you don't play well, how do you respond the next day? And I saw an even keel with the players, which tells me that Greg and his staff have gotten through to the players. There's great communication and response from the players. You also have to take a look at how you deal with other people, how you deal with the booster clubs, how you deal with the media, and everything was A+. I just didn't see anything that was below standard. I just thought he did an excellent job of managing the entire job, and to watch -- the bottom line is to see that team get better and better, play against very good teams. I think it spoke volumes when you can go into Maryland and are ranked in the top two or three in the country, beat them at home, you beat a good Michigan State team, you beat Iowa, who was ranked in the top five at one time, to go down there, beat them on the road, to see how far that team has come speaks volumes. So it was a combination of all those things that kept selling me on Greg as the right person. Q. How much value do you place on having a coach with local knowledge and kind of one of our own, so to speak, in your high-profile positions? BARRY ALVAREZ: Yeah, I think it's easier to have one who knows it all, who knows how we operate, who has a plan that's been successful and understands the plan and understands the University of Wisconsin, understands that our student-athletes come here to get a degree, and it's not just lip service, that they're going to go to class and they're going to be serious students. All those things are very important. So it's not that you can't learn it, but when you have someone who does understand it, it makes it easier for me, and it is important. But it wasn't a necessity. People can -- you can find a fit from outside, but it makes it much more easier, and it's more of a guarantee. Q. What was the toughest part about this process all along? GREG GARD: I don't know if there really was a tough part of the process. It was always just focused -- I think the best thing that helped me was just focusing on each day for what it was and knowing there was another practice to prepare for, another game to prepare for that we always had something in front of us to accomplish and we always had goals to achieve and to try to get better, and that was really the main thing. I never worried about -- you've heard me use the word process a lot, and I've used it with the team specifically about not worrying about the scoreboards or what the results were going to be. Take care of the task at hand every day, and boil it down to simply a drill at a time, and I really tried to apply that, too, for how I looked at all of this and approached it. We were going to put our best foot forward. We were going to make sure these 17 young men over there had the best experience possible, and how they've grown and how they've matured, and like I said, I've said it a thousand times and I'll say it a thousand more, I'm extremely proud of how far they've come because they're the ones that have really steered this in the right direction and really made this day possible. Q. I guess talking a little bit more on that, you talk about these players and how much they've helped you to get to this point. How exactly have they helped you as opposed to necessarily what they've done on the court, but how have they helped you as far as this transition into becoming the head coach? GREG GARD: Well, they've all bought in, and I've talked a lot about having two feet in the boat and making sure don't leave one foot on the pier. Get both in the boat and get both hands on the oar and let's go in the right direction. I think the biggest thing for me to communicate with them was just to be myself and not try to be somebody phony or morph into somebody that I was not. They knew me well enough. They understood that my role changed, my responsibility level changed, my decision making change in terms of I was the final decision maker, and they made that very easy for me. They really responded, and our upperclassmen have grown into being very good leaders. Our younger guys that are new to the program have grown immensely over the past three months, but I also know that we aren't near where we can be, and that's my job to continue to push and prod and ask them to grow some more, and I know they're excited about what's coming down the road here. Like I said, they've really made it very easy for me to make this transition. There wasn't anybody that wasn't getting in the boat with those 17 in that locker room, and they did it very quickly. Q. Along the lines of the players, you've talked to them, talked about them at length. Can you share with us what that moment was like when you got to tell them yesterday, okay, there's no more interim tag, I'm your guy and we can move forward? GREG GARD: It was emotional because they've been on the journey with me, but I didn't want them to ever focus on that that was the goal, and I've said -- I really mean that. It wasn't about me, it was about trying to make sure they had a great experience here, and they put themselves in the position to make this journey a great experience. For me, it was thank you for what you've done for me, thank you for what you've done for my family. I'm still going to be a pain in your rear end for a while, and we've got a lot yet to accomplish. So it was very emotional. A lot of high fives and hugs, and then it was on to someone had to go to class, and I said, we'll see you tomorrow. Q. You've just mentioned the emotional part. In December it was emotional when you were the interim coach. Now you're the head coach. It's emotional again. Yet you keep balancing that. How do you balance that as you move forward with these immediate goals, and then when will it sink in that, hey, this is real? GREG GARD: I don't know if it ever truly -- you just focus on one day at a time and you try to look at too big of a picture and you'll drown in the surroundings that you see. I think you've just -- maybe in May after the season is wrapped up and recruiting is wrapped up we'll be able to step back a little bit and take a breath. But for right now, it's been just -- we really have approached it a day at a time because I felt if you look beyond that too much, you were really going to get engulfed in it. I've really tried to have that mindset of we'll approach this one day at a time and we'll make the most of each day and then we'll be better tomorrow than we were today, and keep moving forward like that. That's really helped me, I think, keep perspective because we knew the task at hand was large, but it was also surmountable. We could accomplish this if we really approached it the right way. Q. You talked about earlier being from Wisconsin, head coach at Wisconsin. Can you elaborate a little bit more on that, after putting in all the years of hard work, blood, sweat and tears into this, what it really means to you for someone who's never really had such a chance? GREG GARD: Well, and Paul can attest to the same thing. I got a chance to spend some time with him yesterday. Thanks for coming in here, too, Coach, before you head off to spring practice this weekend. I think anytime you have, as Coach Alvarez talked about, two people from the state of Wisconsin, we understand what this program means to the state of Wisconsin and the fans and the residents of the state. We understand what this athletic department means and this University, how important the Badgers are, and it goes well beyond the athletic fields and courts and those avenues, because I've always viewed me as one of them in terms of the residents of this state, and I think they view me in the same light, like hey, there's one of your own. So that puts an extra layer of -- I won't say pressure, but really specialness in terms of it's really unique that you have -- I'm a lucky guy, to be able to navigate my way through my career and not have to change my zip code out of the state of Wisconsin. Do you know how unique that is and rare? Do you know how special that is? That's unbelievable, and I'm so proud of all the people that have helped me along the way, and I even missed some family members that are in the back row that snuck in on me, aunts and uncles and cousins. But there's so many people that have had a piece of this, that have had a part in this. No one accomplishes this on their own. As I look in the rear view mirror, and I've done a lot of reflecting here over the last 24 hours, just collecting my thoughts of what I really wanted to talk about today, I go all the way back to, like I mentioned, the days in Cobb and Hazel Green and Platteville and so forth, all the little springboards and support that people gave you along the way, whether it's just a small experience or years of commitment. I'm the lucky one here today, and I just hope to continue to -- we'll work extremely hard to continue to make Badger fans smile, and every time they put on their Wisconsin hat or sweatshirt or tee shirt, a big grin comes over their face and they're ready to root for the Badgers. Q. Coach Ryan was someone who really wanted to see you in this position. Have you had a chance to talk to him, and if so, what have you guys talked about? GREG GARD: No, I left him a voicemail on my drive in here this morning, just thanked him for the opportunity for recognizing a 22-year-old young college student that was trying to get into the profession and giving me an opportunity. It was just a thank-you phone call for all the opportunities he's given me over the past 23-plus years. Q. Would you go so far as to call this your dream job, and if it is, did you ever think it was attainable? GREG GARD: Well, it's been such a long journey, and I don't mean that in a negative way. It's just been every stop that I've had, all the way going back to coaching Coach Nedelcoff's eighth grade team that eventually played for us in my final year there and his final year before retirement were sophomores, and I always looked at that as that was my dream job. And then to be a freshman coach with him in the third year, that was my dream job, because I always focused on the task at hand and the current team, and really immersed myself in that present time and really focused on the present and just trying to do the best possible job. When this all was announced back in December, it was an interim basis, and that really had no effect to me because really I've had a one-year contract my entire career. Now I've got a five-year one. It's like, wow. But it won't change my approach and my mindset on how I've approached things. I've always lived in the moment. I've always respected and honored the past, laser focused on the present, and planned and prepared for the future, and that's how we'll approach this and continue to grow this program because I think we have still a lot out there we can accomplish and room for this program to really grow, and I'm excited about taking the tradition and building upon it. Q. Barry, could you talk about the timing of this application process and why you felt it necessary to get this done now as opposed to waiting until the end of the season? BARRY ALVAREZ: I thought it was important, and I stated this as it all unfolded, that there was a process that we had to go through. We weren't going to be in a big hurry, but as we moved on, I thought there was a time -- this was the right time as I talked to the other administrators to post the job. We had talked to a number of people already, felt as though we had done our due diligence. There was no reason to go any farther. We'd done our jobs. We know who the right man for the job is. The timing is right. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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