UNIVERSITY OF TULSA BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 22, 2022

Brad Carson

Rick Dickson

Eric Konkol

Press Conference

BRAD CARSON: Good afternoon. Welcome to the University of Tulsa, to Reynolds Center. Congratulations to our women's team. We loved your season. And congratulations to you all for being here.

Today, we begin an exciting new chapter in the extraordinary history of Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball. This leadership change that we see today is in fact part of a larger renaissance that is happening here at TU.

Over the past 16 months, we've done so much at the university: Introducing the new strategic plan; welcoming more college new deans across the university; appointing a new provost; and of course signing our athletic director, Rick Dickson, to a permanent role to help guide our athletic programs. And just last July, I myself, became the president of the University of Tulsa.

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These moves and many more are redrawing the horizon of possibility for the University of Tulsa. They're also extending the tradition of changing with the times, developing outstanding talent and partnering with this great city that gave the university its name.

The connection of the past and the future is the very nature of what historians might call a renaissance, linking what was with what can be. We take our best traditions and we remold them for the future.

This year is the start of that renaissance for the University of Tulsa. And today, we are elated to launch a renaissance across the Golden Hurricanes men's basketball. As we welcome our new head coach, Director Dixon will do those honors in just a moment. But let me say also that, as we think about new possibilities, we must remain inspired by our best traditions: The spirit and drive of coaches, staff and players, from the days, as Bruce said, of Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith, Bill Self. These men are on the Mount Rushmore of TU men's basketball. As all of you know, Mount Rushmore has four faces. And today we have an empty slot for our new coach, who I feel very confident will some day join those great basketball coaches in the history and lore of the University of Tulsa.

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All of us are committed to building a future worthy of that glorious past, and we are counting on all of you, the city of Tulsa, the Tulsans to come share that excitement. Welcome to the renaissance.

It's my pleasure to introduce TU's director of athletics, Rick Dickson.

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RICK DICKSON: Good evening. Nice to see you all again. I think the last time we saw each other in here was a 65-foot 3-pointer.

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Set the tone for continued excitement. I want to echo what Bruce mentioned, Brad as well, too, couldn't be more proud, actually, about this time a year ago I was standing a few feet further behind introducing a new TU basketball coach.

And talking to the young men in the locker room before this, was saying very similar to what I've just gone through the last ten days, looking for a lot of the same qualities. Couldn't be more pleased with Angie, you, your staff and my young ladies, how you represented us, yourselves, TU, all of us, put excitement in the program like you have never before. Thank you.

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As usual, the ladies are always the smartest, and I got to see them last in Fort Worth, and coming back, driving back to Tulsa, knew what I was in store for. And a couple of them pulled me aside and said, Don't worry about it, Rick, it's not hard, just find another Angie. I did my best, ladies.

So, look, you know my history. You know how I feel about this school, about this city. I'm a son, I'm a product of it. And for a lot of reasons came back to get us back here. Just like what happened last year in the biggest turnaround in women's basketball, the same thing is going to happen after today.

I told the young men in the locker room, look, they've got choices. They made a good choice when they committed here. They have to make another choice, but to remember this, this is the first day of TU men's basketball getting better. It starts now.

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So I'm not the one you want to hear from. But I just quickly would tell you the things that you would expect, the things that we value here: Character; people that appreciate what this university is, what it's always been; the history, the intertwinement in this city; we've always been here. We represent the best of this city. Those things were important. Somebody that valued that. Somebody that brought the highest character. Somebody that was dedicated to the development of student-athletes. That's what we've always been.

We've been a developmental program. Not many of us have come in as five stars. But a lot of us have left as five stars. We're a developmental program. You heard Brad. He actually stole my line, the Mount Rushmore thing, but those three things -- you know, I told the team, in the last 42 years, ten men's coaches since 1980 have left here with winning records.

Think about that. Six of those went on to other places. Three of those won national championships from this school. Not many schools can say those two things. Ten years, ten coaches; 42 years of winning records; three coaches that left here and won national championships.

I found out firsthand, the last ten days, that Tulsa basketball brand is still strong in the country. Still very strong. But I had to find the person, the people that understood -- in this metro area of 1.2 million, only a half a percent either have gone to school, in school or work here. Think of that. Half a percent.

You can do the math and understand the dynamic. We have to have people that compel, engage and become part of this community. That's always been the success. Those three on that Mount Rushmore did that the best. They were all different, all different styles, different people, but they were Tulsans. And I know this about my city: If they believe that you participate, value and enjoy this city, they'll embrace you.

And that's who I found, is a coach with the highest pedigree. He understands it. He sat on the bench as a young graduate assistant while at our peak. He went to places that much like us that went to the one and only Final Four in their history and was an integral part of it.

He went to a place that really didn't have a history in men's basketball. And he helped create one. And very much like the University of Tulsa in a city where most people weren't connected. One of the best stories I heard was from Coach Larrañaga at the University of Miami, who said the running story each week of the staff was: What promotion is Eric going to come up with next? Because we've had Cuban night; we've had dog show night; we've had kids' birthday party nights.

I like that kind of creativity because we've got to connect again with Tulsa. It's the brand of our program. It's the brand of our school. It's the brand of the city. So I'm proud to introduce to you the person that I found that will do that, Eric Konkol.

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COACH KONKOL: Thank you very much. It's great to be back in Tulsa. Thank you very much, everybody. I want to say thank you to everybody for being here and for those watching online. Thank you, President Carson and Rick Dickson, the Board of Trustees here at TU, for their confidence in me in and bringing me back to Tulsa.

On behalf of my family, we are absolutely thrilled and excited to be here with you, to grow our family here in Tulsa and being part of this tradition while building a first-class basketball program that can withstand the test of time.

We're super thrilled about that. We couldn't be happier to be here. And we cannot wait to connect with everybody, starting tonight, being able to hang out with one another. Of course, we're going to be getting settled here over time, but we cannot wait to connect with this community in a special way.

I'd like to introduce my family here. This is my wife, Meagan. We met in college. We were both participating in basketball. She's the real player in the family. Unless you ask our children. This is Ethan in the red. It's his 13th birthday today. And then we have Ryan, who is 10 years old as well. Right here.

But we are absolutely looking forward to diving into this community with both feet and in becoming a part of Tulsa in everything that's great about it. As I came to campus the other day, and then around the city, it's amazing how things have changed for the better.

There's so many new things here, and we're super excited. I want to also take the opportunity to thank Louisiana Tech University and the Ruston community there for all their support during our time there: Dr. Guice, our president; Tommy McClelland that hired me; Dr. Eric wood that supported us as the athletic director the last two years, and Steve Davison, and countless others. And my greatest thanks goes out to the players that I was so fortunate to coach.

Their trust in me and my staff, and just their ability to allow us to coach them and go on that journey with them, I love all you guys and will be forever grateful.

During the interview process, I was asked a question. And I was: Asked why TU? First, this is the place where it really all started for me in coaching. This was a transformative time for me. I came here just interested in trying to become a basketball coach and trying to figure out what that was like.

I left here with an invaluable experience, of seeing a university, a group of special players and a community all intertwined and aligned to create something special. And that's what we're here to do again. Community. The university. Special players. All working together to achieve something great.

Second, there's great potential here. You can see it. This program has rich tradition, with a history built on tough players, and a passionate fan base from this city. And I've seen it firsthand, and together all of us, we -- we -- can do it again.

Our goal is to challenge consistency for championships, get to the NCAA Tournament, and advance. That's the things that we talk about getting better every day and doing that.

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And the third reason why, Meagan and I are very excited about raising our boys here. This is a great place. We've got friends that live here, friends that have moved here, friends that have lived here their entire lives. This is a wonderful place. And again, we want to jump in with both feet and be part of this community with you.

Earlier today, I met with our players and laid out my vision. And really, I just can't wait to get started. This is great. I love this, but I can't wait to get on the floor with these guys. We've got a terrific group and a lot of potential in this. But this is the number one thing for us -- before we talk about the game -- we will be a program full of people, players, coaches, staff, that have great energy, terrific commitment and are going to do things in a first-class manner.

We're going to play with great juice. We're going to be a group of guys that are constantly trying to get better. And then we're going to behave ourselves and represent this community in a first-class way.

We will be aggressive on defense, everybody, in the full court, in the half court. Yeah.

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We want to create opportunities in transition. The first seven seconds of basketball is the greatest time to catch somebody sleeping. And we want to do everything we can on the defensive end, in both half court and full court, to create those opportunities for our team. To have a group of versatile guys. A number of guys that can push the basketball.

We want guys that can attack the rim. We want to be able to open up the floor with space and shoot the 3-point shot. If we are in the half court, we want to be able to play with great freedom, to be able to get downhill and into the paint and then make great decisions, to play a free-flowing style where guys are using their best gifts to attack this game of basketball.

We will play with great unselfishness, searching for the best shot, and playing in a way that is fun to watch, but also wins. And that's what this is about.

This will also be a player's program. This is about the players. And our focus will be entirely on them. We are here for our players both present and past. For the people that are watching it here, if you are a former player, we want you back. Our practices are open. Our office doors are open. We're going to be reaching out. We want to be able to hear from you and your experiences and support this program. And tell the stories of your time here.

Our staff will be completely focused on the development of our players. Like Rick mentioned, this is a developmental program. We want guys that are committed to getting better, no matter where their spot is on the team, that they are focused every single day to become the best version of them. On the court. In the classroom. And in the community.

This will also be our city's team. Our staff will work relentlessly to recruit players from our region, as well as recruit fans from our city. So we can create a unified toughness and togetherness on game days. We need all of you now.

I can't tell you how excited I am to be here and to be your head coach, after coming here 22 years ago just trying to figure this out, I'm always going to keep trying to figure it out, but I'm going to give everything I've got, our family, our staff, our players, to give you something exciting to watch, something to cheer on and something to be very proud about.

Appreciate you all for being here. Go TU now. All right?

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Q. (Question off microphone). Reconnect and get the fans there and get the buzz again in Tulsa again?

COACH KONKOL: I think there's a number of ways. First, you want to have a really competitive team on the floor, play a style that's fun to watch but also successful. Those things, they happen through recruiting, they happen through development. We'll work hard at those things. But there's also an organic grassroots effort of connecting with people.

I want to lead that charge. I'm going to lead that myself with our family. You all will see us all over town. It's just the way we operate. Our staff and their families, our players.

And then we want to just be able to get everybody to feel invested and that they have a role in this too. Yourself. Your neighbor. To bring people along to come to these games, because I've seen this place rocking.

I tell the story -- I've got two friends from high school that came here when I was a student assistant. And I had a manager's pass list. And I put their name on the list.

And after the game, we won the game, and they came down and they were mad: Eric, you had us up in the nosebleeds. I said, I might be able to use my clout to get better tickets now but I'm hoping they're pushing the nosebleeds again. We've got to get this place full. We need all your help.

Q. No pressure, by the way, you're on the Mount Rushmore, Brad Carson's Mount Rushmore already. But you see what the Tulsa women have done with the energy of a new coach, what the Iowa State men have done with the new coach, and the portal is undeniably a big deal now. So what is the reasonable expectation? What is a reasonable expectation for right out of the gate?

COACH KONKOL: Well, we put on an expectation is we're looking for great improvement. I told the guys in the locker room that, first, we're going to get started on the floor next week. And we're going to look for measurable improvement from each and every one of them through the course of this spring.

And then with any holes on the roster, we're going to look to find ways to improve our team, through the transfer portal, through -- could be junior college, high school, any type of thing. Just based on best available, how they fit and how we can improve.

For things on the court, what we're looking for is be process-oriented with how we're defending. We'll start there first. We've got to be able to defend. The best teams defend. And how can we use that on offense. We'll evaluate it every single day. Whether it turns into wins or losses, I know where we want to be, but we'll put it in that process first.

Q. You mentioned it being a transformative time for you, just the one you spent here in 2001. If somebody told you back then that you'd be here today in this position, what you have thought?

COACH KONKOL: I would have thought they were crazy. You know, I remember clearly we won the NIT and came into here, and this place was packed, cheering on that team. It was an unbelievable group.

I was a small college player. And I jumped right into this. And what I mean by transformative, it opened my eyes up to so many different things. I was very fortunate, even just that one year -- I know Coach Peterson that one year, I joined him at Tennessee, but that coaching staff gave me so much responsibility as a young guy to just learn and feel this. And then the people in this community, several of you that were there are here now. So appreciative of you then and certainly now. It was awesome. And that's really what drew me back here, too, to have that feeling again.

Q. In the past eight years, TU has only signed one local high school prospect. I know you've already addressed it, but I want to ask you again, what is your strategy to drawing local talent and keeping it to TU?

COACH KONKOL: Our strategy, we call it -- in our staff we call it the breadbasket model. The breadbasket is in the middle of the table. That's the center. And your center always, you always want to be in your region. And what I mean by region, is as close as possible. We start inside/out.

My Louisiana Tech team, this last year, 12 of the 14 guys were from within five hours of campus. We had five guys from Louisiana, which was the most the program had at in a long time.

And back in 2006, the George Mason team that went to the Final Four, all five starters were from within two hours of campus.

When I was at Miami, we couldn't really recruit east/west or south because those were fish. (Laughter) So we had to go elsewhere.

But here we're going to recruit Oklahoma. We're going to recruit Texas. We're going to recruit Arkansas. We're going to get in the car and we're going to work. We're going to meet people. We're going to invite them to campus. We're going to show up on their campus.

I think you think about your best friends; you didn't just go to their house, they came to your house too. So we want to be able to open up our doors. We love ball, me and my staff. We want to talk ball all day long. But even more than that we love people.

So we're going to identify, evaluate. Doesn't mean our whole team will be from here. We've got to find the right guys. The right guys that can help the University of Tulsa, but we'll look for them starting here and then branch out.

Q. Give us a little idea about building from the inside when it comes to staff, administrative, things like that. You kind of have to do that almost every time you go somewhere. Who do you have in mind already, if you're willing to drop names, and where do we go from here?

COACH KONKOL: I'm willing but I'm not able. (Laughter) We're going to look first and foremost on the guys that I've been with. And I know one of them is in the running for the head coaching job at Louisiana Tech. And I would love that for him and his family. But we're going to talk to a number of guys, but we're going to be focused first on the guys that are there because I've got great familiarity with them.

I think this is such an important time to have consistency with the staff, messaging, so we're able to hit the ground running with our team here and also in recruiting.

Q. You've mentioned a couple times now how important that first experience at Tulsa was. But to now have your name alongside as has already been mentioned, the Mount Rushmore, Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith and Bill Self, some of these great names in college basketball. How does that grab you on a personal level?

COACH KONKOL: I knew that when I was here, too. The tradition here is really second to very few. And it's such an awesome responsibility. And certainly one I'm very proud of, to be standing here and be the Tulsa men's basketball coach is a great honor. It's a great responsibility. And it's something that I don't take lightly.

Those are incredible coaches. Hall of Fame-type coaches. Three national championships. And so many others, too, that have had success here.

I will say, with all of that, that means that there was some tremendous players here. And it's something that needs to be spoken. There's great players that have played this game here -- I think about the team we had back in 2000-2001, the tradition of players, coaches. This is a basketball job, and it was really attractive to me. And this is a basketball city, too, and we want to make that at the highest level again.

Q. How are you going to reconnect with high school coaches in this state? What is your thought on the talent at Oklahoma basketball?

COACH KONKOL: That process has already begun. We reached out just by e-mail to every single high school coach in the state, to invite them here. I already reached out by telephone to certain guys. We're going to get to them all. We're going to -- gotta be able to have face time with people. That's how you connect.

This trust and relationship isn't exactly one speed date. You've got to be able to sit with people. You've got to be able to talk with people. There's a number of things we want to do from camps and clinics and just really face-to-face conversations that we can have here and then also on their campus as well. And we're working on the logistics of that. But our doors are open for people watching, people listening. We want to be the most inclusive staff in the entire country.

I'm going to be visible. I'm going to be available. And I'm going to be very inclusive as the head coach here.

Q. (Question off microphone)?

COACH KONKOL: I heard that.

Q. So the building was essentially brand new when you were here, the arena, I mean. And today, if anything, it's better than it was then, with amenities and renovations and whatever. But do you feel like you have everything you need with regard to facilities and all that, coming in? A lot of new coaches have a wish list, I need this and this and this, but do you feel like you're fully outfitted from a facility standpoint to do what you need to do?

COACH KONKOL: Well, from what I've seen in here, this is awesome. This feels the same that it was. Of course you've got the lights and everything. But what was fun for me, this is the first time in 22 years I've been in this building. And walking through the locker room and remembering the way the layout was, and it's extraordinary the work that's been done here.

The support by the administration. The weight room renovation. Incredible. The scoreboard. Now, this is not the same. This is not the same. I feel like I'm watching the Cowboys. It's huge.

So there are things here that are attractive to recruits, and certainly attractive for a game-day experience. And we want to be able to maximize everything.