BIG 12 CONFERENCE BIG 12 MEN'S BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 20, 2021

Mark Adams

Texas Tech Red Raiders

Media Day Press Conference

MARK ADAMS: First of all, let me just say how excited I am to be here and the opportunity to address you as the new coach at Texas Tech. It's even hard for me to believe that I'm in this position.

I lived only 30 miles from Texas Tech in a small farming community. Always wanted to be a Red Raiders quarterback or someone on the basketball team. I went to Texas Tech, worked with Coach Myers for a couple years. Even more excited about somehow getting in a position where I could be hired someday as a new coach.

So my journey, when I left Texas Tech, I went to six other institutions. Those six stops, every one of them along the way, my destination was always to get back here at Texas Tech.

It is a dream-come-true job for me. It's my alma mater. Both my children graduated from Texas Tech. I'm just elated that our athletic director, Kirby Hocutt, had the faith and confidence in me to give us this opportunity.

Have a great team. So excited. A quick update, I was hired April 6th. I had 45 days to put together a whole new staff, recruit my old players, then fill the roster, bring in nine new guys. It's been a whirlwind.

We're thankful to the guys we recruited. We think we have the right guys, the right fit. We've seen these guys improve each day, so we're excited about their progress.

Q. Can you speak to what Kevin Obanor has brought to you leadership-wise, what has impressed you?

MARK ADAMS: Kevin obviously has a great résumé. He was an integral part of that Oral Roberts team that made it to the Sweet 16. I think he had three double-doubles in the NCAA tournament. A proven player, a great three-point shooter, excellent offensive rebounder. He's a great guy on and off the floor. Just a strong Christian young man.

We're real excited about what he adds to our team. But to have a big guy that can shoot like he does, opens up the floor, is special. He has shown a lot of leadership.

Just playing really good right now and is getting better every day. He'll be a key ingredient to the success we have this year.

Q. It seems like every year somebody else is trying to steal your defense with the success you've had. Does that make it different in terms of how you coach it, scheme with it, with everybody running that no middle defense now?

MARK ADAMS: It's flattering to have people copy your defense. The only thing I'm upset about is Baylor Bears, they copied it, now they run it better than we do (smiling). Coach Drew has given me some credit for that, which I appreciate.

There's a lot of different ways to win, to play defense successfully. We really enjoy what we're doing. It's very aggressive. It's been challenging because a lot of teams, they have different schemes now to run against it. We've got to be innovative and make some adjustments as we move along.

We're planning on running that same no middle side defense this year. Our guys are excited. We have a big, long, athletic team. I think we'll have 11 out of 14 guys over 6'5". We think that's going to help to be a more aggressive, intimidating side defensive team.

Q. Some questions about the point guard situation. Do you feel like you have a bunch of guys that can play point guard? What has that situation been like?

MARK ADAMS: That's been one of our biggest challenges. We don't really have a true point guard. We're doing it by committee.

The last four years we hadn't had a true point guard and had great success with just doing it with different guys bringing the ball up the floor. We have players, there's four or five of them that have the skill set they can handle the ball and pass.

We'll probably have two or three combo guards be on the floor at one time. We certainly don't think that's going to be a hindrance to us. It has been something we've had to look at, had to watch our turnovers early in practice this last month. It's been challenging.

Q. You were obviously a really involved lead assistant at Texas Tech. As you've transitioned over to being the head coach, have you wanted to keep the same responsibilities as you had as the lead assistant, or have you had to delegate some of those with the added responsibilities?

MARK ADAMS: That's a great question.

The previous staff, working with Coach Beard, he gave me a lot of responsibility. I did all the substituting, did the defense, had a couple other things on offensive sets that he allowed me to be involved in.

With the new staff, we're still trying to train them on our defense, exactly what we want them to do. I'm teaching our staff as well as our players exactly how to execute that.

It's coming together. Of course, the biggest difference between assistant coach and a head coach is as an assistant coach you make a lot of suggestions and recommendations, but the head coach you get to make that final decision. I've enjoyed being in that position with responsibility.

Practice is a lot of fun for me. I like to lead. I was a head coach for 25 years. Again, to answer your question, I'm doing a lot of right now myself, but as we move forward, I'll be delegating a lot of responsibilities to the other coaches.

Thank y'all. God bless you.