Sept. 17, 2002
Three of Baylor's head coaches spoke to the media at Tuesday's press luncheon. Below are excerpts from their comments.
Head Volleyball Coach Brian Hosfeld:
On the past weekend:
"The tournament served its purpose... Fortunately, we came out of it 3-0. All three of those teams are going to contend for their conference championships. In the past, that's not how I set up the preseason schedule -- we've just gone for wins. But this year, we're trying something different."
"I'm pretty pleased with the offensive output of the team right now. We hit for a pretty good percentage last weekend, but our defense is still a little lacking. We're trying to work on that."
On opening Big 12 play this week against Colorado and Kansas State:
"Colorado has had a pretty tough schedule, too... We're looking forward to getting them here and going to battle. If both teams show up, it will be a basic Big 12 match, where anything can happen."
"Kansas State has been in the top 25 but isn't right now. This is the start of the battle to catch up to Nebraska, and we'll see what happens."
Head Soccer Coach Nick Cowell:
On the weekend's game at Arizona State and Northern Arizona:
"We had an excellent match Friday night. We ended up losing 1-0, but we outshot them 18-10. It was an excellent performance by our team; we're really happy with the way the team played out there. For us to go in there and play that well says a lot about our team."
"Northern Arizona didn't play Friday night... We were playing at 7,000 feet... I'm real happy with the way the team came through that. The elevation takes its toll, and they were fresh. That's a tough place to go play."
On the upcoming schedule:
"I think six of our next seven games are against teams ranked in the region... To play against regionally-ranked teams is what we need right now."
On the team's goalkeeping situation:
"[Monica] Housden brings more experience to us. The team responds to her leadership out there. Tanya Sena has done an excellent job; she just needs to learn from someone more experienced. We couldn't wish for more from her as a freshman. She wants that position; she knows she needs to improve to get that."
On this week's opponent, SMU:
"SMU has played a real tough schedule so far. They beat Arizona State in overtime in Colorado. It's going to be a tough game. They are a big, physical team, but I don't think they're as deep as we are. The game could be won late as they get tired. They pose a lot of problems for teams because of their overall size."
Head Football Coach Kevin Steele:
On last week's loss at New Mexico:
"It was not real pretty. We were inept on offense; we didn't get anything done at all. There were two positives we could take from it: TJ Helmcamp at right tackle and Cedric Fields at center."
"Our kicking game, from an overall perspective, was productive and good, but two things happened in the kicking game that negated all the good things."
"Defensively, we fought hard... but our job is to go out and stop them, even if they start at the one-yard line... All in all, it was not a good performance. Very disappointing. It's key that we come out and play a very complete game this weekend."
"Not to take anything away from New Mexico; they played very well... But we executed very poorly. We didn't take care of our business."
"I don't think it was our worst offensive output [in Steele's four years]... But for the talent we have on the field and the coaching job we're capable of doing, it was the most unacceptable."
"When we went back out in the second half, we had the opportunity to establish something and make the game turn, and we didn't do it. And they did. And we still had opportunities later in the game, but we didn't make it happen."
On this week's opponent, Tulsa:
"When you watch them play, they don't have a bad football team... But no matter who the opponent is, we need to win football games."
"We need to win... The bye week is a good break before conference starts. We'd prefer to be 4-0; that's not gonna happen. So we need to be 2-2."
"We'll see a lot of different formations and different personnel [from Tulsa]."
"They play Oklahoma 3-0 at halftime; that's the flip side of it. They've got good players and they're doing the right things. They've just got to execute."
