New Kennesaw State basketball coach Lewis Preston is focused on bringing more integrity to the Owls program. He said he wants recruits with character, assistant coaches with good work ethics and the players he has inherited to understand that his plan for success doesn't come with shortcuts.
There is work to do, which started when Preston officially showed up for his first day on Monday.
The program is coming off an 8-23 season and expects the NCAA later this summer to take away scholarships and practice time for the 2011-12 season because of the team's poor academic performance.
The circumstances don't intimidate Preston. He points to his father, who worked three jobs, including a 40-hour-per-week occupation as a crane operator in a steel mill in Virginia, as evidence that he's also not one to shy away from challenges.
"There's nothing as humbling as working in a steel mill or cleaning offices to make you understand the value of what you want out of life," he said.
Q: Most of your career you've worked at schools that focus on football. Kennesaw State doesn't have football yet. How will you handle the spotlight of being the focal sport, especially during the first two years when the APR scores will likely negatively affect the team's performance?
A: I'm not going to focus on the negative effects. Having the opportunity to work at Notre Dame, the University of Florida, as well as Penn State, with those three programs, I've also seen you can have successful basketball programs as well.
Being the focal-point sport here, I think it's a great opportunity, there's great visibility. More importantly, my job is to going to be to get out in the community and make sure that I'm seen, not only in the school but also in the general community. I'm looking forward to that. I'm excited about it. I think it will be a new challenge for me and my family as well.
Q: You said you want to run an up-and-down offense. Can you provide any similarities to things you've done in the past?
A: It's a variety of what we did while I was an assistant at Florida, also some different things, motion-offense-wise, at Notre Dame, even some different things we did at Penn State. It will be a combination of all three.
Q: What is your recruiting philosophy? Are you looking for athletes?
A: First of all, I look for character. Second, I look for men with high basketball IQs. I think you also have to have young men who understand what it means to be a student-athlete. And the great thing about the greater metro Atlanta population is you have a bunch of student-athletes that follow that mold or fit within those guidelines. Talent is important, but we also want to make sure we have great young men who will represent Kennesaw State University.
Q: With the academic issues the team has had, when recruiting are you going to shy away from those who might have any issues with their classroom work or you think may have an inability to handle the college class load to make sure this cycle doesn't continue?
A: I don't think I will necessarily shy away from them. I think the most important thing my staff and I will do is a thorough analysis of them academically. If we feel like they can't do the work here at KSU, it's best for both parties that we move on.
Q: How will your assistant coaches complement your skills? What will you be looking for out of those hires?
A: I'm looking for men that are eager to get to work. We have some great opportunities here. One of the things you'll learn about me over the course of time is I get into the office early and leave late. I'm going to want coaches that will complement me that way.
Q: Are you looking at guys with college experience or high school experience to complete your staff?
A: With a combination. I'm not necessarily wrapped up into the AAU ties because at the end of the day its going to be me that they are going to look for to close the deal.
