Q&A With Head Coach Mike Petersen
10/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 11, 2005
Winston-Salem, N.C. - Q: You had a great first year with the women's basketball program. What were the main factors in the success of the team last year?
A: I think the biggest thing was that the student-athletes that were here when I got the job really bought in to what we asked them to do. It was as good a group of people as I've been fortunate enough to inherit in my first year as a head coach. Last year's team did a very good job about not worrying about what they didn't have. They just played to their strengths. We weren't very big, we weren't very deep, we didn't have a lot of those things, but we just played to our strengths. We also had great senior leadership last year. I think Erin Ferrell, Jennifer Johnson, and Meredith Bell did a good job of making sure that their senior year was one that they could look back on fondly.
Q: From the non-conference season to the post season, what would you like to see the team do this year?
Well, our goal going into every season is to win the Atlantic Coast Conference. I want to see marked improvement each year. Last year was enjoyable]. We were able to do things that hadn't been done at Wake Forest for a while in terms of having a winning season, and in terms the post-season. But at the same time, last year we didn't compete enough in the ACC. We lost a lot of close games. We played harder, we played better, we played well, but we didn't put ourselves in a position to compete at the top of our conference. If we do that, then the post-season with take care of itself.
Q: What challenges have you faced so far at Wake and that you believe you will face in the future in rebuilding this program?
A: Anytime you come in to a new situation, your first job is to change the culture around the program in terms of expectations. Expectations for how hard you're going to practice, expectations for how hard you're going to play and expectations for success. That's not just within the program, that has something to do with the players, the coaches, the staff, the administration, the boosters, the donors, the support staff and the community. I think we had some success with that last year, but that's an ongoing battle to continue to change the perception of our basketball program and to change the expectations of our basketball program, both locally and nationally.
Q: You have three experienced seniors returning this year. What would you like to see them do in their final year?
A: Lead. That's the biggest thing. Cotelia, Liz, and Keila need to lead the team as well as our seniors did last year. We have players on our team who have gotten a lot better in the last year. We have good recruits coming in, but we lost a group of senior leaders that is as good as I have seen. It's very hard for a team to be better than their seniors. Talent-wise, our seniors are capable of doing good things to help us win, but the challenge will be for them as leaders and what they are going to do to ensure that this team has success.
Q:Talk about the 2005 recruiting class and how you expect them to impact the upcoming season.
A: We are happy with our recruiting class and having said that, none of those kids have played a college game. Really, to me, there are six players in our recruiting class because Melissa Washington redshirted last year. There are six new players in our program and we're delighted with all of them. All of them playing in their first year with us will have an opportunity to help this program. They all are capable of playing at this level, but at the same time they all have significant adjustments to make in order to compete at this level. The speed of the game is really different from high school and especially the speed that we play at. The level of athlete on the court every day is really different from high school. We're excited about the newcomers we have for our program and we think that they can help us grow as a program. Each one of them has their own development timeline and each one of them is going to be ready to play at a different moment.
Q:How would you describe your coaching style?
A: Well I'd say I'm pretty involved. I'm of the opinion that I've got the best job on the planet. I enjoy what I do. I enjoy having the opportunity to work at Wake Forest and I enjoy having the opportunity to work with the student-athletes. I'm very animated and I'm not afraid to tell you what I'm thinking. One of the things that I promised our players the very first day I met with them was that every time we went in the gym, I would bring a tremendous amount of energy. I told them they would not have to worry about me coming into the gym without energy and without enthusiasm. I think having enthusiasm for what you do is very important. That's how we do it and I want our players to enjoy playing. If I'm enjoying it, I think it makes it that much easier for them to enjoy it as well.
Q:You tripled the attendance of the women's basketball games last season. What should fans know about the women's basketball them? What would you like to tell the people who aren't coming to the games?
A: Well, they're just missing out on a really entertaining evening. I tell people all the time that if you go to your first Wake Forest women's basketball game then you'll come back. You're going to see the highest level of women's basketball collegiately in America. The ACC is the best conference in the country. You'll see the best players in the country on the best teams in the country. The style is fun to watch. We're going to get up and down the floor and we're going to play very, very hard. You'll get the opportunity to watch great kids represent a great university. I think anyone that watched our team last year came away with the feeling that we were playing with really good kids who really like each other, and who really enjoy what they're doing. As an evening's entertainment, I'm not sure how you're going to beat it.
