BILLY KENNEDY INTRODUCTORY PRESS CONFERENCE
Monday, May 16, 2011 – Reed Arena – College Station, Texas
DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS BILL BYRNE
“I am so thrilled that Billy Kennedy agreed to become our new basketball coach. I’ve told you before, one of the things I look for in coaching is someone who relates well to the kids to make sure they have a good experience; someone who understands our culture here at Texas AM University; someone who has Texas ties. And when you start looking around the United States of America, this man fits the bill. Does he have Texas ties? He’s been on our staff here before. He recruits the state of Texas. When you hear him talk, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.
“Coach, we have a tradition here at Texas A&M that when we introduce a new coach we give them a maroon jacket. And I’d like to give you yours right now.” (Applause)
HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
“Howdy! I’m excited to be here. It’s an incredible place. This is a dream opportunity for me. I’m thankful to (University President) Dr. (R. Bowen) Loftin, (Director of Athletics) Bill Byrne, (Senior Associate AD) John Thornton, the Aggie community, and all the friends and people I’ve developed relationships with over the last 20 years.
“It’s just an exciting time for me and my family. I want to jump into the traditions and learn them. I just picked up the ‘Howdy’, I remembered it from when I was here, so it was good to refresh that. I believe in this place and I’m very thankful to be here. I’m also thankful for the players who are here, and the recruits and their families who came up. That means the most to me. It’s about developing people. It’s about having relationships and doing special things. I’m really thankful for that. I’d also like to thank Mark Turgeon and his staff. To leave a program in good shape, it’s very rare as a coach that you take over a program that’s in good shape, that has the facilities, that has the support, that has kids going to class, that are trained to win and do special things. And also academically are in great shape. That’s a huge plus in taking over a program. I’m excited to be a part of that.
“What’s important to me? Number one, character. Texas A&M represents great character. I want to have kids that have character. Special things happen when you have character. Obviously, talent and recruiting. What a recruiting base here. Houston, Bryan/College Station, San Antonio, Dallas, I want to cover the state of Texas. It’s a major priority. I will hire a staff that’s recruited Texas and make that the main priority of what we’re trying to accomplish. As you can tell now, I’m not from Texas. I’m from New Orleans. In New Orleans, you can be called a ‘coon ass’, you can be called a ‘Yat’, I guess I’m a ‘Yat’ from New Orleans. Louisiana is going to be part of Texas. I heard (head football) Coach (Mike) Sherman make that comment, and I believe in that. I will always recruit guys from Louisiana. Dash Harris is from New Orleans originally, so we already are going to get crawfish and break bread at some point. It’s all about players and getting the best players that can help you win championships. The last thing is defense. We are going to build this team on defense. I think if you want to win special and you want things to happen, you have to be able to guard people. If you looked at Kentucky this year, VCU, Butler and Connecticut…it was in a football stadium and it looked like football games. When it gets to that level and to win big, you have to be able to guard people. You have to be able to physically dominate at times, because the referees let you play when you get to the NCAA Tournament. That’s something we’re going to build this team on.
“My goal here is to win national championships. This is a place where it obviously happens. Coach (Gary) Blair, who came over and introduced himself to me is here, and I’m very thankful, and what he’s done with the women’s program is tremendous. To see that happen, when I was able to just get involved with this job, what a dream opportunity. Coach Blair was able to get a championship here, we need to be the next team that gets a championship here. How do you do that? Talked about character, talent, talked about defense. It’s about winning the Big 12 Championship. You win Big 12 Championships, you put yourself in a position to win national championships. I’ve been blessed to be in programs four out of the last seven years that won conference championships, and to go to postseason play. I’m not satisfied with that. I want to do more. The platform has been laid out before me, with going to six straight NCAA Tournaments, to having a good team coming back, to take it to the next level and win national championships.
“Last thing I’ll mention, I want to recognize my wife Mary and (daughter) Anna Cate…I said I wasn’t going to cry…I have a great family, and we cannot wait to embrace the A&M culture, tradition, and family at A&M. And as I love to say, ‘Gig Em’.”
MEDIA Q&A SESSION
How much has this place changed since you left in 1991?
KENNEDY: “Well, a lot obviously. When you used to come over the tracks, I think there used to be goats and cows over here. Now there’s an incredible basketball facility that’s tops in the country, with the arena, the practice facility. We have the facilities here to do special things. It’s an arms race, and facilities are huge and facilities are important. That’s really all I’ve seen since I’ve gotten off the plane is this facility. Obviously it’s changed a lot.”
Can you talk about A&M’s overall athletic program and how much that means to you when you’re trying to recruit guys across the state and country?
KENNEDY: “Obviously I’m from south Louisiana…I love football. I love college football. When you see what’s happened at Florida, what they’ve been able to do with football and tie into…it should happen here. It’s very similar. The recruiting base, players around here, facilities, tradition, high academics…a good fit. I’d say this needs to not just be a ‘football’ school, it needs to be a football, basketball, athletic department school. Bill Byrne’s done a great job of bringing national championships in here in all the other sports, and that’s what our goal is, to get one.”
How will things change for you not recruiting as a mid-major and recruiting as a Big 12 school?
KENNEDY: “You know, I’ve recruited at Cal, the University of Miami, and I’ve been at some other places. It still comes down to people, relationships and good players. And like I talked about before, character and playing the game the right way. I’m with the ‘haves’, but there are a lot of ‘haves’ that we have to compete against too. We’ve got all the resources here to do special things and I’m looking forward to it.”
You mentioned Mark Turgeon left the program in good shape. How familiar are you with the personnel and what’s your reasonable expectation for next year at this point?
KENNEDY: “Well, obviously the NCAA Tournament. That’s a goal. I’ve watched these teams play, I’ve competed against mark and we’ve come up kind of in a different way…at Jacksonville State he was a head coach and at Centenary I was the head coach. We were both young head coaches and we played against each other. So I’ve followed this program and I’ve followed it since I’ve left because of the special ties I have with A&M. we’re expecting great things with this team. I met some of the players today and I talked to a bunch of them last night. With the base of having Dash Harris and David Loubeau as seniors, and Khris Middleton coming back as well as the other guys, you’ve got upperclassmen and you’ve got balance in your classes. So we should be good. It’s about establishing some leadership. It’s about me communicating with them and getting my staff here and establishing a relationship as quickly as possible so we can get on the same page.”
Could you elaborate a little more on your style, and could you talk about some of your mentors?
KENNEDY: “I was fortunate enough to play for my stepfather, Kevin Trower, who is a legendary high school coach in New Orleans. He’s 76 years old and still coaching. We were taught the old school Hank Iba style of defense. We were pressure man-to-man. We will pick up full court and turn people, and really try to pressure them and speed them up if our personnel allows that. I think we have some personnel that will allow that. Offensively we want to score in the first seven seconds of the shot clock. We want to attack and really get in the paint. If we can’t get in the paint we want to shoot quality threes from the wing or corners. Then we’re going to be patient offensively if we don’t score in the first seven seconds and we’ll have a late clock. Hopefully that gives you a good rundown on how we like to play. It’s been consistent since I’ve been a head coach, and it comes back to being good defensively. If you’re good defensively you have a chance night in and night out.”
Coach, tell us how long you plan to stay in Aggieland?
KENNEDY: “This is a destination job for me. You look at my track record, I’ve climbed the ladder a little bit different than a lot of people. This is a dream job for me. I don’t want to go anywhere. There’s no Maryland, Kansas, Carolina, whoever. I’m from Louisiana, family is close, I’ve got a base there. Now I’m from Texas. I plan on retiring here.”
I don’t know if you can name names but how far along are you in filling out your staff?
KENNEDY: “Well, obviously I’ve worked on it. There will be a couple of people I will go after and try and get somebody who can help us recruit. I’ve got some strong relationships. I’ve worked a lot of different places. But I want people who are of high character and who can recruit to the level we’re trying to recruit to. That’s my first priority. I also have one assistant coach that’s at Murray State that I highly recommended for the job, that might get the Murray State job. He’s been with me 12 years. If he doesn’t get that job, he’ll be coming with me. Steve Prohm is his name.”
Would you talk about your relationship with (Missouri coach) Frank Haith and what it means to be coming into the Big 12 along with him?
KENNEDY: “When I was head coach at Southeastern Louisiana, we won two championships and we went to the NCAA Tournament. And we actually lost to Oklahoma State in Oklahoma City in a real close game. I don’t know if that was real fair to be playing them there, and Coach Sutton was the coach at that time. I wanted to get uncomfortable. I wanted to coach at a Texas A&M. So I took the opportunity to go to the University of Miami and work with Frank. We had been friends through Tony Barone, who obviously was the head coach here. Frank wanted me to come help him, being an older head coach. It was a good situation for me. So I went to Miami and I learned a great deal. To go from being a head coach for a number of years and then be an assistant for a year, and be in the ACC and prepare for (Duke coach Mike) Krzyzewski, Carolina, and those schools was great for me. To get away from it for a year, to get back in touch with the higher-level recruiting, it was a great experience for me to get to this level.”
You talked about recruiting Texas extremely hard. What are your thoughts on having to go for a one-and-done type player?
KENNEDY: “I’ll take a one-and-done type player if that’s going to help us win a national championship. That’s the world we’re in right now, with all these guys striving to get to the NBA. And if they can get there in one year, and they’re good enough, I want ‘em.”
What were some of your favorite memories of that season here 20 years ago, and based on how everything went on and off the court, did you ever expect to be back?
KENNEDY: “I’ve got an older daughter who is 20 years old, and she was born here. Her name is Alexandra Marie. A and M. So I loved it here obviously, in a difficult time. I learned a lot of what to do, what not to do. It was a great experience from that standpoint. It developed a lot of relationships. I recognized the integrity and the character that this school is about and I embraced that. One of the reasons I believe that I got the job here is some of the relationships I had here. People knew what I was about as a person. That means a lot to me. We didn’t win a lot of games, but like I said I learned a lot from the standpoint of what to do and what not to do. It prepared me for the position I’m in now from a basketball standpoint.”
Talk a little bit about the situation you’re coming into here, combined with some of the other changes going on in the conference like coaching changes and personnel losses, and the opportunity to succeed immediately in this conference…
KENNEDY: “I think it’s a great time to be in the Big 12. It’s a great time to be in a couple of leagues in the country right now, because there’s been some transitions at the higher levels. We were 24-9 last year. We’ve got some really good players back who’ve won a lot of games. They’re good guys. They seem to have good character. They like being here. I haven’t heard about anybody wanting to leave, and that says a lot right there–what kind of people they are and what kind of place this is. I think it’s a great time to hit the league. I think it’s the greatest time for me to hit the league, because I got the job.” (laughter)
Talk about how things unfolded from your standpoint…
KENNEDY: “I really didn’t know till yesterday. It was a quick process. Bill was in Mexico he said. It’s been a whirlwind. Friday I was speaking in clinic in Virginia, Villa 7, talking to the top 60 assistant coaches in the country about how to get a job (laughter). Strange, strange deal. But I believe in strange things because faith is huge with me. Then I got a call Friday that they wanted to talk and interview me on Saturday. I interviewed on Saturday, spoke at a clinic yesterday morning in Tunica, Mississippi, stopped at Memphis, was sitting in the mall waiting and making sure we’ve got our maroon covered, and blessed to be here. So that’s pretty much how quick it’s been.”
You just mentioned how faith is huge to you. Can you elaborate on that?
KENNEDY: “You know, that’s who I am. God has blessed me in so many ways, with family and overcoming a lot of difficulties and trials. I’m blessed, and that’s as deep as I want to go into it right now.”
Bill, what about his character points to the fact that he did everything he should do to come back to this place?
BYRNE: “take a look at his history. He has gone from building a small program to building one that’s just a little bit bigger to building another one. He’s left being a head coach to go be an assistant coach in the ACC to broaden and challenge himself. Then he’s gotten the head coaching job. This is unusual, but most of the time when you leave one position and you take over another, things didn’t go very well before you got there. So it takes a while to rebuild a program. And every time, he made those programs better. It started off and they weren’t very good. And they got better. And they won championships. I watch coaches. I remember this guy, he could have beaten Butler. He was going to be the hottest superstar among the mid-majors in the country. I liked him. I liked what I saw. So you file those things away, and you make a phone call when it comes time to talk to somebody.”
When you were here the last time you also had a relationship with the Rockets and the Spurs. Could you tell us a little about that?
KENNEDY: “Yeah, Coach (Gregg) Popovich had come in as I believe the president and R.C. Buford came in as his assistant (for the San Antonio Spurs). I was asked to scout games in Houston when they used to make the triangle, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. I would take off after practice here or whatever, and it happened probably 10 to 15 times, not whole lot. I’d go sit at the Rockets game and scout. I wasn’t making a lot of money at the time. I’m making a little bit more now. But it was a way for me to make some extra money. I think I got $100 a game to sit behind Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing going head-to-head, and I’d write up a scouting report that night and drive back to Bryan/College Station and send it in to R.C. Buford. From there we built up a relationship that’s on to this day. I’m very close to Coach Pop and R.C. I learn a lot and pick their brains and study what they do to help our program.”
What are some of the other coaches throughout the years that you’ve kind of modeled your coaching after?
KENNEDY: “Well, number one, my stepfather. A great high school coach. I learned that I wasn’t a real good player when I got to college. I learned that defense wins. I had a chance to spend time with Pete Newell when I was out at Cal for four years. Anytime you have a chance to be around a legend like that you learn some things offensively and you just learn how the game is. Those are some of the best coaches from an Xs and Os standpoint that I can say I learned something from. But all the coaches I’ve worked for—Frank Haith—just relationships, recruiting…I’ve worked for a lot of people, so I don’t want to leave anybody out but I can’t remember them all either. I’d give most of the credit to my stepfather.”
What are the challenges when you’re taking over a big program in a new job in hitting the ground running in the recruiting game?
KENNEDY: “Number one, I have to make myself go slow. One of the things in the interview process that Bill Byrne and John Thornton talked about was Coach Sherman, and his advice was to go slow. I think that’s important. I’ve taken over other programs and I’ve taken my time. I want to make sure the infrastructure is strong. So I want to know the inside. I want to know what A&M is all about. The people I’ve met here have been tremendous to me in the last four hours. They’ve been great to me. I want to learn my players. I want to learn my student assistants. Trainers. And just know what this place is all about. And then I want to recruit. We’ve got to get players. We’ve got to get going, and those are the two priorities. As I hire a staff, that will happen.”
Bill, I know you’re a big believer in talking to a lot of people in a coaching search. Could you share some of the feedback you got that led you to today?
BYRNE: “I’ve talked to a lot of people. I’ve talked to our athletes. In fact, let me talk about that for just a minute. I want to compliment our team and the guys who are here and the others who I’ve talked to. We’ve met collectively. Our two freshmen that are incoming have been outstanding. I always thought those who tweeted are twits, and I guess now I are one. I’ve stayed in touch with these guys. Dash and David have been the seniors, we’ve talked together. They’ve been steadfast that they are Aggies. And that was the thing that just blew me away, how strong they were that they wanted to be at Texas A&M University. They never talked about anything except that. That was part of it. We talked about some of the coaches we were looking at. I had open conversations with them. I told them who we were talking about and I told them we’d keep them abreast of what was going on, and we made Dash the point person. He was the one who got back to the guys and they knew what was going on. They were very much involved in this process, so they were a very big part of it. But I also have some friends in the business, and I’ll tell you what one of them told me when I brought up Billy’s name. He said, ‘I call him the silent assassin. That guy will kill you. He will kill you recruiting. He will kill you going against him.’ He said, ‘You’re hiring one of the best coaches in the country.’ That sounded pretty good to me, I liked that. What a nickname, ‘The Silent Assasssin’.”
KENNEDY: “It’s better than Dirty Harry (laughter), that’s what my players called me at Murray State.”
So how does Reed Arena and the Cox-McFerrin Center compare to old G. Rollie White Coliseum?
KENNEDY: “Wow. Like I said, it’s on the other side of the tracks and it needs to stay over there (laughter). That’s all I can say. Just unbelievable. And to be honest with you I still don’t know. I’m just going through hallways and meeting people, starting to look at pictures on the walls. And Reed Arena, the improvements they’ve made. I coached a team that played here 10 years ago that lost, we missed a shot right at the top of the key to win. It was a game we were up and the guard hit some free throws to beat us on a questionable call (laughter). But I remember that game, because I was here at A&M. The improvements that have been made in Reed alone, just standing there and looking at it recently, have made a big difference. We’ve got to get the student body embraced here, and I want to do whatever needs to be done to reach out to them. Because students can kick this thing to another level. That’s what I want to be about.”
How much does it make your job easier because A&M has been founded on defense over the last 7 years?
KENNEDY: “Again, I give credit to the former coach and his staff. It makes it a smooth transition. They believe in that because they won 24 games. And if you don’t play defense in the Big 12, you don’t make it. I’m very, very pleased about that.”
Can you talk about what kind of philosophy you might want to have in non-conference scheduling?
KENNEDY: “I liked the LSU series that went in Houston. I think that’s good to play a rival team, a high-major team, and I like sprinkling those games in in the preseason. I think it depends on your team. I want to be on television. I want to get in high-priority tournaments. The new ESPN tournaments are good. We played in one in California at Murray State, we were the only mid-major and we had three television games during thanksgiving. And we beat Stanford, so that was a good win for us. I would like to play in something like that consistently.”
