@C. Level also had the chance to speak with Texas Tech head basketball coach Chris Beard for Double T 97.3.
Here's the full interview transcribed:
You’ve finally got your staff put together, for the most part, I guess let’s talk about Coach Cyprien in here.
“Yeah, I’m excited, Cyp’s a veteran, above all he’s got an experience level that’s going to help our program so much. We’ve talked with some great guys in the last month or so in this process we really wanted to keep our bar high and try to nail it. It’s kind of difficult because everybody out there brings different things to the table but Cyp kind of separated from the pack with his experience and also his relationship with players like the more people I’ve talked to about Cyp, he and I have known each other for a long time we’ve never worked with each other, but everybody I talk to about Cyp just talked about the relationships he’s had with players and to me that’s the core with everything we do. We’re a players program, we want to coach our guys hard, take care of them and I think Cyp’s going to fit into our culture that mold perfectly, and the other thing, and it’s just kind of bonus, that’s exciting is here’s a long time college coach with a lot of experience that I think will be a head college coach in the next couple of years. If we can get two years out of Cyp, I think that will be a bonus but even if he gets a head coaching job after one I think our program will be better for him being here, but the fact that he spent the last four years in the NBA, with the Memphis Grizzlies in the front office, actually being the head coach of their G-League team, that’s just going to bleed down to our players. One thing that’s going to really help so we’re excited to have coach here for a lot of different reasons, he’s a guy with character, he’s a guy that has been doing it a long time knows how to win.”
It’s also going to be fun for you obviously he already knows Coach Sutton but he also knows Coach Dickey too which I know you have a soft spot for.
“Yeah, you do this as long as me and Cyp have been doing it your circles are going to kind of cross, but this one definitely crosses with Coach Sutton being here on staff and mutual friends like Coach Dickey so Cyp’s a guy that we respect a lot and can’t wait to get to work with and I think above all the people that are going to benefit the most from this hiring is our players, and again to me that’s what it’s all about, players, and here’s another guy that’s going to help our program.”
And, have you already told him Texas BBQ is better than Memphis BBQ?
“Yeah, we were in kind of a debate on that one, but Cyp’s been so many places he’s got more opinions than just that but no, he’s a great guy, I think he’s also going to fit into Lubbock, the people in Lubbock are going to love him. He’s a down to Earth guy with a great personality, again, loves to win, loves to coach, so it’s a big day for Tech basketball. I think sometimes when we sign a good player or when a good player gets drafted into the NBA, things are obvious highlights, but I think also with coaching I’m really proud that in just two years here we’ve had Chris Ogden move on and get a head coaching job, we’ve had Al Pinkins get to the University of Florida as an associate head coach, putting him closer to his family, which I supported although I hated to lose Al, and we’ve had three of our GA’s move up and get division I jobs, Parker, Denver and Jared so this is the price of success and something that I welcome and I want people on our staff every year that other people want. I think this is how you win.”
How stressful is that on you as a coach, because there’s a lot of things that come with your job but replacing really good people at some level has got to be really stressful.
“Yeah, but that’s part of it. Just like I tell the players, you don’t want to be comfortable. Uncomfortable is where you grow. Uncomfortable is where you’re on point. Uncomfortable is where great things can happen. When you start getting comfortable, not only in basketball but in life that’s when you get complacent and you’re just not going to grow so I said the same thing with our staff, I think the course would be easy just to return everybody and call it a year but that’s just not what successful programs do. Just like with our players, I want a roster every year where we have three or four guys in the NBA next, guys declaring without agents, with agents going through that process it’s what it’s all about and I’d say the same thing with our coaching staff. I think with the leadership with Kirby Hocutt here, and Texas Tech with what he have, who we are, I think this is a place where an assistant coach can come. This is your final spot until you get a heading coaching job so it worked well for Chris Ogden and I think it’s going to work well for Coach Adams, Burg and Cyp.”
You mentioned signing players, you guys just signed with one last week in Joshua Mballa, who’s now going to join the roster and I already think already here to work out, kind of take me through what he offers up.
“Yeah, we’re excited. We thought we got some much-needed depth to our front line. He’s a guy that can play multiple positions, he’s very athletic and he plays very hard. In today’s world, you hear he’s got a motor, and he does, he doesn’t get tired, he competes, he plays hard every possession, and thinking about some of the guys we lost like Justin Gray, Zach and Zhaire, it was needed for us, we needed to get some length, some athleticism, here’s a guy that’s going to play early in his career. He also comes in with an international experience which I love just Moro, he plays for his national team so I’m very proud to be his coach and looking forward to great things in his career.”
I hadn’t talked to you since you went to the draft, that whole thing with Zhaire, and I look up today he scored 16 points in the summer league game, I’m sure you’re the last person that’d be surprised about him being successful that quick.
“No, Z is the real deal. I hesitate making broad statements, it puts him in a situation but I believe in my heart that he’s a long time NBA player. I believe in my heart he has a chance to be an all-star one day. I know hard he’s willing to work, and I know how important it is to him. I know he doesn’t have any distractions, he’s a basketball guy 24/7, has obviously got the talent the whole world knows that what people are about to find out is how hard he works, and at the end of the day there’s no substitute for hard work period.”
How much easier is it on you to try and attract players here when you have something like that, you see Culver’s name being mentioned as far as NBA next year, but how much easier is it for you guys to get on the road and go recruiting, which you guys are about to go do, when you kind of break that seal.
“I don’t know if it’s easier, nothing’s easy at this level, but it opens doors for us that have been closed in the past. When people recruit against they say, ‘when’s the last time they’ve had an NBA player,’ well, we have four in the NBA Summer League right now. Second to anybody in college basketball other than Villanova. We have two guys on contract, Keenan and Zhaire, so I think those guys paved the way for future teams and future success and Zhaire’s getting a lot of credit right now, which he deserves, but I kind of go back to Keenan Evans, one of the best players I’ve ever coached. The guy that gave everything to this program. The guy that overcame a lot of adversity with the broken toe and that whole deal was just crazy, but I remember talking to Keenan on the day after the draft, which of course he was disappointed but we kind of knew the uphill battle that he had, but I just reminded him like, ‘Keenan, this is you man, like you weren’t top 100 coming out of high school, you ended up being the best player in the Big 12. They don’t think you’re a draft choice now then just go prove them wrong. You’ll be on an NBA roster’. I promised him that I’d be at his first NBA game, I guess the only exception would be if we were playing that night, but even if that happens I might just get tossed the day before and let that Adams or Cyp or one of these guys do that.”
You guys have added a couple of grad transfers, and talk to me about Mooney and Owens, Tariq Owens have already been here for a little bit.
“Yeah, one part of our plan, our model, sometimes you can get it done, sometimes you can’t, something we believe in is trying to stay old. In this league, I think at Kansas, maybe even at Texas can win from time to time with young, because they’ve got four or five lottery picks, that’s where we want to get one day but right now as we built the program there’s a lot of power in being old. I think in that first team, I think Anthony Livingston and Aaron Ross and Devin and those guys gave us a chance to be competitive. Last year, certainly, we were one of the most experienced teams in college basketball that took us all the way to a couple of baskets from the Final Four. So, the challenge this year was how are we going to do that, we wanted to be active in the grad transfer market so with Matt and Tyriq, these are special players. I think both guys have a chance to be pros, real pros, Matt is as tough of a player as I’ve ever coached, he’s as committed to working discipline as any player I’ve ever coached, he’s much more than just a shooter. He’s a guy that can really play the game at a high level, and then Tariq obviously has a great skill set with his athleticism, length and shot blocking, but the guy’s a really good basketball player too. He can shoot the ball, he can pass the ball so these two players allow us to stay old, they give us experience. Two guys we think can contribute immediately.”
And people see it, but for this time of year, your guys are as busy as they are in the middle of the regular season.
“Yeah, this is the grind, this is the offseason. This is where it all happens, this is where individual players get better and this is where our team gets better through the individual part. The other day, I think 13 players at some practice I said, ‘look guys, if each of you gets one percent better today, our team gets 13 percent better,’ and it sounds like captain obvious but it’s so true like if Brandone Francis will just work on that block out and work at getting a little bit better at today and if Culver will just hold his follow through a little bit more on his shot, go down the line if everybody just gets a little bit better each day then our team as a whole gets better. That’s really our summer philosophy, we really don’t do a lot of team stuff this time of year so we’re working on individual games, and trying to get our team better through each individual piece.”
I don’t think you’ve mentioned his name too but last question I wanted to ask you, you’ve added a huge piece from a commitment standpoint, the two-tier roster I know you’ve been working a long time on, but take me through is that kind of breaking moment for you guys from a recruiting standpoint?
“Yeah, recruiting is going well. I think with some of the success we’ve had recently, and some of the success we’ll have in the upcoming weeks, we’ll like to give out Pinkins and Chris Ogden a lot of credit, they’re the ones that kind of laid the foundation and then Burg jumped in, and Coach Adams and ultimately Cyp and myself, but we’re just getting started and I don’t want the Elite Eight to define our program. I just want this to be a thing where we’re just getting started. It’s easier to talk about it than to do, the daunting task thinking about how you compete with some of the teams in our league that have found that consistency, but that’s what we’re trying to do. We don’t want to be a one-hit wonder. You ever heard of Wild Cherry? I educated Brandone Francis the other day on Wild Cherry, all the listeners should take a quick look at that, wild cherry is like an 80’s rock. We want to be Springsteen, we don’t want to be Wild Cherry. I keep saying we don’t want to be Billy Ray Cyrus, but I love Billy Ray Cyrus man, I mean 'Some Gave All', 'Could’ve Been Me', he was much more than just 'Achy Breaky Heart'. I think I need to make a public apology to Billy Ray Cyrus, because I don’t think he is a one-hit wonder. He’s obviously a great dad, his daughter’s had a lot of success. Hell, I’ve paid a lot of money to the Billy Ray Cyrus family, I think when my girls were growing up we had every Hannah Montana thing known to man so I really probably need to quit bagging on him as a one-hit wonder. So my apologies, but my point is we want to get the program to the point where we’re just consistent and people aren’t thinking back, the Zhaire 360 dunk, the Keenan Evans game winners, those were great moments in our program but our deal is don’t make them defining moments just keep the thing rolling and try to be apart of the fight every year.”
Here's the full interview transcribed:
You’ve finally got your staff put together, for the most part, I guess let’s talk about Coach Cyprien in here.
“Yeah, I’m excited, Cyp’s a veteran, above all he’s got an experience level that’s going to help our program so much. We’ve talked with some great guys in the last month or so in this process we really wanted to keep our bar high and try to nail it. It’s kind of difficult because everybody out there brings different things to the table but Cyp kind of separated from the pack with his experience and also his relationship with players like the more people I’ve talked to about Cyp, he and I have known each other for a long time we’ve never worked with each other, but everybody I talk to about Cyp just talked about the relationships he’s had with players and to me that’s the core with everything we do. We’re a players program, we want to coach our guys hard, take care of them and I think Cyp’s going to fit into our culture that mold perfectly, and the other thing, and it’s just kind of bonus, that’s exciting is here’s a long time college coach with a lot of experience that I think will be a head college coach in the next couple of years. If we can get two years out of Cyp, I think that will be a bonus but even if he gets a head coaching job after one I think our program will be better for him being here, but the fact that he spent the last four years in the NBA, with the Memphis Grizzlies in the front office, actually being the head coach of their G-League team, that’s just going to bleed down to our players. One thing that’s going to really help so we’re excited to have coach here for a lot of different reasons, he’s a guy with character, he’s a guy that has been doing it a long time knows how to win.”
It’s also going to be fun for you obviously he already knows Coach Sutton but he also knows Coach Dickey too which I know you have a soft spot for.
“Yeah, you do this as long as me and Cyp have been doing it your circles are going to kind of cross, but this one definitely crosses with Coach Sutton being here on staff and mutual friends like Coach Dickey so Cyp’s a guy that we respect a lot and can’t wait to get to work with and I think above all the people that are going to benefit the most from this hiring is our players, and again to me that’s what it’s all about, players, and here’s another guy that’s going to help our program.”
And, have you already told him Texas BBQ is better than Memphis BBQ?
“Yeah, we were in kind of a debate on that one, but Cyp’s been so many places he’s got more opinions than just that but no, he’s a great guy, I think he’s also going to fit into Lubbock, the people in Lubbock are going to love him. He’s a down to Earth guy with a great personality, again, loves to win, loves to coach, so it’s a big day for Tech basketball. I think sometimes when we sign a good player or when a good player gets drafted into the NBA, things are obvious highlights, but I think also with coaching I’m really proud that in just two years here we’ve had Chris Ogden move on and get a head coaching job, we’ve had Al Pinkins get to the University of Florida as an associate head coach, putting him closer to his family, which I supported although I hated to lose Al, and we’ve had three of our GA’s move up and get division I jobs, Parker, Denver and Jared so this is the price of success and something that I welcome and I want people on our staff every year that other people want. I think this is how you win.”
How stressful is that on you as a coach, because there’s a lot of things that come with your job but replacing really good people at some level has got to be really stressful.
“Yeah, but that’s part of it. Just like I tell the players, you don’t want to be comfortable. Uncomfortable is where you grow. Uncomfortable is where you’re on point. Uncomfortable is where great things can happen. When you start getting comfortable, not only in basketball but in life that’s when you get complacent and you’re just not going to grow so I said the same thing with our staff, I think the course would be easy just to return everybody and call it a year but that’s just not what successful programs do. Just like with our players, I want a roster every year where we have three or four guys in the NBA next, guys declaring without agents, with agents going through that process it’s what it’s all about and I’d say the same thing with our coaching staff. I think with the leadership with Kirby Hocutt here, and Texas Tech with what he have, who we are, I think this is a place where an assistant coach can come. This is your final spot until you get a heading coaching job so it worked well for Chris Ogden and I think it’s going to work well for Coach Adams, Burg and Cyp.”
You mentioned signing players, you guys just signed with one last week in Joshua Mballa, who’s now going to join the roster and I already think already here to work out, kind of take me through what he offers up.
“Yeah, we’re excited. We thought we got some much-needed depth to our front line. He’s a guy that can play multiple positions, he’s very athletic and he plays very hard. In today’s world, you hear he’s got a motor, and he does, he doesn’t get tired, he competes, he plays hard every possession, and thinking about some of the guys we lost like Justin Gray, Zach and Zhaire, it was needed for us, we needed to get some length, some athleticism, here’s a guy that’s going to play early in his career. He also comes in with an international experience which I love just Moro, he plays for his national team so I’m very proud to be his coach and looking forward to great things in his career.”
I hadn’t talked to you since you went to the draft, that whole thing with Zhaire, and I look up today he scored 16 points in the summer league game, I’m sure you’re the last person that’d be surprised about him being successful that quick.
“No, Z is the real deal. I hesitate making broad statements, it puts him in a situation but I believe in my heart that he’s a long time NBA player. I believe in my heart he has a chance to be an all-star one day. I know hard he’s willing to work, and I know how important it is to him. I know he doesn’t have any distractions, he’s a basketball guy 24/7, has obviously got the talent the whole world knows that what people are about to find out is how hard he works, and at the end of the day there’s no substitute for hard work period.”
How much easier is it on you to try and attract players here when you have something like that, you see Culver’s name being mentioned as far as NBA next year, but how much easier is it for you guys to get on the road and go recruiting, which you guys are about to go do, when you kind of break that seal.
“I don’t know if it’s easier, nothing’s easy at this level, but it opens doors for us that have been closed in the past. When people recruit against they say, ‘when’s the last time they’ve had an NBA player,’ well, we have four in the NBA Summer League right now. Second to anybody in college basketball other than Villanova. We have two guys on contract, Keenan and Zhaire, so I think those guys paved the way for future teams and future success and Zhaire’s getting a lot of credit right now, which he deserves, but I kind of go back to Keenan Evans, one of the best players I’ve ever coached. The guy that gave everything to this program. The guy that overcame a lot of adversity with the broken toe and that whole deal was just crazy, but I remember talking to Keenan on the day after the draft, which of course he was disappointed but we kind of knew the uphill battle that he had, but I just reminded him like, ‘Keenan, this is you man, like you weren’t top 100 coming out of high school, you ended up being the best player in the Big 12. They don’t think you’re a draft choice now then just go prove them wrong. You’ll be on an NBA roster’. I promised him that I’d be at his first NBA game, I guess the only exception would be if we were playing that night, but even if that happens I might just get tossed the day before and let that Adams or Cyp or one of these guys do that.”
You guys have added a couple of grad transfers, and talk to me about Mooney and Owens, Tariq Owens have already been here for a little bit.
“Yeah, one part of our plan, our model, sometimes you can get it done, sometimes you can’t, something we believe in is trying to stay old. In this league, I think at Kansas, maybe even at Texas can win from time to time with young, because they’ve got four or five lottery picks, that’s where we want to get one day but right now as we built the program there’s a lot of power in being old. I think in that first team, I think Anthony Livingston and Aaron Ross and Devin and those guys gave us a chance to be competitive. Last year, certainly, we were one of the most experienced teams in college basketball that took us all the way to a couple of baskets from the Final Four. So, the challenge this year was how are we going to do that, we wanted to be active in the grad transfer market so with Matt and Tyriq, these are special players. I think both guys have a chance to be pros, real pros, Matt is as tough of a player as I’ve ever coached, he’s as committed to working discipline as any player I’ve ever coached, he’s much more than just a shooter. He’s a guy that can really play the game at a high level, and then Tariq obviously has a great skill set with his athleticism, length and shot blocking, but the guy’s a really good basketball player too. He can shoot the ball, he can pass the ball so these two players allow us to stay old, they give us experience. Two guys we think can contribute immediately.”
And people see it, but for this time of year, your guys are as busy as they are in the middle of the regular season.
“Yeah, this is the grind, this is the offseason. This is where it all happens, this is where individual players get better and this is where our team gets better through the individual part. The other day, I think 13 players at some practice I said, ‘look guys, if each of you gets one percent better today, our team gets 13 percent better,’ and it sounds like captain obvious but it’s so true like if Brandone Francis will just work on that block out and work at getting a little bit better at today and if Culver will just hold his follow through a little bit more on his shot, go down the line if everybody just gets a little bit better each day then our team as a whole gets better. That’s really our summer philosophy, we really don’t do a lot of team stuff this time of year so we’re working on individual games, and trying to get our team better through each individual piece.”
I don’t think you’ve mentioned his name too but last question I wanted to ask you, you’ve added a huge piece from a commitment standpoint, the two-tier roster I know you’ve been working a long time on, but take me through is that kind of breaking moment for you guys from a recruiting standpoint?
“Yeah, recruiting is going well. I think with some of the success we’ve had recently, and some of the success we’ll have in the upcoming weeks, we’ll like to give out Pinkins and Chris Ogden a lot of credit, they’re the ones that kind of laid the foundation and then Burg jumped in, and Coach Adams and ultimately Cyp and myself, but we’re just getting started and I don’t want the Elite Eight to define our program. I just want this to be a thing where we’re just getting started. It’s easier to talk about it than to do, the daunting task thinking about how you compete with some of the teams in our league that have found that consistency, but that’s what we’re trying to do. We don’t want to be a one-hit wonder. You ever heard of Wild Cherry? I educated Brandone Francis the other day on Wild Cherry, all the listeners should take a quick look at that, wild cherry is like an 80’s rock. We want to be Springsteen, we don’t want to be Wild Cherry. I keep saying we don’t want to be Billy Ray Cyrus, but I love Billy Ray Cyrus man, I mean 'Some Gave All', 'Could’ve Been Me', he was much more than just 'Achy Breaky Heart'. I think I need to make a public apology to Billy Ray Cyrus, because I don’t think he is a one-hit wonder. He’s obviously a great dad, his daughter’s had a lot of success. Hell, I’ve paid a lot of money to the Billy Ray Cyrus family, I think when my girls were growing up we had every Hannah Montana thing known to man so I really probably need to quit bagging on him as a one-hit wonder. So my apologies, but my point is we want to get the program to the point where we’re just consistent and people aren’t thinking back, the Zhaire 360 dunk, the Keenan Evans game winners, those were great moments in our program but our deal is don’t make them defining moments just keep the thing rolling and try to be apart of the fight every year.”
