University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Head Coach Joye Lee McNelis Media Day Quotes:
11/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 2, 2005
Opening Statement:
"We took on a motto last year. Have passion in your destiny, not just an interest. I believe that there is a difference. I had a strong passion coming back to my alma mater to rebuild the program. Our players are laying a solid foundation for that. Some will be a solid foundation, some will be rocks in each segment. With our players returning, that the will make a difference in several areas, including knowing what is expected. We're so young, its scary. We hope that we open a lot of doors and scare other teams. It will be a challenge, but I believe in this group of players. I love this team. They are a fine group to coach. We are down in injuries, but I believe we have a lot more talent than last year, when we had more numbers. I think that is the most important thing. These players have a strong desire to be able to build this program. They know about the history of Lady Eagle basketball. They want to make a big difference and each one will be a vital part of our season.
"This season will be a lot of fun. We've got a lot of difference players. We've talked to them about being pieces of a puzzle. Liz Biland and Rachel Manuel will be our centers. Other than that, we will be a small team. Kristen Chaney will be our long point guard. Kelsey Gurganus will be our combo guard, playing the point and two-guard. Amber Eugene can play the three or four. We have a good mix of players that can play different positions. We're going to play five guards and we're going to make it fun. This group of players can really shoot the ball. We've taught the press and the transition game. They've grown to love Southern Miss and I'm proud of the success we've had. We do have a learning and teaching process. We have four years of Division I experience on our team. We might be the youngest team in the nation. With youth comes excitement and energy. We have a great hope and vision for our upcoming season. Will we win every game? Probably not. But we will go in with the mindset that we will win.
"The players set some goals themselves. I was proud of them. Our goal is to win every game at home. Their second goal was to have a winning season, and the third was to have a 3.1 team GPA. It makes a mark in showing that they want to raise the bar and that is critical."
On The Freshman Class:
"The freshmen will have to step in and play a lot. One of the weaknesses with our team other than youth is that we have very little height on our team. But we're going to press, run and shoot some three pointers. I think it will be entertaining for our fans."
On Molding The Team:
"We were unfortunate to lose Emer Foley who injured her knee this summer playing in Turkey. She re-injured it here and that hurts us a great deal. Losing her makes a big difference. As a coach, you have to be able to adapt to your style. We're going to run a four guard set. We're going to make it difficult for people to guard us. We're going to create a lot of mismatches, but we'll have some for us as well. We're going to have to get steals out of our pressure defense, to make our game up-tempo."
On The Fan Support:
"We're pleased and proud of the progress we've made. We had 125 increase in our season ticket sales from last year and attendance increased dramatically. Our fan support has grown and we are appreciative of that. We think it will get better and better as the season goes along."
On The Team's Youth:
"You never know what you're going to get. That's the way our season will be. Sometimes we don't know what we're going to get. I promise you that we will be going 100 miles per hour. We will have that type of energy."
