Moe says his team is ahead of schedule
With his six leading scorers returning, Emporia State coach David Moe isn’t hiding his excitement for what could be in 2009-10 for the Hornets.
Moe sat down with the Gazette on Tuesday and discussed the upcoming season, a tougher nonconference season and life with a new assistant coach.
Q With most of your team returning from last season, what are your expectations this year?
A We hope to compete at the top of the league and play for a championship, which I think is every team’s expectations at the beginning of the year. I know this: I think we’re a lot farther along than we were last year as far as individuals go. I think it’s great having guys back who understand the level and understand what it takes to compete.
Q Did you schedule differently this year knowing the talent you had coming back?
A I scheduled differently this year because for us and Hays to finish third in the league and our league only get two teams in the tournament was ridiculous. So I scheduled differently to play some of the better teams outside the region. ... Hopefully whatever the formula is they decide who gets into the tournament, they said that hurt us last year, so this year we changed it.
Q With early-season practices, do you prefer having a lot of new guys or having most of your team back?
A From a coach’s standpoint, I love having guys that have been here before. At this point right now, everybody out here knows what it takes to compete at this level. Even the new guys, Taylor (Euler) and Matt (Nelson), they know from having been around those guys and watching how much harder they compete. And then from the standpoint of how to play, realizing you’ve got to keep things simple and mistakes cost you games.
From my standpoint, we work as hard as we work, the way we compete in the preseason in our individual stuff, going into practice puts a lot more pressure on me as a coach, because I don’t have to coach how to compete.
Last year when we went to Central Oklahoma and got blown out, I knew we were going to get blown out. When we went to Wichita, I knew we weren’t ready. There were things that you don’t know until you experience them, and now we don’t have to do that. Now, if we start poorly, it’ll be more along the lines of poor coaching than learning how to play and learning how to be successful.
Q Two years ago, you had a team like this one with your core back. What will you take from that year and apply to this team?
A One thing we didn’t do this year is play exhibition games against the high-major teams. We’re not playing any exhibition games. Two years ago we had success against Gonzaga and Texas A&M for what our expectations were. And then when the season started, we thought we were better than we were. These guys haven’t taken that approach at all. They’ve taken the approach that they’re going to give everything they have every minute that they’re out there.
Q Who has improved the most during the offseason?
A It’s hard to say because different guys were at different levels. Nobody came back under the expectations that I had. I thought everybody improved. I hate to single one guy out when, as a coach, you can’t be put in a better situation with kids understanding what we’re trying to do.
Q What do you think of your two newcomers and do you expect them to contribute this year?
A Matt Nelson and Taylor Euler are both going to have opportunities to contribute. They’ve done a great job in the preseason. Practice is getting started and obviously they’re behind everybody else because they’ve never been through it before. As far as Taylor being a freshman and being able to hold his own with what I think are some of the best guards in the conference... they’re all seniors, they’re all competitive and they’re all strong, and they’ve done a great job with him making sure he understands what it takes, and he’s got to be able to play with these guys in practice to have success in the league.
Matt Nelson coming from junior college is always an adjustment, but I think he works hard and he’s picked up things that we’ve told him individually great.
Q Jarvis Nichols was a guy you had high expectations for last year before he tore his ACL before the season. What are your expectations for him this year?
A We didn’t really get to see him last year, but I think he’s come in and I think his knee has gradually gotten stronger and stronger since school has started. You really get to see his talent and athleticism and some of that stuff.
Q How do you feel about going into the season with a new assistant?
A Jeff Linder, my first assistant, came here with me from Colorado and we kind of figured things out together. We knew each other and spent a year together at Colorado, so we had a good relationship going into it. Without him, I don’t think our program would have ever gotten to where we’re one of the top programs in the league.
Having Ben (McCollum) was somebody I knew from coaching against. Having Wes (Book), I’m shocked at how good Wes has been as an assistant, how good he’s been into it. He’s definitely exceeded my expectations, a lot like the players have. He wants to prove his value, and I think all the players share that attitude. He’s been terrific. I think it’s great that the three other assistants I’ve had all make more money than I do, so they all have done something right from that standpoint, and I don’t think Wes is behind any of them. I think him having played here for four years and being a G.A. last year probably puts him ahead of everybody else.
ESU women enter season with high expectations
With his six leading scorers returning, Emporia State coach David Moe isn’t hiding his excitement for what could be in 2009-10 for the Hornets.
Moe sat down with the Gazette on Tuesday and discussed the upcoming season, a tougher nonconference season and life with a new assistant coach.
Q With most of your team returning from last season, what are your expectations this year?
A We hope to compete at the top of the league and play for a championship, which I think is every team’s expectations at the beginning of the year. I know this: I think we’re a lot farther along than we were last year as far as individuals go. I think it’s great having guys back who understand the level and understand what it takes to compete.
Q Did you schedule differently this year knowing the talent you had coming back?
A I scheduled differently this year because for us and Hays to finish third in the league and our league only get two teams in the tournament was ridiculous. So I scheduled differently to play some of the better teams outside the region. ... Hopefully whatever the formula is they decide who gets into the tournament, they said that hurt us last year, so this year we changed it.
Q With early-season practices, do you prefer having a lot of new guys or having most of your team back?
A From a coach’s standpoint, I love having guys that have been here before. At this point right now, everybody out here knows what it takes to compete at this level. Even the new guys, Taylor (Euler) and Matt (Nelson), they know from having been around those guys and watching how much harder they compete. And then from the standpoint of how to play, realizing you’ve got to keep things simple and mistakes cost you games.
From my standpoint, we work as hard as we work, the way we compete in the preseason in our individual stuff, going into practice puts a lot more pressure on me as a coach, because I don’t have to coach how to compete.
Last year when we went to Central Oklahoma and got blown out, I knew we were going to get blown out. When we went to Wichita, I knew we weren’t ready. There were things that you don’t know until you experience them, and now we don’t have to do that. Now, if we start poorly, it’ll be more along the lines of poor coaching than learning how to play and learning how to be successful.
Q Two years ago, you had a team like this one with your core back. What will you take from that year and apply to this team?
A One thing we didn’t do this year is play exhibition games against the high-major teams. We’re not playing any exhibition games. Two years ago we had success against Gonzaga and Texas A&M for what our expectations were. And then when the season started, we thought we were better than we were. These guys haven’t taken that approach at all. They’ve taken the approach that they’re going to give everything they have every minute that they’re out there.
Q Who has improved the most during the offseason?
A It’s hard to say because different guys were at different levels. Nobody came back under the expectations that I had. I thought everybody improved. I hate to single one guy out when, as a coach, you can’t be put in a better situation with kids understanding what we’re trying to do.
Q What do you think of your two newcomers and do you expect them to contribute this year?
A Matt Nelson and Taylor Euler are both going to have opportunities to contribute. They’ve done a great job in the preseason. Practice is getting started and obviously they’re behind everybody else because they’ve never been through it before. As far as Taylor being a freshman and being able to hold his own with what I think are some of the best guards in the conference... they’re all seniors, they’re all competitive and they’re all strong, and they’ve done a great job with him making sure he understands what it takes, and he’s got to be able to play with these guys in practice to have success in the league.
Matt Nelson coming from junior college is always an adjustment, but I think he works hard and he’s picked up things that we’ve told him individually great.
Q Jarvis Nichols was a guy you had high expectations for last year before he tore his ACL before the season. What are your expectations for him this year?
A We didn’t really get to see him last year, but I think he’s come in and I think his knee has gradually gotten stronger and stronger since school has started. You really get to see his talent and athleticism and some of that stuff.
Q How do you feel about going into the season with a new assistant?
A Jeff Linder, my first assistant, came here with me from Colorado and we kind of figured things out together. We knew each other and spent a year together at Colorado, so we had a good relationship going into it. Without him, I don’t think our program would have ever gotten to where we’re one of the top programs in the league.
Having Ben (McCollum) was somebody I knew from coaching against. Having Wes (Book), I’m shocked at how good Wes has been as an assistant, how good he’s been into it. He’s definitely exceeded my expectations, a lot like the players have. He wants to prove his value, and I think all the players share that attitude. He’s been terrific. I think it’s great that the three other assistants I’ve had all make more money than I do, so they all have done something right from that standpoint, and I don’t think Wes is behind any of them. I think him having played here for four years and being a G.A. last year probably puts him ahead of everybody else.
jman1982 (anonymous) says...
Gazette staff please fix this article & get the part from coach schneider on here as well
October 15, 2009 at 11:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )