Antigua Press Conference: Quotes

[Brad]

Web Link: http://www.gousfbulls.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=7700&ATCLID=209450969

USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com

Orlando Antigua

Introductory Press Conference

April 1, 2014

USF President Judy Genshaft

“I think you can sense by how closely this process was watched all over the nation that this is a very important day for our university. Coach Antigua may be new to the Bulls, but he brings with him the qualities that make this university unique. He’s ambitious, he’s industrious, he’s resilient and by the fact that he’s here today as our new head coach it’s very clear that he sets goals for himself and strategically achieves them. I look forward to Coach Antigua leading the men’s basketball program to success and also becoming a leader for our students here on campus, and also for the Tampa Bay community at large. We’re working very hard to achieve high standards for ourselves to make sure our students achieve on the court and in the classroom. Our goal is to provide successful graduates who go on to achieve great things, be it in athletics, in their professions and in life. I can tell you we have made the right choice. We’re so excited to start this new era for our university and I know that USF students, faculty, staff, alumni and fans join me in wishing all the best.”

USF Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Mark Harlan

“Thank you all so much for coming and celebrating a new beginning for the University of South Florida basketball program, it’s such a great day. I want to especially thank President Genshaft and the Board of Trustees for their unrelenting support of this intercollegiate athletic program and for all the men and women who strive every day to make this place better. A few weeks ago, when I stood before you at my introductory press conference, it feels a year ago but it was just a few weeks ago, I vowed to listen and to act, to do whatever we could do to provide the ultimate experience for our student-athletes. And to me, it’s going to start with our coaches, coaches who can truly transform lives, who can teach the game and who can inspire our student-athletes to new heights on and off the court. Over the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to speak with many people in and out of college basketball, and it’s a testament to this university that the interest was so high. Ultimately though, after sitting in a room with this man I knew he was the one. Let’s start with some numbers; 11 – 11 NCAA appearances as a player, a coach or staff member; 7 – trips to the Sweet 16; 4 – Final Four trips, including one in a couple days; 1 – national championship. But this goes way beyond the numbers. His passion for life and for the game of basketball is infectious and you’re going to learn that, traits that were born from childhood in the Bronx and his instincts for leadership from serving as student council, student body president at St. Raymond’s in New York and to leading the Dominican national basketball team. He has the ability to spread the power of this game, whether performing around the world with the Harlem Globetrotters or sharing his knowledge with youngsters in New York, Memphis, Pittsburgh and Lexington. He has an innate ability to understand people and to motivate them beyond their own expectations. He’s a winner in the game of life, he’s a winner in the game of basketball and he’s going to teach the game the right way. He will ensure that our young men will graduate, he will make this school proud and he will win. His past reveals we can expect nothing less. It is an honor, a true honor, to welcome Orlando, his wife Dana, his son Orlando, who I said earlier is a member of the United States Marine Corps, and his lovely daughter Olivia.”

USF Men’s Basketball Head Coach Orlando Antigua

“Thank you for this wonderful opportunity. I’m humbled and I’m blessed.”

“To my new family, to this program, this community, this city, I say I can’t wait to get to know all that you have to offer and I look forward to this journey. Everywhere that I’ve been, the programs I’ve been around have all been about the student-athletes, they’ve been about creating a family atmosphere. We will do that here at South Florida. As teachers and educators, we will demand the most of our student-athletes on the court and in the classroom. Our staff will work extremely hard to recruit the kind of kids, the kind of student-athletes that will make you proud. We will work with the many great high school coaches, prep school coaches, junior college coaches and AAU programs in the state. We will work on building and putting the University of South Florida and its brand on the national and on the international stage. That will take work, I’m not afraid of work. That will take a commitment that not only our staff and obviously the administration have already done with the facilities and the resources they’ve made available to the program. But it will also take our fans, the students, the alums all over. This is our program, not mine, not just the players’, this is our program. Now we must win and give you a product that you can support. We will run a championship program, one that will compete against the best on the court, in the classroom and on the recruiting trails. I want our players to have an incredible college experience that includes winning. Now I ask you to be patient with us and my staff as we take on this challenge. We will look to play as fast as we can and as disciplined on defense as we need to be. Again, I said I wasn’t going to be long, so I’ll end with this: enthusiasm cannot be taught, it can only be caught. I hope that the energy, passion, support and enthusiasm that we’re seeing here today catches like crazy.”

Q: Coach you said we’re going to play fast, does that mean we’re going to bring dribble-drive motion to Tampa?

“That’s a great question. Obviously you’ll have to give me some time to spend some time with our players. We will be looking to do some of that. One of the things that I look to do as a coach, and I did this with the Dominican national team, is assess what our strengths are; play to our strengths, try to hide our weakness and have a commitment to defense. That’s kind of what we’ll do and we’ll go from there, but I would like to play as fast as we can. It’s an exciting brand of basketball. It’s a way you can impose your will on opponents and it’s a way that kids want to play. And as a former player, I like playing those games where they’re up and down a little bit.”

Q: Coach when did this process begin, the contact with USF, and how quickly did this all come about?

“It came about pretty quickly. I don’t know if you’ve watched, but we’ve been a little bit preoccupied and luckily Coach Cal allowed me to have a conversation with Mark and it went pretty quickly. I’m really happy that it did happen and the opportunity came about. Sometimes faith intervenes and in my life it’s something that’s happened throughout. So it’s a normal, par of the course for me.”

Q: What did Coach Cal say to you about this opportunity?

“He said that it’s a sleeping giant, unbelievable opportunity. Go get the job and go surprise people, go make history. That’s what he said.”

[GaUSFBull]

Nice. Hoping for great things.

[Superhippy]

LOVE the fact that he wants to play more up-tempo.   I have had enough of burn 20 seconds on the shot-clock, then try to run a play in the last 15.  It doesn't work.   You are constantly playing defensive basketball and that takes a toll on your team mentally and physically.

[Bull Matrix]

LOVE the fact that he wants to play more up-tempo.   I have had enough of burn 20 seconds on the shot-clock, then try to run a play in the last 15.  It doesn't work.   You are constantly playing defensive basketball and that takes a toll on your team mentally and physically.

 

Exactly!!! USF didnt have the defense for that style of play the last two seasons which is why Heath lost his job. Didnt have the offense either to waste 20 secs off the clock as we had no three point threats. Two years ago we had Noriega and Fitzpatrick nailing those three point shots that created problems for the other teams defense.  We also had the toughness in Ron Anderson and Gilcreast was a rebounding machine. Also need to make FT's. Nothing pisses me off worse than seeing USF miss tons of free throws. 

[smazza]

let the new era begin

[Vega]

Joey Knight â€@TBTimes_Bulls 

Wow, Antigua's salary pool for his assistants in his initial year will be $700K, and increase to $800K by the last year of contract. Solid.

 

That's up from 525k last season.

 

The bigger budget for assistants should really allow Antigua to attract a couple of pretty good coaches to his bench.

[DELdaBull]

He has work to do. But Stan did give him some players to work with.

[Raetus]

Joey Knight â€@TBTimes_Bulls 

Wow, Antigua's salary pool for his assistants in his initial year will be $700K, and increase to $800K by the last year of contract. Solid.

 

That's up from 525k last season.

 

The bigger budget for assistants should really allow Antigua to attract a couple of pretty good coaches to his bench.

This is awesome to hear. Someone at USF gets it.

[Triple B]

LOVE the fact that he wants to play more up-tempo.   I have had enough of burn 20 seconds on the shot-clock, then try to run a play in the last 15.  It doesn't work.   You are constantly playing defensive basketball and that takes a toll on your team mentally and physically.

 

Not if your team is mentally and physically strong ... which is what we had in 2011-12. 

[BULLfreak]

Is he still going to be on the UK staff for the final 4?