The passionate Michigan State basketball coach talks about the allure of the college game, performing in front of a world-record crowd and the Spartans’ tough schedule
Q. You have accomplished so much in nine years at Michigan State, including an NCAA title. What is it about the college game that intrigues you to the point of spurning NBA opportunities?
A. The college game, to me, just brings a different bit of enthusiasm from the fans and the players. As a college coach you can change and mold more people’s lives than maybe you can in the NBA. I have great respect for NBA coaches, and I think they do a much better job than we think–at least what the general public thinks. The frustrating thing about coaching in college now is that there are so many outside people involved with the kids. And the expectations have changed for the players themselves. I look at myself now as still more of a rah-rah coach. One thing that’s intriguing about the NBA is that you don’t have as many different hats to wear. You get to coach. But college basketball has been good to me . . . hopefully I’ll be in it for a long time.
Q. What was the feeling of having your team play in front of a basketball world-record crowd of 78,129 Saturday against Kentucky at Ford Field?
A. Honestly, the world attendance mark was the last thing on my mind. Of course, [trying to win] the game came first. The record was insignificant. Records are made to be broken. But in my wildest dreams, I never thought the setting would be as incredible as it was. Unfortunately, the game didn’t end up that way for us.
Q. You were a high school classmate and friend of Steve Mariucci in Iron Mountain, Mich., as well as his roommate at Northern Michigan. How strange is it that you are head coach at Michigan State and Steve is head coach of the Lions?
A. Ironically, Steve came to our practice Friday night at Ford Field. It seems like our whole careers have been kind of dreams come true. It has been kind of a storybook both ways. And it culminated with getting him back here in Detroit. You don’t have a lot of best friends in this business. You get a lot of phony friends. He has been a best friend and he has been that way for a long, long time.
Q. The Spartans have lost three in a row to national powers Duke, Oklahoma and Kentucky. Was your pre-Big Ten schedule overly ambitious?
A. I can see why some guys schedule games some ways. We bit off a little bit more than we could chew. The only regret is the timing, maybe the fact we didn’t put a more winnable game between them. . . . I don’t think we’ve played as well as we can. There’s been a big letdown with defense and rebounding, which has been [our] staple for eight years.
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E-mail: AskFred@tribune.com
