Q.) How impressive was the men's water polo national championship, their third straight and the first of your tenure as AD?It is awesome for Jovan Vavic and his staff to win three straight. I could not be happier to win the first one under my watch and hopefully many more will follow. It is a sport that I knew very little about before I got here. I had probably been to one water polo game before I became athletic director and now I have been to about 20. These guys are just studs and it is really fun to watch. All the games were close, especially the national championship game, so it was a great way to close the fall season.
Q.) How exciting was the women's volleyball run to the Final Four?Mick Haley and his staff have done a great job with those women. They are really a fun group to be around. If any of our fans or friends of USC have a chance to spend time with the women, you will come away impressed. With a young team, I am a little bit surprised that we got this far, but because we did, I was disappointed that we got dominated by Cal. Beating Stanford to get to the Final Four was awesome though. Mick has a great knack for developing his talent, so we are going to be very good again next year.
Q.) Are you pleased with how the men's basketball program has persevered coming off a season of typically debilitating sanctions?They are a lot more fun to watch now than they were last year. They are an entertaining team with our freshman guards and now Jio Fontan is back. To beat a Texas team and should have/would have/could have beat a #3 Kansas team, it shows they are competing at a very high level, but we have to get over the hump. We are never going to be satisfied by losing, so I was really pleased to see the way they bounced back to knock off a ranked Tennessee team on the road.
Q.) Using women's basketball as the example, why do you encourage tough non-conference scheduling?
With some players out injured, Michael Cooper and his staff have done a great job with a cadre of freshmen that play really well together. We schedule tough games and I think that is the right thing to do. Most of our fans do not want to come in and see third tier opponents. I would love to play a home-and-home with Connecticut. You find out how good you are and where you need to go to be as good as Connecticut.
Q.) Since Frank Cruz was hired as the head baseball coach, it seems like the alums and fans have rallied around him. What's your take?
There is a lot of optimism surrounding Frank Cruz and this program. I have not met one person that said a bad thing about Frank. My observation of Frank is that you cannot work any harder than he is to improve the team. He has done it with recruiting and changed the attitude of the program. Are we going to go from last to first? Probably not, but we are going to be much better than we were a year ago.
Q.) How can the average fan leave their legacy by making a small donation to the new athletics and academics building?We are so thankful for all our supporters whether it is $1 or $1 million. Each dollar is used very wisely around here in development. We need a lot of $1 and $10 and $50 gifts. We want the Trojan Family to help in any way they can, which will allow us to finish this project. We are going to break ground, but we still have a long way to go fundraising wise. We welcome all contributions great and small. We have world-class athletes and we are trying to deliver world-class facilities.
Q.) What's your holiday message to the Trojan Family?To the Trojan Family, I want to thank you for all the support that you have given this year and forever. I am most appreciative of all the well wishes that I have received. We want to be sure to thank our Trojans in the armed services for all that they do for this country. Our whole athletic department wishes everyone a happy and healthy holiday season! And we look forward to seeing everyone come out and support our teams this winter and spring. I promise, it will be exciting and they will not be disappointed.
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