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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA DAY

October 25, 2016

Jamie Dixon

Kansas City, Missouri

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by coach Jamie Dixon from TCU. Coach, welcome to the Big 12 and your thoughts about the upcoming season?

JAMIE DIXON: Thank you. It's great. A new conference for me, obviously, and a new opportunity for our program. Looking forward to it. Excited about our four seniors. We brought all four of them along, and we're really using and relying on these four guys to be our leaders this year, and I'm excited about what they've done so far. Obviously a great opportunity for us to come up here and see the Big 12 and see all the coaches and players and get together here while we're practicing.

Q. You've done this in the ACC. You've done this in the Big East. Does it feel any different in the Big 12? How do you compare it?
JAMIE DIXON: It's different, no question. Different people, different teams. Good to meet different people that we haven't worked with before and looking forward to it. Yeah, I mean, every conference is different, and even conferences are different. When I was in the Big East, we were changing it seemed every week with who was in it, who wasn't in it, who was coming in. Then we go to the ACC, more of the same. Then you come here and everybody's talking about new teams and new schools. By the end of the day, I've gone from the best conference to the best conference, to the best conference. I've just had to change my way. I was able to adapt pretty easily. I can just say I went from the best conference to the best conference. So it's exciting to be in a conference that's ranked and has the number one RPI the last couple of years so you can tell that to recruits.

Q. Following up on the points you're making about the conference. You've been in some really good leagues. Obviously, you haven't been in a league where one team has won 12 straight. Does that change the dynamic of a league at all and how you approach anything?
JAMIE DIXON: We have to go through it. I was talking to somebody earlier, it's unbelievable. Obviously that was the thing about the Big East. There was no clear-cut team year-in, and year-out. We had the best record in the conference over a ten-year span. But we weren't looked at as the leader of the conference. It really wasn't. It was Connecticut, Syracuse, Georgetown for a stretch. There was no real leader as far as it. But there's nothing like this. I mean, to win it 12 years in a row and what Kansas has done, it's unheard of. I guess it hasn't been done since UCLA, I guess is what they said. And that was obviously a different time. So, yeah, it is different in that regard. But probably stands out even more when you get the picks for the year, and the 12, 13th time, and they're claiming them the champion in the 13th year already.

Yeah, it's different. There's no question about it. I guess it's up to the other nine to do something about it.

Q. Coaches at new places often talk about a culture change. Does TCU need a culture change? I know on top of that, you landed a big recruit in Fisher. Can you speak to him as well?
JAMIE DIXON: I know, you hear that word culture, and that's like the buzzword the last couple of years and things like that. I don't look at it as a change so much as just a new program. I think we've got, for all kinds of reasons, whether it be the conference, the Big 12, the facilities, the leadership, I guess new coach. I guess, I don't even know. I don't think of it as a change. I just look at it as a new program, really. That's how I look. Because never did TCU have these things in recent times or even back to Middle Ages when I played.

But it's completely a new program. I was thinking about it, and some people -- I grew up in LA, and UCLA was obviously the program. But I was very young, Bartow, Coach Bartow left UCLA to go start a brand-new program and athletic department at UAB. I don't know if that kind of is the same thing. But I look at it as completely a new program. We can't do anything about the last 30 years. I don't even point too much when we were there and we won the Southwest Conference for a couple years, but it's a new thing. We're starting over. I can't do anything about the last 30 years. I can't do anything about the last four in the Big 12. And we're a new program for so many reasons, and I think it's just the best way for us to look at it.

We're not changing anything. We have great coaches that have coached there in the past, but none of them had the same situation that we have right now. So there's no excuses. We've got to move on, and again, it's new. I'm excited because who gets that opportunity? I don't think anybody's looking to say what we've done. We're all about the future. We've all about going forward, and that is the best way to sell it.

Yeah, I think, again, that's been there for five, six months, I guess. And we signed three really good players late, which I was amazed, and we hired a great staff, biggest surprise people asked me if we could get a staff that good and that quickly. All kinds of things have happened in just five, six months time. We haven't even played a game yet. So lot of excitement. I think ticket sales are actually starting tomorrow, and it looks like we're going to sell out the arena. So, again, this is new, and that's how we're looking at it.

But Jaylen's very good. He's what we needed, most importantly. A point, great way to start a program with your first sign. Point guards win college basketball games, and he's as good as there was available. But I think he might be as good a point guard as there was last year, as far as a true point guard. He's the guy that wants to give other guys shots. He's the guy that wants to win. He's an amazing teammate, and that's what's great to see.

Q. Obviously, this is your first time coaching in this league. What kind of coaching challenge does it mean to you, obviously, as Sam mentioned earlier, about going up against a school like KU that's won 12 in a row? What kind of X's and O's of chess do you anticipate playing with Coach Self trying to knock him off the top of the perch?
JAMIE DIXON: Obviously, that's a challenge. We've gone against some pretty good coaches over the years and Hall of Famers. He's obviously a future Hall of Famer if not already. And, yeah, I mean, what they've done is inconceivable. No one could have predicted it, and it's still hard to believe. But, yeah, go down the list, Boeheim, Calhoun, Pitino. We've gone against some pretty good ones, too, and Coach Self is obviously right up there with them.

Yeah, we're looking forward to it. We happened to be in the best conference pretty much my entire career, if you look at it. So Hall of Famers are kind of pretty much expected to see them on the schedule. So I guess I'm kind of used to it, to be honest with you.

Q. With that being said and no one expected anything of you, what are you expecting of your players since they're picked to finish last? They're not expected to do much. So how do you sell that to move them up the rankings?
JAMIE DIXON: Obviously, it's a motivator. I think anybody that's picked in that situation, I think we really talked about our four seniors. And I mentioned them earlier briefly. But I think they've been through a lot. And I didn't realize it until I got here. You talk about the injuries they've been through. Injuries to teammates, again, facilities, playing in high school for about a year and a half, practicing in the rec center, and other high schools, coaching changes, league changes, locker room. They had no locker rooms. They were in a temporary locker room at the high school. They had lockers that were too small, they couldn't fit in.

It's been an amazing thing as I've seen now what they've been through. And what I really learned from it is these guys have been through a lot, but they're still there. All the transfers going on throughout the country, you've heard about them, you read about them. What these guys have done says a lot about their commitment, their love for the university, and I want them to go out on a great note. And to be the ones to start to build this new program is what we're saying.

So I think that's really our motivation. We'll look at the thing, sure, the tenth pick in the conference, that maybe came up once or twice. We've got plenty of things to motivate us, and that will just be another one.

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