WELCOME TRENT JOHNSON. Unfortunately, work made me miss the PC, and just now read the entire thing. Funny thing is how I actually can read the PC and not have issues with grammar with Trent (unlike his predecessor ). Seriously though, good questions and good answers. I love this... On talking to the players... “We talked about any and everything. We talked about style of play. I tried to get them to understand in a short period my philosophy on everything. I thought their questions were really good. I asked them what they felt their strength and weaknesses were, and they asked me. Having seen some of these guys play in the Final Four, they have the same goals that I have. They want to play at the highest level and win championships. I just thought the dialogue was very good. I hope they feel the same way. I also asked them all, to a man, how many are really excited about coming back? I’ve had two players leave on me since I’ve been a head coach. One of them left after two years in Nevada, and he went to Morehead State to play with Kyle Mason and married my daughter. She said, ‘Dad, I don’t want disrespect you, but Craig Lewis, I really like him.’ I told her, ‘Lewis is one of my all-time favorite guys, but he can’t play. I think that speaks volumes to honesty. I was really excited just to have an opportunity visit with them, and that’s the fun part of the day. Practices are the most enjoyable part of the day for me. It’s never going to be easy. One of the things I’ve always talked about with my teams in the past is family, but during the course of talking about family, you’re going to argue, but as long you all are able to come back to some common ground, those are the kind of things that we are going to talk about and continue. They’ll understand with time. They may not understand at the time in practice when there’s a lot of tension or may think that I don’t care, but they’ll understand.” This is interesting and key for TJ's future... On putting together a staff... “Right now, there’s one gentleman who I definitely want to have on board, and that’s Keith Richard, who coached at Louisiana Tech who I competed against when I was at Nevada. I’m going to talk to everybody that’s on the staff now and a couple of guys I’m going to talk to that have worked for me. I have nothing set in stone other than I want to retain Keith Richard at this point. I’m going to take my time. The most important thing besides the staff is to call the players who are on the team now and their parents, and then, the four kids that have been committed, if I can get hold of them. If time permits, get on a plane and see some guys. In terms of a staff, I’m going to talk to everybody.” Interesting... the guy was not hired back as LA Tech coach in 2007 after an ok record over nine years, but he recruited the likes of Paul Milsap during his time. Any insight on what this guy will bring?
