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I attended a luncheon of the Wichita Bar Association today, with guest speaker, Coach Gregg Marshall. This was my first time hearing him speak, and as reported on this board, he was personable, funny and impressive. Here is a summary:
He started off by saying that he contemplated going to law school, but it was too much reading so he went to business school instead. He said even though he was not a lawyer, he thinks he dresses like one (nice suit and tie). His wife was there with him and was helping him with names and things he wanted to remember. You can tell they are a great team together.
The Valley: He mentioned that the teams in the Valley he is most excited about playing are Creighton and Southern Illinois. He said they have been the traditional powerhouses in the Valley and he knows our history with them. He said So. Ill. “spits nails” and he wants his team to be like that too. He had a fan ask him to please beat Creighton and “outcoach Dana Altman.” He said he will make every effort to do that.
Coach said he had spent an hour today standing in a dark Koch Arena, with just one spotlight on him, and he had to pretend like he was coaching his team. This was so we would have footage of him for the video that hypes up the fans before player intros. They will computer generate his background later. He says that it comes very natural during a real game but doing it like this was very difficult.
Conditioning: He talked about increasing the cardio training on the guys. He mentioned how one of the new guys, Aaron Ellis was so skinny when he got here that “he could have taken a nap on a clothes line” but he has gained 16 lbs. now and is up to 197lbs on a 6’9” frame. He mentioned that J.T. Durley has lost 20 lbs. that he desperately needed to lose. Someone from the audience asked him about the collapse of the Shockers last year and Marshall said he did not think the losing streak was psychological, but speculated that it might have been due to lack of conditioning and toughness. He said he was not critical of the previous staff, but that they had backed off after the Sweet 16 and because of Canada and had not paid back the success they had previously (not a direct quote but that was the gist).
Player Relations: He and his coaches will stop what they are doing if a player comes to their offices and needs to talk, in fact, they encourage the players to come talk with them.
--Marshall has invited his players to his home because he is trying to build relationships and trust in his kids. He has had many players over to his home just to watch a football game, hang out or even babysit his kids (!). He says that they will see a whole different side of him at his home with his daughter on his lap (warm and fuzzy) than when they see him coaching (not so warm and fuzzy). He said his wife plays the “Den Mother” role and helps him with the players. Marshall believes that kids today do desire discipline and will hold them accountable for their actions.
Philosophy: Marshall says that playing hard is not an option, either they will do what he wants or they will sit and watch. He wants the players to “defend like their hair is on fire.” This got a big laugh. He said, I don’t even know what that looks like, but I know if you are defending and your hair is on fire, you must be getting after it. His goals are to be playing basketball every March and says that we have an unbelievable schedule coming up this year with a home schedule that is the best in history. Dave Dahl was in the audience and agreed with this.
Recruits: He joked about how much Ramon Clemente won’t stop talking and how Mantas Griskenas won’t say two words and they are roommates so it works out nicely. He called them Felix and Oscar/ the Odd Couple. He mentioned they are still working on getting Orukpe here from his country but that he had to take a test again after they threw out all 10,000 test results because of suspected fraud. The results were supposed to be in during the third week of Sept. and still no results. He said he will probably be here in December and as soon as he gets here he will probably start. He said Orupke is 7’0” and has a 7’3” wingspan. He said he will be a great post player and he “runs like a deer.” He said he has never had a post player he has not had to develop himself and he is fine with that.
He started off by saying that he contemplated going to law school, but it was too much reading so he went to business school instead. He said even though he was not a lawyer, he thinks he dresses like one (nice suit and tie). His wife was there with him and was helping him with names and things he wanted to remember. You can tell they are a great team together.
The Valley: He mentioned that the teams in the Valley he is most excited about playing are Creighton and Southern Illinois. He said they have been the traditional powerhouses in the Valley and he knows our history with them. He said So. Ill. “spits nails” and he wants his team to be like that too. He had a fan ask him to please beat Creighton and “outcoach Dana Altman.” He said he will make every effort to do that.
Coach said he had spent an hour today standing in a dark Koch Arena, with just one spotlight on him, and he had to pretend like he was coaching his team. This was so we would have footage of him for the video that hypes up the fans before player intros. They will computer generate his background later. He says that it comes very natural during a real game but doing it like this was very difficult.
Conditioning: He talked about increasing the cardio training on the guys. He mentioned how one of the new guys, Aaron Ellis was so skinny when he got here that “he could have taken a nap on a clothes line” but he has gained 16 lbs. now and is up to 197lbs on a 6’9” frame. He mentioned that J.T. Durley has lost 20 lbs. that he desperately needed to lose. Someone from the audience asked him about the collapse of the Shockers last year and Marshall said he did not think the losing streak was psychological, but speculated that it might have been due to lack of conditioning and toughness. He said he was not critical of the previous staff, but that they had backed off after the Sweet 16 and because of Canada and had not paid back the success they had previously (not a direct quote but that was the gist).
Player Relations: He and his coaches will stop what they are doing if a player comes to their offices and needs to talk, in fact, they encourage the players to come talk with them.
--Marshall has invited his players to his home because he is trying to build relationships and trust in his kids. He has had many players over to his home just to watch a football game, hang out or even babysit his kids (!). He says that they will see a whole different side of him at his home with his daughter on his lap (warm and fuzzy) than when they see him coaching (not so warm and fuzzy). He said his wife plays the “Den Mother” role and helps him with the players. Marshall believes that kids today do desire discipline and will hold them accountable for their actions.
Philosophy: Marshall says that playing hard is not an option, either they will do what he wants or they will sit and watch. He wants the players to “defend like their hair is on fire.” This got a big laugh. He said, I don’t even know what that looks like, but I know if you are defending and your hair is on fire, you must be getting after it. His goals are to be playing basketball every March and says that we have an unbelievable schedule coming up this year with a home schedule that is the best in history. Dave Dahl was in the audience and agreed with this.
Recruits: He joked about how much Ramon Clemente won’t stop talking and how Mantas Griskenas won’t say two words and they are roommates so it works out nicely. He called them Felix and Oscar/ the Odd Couple. He mentioned they are still working on getting Orukpe here from his country but that he had to take a test again after they threw out all 10,000 test results because of suspected fraud. The results were supposed to be in during the third week of Sept. and still no results. He said he will probably be here in December and as soon as he gets here he will probably start. He said Orupke is 7’0” and has a 7’3” wingspan. He said he will be a great post player and he “runs like a deer.” He said he has never had a post player he has not had to develop himself and he is fine with that.
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