Phil Matthews on the Men's Team

Injuries dampened the 2000-2001 men’s basketball season. Guard John Cox was lost for the season due to foot surgery, point guard LyRyan Russell suffered a hip injury in October, and the team lost point guards Jason Gaines (for the season) and Chris Barideaux (sat out eight games) to knee injuries in the season’s second and third games. Head Coach Phil Mathews talks about the team’s courageous effort in the face of adversity and the challenges USF faces in the quest for success.

How would you characterize the 2000-2001 season?
I’d put it into two seasons. The first season was one of high expectations because of who we had coming back. The second season was the injury season. Because of injuries, five guys go down. Two come back in January, but they’re not fully recovered to play. You put those two seasons together, and the kids played as hard as they could. We won some games we shouldn’t have, we lost some games we shouldn’t have. Because of injuries, it was a courageous season. We put some guys in situations they shouldn’t have been in. By my standards it was a disappointing season. But you learn from seasons like this. You learn what you have to do in the offseason to get better. I think the program is going in the right direction.We have an outstanding group coming back. We don’t want to have another season like this one. From a coaching standpoint and a player standpoint, we have to work harder. The guys understand that. Instead of 1 p.m. practices, which is a comfort level, we have to go at it at 6 a.m., when they’re not in their comfort zone. We have to work hard. This season’s record (12-18) is an albatross that we have to bear.

Do you have all the necessary resources to attract the top student athletes to the University of San Francisco?
Every coach would love to have more tools. We have enough. We have good players. To recruit players, we use San Francisco. You come to a small school, a private school. You come to a great city. The gym is not going to sell recruits. We can tell them what great players played here. We can also tell them about the university itself. Our facility is fourth or fifth down the list. We sell tradition and a chance to play.

Critics of your coaching style say that you are too hard on the players and often critique them openly in the media. How do you respond?
I’m from a military family. This is the way I was raised. If coach jumped me, I didn’t have a choice. I tell players, coaches at other schools, that a 19- or 20-year-old is not going to run my program. I tell parents that your son will get three things here: an excellent education. Your child will be made to go to class and have all of the facilities and things he needs to be successful. He’ll be coached in a demanding, but not demeaning, way. Kids want discipline. In the end, they want to be successful. You have to have discipline. To spectators it’s harsh, but any coach who wants to be successful has to be demanding. I coach more in practice, I demand more in practice. When the game comes, I’m going to let them play the game.

Do you believe the West Coast Conference has an identity problem among the other NCAA Conferences? Will USF fans ever see the team take the court against teams from the Pac-10 during the regular season?
The perception is that if you’re not one of the big six conferences (SEC, ACC, Pac 10, Mountain West, Big 12, Big East), then you are not an elite program. Any school from a conference other than those six is a mid-major or Cinderella. If that’s what they say, then fine. There’s always a team from the mid-majors that make the NCAA Tournament. Schools like Cal and Stanford are in our backyard, but have stopped scheduling us. I see there reasoning: If I was at a big school, why should I come to USF and have a good chance of being beaten on their floor? My rating will be just as high if I win, but lower if we lose.

My feeling is that I’ll play anybody if we go to their place for a game and they come back to our place for a game.

How have you counseled All-WCC Honorable Mention Forward Darrell Tucker amid all the talk of his ability to succeed in the NBA?
First of all, I think it is irresponsible for anyone to go to a NBA-caliber player and tell him, “You should strive for that goal.” College players should be striving for the goal of graduation. I tell Darrell to look at Shane Battier, the former Duke star who worked hard but was not an eye-popping talent. I try to convey to Darrell that you have outstanding skill and talent, but you’re not a pro yet. You have to work hard and get continually better. I think he was embarrassed by this season. He knows he needs to be a player who shows up every game. He can take over the game. You see flashes of it, but that’s not good enough. He needs to be more consistent in his effort from game to game. He has the skill to take over a game. I have to know what I can expect from him.

Talk about the contributions of seniors to this year’s team.
Chris Barideaux was a player we had high expectations for, but he was hampered by injuries for two years.He’s an outstanding kid, an outstanding person who is going to make a lot of money one day. We’re sorry to see him go before people got to see the real Chris Barideaux on the court. Ali Thomas was outstanding for four years. He was put in a position where he had to play point guard this season, and he came through with big plays and played as hard as he could. James Lee was the hardest working and Ironman of the group. He played every minute of every game, played hurt, and was a silent leader who did everything. He subjugated his game for the good of the team.

What can we expect for next season?
Something a lot different from this season. We’re going to bounce back and challenge for the title. If everyone is healthy and we get the right players, we’ll be a real fun team to watch.

Mary Hile-Nepfel on the Lady Dons

The women’s basketball program finished the 2000-2001 season with a 13-16 record and a first-round victory in the West Coast Conference Tournament. Head Coach Mary Hile-Nepfel discusses the season and what to expect for next year.

How would you characterize this past season?
It was an interesting year because we instituted a lot of new things in as far as our system of play and the adjustments we went through with returning players. In the past we had two head coaches. Bill stepped aside, and I took over the program. It was very different. Bill and I had coached together here for 13 years. And prior to that, three seasons at two other places. For most of my coaching career we worked side by side. When you’ve coached together for so long, you come to rely on the the other person for things they just do, that you know they’re going to take care of. Things that were his responsibility before — a lot of that rested on my shoulders. Essentially we have a new staff. Tony Perotti is a fulltime assistant now and we have two other new assistants. That meant lots of change, lots of new things for returning players. Obviously, with new plays, it took a while for everything to mesh. Overall, if you talk to players, they say we underachieved in terms of record. But everyone feels positive about the season, and everyone is excited about the future of the program. It was a transition year with a staff that was trying to develop a consistent work ethic in practice, and a commitment to a way of development within the game. By no means did we meet all of our goals. We did finish fifth in the conference and had our first conference tournament win since 1997. We also set new team records. Lots of good things happened. Overall though, as a coach you want to finish a season with a winning record and hope to do better than you did the year before. That’s part of what keeps you hungry.

How will the team replace the contributions of leading scorer Kim Whisler?
The player that I thought was the most consistent was Kim Whisler. She led the team in scoring and rebounding and will be graduating with a degree in exercise and sport science. She provided a lot of leadership. She was named all-conference and earned player of the week honors during the season.

Mary Jane Krueger backed up Kim in the past. MJ has a huge upside to her and a lot she needs to learn about the game. She’ll be able to rebound as well if not better than Kim. The question is on offense. MJ is capable of scoring, but a lot of scoring comes from confidence. The other player we have is Cary Sauer. As a freshman she led our team in scoring and was an all-conference honorable mention post player. She sat out last season with an injury, from which she has fully recovered. With Cary coming back and with MJ’s development, I feel we will be able to maintain a high level of play. We have 11 returning players, two new recruits and a couple of players we hope to sign in the late signing period. Two players committed early, a point guard out of Sacred Heart Cathedral and a 6-2 post player out of Ukiah.

You are the leading scorer in the history of University of San Francisco basketball. Does being part of the university’s storied past place added pressure on you as a coach?
Not really. I think it helps. What I hope to do is to pass over a sense of tradition. It’s important as a player to develop a sense of pride for the University of San Francisco. It’s important to me that they understand that the university is giving them a chance to play division I basketball and earn a great education. I was here to get my education first and secondly I was trying to really become the best basketball player I could be to help our team. On the court and in the classroom, you need to prepare yourself for the future. More importantly, take full advantage of this opportunity. I don’t want them to look back and regret anything. At the same time, it is really important for me to have a winning season not so much for myself, but because I want this program to be respected. I want USF to be one of the best programs in the country. I know we’re moving in the right direction. People will take notice of what we’re doing.

How do you describe your coaching style?
I think sometimes I coach a lot like the way I wanted to be coached when I was a player here. I’m very patient but demanding in a sense. I always ask players for their best efforts. I don’t want to settle for anything less. I also try to do anything I can to encourage them and to give them confidence. Something I can get better at is communicating my expectations for them on an individual basis. It’s impossible to coach everyone the same. I’d like to take it to a level of individual play without sacrificing my focus on the team.

Do you have all the necessary resources to attract the top student athletes to the University of San Francisco?
The first thing that comes to mind that would be helpful is a new facility. One of the best things about War Memorial is the floor. Keep the floor and tear everything else down. When you talk about recruiting, a lot of players focus on facility, crowd and your television time. That’s why I think it would be most helpful to renovate the facility and make it top notch. The other thing is that compared to other universities we compete against, a staff can have three assistants, two fulltime and one third assistant. Other universities will pay that third assistant. We’re kind of limited in terms of who we can hire into that position because we don’t have the resources. I feel good about our other resources. We are fully funded in terms of scholarships. The administration has been real supportive of basketball. They want to see us do well.

What is your expectation of fans who come to games and follow the program?
I would hope that you come to support the team, to appreciate what players are excited about, and to remain faithful win or lose. Players make mistakes. Coaches make mistakes. I think its important for our fanbase to support the team for 40 minutes each game. If a team is struggling, fans can help pick them up. You always have fans that are critical. I always want to see us win the game, but I get upset when I hear comments that are only in regard to winning or losing. I think it’s a tragedy given that the players are working as hard as they can.

What’s the outlook for next season?
I think you are going to see more consistent play in the individual players and that will carry over to more consistent team play. I feel very good about how we’ll do next season. We’ll obtain a winning record and we’ll be one of the top programs in the conference.

Do you foresee a return to the NCAA Tournament?
I hope so. That’s my goal every year.