Sept. 25, 2001
Three of Baylor's head coaches spoke to the media at Tuesday's press luncheon. Below are excerpts from their comments.
Head Soccer Coach Nick Cowell:
On last week's wins over TCU and Rice:
"We got two good wins last week. It was nice to get home games in, to get victories and some goals."
On last year compared to this year:
"A quick comparison with last year. At this point last season, we were 2-3-1, right now, if you count the exhibition win against SMU, we are 5-2. Last year at this point, we had scored five goals and allowed 10. This year, we have scored 14 goals and allowed nine. You can see we're more offensive minded, and that is mostly due to our freshmen."
On this weekend's schedule:
"This weekend, we face our old nemesis, Nebraska. They are 5-0, but they have surrendered a goal in every game. I feel confident that we'll continue our scoring streak, but we'll have to see if we can keep them from scoring."
"Nebraska plays a formation no one else plays, they use four forwards. Most teams only play two forwards, so they will put a lot of pressure on our defenders to match up... In the past, we've changed our formation to match up with them, I don't think we'll do that this year."
On the team's injury situation:
"Mel Pannell is probably out for the season. Emily Koch still hasn't practiced, so we've brought in a defender, Stephanie Dempsey, to play goalkeeper. Katie Peterson is lost for the year with a torn ACL. Three freshmen -- Tiffany Boshers, Sarah Gardner and Allison Coker -- are all out for the year. Fortunately, we are a fairly deep squad, so we'll keep rolling along."
On the success of the team's freshmen:
"We did expect this from them, actually. This isn't a surprise. When we recruit, we don't necessarily recruit the players other teams go for, we get players that we think fit in our system... We're looking for hungry players with some athleticism."
Head Volleyball Coach Brian Hosfeld:
On this week's schedule:
"This is a week of opportunity for Baylor volleyball, the way we look at it. We play #16 Texas A&M Wednesday at their place... We always have good matches against them... It should be a great match, and it's an opportunity for us to beat a ranked team."
"The experience we got in Japan should help against both of these teams, with the level of floor defense we have to use and being able to block against Nebraska."
"We're on the aggressive side, just not making real good choices... I think we're in control, the things we need to change are in our gym. We have an opportunity with Texas A&M being a ranked team and knowing we can compete with them."
On last week's pair of losses:
"We're trying to get back in rhythm after the break, and we're battling the flu... Our hitting percentages are down and so we lost to a pair of ranked teams."
On the status of setter Dana Chuha, who has been out with the flu:
"She didn't practice Tuesday or travel Wednesday. Thursday and Friday, she had a light workout. Saturday, she just started eating again. She's lost some weight, which she didn't need to lose, and was still kind of shaky. You could still see the effects [against Colorado]."
Head Football Coach Kevin Steele:
On last week's win over New Mexico:
"Saturday was a very good confidence builder, a very good character builder. It gave us something to draw on -- success in a pressure situation. It gave our players a lot to be excited about with a 2-0 start."
"Offensively, considering that that was the No. 1 rushing defense in the country we were going against, I thought we rushed the ball at times well... Our passing game has improved from the first snap of the first game to now."
"I think [QB Greg] Cicero is getting better, considering that he missed all of fall practice. He'll be just fine... As far as replacing him, Greg, Josh [Zachry] and the whole team knew that Zachry was going in that series. It was planned... There's a two-fold reason there. One, we're getting a lot of snaps, and two, it lets the other guy play. He deserves to play."
"Defensively, we've done a lot of good things. We're tied with Miami for most turnovers forced per game... We lead the Big 12 in sacks at 4.5 per game... Our defense is first in the Big 12 in third-down conversions at 17.1%. We haven't had a third down converted on us in the second half this year. We're number one in the Big 12 in fewest penalties, with only 11. We're in the top 5 or 6 in scoring defense in the country. We have a lot of good things to build on."
On this week's opponent, Iowa State:
"I think right now they have 11 wins in their last 14 games. They've learned how to win. They have a good attitude... They are very well coached."
"Their quarterback adds a new dimension, because he can run..."
"Defensively, they've got good, sound players, they're where they're supposed to be."
"They're a pretty standard defense. They pick and choose when to bring it. When they do blitz, they are very effective. They make you earn every yard."
"I have a lot of confidence in our defense that they will answer the call. I'm not sure how many yards they'll get, but the big thing is to keep them out of the end zone."
On Iowa State's running back, Innis Haywood:
"We're facing one of the top rushers in the country for the third week in a row. He's a big, strong, talented guy with good vision. He seems to find his yards no matter what defense you throw at him."
On Baylor's progress this season:
"We're certainly learning how to win. It's exciting for them... Once you have it, you don't want to relinqusih it."
"[2-0] beats being 0-2 or 1-1. It means we've accomplished what we set out to do in week one and week two. We have confidence we're going to get the job done... The point is, you learn to win by winning... That gives confidence that breeds more winning."
On how Iowa State has rebuilt its program:
"They've had continuity... You look back at their trek before the 9-3 season, and they had some pretty rough years... They've had continuity, had time to evolve. Their talent level has improved every year. They are well-coached, they haven't changed many coaches, and they haven't changed their system much. They won a couple of games, and before you know it, the whole thing is different. You've seen it around the country, Kansas State, at one time, nobody envisioned this happening."
