There have been a lot of news conferences at Cincinnati today. Let’s start with volleyball.
New coach Molly Alvey gave her introductory press conference today.
Molly Alvey
She’s coming from Houston.
She’s from Louisville.
She has strong ties to the region.
Her family wanted t-shirts because they are greedy.
She loves yoga.
UC had a clear direction and clear vision.
Happy to be part of a top 20 program.
Change is hard, but she’s good at team building and relationship building.
Once they see the vision, they know the objectives and they buy in.
Someone asked her about joining the Big East, even though Houston is going to join the Big East.
They’ve been recruiting as a top 30 program at Houston.
Entire staff is coming with her.
No one sat next to her at her press conference. Picture from GoBearcats twitter:
I’ll sit next to you, Molly. I got your back. And your front. Whaaaaat. Seriously, got your back.
She’s never gonna follow me on twitter now.
Butch Jones announced the new changes to the defensive staff. He was wearing a Liberty Bowl Champions shirt.
Butch Jones
Roy Manning is the new LB coach. He died and came back. Not really, but figuratively.
He’s going to add another element to the program and the staff.
John Jancek is the defensive coordinator.
Steve Stripling is the assistant head coach, run game d-coordinator
Kerry Coombs is the associate head coach, special teams coach and passing game d-coordinator.
Looking forward to add to the defensive success from last year.
Very fortunate to have a great, great coaching staff.
They have the same responsibilities but new titles.
John has the final say and will be up in the box.
All have calling responsibilities on game day, all experience.
Was asked if he was specifically looking for a linebacker coach. Says he structured staff as if someone were to leave.
Won’t see much change if any change, but change is good. What? He didn’t say what.
Roy will be structured in Cleveland and the Michigan area in regards to recruiting.
Interviewed a number of individuals. Wanted the right fit. That’s why he took his time.
Roy Manning
Opportunity to give back positively affected him once his playing days were over. That’s what excited him about coaching.
Being around football his whole life made coaching a natural fit.
Always great to come back home.
Lloyd Carr was his mentor. Name dropped Brady Hoke.
Has never formally recruited. He’s formed relationships, but as far as going on the road no.
Knowing the coaches and players made the hiring easy on Coach Jones. This was a weird question.
Jancek
Doesn’t see a tremendous amount of change. KC and SS have been good.
Game day calls are made in preparation. That’s why they are all together.
Game day is easy.
He’ll have final say.
Defense won’t look any different, but have to evaluate the players. That’s the emphasis this spring. Gotta make sure guys in new jobs and new roles will fit the defense or something. He talks really fast.
Good foundation, want to build on it. Will tweak some things. Will make changes when needed.
He’ll work with the inside linebackers and prepare the same way as he has up to this point.
Basketball had some availability today as well. Sean Kilpatrick and Mick Cronin talked.
Sean Kilpatrick
On rebounding: In practice the guards have to rebound more, and they know that the guards have to help Yancy.
There’s been more of a focus on rebounding.
On 3s: Harder to get that shot. Other teams are in the right spots at the right times. Harder to get the shot you’re consistently making.
Halfcourt: You wanna grind things out and wear teams down. Even though UC is young, they have a good bench. If they keep outworking the bench will help.
On D: Play 40 minutes. The first 15 minutes they are fresh but in the stretch when you need to lock down and get rebounds it’s tough. Need to lockdown mentally.
Other teams in the BE have great players and you can’t learn stuff over night. With everyone focused they’ll be alright. He says they’ll be alright a lot.
On Seton Hall: Close with Jordan Theodore. They won’t stop fighting. Gotta keep doing what they’re doing and out tough and out scrap.
It’ll be tough in the paint.
On Theodore: He’s come a long way and kept grinding. He never gave up on that program. One thing he always told SK is to keep working. Your work ethic speaks for itself. Played with him over the summer. Played against him in AAU a lot. It should be a good match.
Mick talked for 15 minutes and I don’t have time to recap that. Fun day.
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