Aug. 17, 2008
On the progress the 2008 volleyball team has made so far in the first week of preseason practice
"Progress in one week has been pretty special actually. We were able to start training for systems and work towards an eventual line-up much sooner than we ever have in the past because of the work they did in the offseason. They are more prepared physically, their skills are not nearly as rusty as they have been when they reported in seasons before now, and there is an understanding among this group that we have a definite goal and they're willing to work twice as hard to get there this year."
On if not making the NCAA Tournament last season is a motivating factor for the 2008 team
"Absolutely. We had a great season in 2007 - a lot of wins, a lot of firsts and a lot of records - but that first NCAA Tournament appearance is still elusive. Any time we need a gentle reminder of what we are working for, all I have to do is reference that night in the locker room when there was a feeling of utter disappointment. We were not selected to go somewhere that we really feel we should have been. We have something to prove. It is not something we focus on completely, but when we need that little extra kick or that little extra motivator, it works pretty well for us."
On taking the court this year as the favorite to win the Conference USA regular-season title
"We don't allow the players to focus on it because we as coaches do not. There is a reason why this program has improved every year for the last four years and we are continuing on that path as a program. We train the same way and Sinisa (Momic) does a great job of knowing when we need to advance our training and progress. We have not changed on any of that. We are focusing on all the right things, which are individual and team development. We are not focusing on any of the media hype , and that is the tone that has been set for this whole program. I tell them all the time that it is very hard to play volleyball with a big head. We try not to let the student-athletes focus on anything outside of this team or anything that does not directly relate to this team getting better and winning more games."
On having all 13 letterwinners returning from last year's 28-6 team
"It is huge for us. For the 13 players who came back, especially the seven seniors, it is almost like them finishing a journey. It is not like we were ever building toward this season, but I think they all realized during the offseason that this could be a special year for us. It is our fourth year with virtually the same coaching staff, and we have a team that is entirely our recruits. Having them all back allows us to progress the team faster. They understand the expectations. They know how we train, they know what we think good volleyball is, they know what we frown upon, and not having to spend time on those things is a huge advantage. It allows us to spend more time training them on the court."
On how the freshmen are fitting in so far
"Preseason is a really tough time for any freshman. They are getting used to being away from home, they are getting acclimated to college life, and they are finding their place within the team. They are doing a very good job of taking everything in stride. When you bring in an international player (Visnja Djurdjevic of Serbia and Jordaliz Mercado fo Puerto Rico), there is always a concern with the language barrier, but we do not really have that problem because we have several translators here among the team."
On how far this team has come since the 2005 season
"The change in the program from 2005 to 2006 is monumental. To be able to go through what we did in 2005 - when all these seniors were all freshmen - all of them decided to stay and continue to build this program. It is one of the biggest program turnarounds in the history of Tulane sports. In a short amount of time, we changed a program from a middle-of-the-pack team to one that is picked to win the regular-season title this year, and we did it in what is probably the hardest environment to do it in. When go through what this entire University, the city, these individual student-athletes had to do in 2005 and look at the progress that has come on the tail end of that, I think it speaks volumes for kind of people we have around this program. They do not shy away from a challenge. They attacked it head on. Basically, we adopted a no-excuses attitude. Yes, there was a hurricane and it turned our lives upside down. So what. If we want to change a program, we had better get to it. We can't worry about these things."
