Gary Gait Press Conference Transcript
Gary Gait Press Conference Transcription
Syracuse Director of Athletics Dr. Daryl Gross
Opening Statement:
“This is a great day for Syracuse University, for the community of Syracuse, for the country, really. We have a great announcement – as you all know. Our new head coach for women’s lacrosse is going to be Gary Gait.
“When you talk about greatness, just talk about the sport. You think about the best baseball player you can think of – arguably Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, whoever you want to say. When you think about tennis – right now, it’s Federer. You think about Tiger. You think about all these great players – in basketball, Michael Jordan. But in lacrosse, who is it? He’s right here in our auditorium – right here. And, he’s going to be the head coach of our women’s lacrosse program.
“And one of the things that was so impressive about Gary was not only the fact of what he did on the field as a Hall of Fame lacrosse player, not only what he did as a coach where he’s been coaching, or what he did on and off the field for lacrosse, but he coached at a college program – the women’s program at Maryland. They were okay coming into it before he got there, but all I know is that while he was there, they won seven national championships in nine years. And, to me, that is such an impressive feat – there are not a lot of people who can say that.
“One of the things that we want to do here at Syracuse – we talk about it often – we want to be champions. We want to be extraordinary. We have tried to do that with the people we have brought in. We’ve brought in some really outstanding individuals to coach our teams. The key is leadership. If you have good leadership, you’ll have champions, you’ll have graduation rates with a quality education, you’ll have compliance, you’ll have integrity – you’ll have all of those things. And, indirectly those things help us, as well.
“It really is an honor to add another coach to our Nobel Prize winning staff – I like to refer to it as what we’re building here. When you look at Jim Boeheim and John Desko – these guys have won national championships. You just go right down the line – and the people that we brought in here, who are just outstanding. From the Luke Jensens to the Ange Bradleys, and Leigh Ross, etc., etc. So, we really believe that this program can be one of the top programs in the country – and that’s what we’re striving for because that’s what Syracuse stands for. But, right now, what I’d like to do is bring up our new head coach of women’s lacrosse program, Mr. Gary Gait.
On sponsorship:
“Our partner Nike has been so instrumental. They were so warm to this – they were so fired up about this. They’ve been very supportive along the way. Also, we’re going to be partnering with STX, who has also been very supportive of us. Joe Taylor is here – and, Joe, thank you for all of your help. We really, really appreciate you, as well. Joe is another face of lacrosse, who has been very instrumental. Gary and I are very appreciative of those things.”
On what he meant by saying it was a great day for the country and was making a statement hire for the women’s lacrosse program an important factor:
“We consider impact and how can we become extraordinary. Everything else is just gravy. It’s just great that this person who has done amazing things in the coaching ranks is Gary Gait. It’s a wonderful thing. The reason I say it is wonderful for the country is that women’s lacrosse is a great sport. Now to have Gary here carrying the flag for women’s lacrosse here at Syracuse, it’s just going to spread all over the country. It just gives the sport more credibility.”
What does the name Gary Gait mean in recruiting:
“I want to play for him. It’s obvious. Who wouldn’t want to learn from the best, someone who had the most amazing skills. It’s one thing to have the skills and it’s another thing to teach it and really know it. It’s very rare to find someone who can do it all. He’s fortunate enough to coach it, have played it and teach it. That’s what we look for. We look for amazing educators. You have to know it and then you have to be a great educator. We don’t want it where you’re a good educator but you don’t know it. Or you know it but you can’t teach it. And then you add that he played it too, he brings all three to the table. That’s rare. It’s very difficult to find that.”
On whether he made any other call to potential candidates:
“We always make calls. We always look at lists. What if Gary Gait isn’t interested? Then we have to be prepared to move. So there were other calls that were made.”
On whether he felt the need to formally interview Gary Gait for the position:
“We go through a process. Every place has a human resources department that they go by so we want to be very thorough in those things. We take those things very seriously and we want to be professional about it. There’s a process there but obviously there was a lot of interest on our part in Gary.”
On how much closer the program is to a national championship with Gary Gait as head coach:
“Championships come from preparation, from having the right leadership, having the right work ethic, having the right attitude, the right culture, having the right atmosphere. It takes a lot to win a championship. You have to be fortunate. There’s some luck involved with it. You can’t get injured. You can’t have freak things happen. The ball has to bounce your way. I’ve been around a lot of them. Gary’s been around a lot of them. Several men in this room have been around a lot of them. It’s not easy. So nothing is ever guaranteed. What you do is you prepare for it. And you prepare by doing all the right things and Gary brings all of the right ingredients.”
Head women’s lacrosse coach Gary Gait
Opening Statement:
“First of all, I have to thank Daryl. He’s been a pleasure to work with. He’s really provided a unique opportunity for me – a chance to come back to Syracuse and try and develop a program and take it to the next level.
“I’m going to take all of my experience and all of the things that I’ve done over the past years – bring it to the University, bring it to the athletics department, but most importantly, bring it to the women’s lacrosse team.
“I’m happy to say that John Battaglino is going to be staying with us as our assistant coach. He will be helping us – he’s done an outstanding job – and I think, the work that he did, along with (former head coach) Lisa (Miller), really showed last year, getting the program’s first win in NCAA (tournament) competition. I’m very fortunate to take over and have such a great team to take over – so, I am very fortunate in that way.
“I also have to thank the real reason why I am here, and that’s my old coach, Coach Roy Simmons Jr. And, the current head coach John Desko – for really taking a chance on myself, and my twin brother (Paul) way back in the mid-80’s, late 80s, and, providing me the opportunity to come to Syracuse and play lacrosse. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for myself. I’ve learned so much from the both of them and I use that every day. When I walked away from Syracuse, which feels like years and years ago, I still always referred back to Coach Simmons and some of the stories he told, some of the lessons I learned about coaching and about life. I’ve used that in all my opportunities that I have had coaching. I definitely feel a great gratitude to both of them for providing me that opportunity. And, I really look forward to taking Syracuse lacrosse to the next level.”
On what it means to come back to Syracuse:
“Well, I think if you asked me a couple months ago – I would have never thought that it would have happened. (smiling) I’ll be honest – I was sitting on the beach when Daryl called me. I did take four days off the last couple of years – so, I did take a little vacation. It was actually for work, but I was down in Puerto Vallarta sitting on the beach. And, I turned to my friend, who works for Kroenke Sports, and said I just got a call from the Syracuse athletics director. And, he laughed. And, I said ‘that’s pretty funny’. And, we joked about it. Soon enough, I followed up and they were serious. I was so impressed with Daryl’s vision and the direction that the athletics department is moving – the facilities, the effort and the striving to be the best and not just being satisfied with being a good athletics department, but with being the best athletics department. And, I’m all about that – anything you do, give it 110 percent and try and be the best. Don’t strive to be okay. That really hit home with me. And, it meant a lot. And, coming out here and visiting, and seeing the changes in the athletics department and the facilities – it really got me excited about the opportunity. I’m thrilled to be here and I’m truly thrilled to have this opportunity.”
On how close the next level is and how bright is the future for Syracuse women’s lacrosse:
“To be honest, I met most of the team yesterday for the first time. So, I will get to know them very well in the next few weeks. From what I saw on video, they have a lot of things that I like. They’re aggressive, they work hard and they certainly have the skills. The most impressive thing is the chemistry. I think that goes back to John and Lisa. They have a group of players in here, that when talking with the players, the one thing they talked about when I asked them ‘why were you successful last year?’ they always said that it was the chemistry and ‘we all get along’. Knowing from all of my past experiences that that’s the first thing you look for in a championship quality program is that chemistry.”
On whether the team had seen video of him playing:
(smiling) “I don’t know if they’ve seen me on video. I’m sure I’ll be embarrassed one day when they pull out old tapes. Someone always does it to me, especially when I have the short shorts on that Coach Simmons made me wear.”
On the difference between coaching the men’s and women’s game:
“To be honest, it’s lacrosse. The unique thing about lacrosse is that as a player, there is no standardized set of rules that you play, whether it’s international lacrosse where there are different rules or whether you’re playing in a tournament that has no rules. So I’ve always looked at lacrosse as you need to analyze the rule book, figure out what rules you’re playing under and play lacrosse. And it’s a simple game – put the ball in the net and stop the other team from doing that. Work with the rules you are given for that event, that tournament, that league and go out and coach it. That’s the approach that I took when I started at the University of Maryland. I didn’t put any limitations on what women’s lacrosse is, it was really about putting the ball in the stick and then putting it in the net.”
On how his experience at Maryland would help him at Syracuse:
“I think it was key for me, certainly, to get the experience working in an athletics department. That was a great experience down there. Certainly working with (former Maryland head coach) Cindy Timchal, who was an outstanding coach and has won eight national championships, and is now the new head coach at Navy, was great. I learned a lot from her. She provided me the opportunity to teach the game and put no boundaries on it. I think that was instrumental in allowing me help develop that team and help develop good things for women’s lacrosse.”
On when he knew he wanted to coach:
“I started coaching at a really young age. I learned a valuable lesson when I was a young kid. I went from an average player from about age four to age 11 and then I had a coach who inspired me. He not only inspired me to play the game, but he changed the way I looked at it. Instead of just going out and going through the drills, I started analyzing mentally why and how things worked and why you do things. That was when I first got interested in coaching. At about 15 years of age I started coaching. I coached through high school and, obviously, after Syracuse, going to Maryland. I’ve been coaching since I was about 15. I’ve always had a love for it and I’ve always enjoyed it. I think it goes back to that one coach, Ron McNeil, who inspired me to really look at the game differently and that you can really understand it and develop your skills and strategy.”
On what was it about the offer from Syracuse that made it a good decision:
“I think I go back to the vision Daryl (Gross) had. I also look at my family. My daughter is going into the eighth grade so the thought of having the opportunity to coach her is pretty exciting. She got pretty excited by it. My son, as well, is a big Syracuse fan. I don’t think he’s taken off his (Syracuse) shorts or T-shirt since we were out here a month or so ago. Hopefully he’s washed them, anyway. He wears them every chance he gets. They are excited to come. I’m excited to have the opportunity to raise them in this atmosphere. It’s pretty unique. It’s like a family being part of an athletics department. I’m going to be proud and excited to have them raised in this atmosphere. I think that was key as was the vision and the efforts that are really being made to take the athletics department to the next level.”
On whether he and his brother are on the look out for the next generation of Gaits:
“We’re working on it. I’m actually heading back (to Denver). I did coach my son and daughter the last few years. That was an unique opportunity and that’s one thing that coaching professional lacrosse allowed me to do. I have one tournament this weekend to finish up coaching my daughter’s team and then we’ll be out here on Labor Day.”
On the process of tying things up in Colorado to come to Syracuse:
“I think that was an incredible opportunity I had in Colorado to take a struggling pro franchise and sell it to Kroenke Sports, which is one of the largest and most successful professional sports companies in the country. The experience I received from that was unbelievable. Everything about running a pro team – how to sell tickets, how to market, all of that stuff – has been a great experience. I don’t think we ever thought it (coming to Syracuse) would happen so it kind of caught everybody off guard. When I got with my wife and we talked about and I said ‘I think I want to move forward with this’, it kind of caught them off guard. I had moved out there two years ago to take over as head coach. The thought at that point was that I would be raising my family there and continuing on with them. They are searching for a new coach now. They will be very successful. Steve Govett, the general manager and president of that team, is exceptional. He will find someone who will replace me and do a great job. It was just a matter of working out some details. I was also operating a youth tournament that was more grass roots and we were just tying up loose ends on how that was going to proceed without my full-time involvement. Once that was all done, it was time to get out here and get this announced. It’s all taken care of and as of Labor Day, we’ll be out here as a family and be ready to go.”
On whether there is extra pressure for him to succeed after the success he enjoyed as a player:
“I love pressure. To be challenged and step up, it really tests you as a person. I’ve always enjoyed that. I can certainly recall coaching women’s lacrosse and people would say ‘What do you know about coaching women’s lacrosse?’ I would say ‘Nothing, but it’s a challenge and I’m willing to take it on.’ All the way to coaching a professional team as a player, something that hadn’t been done in years in professional sports. People said it would never work. I was able to make that work and that was a great challenge to step up to. And then when I retired from playing indoor in the NLL, people said the best players don’t make very good coaches. I kept telling people I’ve coached for a long time. It’s not like I played and all of a sudden I want to be a coach. I’ve been a coach for a long, long time. You always have people who are going to question whether you’re capable of getting it done. It’s just a matter of believing in yourself and putting in the time and the work and hopefully drawing on all of your experience and friends and mentors and step up to the challenge and go get it done. That’s what I’m here to do.”
