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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 4, 2012Jaye CrockettKirby HocuttChris WalkerKIRBY HOCUTT: Good afternoon. Appreciate everyone being here the basketball program to move forward in preparation for the upcoming season. We've had a very unique position to manage, but it feels good to move forward. As in all situations, we are guided and make decisions that are consistent with our mission statement, which is to educate, serve, and grow fearless champions, as well as the guiding principles we've adopted as an athletics program, and this was no different. It was decided at the beginning of this process that began exactly two weeks ago, that Chris Walker would continue to handle the day‑to‑day operations of our basketball program until an interim head coach for the 2012‑2013 season was named. Consistent to what we said then on September 20th, this is a decision that allows us to focus on the upcoming season. Chris and I have talked extensively about this being an interim process, and it continues to be our intention to conduct a search, national in scope, at the conclusion of this basketball season. That being said, I'm very pleased and very excited to announce that today I made a recommendation to the Office of the President, and Dr.Lawrence Schovanec approved my recommendation, and that is to name Chris Walker as the interim head coach at Texas Tech. Before I turn the microphone over to Coach Walker, I do want to say that over the past month I have been very impressed and motivated by the extremely talented group of student‑athletes that we have on this basketball team. We have a strong group of young men. A group of young men who have shown a great resolve, a great attitude, and a great work ethic. It is my honor and my privilege to represent and to serve this group of young men each and every day. Over the course of the past month, I have been equally impressed with the leadership and the communication talent that Chris Walker has demonstrated in moving this basketball program and our student‑athletes forward. His ability to lead and to manage the current situation has been very commendable, and above all else, he has placed the well‑being of our student‑athletes at the forefront of his energy and of his focus. We, as a University, are fortunate that Coach Walker has accepted and committed to serving in this role. I have complete confidence that he's going to be a tremendous representative and ambassador for our University. At this time, I will turn the microphone over to Coach Walker. COACH WALKER: Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. First of all, I'd like to say it's not only a great day to be a Red Raider, it's an awesome day to be a Red Raider. I want to thank you, Kirby, for your confidence in me. I know President Dr.Schovanec couldn't be here and also the heartbeat of this University, Chancellor Hance, I want to thank him as well for placing trust in me to move this program forward. This has been the realization of a dream for 17 years in this business. It's a very difficult business. For 17 years I've worked very diligently to place myself in a situation to have this opportunity, and I'm very thankful that Texas Tech has given me this chance. We have a great group of guys. Very happy to coach these guys. They've been through some difficult situations. They've had a great attitude. The staff has a great attitude, and all we're focusing on right now is moving forward and taking on this season. There are a lot of things that will be said, and I'll tell you this, from this program going out, it will be all positives. It will be all great energy, and we're happy about that. I've had the opportunity to work for some great head coaches, and you know what, I am prepared to lead this program to wherever we can go. Where that is, I don't know. But I know one thing, there are people that will say, how many games they're going to win, and they'll judge us by that. But we'll judge ourselves by how hard we play for the name on the front of the jersey. We'll always keep Texas Tech front and center. My mission and my priority is to take care of these young men. To make sure they're the best men, the best student, and the best athletes they can be. All we care about, and we just talked about in the locker room, is being the best Texas Tech basketball team we can be by the end of the season. Be the best people we can be by the end of the season, and hopefully our fan base will follow strong behind us. Q. Kirby, did you do any looking outside of the program at bringing in somebody interim? KIRBY HOCUTT: We took time. We were very diligent and being very detailed through this process. It was a process that was attractive to many people throughout the country. From those that are currently within the college game to those individuals that are even at the professional game and the NBA level. But it became clear over the course of the last couple of weeks when you see the energy, when you see the determination, when you see the attitude of this group of young men, that the best decision for this basketball program was to stay in house, and to elevate Chris Walker to this role. Q. You talked about your time as an assistant and how long you've been in this game. What personally does this mean to you to take on this position and to get your opportunity as a head coach? COACH WALKER: I mean, it means everything to me. As I said before, any assistant coach, and even the guys I work with who have never had this opportunity know all the long nights and long days from recruiting, to watching film, and you've put time and time, year after year moving your family around, taking different jobs, taking lesser jobs, losing, winning. There is a lot that goes into this process. To get this opportunity is just a gift from God. As I said before, it goes a long way to say that I am very thankful that Texas Tech and Kirby Hocutt has given me this opportunity. Again, some people may look at it as an obstacle, Coach Walker is looking at it as an opportunity. Q. Obviously, the recruiting is a challenge when you look at just the uncertainty that will be going forward. How do you handle that? How do you handle the recruiting, and what do you tell kids out on the recruiting trail this year? COACH WALKER: I'll tell them the same things I've told the guys sitting back here that I've recruited. At the end of the day, it's about Texas Tech. We're selling the University. We're selling Lubbock. We're selling the people of Lubbock. It's not about Coach Walker or any of those things that people think happens in the recruiting world. At the end of the day, we want these guys to be proud of their Red Raiders. Not proud they've played for Coach Walker, but proud they're part of a great community that supports them. Going forward, yeah, there will be some questions asked. But we'll intelligently and eloquently answer those questions. At the end of the day, I think everything will be good, and we'll see where we are at the end of the year. But the bottom line is we're still going to be aggressive recruiting‑wise, and our message will be it's about Texas Tech. Q. Kirby, have you kind of outlined specifics of what you're looking for from the team and Coach Walker as you're evaluating this process to determine who would take the job on a permanent basis? KIRBY HOCUTT: Well, Coach Walker said it perfectly, and we're in perfect alignment with our expectations, and that is to make sure that these young men are the best that they can be on the basketball court. They are the best young men that they can be in the classroom, and they grow to be the future leaders of our community, of our society, and of our country. This is an extremely talented group of young men. So to sit here and to speculate on where we believe we should be at the end of the season, I never do that. But I have confidence that with the leadership of Coach Walker and the group of these young men, that this is going to be a fun basketball season. This is going to be a basketball team that this community is going to get behind and support, and it's going to be fun to watch. We're going to be the best that we can be, and then we'll evaluate it when it's all said and done. Q. Would it be incorrect to assume that Mr.Walker would be considered for the permanent post depending upon your decision making and other people that might draw your interest? KIRBY HOCUTT: Would it be incorrect to assume that? I don't want to speculate, but we'll evaluate it from top to bottom at the end of the year. Just like we did today, we will make the best decision that's in the interest of Texas Tech University and of Texas Tech basketball. Just as the decision today was to elevate Coach Walker into this role, we'll make the same best decision six months from now. Q. Coach, could you talk about when you found out that you were going to get the opportunity? COACH WALKER: I found out when I saw you, Chuck. Really, I found out when I saw you. But maybe about 2:30 today. I found out today. It hasn't been long. Lot of things have been going on since that time. Q. Could you talk about just the preparation the team has begun going through to get ready for the season, and maybe some of the changes that you've made to get ready for the season? COACH WALKER: Sure. First of all, in saying that, I definitely want to thank the staff. Because the staff, those guys have been a great support network and helping me, because as we say, this has been a very difficult process. But these guys have eased the pressure. Because it hasn't been easy, but they've eased the pressure, and I want to publicly thank them and I really appreciate the relationship that I have with these guys and how they've worked diligently to keep us moving forward. We've been doing a lot of different things, only because it's taken a while, a month until we knew exactly what was going on. So we did some things that we have done before, and as time goes o we've done things differently in preparing to play a different way. At the end of the day, being in shape is something that everybody preaches, so we're always conditioning; we're always lifting. So you're going to do some of the same things. But as time has gone o there have been some philosophical things that have creeped in a little differently. But these guys have been great. They have open ears, open arms and open eyes. They've accepted everything, and they've been very good to work with. Q. Is this a six‑month contract? Is this a year contract? Can you talk about terms? KIRBY HOCUTT: Chris and I shook hands on the terms. It's a six‑month commitment. Not prepared to announce those sitting here today, but once we formalize that and get that committed to paper, then obviously the process for you all to gain access to that. But Chris and I shook hands on our agreement, and we're on the same page to move this forward. Q. When you found out today, you said this afternoon. What was the first thing that you told these guys? Was there a meeting? What did you say to them? COACH WALKER: We just had a meeting before we came in. Again, first thing we did, again, I like to echo and thanking Kirby for his commitment to the team and also giving me an opportunity to lead the program forward. Again, some of the same things I said before about our guys being humble and hungry, having a great attitude every day. We're going to be competitive, and we're going to be the best people we can be. Our number one goal is to rally our fan base and get our fan base behind us from our competitiveness, but also our likability. We're going to be out in the community and make sure people come behind this program not just because they win or lose, but because they love the Red Raiders. I want them to love our guys, and we're going to earn that. Q. You told us a few weeks ago about some secondary violations from last October that were served in January, and that you were looking into making sure there wasn't anything additional. In your investigation, did you find anything additional that you're going to have to serve in the next few month? KIRBY HOCUTT: We have completed our investigation in review of the issues, the NCAA Rules issues that are at hand, and we have actually, as of about 2:00 o'clock this afternoon, submitted our internal investigation and report to the NCAA. Since it is still an open case, I can't speak further to that, but we have concluded our internal investigation. We have sent that to the NCAA, and we're moving forward. Q. Jaye, for you guys as players now to finally have something set in stone moving forward, how nice is that for you guys? JAYE CROCKETT: That's great. I don't have to deal with my mom and grandma asking me every day who is the coach. It's good. But they feel the same way because we all can just focus on the season and moving forward. Q. Can you talk about what Coach Walker brings as a head coach? JAYE CROCKETT: I think Coach Walker brings‑‑ he makes it a family. He's always open for us to come and talk to him. He's going to bring energy. He keeps us positive at all times. I think it's going to be a great year this year with Coach Walker. Q. Jay, obviously you guys want to move forward and all that kind of stuff. How difficult has the last month been until this has come for you guys as a team? How difficult has this ordeal been? JAYE CROCKETT: I don't think it's been that difficult. It's a struggle because it's a different situation, but I don't think it's hard. We've all been a family. We've been focused on working out and being the best team we can be this year. We try to let the media and stuff deal with all of this. We just stay focused on Texas Tech and basketball. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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