Rutgers head coaches, players talk at Big Ten Basketball Media Days
The Rutgers men's and women's basketball teams made the trip to Minnesota on Tuesday to partake in Big Ten Basketball Media Days at the Target Center.
Below you fill find video of the WBB head coach Coquese Washington's press conference as well as MBB head coach Steve Pikiell's presser along with interviews at the desk with BTN's Dave Revsine. The men are at the about 17:30 mark and the women are at the 1:26:30 mark.
For the presser's go to the 1:02:00 mark in that video.
Don't forget, TKR will be back once again on Friday for the men's media day at Jersey Mike's Arena.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
BTN desk (1:26:30)
KEVIN WARREN: Our next coach to the stage has a great history and tradition with the Big Ten, formerly coaches at Penn State University. She's passionate about Play for Kay, which has helped raise funds for women who are battling cancer. A great player. A great coach. We are so excited to have Coquese Washington as the head basketball coach at Rutgers University. I know she's going to do great things. It's good to have her back in the Big Ten family.
Welcome to the stage Coach Washington from Rutgers University.
COQUESE WASHINGTON: Good morning. Thanks for such a wonderful turnout this morning for Big Ten Media Day. I'm really excited and thrilled to be back in the Big Ten. Looking forward to the competition in our conference and really being a part of the premier athletic conference in the country.
We've got tremendous leadership with Kevin Warren and the rest of the Big Ten staff as well as the campus leadership across the conference. It's really exciting to be back in the conference. Looking forward to big things in the conference.
So I'll take your questions now.
Q. At least one time this season there will be a Big Ten game with two head coaches on either side that's black. Are we coming closer to that being a rule, not an exception, in your opinion?
COQUESE WASHINGTON: That's a great question.
I think it will be exciting when that happens. But obviously I think there's still a lot of room for growth when you look at the numbers in terms of diversity, in terms of people of color leading programs, especially in the Power Five conferences.
We certainly have had some movement in the last couple years. We've had some good hires. There's still a lot of work to be done in that area. It's up to our administrations to cast a broad and wide net when they have hiring opportunities to ensure that our head coaching ranks are reflective of what our players look like and where they're from and the diversity with that respect.
I think we've done well, but there's still room for growth and opportunity there.
Q. You're taking over for an icon. What will a Coquese Washington Rutgers team look like?
COQUESE WASHINGTON: Well, I think one thing that I always admired and respected about Coach Stringer was as much what she did off the court as she did on the court, how she cared for her players, how she challenged and nurtured and grew her players.
A Rutgers women's basketball team will still be reflective of that even though there's been a change of leadership.
Our style of play may be a little bit different.
Q. How?
COQUESE WASHINGTON: Coach Stringer was known for great defense and low-scoring games. I kind of like to score a few more points, so the pace may be a little bit different (smiling). The styles may be a little bit different.
But I think the thing that will remain constant and consistent is the pursuit of excellence, the pursuit of championships, and loving and caring and nurturing our players off the court in a way that's authentic and truly a positive representation of Rutgers athletics and Rutgers University.
Q. You just alluded to it a little bit about the game plan. At Rutgers, there's a pedigree of winning, as you well know. You know this league quite well. When you think about how you differentiate, how you find the separation of Rutgers women's basketball to then end up with the results that you want, what does that entail?
COQUESE WASHINGTON: Well, it's not really so much about trying to differentiate ourselves or looking and comparing ourselves to what Maryland is doing or Nebraska or even Minnesota. It's really about establishing our culture, who we are, how we play. Those things are where we talk with our team right now.
We're in discovery mode, right? We're discovering who we are. Actually, as a staff and as a program, we've all been together since September with 1, a little over a month. So we're still in discovery mode.
It's about laying the foundation of who we want to be. Our style of play, we like to play fast, we like to get up and down the court. That's obviously where the game is going.
As we work to establish our identity and set ourselves up for long-term sustained success, it's not about winning a few games this year but it's about being a program that's going to be a stalwart in the Big Ten Conference. That's going to take some time and dedication to laying and building a strong foundation.
Q. Having been in the Big Ten, the fact that you really had to rebuild this thing from down deep, how helpful has it been to have that Big Ten experience? You put together quite a coaching staff in its own right. Talk about your hires a little bit.
COQUESE WASHINGTON: Yeah, definitely think the experience that I have previously of coaching in this conference is going to be helpful. When you know how Brenda Frese likes to coach, Kevin McGuff at Ohio State likes to coach, Teri Moren, how she likes to coach, that's certainly helpful. It definitely will give us an opportunity to understand the conference better.
Again, it goes back to us being able to put together a team, put together a program, and build and create a foundation this year that's going to allow and provide for long-term success in this conference.
The talent base in this conference is really deep. When you look at the number of players that were drafted this past year in the WNBA, when you look at the players that are coming in that have such a high buzz nationally coming back, it's a very competitive conference. That competitive nature is what's going to make our program better and what's going to make our conference strong as we head into NCAA play in March.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
BTN desk (17:30 mark)
KEVIN WARREN: Next to the podium is our head basketball coach at Rutgers University, Steve Pikiell, who just leads with integrity and honor and grit and hard work. Always has tough basketball teams. Chris Corso, who works with him, worked many years at the Vikings, thinks the world of him. I'm glad of what Coach has done in the area of combating paralysis for the Eric LeGrand Foundation and also Christopher Reeve Foundation. I know they have a game they organize that has all the proceeds that goes to those two organizations.
Coach had two back-to-back NCAA tournaments. I know he's excited about his team. I'm looking forward to seeing them play at the RAC, which is now Jersey Mike's Arena.
Welcome to the stage an outstanding coach in the Big Ten, head coach at Rutgers University, Steve Pikiell.
STEVE PIKIELL: Good morning. It's good to see everybody.
I first want to congratulate Coquese Washington. We hit a home run. Our women's coach is following a Hall of Famer, and she's going to do an unbelievable job. Glad she was here before me.
I also want to welcome Coach Willard to the league, a New Jersey guy, did a great job at Seton Hall. I want to congratulate him on that.
I also want to welcome UCLA and USC who will be joining us next year. Congratulations to those institutions.
I'm honored to be here. This is year seven for us at Rutgers University. I work for a great president and an athletic director and a huge fan base. I'm excited about our team this year. I love our leadership that we have. We have a really nice blend of veteran players and of rookies and new talent. We have one player from the transfer portal. We did not lose a player in the transfer portal, so I'm proud of that. I'm excited about returning 64% of our minutes from last year. I really believe that we have a chance to be really, really good in what is the best league in the country, and even going to get better moving forward.
I have three representatives here today. I couldn't be more proud. Paul has only played in NCAA tournaments since he arrived. He'll be our point guard. He led the league in assists last year.
Caleb McConnell returns. He's the Defensive Player of the Year. I think he has a chance to be the national Defensive Player of the Year.
And Cliff, on his birthday today, real proud of him and his development. He's one of the best dunkers in the country, but he's a better person and basketball player. He keeps improving every day. I think he's going to have a special year for us.
The three of 'em, great students, great representatives of our university. Paul graduated. Caleb, too. Cliff is on his way. So real proud of those three guys and the guys that are back home watching. I know they're working hard getting ready for what's going to be an exciting season in the most exciting arena, Jersey Mike's. We expect a sellout every game this year. We're excited about the environment those guys have helped create at our university.
With that being said, questions.
Q. You just talked about the returnees, what you feel. To expand upon that, for Rutgers basketball, the goal this year is to make a third consecutive NCAA tournament. That's history at stake. How much do you feel the winning of the recent years, what you've built inside your facility?
STEVE PIKIELL: Well, I will tell you there's an environment there, our students, our players obviously have helped create that. They line up now. They come to games, the Riot Squad. We have an unbelievable environment. I'm thankful for our fan base, great state New Jersey. I think they really like our guys and respect how they play. They play with a little Jersey grit and excitement and enthusiasm. They've been there. They've been there.
Caleb has helped grow the program from when we weren't in the NCAA tournament, now to have the opportunity to go three straight times, which has never been done in school history. If you want to tack on the COVID year, that was a year we were going, too.
We're doing some new things with Rutgers basketball. It's a credit to the players. I also got to tell you, I have an unbelievable staff, and they've all come back: Brandin Knight, Karl Hobbs, T.J. Thompson, Mike Larkin, Steve Hayn.
I've got a really good staff. That's part of it. You keep your players, you keep your staff. They understand the culture. They understand what you're trying to do. They understand the goals that we're trying to set for our program that have never happened before.
It's a grind, but it's an exciting grind in a league like this. I'm just thankful we got a lot of support back at home.
Q. Between name, image and likeness and the transfer portal, what do you think will have the greatest long-term impact on college basketball?
STEVE PIKIELL: Well, I mean, I think obviously they're both huge issues. I think everyone is trying to navigate all of them.
I love the fact that student-athletes have a lot of choices. I think they're both certainly going to impact where college sports is headed in the future.
I don't have the answer for that. I just try to recruit great kids and try to give them every resource and opportunity they can to better themselves and their lives, try to keep them on our campus.
We were blessed this year not to have anybody in the portal. It's not an easy task because everyone wants to play and you only have so many minutes to.
Those are certainly big challenges. I don't know which one is bigger than the other. Both coming at the same time certainly poses big problems for us.
Q. What makes the RAC so special?
STEVE PIKIELL: I mean, just the energy in the building. It starts way before the game. It starts leading up to the game, the days before.
It's a fan base that's been very loyal, very passionate. Now we've added the elements of the great college students and their creativity, their youth and their enthusiasm.
Jersey Mike's is one of the toughest places I think to play. We love it. Unbelievable home-court advantage there. Keeping these guys around keeps it that way, too.
You've got to have good players. Basketball is about having good kids that are willing to sacrifice. We've talked a lot about that this year. They have to sacrifice minutes, their offense for defense, rebounds for points, those kind of things.
I think our fans sacrifice. I think our players do. That has created, like, a great environment for us.
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.
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