June 4, 2009
• Follow Lange on Twitter
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- NavySports.com recently sat down with head men's basketball coach Billy Lange to discuss what has been happening during the offseason. Lange talked about wide range of topics ranging from subjects such as scheduling to his Twitter page.
NavySports.com: You hosted a coaches' roundtable a few weeks ago that brought in several collegiate coaches from around the area. How did that get started and what did it entail?
Lange: After the spring of 2007, I started putting together a group of guys to get together and just have a brainstorming session to talk basketball. Last year, it was at Robert Morris and our goal was to always bring it down here. We had about 40 coaches come in from all levels (NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NBA, former coaches, TV personalities) and just talk basketball. We had a couple of keynote speakers that talked about a couple of main points, but for the most part, it was just an open forum where guys talked basketball for a day-and-a-half. It was excellent.
NavySports.com: Who were some of the coaches that attended?
Lange: Well, we had Steve Donahue from Cornell, had John Giannini from La Salle, Joe Mihalich from Niagara, Mark Phelps from Drake, Mike Rice from Robert Morris, Steve Seymour (former asst. coach at Virginia), Pete Gillen (former head coach at Virginia), the list goes on and on. I am forgetting some and I apologize, but we had so many guys that its hard to remember them all. It was just very laid back and casual. We just picked brains about everything relating to the game. Our job has become year-encompassing. Coaching and your team with exact X's and O's only goes on during the season, but your game prep and practice prep, thinking about your team, plus recruiting and alumni and camps, doesn't give you an opportunity to step outside and talk about the game. I have been a big believer in that you have to get better in your craft. For me personally, I am not looking at any big changes systematically, but little things that I can pick up on or hear about something is what we were looking for.
NavySports.com: How did the spring workouts go for the players? What were your thoughts on the spring?
Lange: The spring was a weird dynamic, because all of a sudden, guys that were a huge part of your program for four years aren't around anymore. We were kind of joking around as a staff that after our first year here, we were doing spring workouts with the returning guys that we were going to implement with guys like Adam (Teague) and Kaleo (Kina), in particular. Their personalities were so dominating in terms of communication skills, that it was almost like a new team this spring. With that being said, you could say we return four starters, had Romeo (Garcia) been healthy this past year. We use the spring as an opportunity to have guys play different roles with each other. We spend a lot of time playing 3-on-3. It gives guys individual attention and allows them to work on skills that we think they need to work on. Usually at the end of the year, I will have a list of things that I think they need to work on and then I will ask them what they think they need to improve on. We formulate a condensed list together. Those guys are out there working on their games during the spring and our hope is that it translates to the summer and they work on those things on their own when we can't be with them. Most of our guys will be here for at least a month and will work out together. I want to say that we had a phenomenal spring and the guys really worked hard and I was very encouraged by what they did.
NavySports.com: How is the scheduling for next year going?
Lange: We thought we had our schedule finished about a month ago. Some things have changed. We have had some decent success in the last few years getting games that we wanted, but its not as easy as it once was. We have to look at different avenues and don't want to overschedule ourselves, but keep it at a level where its going to be competitive and have us healthy physically and mentally heading into Patriot League play. Right now, as it stands on June 4, we are not completed yet and still have to find a few games here and there. We are in discussions with people, so its not like we have no one interested, we just have to finish it. We open at Radford who is fresh off an NCAA Tournament berth and could be hoisting a banner that night. We play Mount St. Mary's at home, George Washington in the BB&T Classic which is before Villanova against Maryland, so that will be a great opportunity for us in front of a big crowd. The whole schedule is going to be challenging. We have Towson again, Penn, Seton Hall and Wofford, all who should have strong seasons. I'm excited about where our guy's minds are. I am not afraid to play anybody, but with the state of the world economically, that we are doing things in a fiscal sense for our athletic department. We want to schedule games that alleviates the amount of class time we miss, but gives us a fair chance to step out and play some good teams. It's a great schedule that we have right now. I was talking to Mike Rice (head coach at Robert Morris) and I asked him who will be good in their league next year (Northeast Conference). He said the top four will be Robert Morris, Mount St. Mary's, Quinnipiac and Long Island. We are playing Mount St. Mary's and Long Island and are in discussions with the others. I don't want to overschedule and we can't underschedule, so it has to be a competitive balance. I don't have a goal record-wise non-conference, its just to be as good as we can be.
NavySports.com: Everything going well recruiting?
Lange: I am encouraged by our group coming in and we can talk about that when its pertinent to the Academy's rules. There is no reason to not be positive with these guys for the next four years. We feel it is a very good class. Now we look at where our roster will be in the next couple of years and try to find the right players. We can be a little more position-specific, but it still comes down to three things. 1) The kid's character and leadership skills, 2) his work ethic in the classroom to come to here and be successful, and 3) how good of a basketball player is he. If we only want a point guard and fits all three things we look at, but is only a three-man, if he is good enough to help us, we will still take him and figure it out. One of the things when I talk to other coaches about why we have been able to make an ascension in our league, they talk about our flexibility and personnel, and how versatile our players are. You find a way to find a spot for your best players, regardless of position. We have a list by position of targeted guys, but in the end, you want the best players you can get. What has helped us the most is our staff continuity. We have hard-working guys recruiting and once we get them on campus, our guys are great to be around. Our AD, Chet Gladchuk, has made a great commitment to our facilities. With the overall environment, culture and success of the team of the last couple of years and the chance to go to a great institution, it all comes together.
NavySports.com: I know a question on a lot of Navy fans' minds is how is Romeo (Garcia) feeling?
Lange: Since the season ended, we took our time in getting him better. We were aggressive in his rehabilitation and strength, but unaggressive in terms of pushing him to a point where he could re-injure himself. I think Romeo would be the first person to tell you that a lot of what happened over the last three weeks of our season was more mental than physical. Part of the reason he was tentative was he just didn't think he could get in the flow again. We have worked very hard to get him better. Adam Pecina (trainer) and Justin Livezey (strength coach) are just phenomenal and we could not have a better support staff in that aspect. Then Ray Chronister (trainer) got involved and put Romeo through some exercises that addressed the mental part and got Romeo more comfortable with his workouts and his hamstrings. Since then, Romeo has gone home and feels great. He is going to come back to work out before taking a summer class. I think he will be 100 percent, and he will have to get over some of the mental fear of re-injury. That is natural for anyone. He has got scar tissue in there and when you pull or tear scar tissue, it feels like you are tearing ligament or muscle. He is almost feeling the same thing as when he popped it the first time, so he is learning how to get over that. We missed him last year, no doubt about it. I am watching every defensive possession in succession from last year right now, and with Romeo playing in just seven games basically against seven very good teams in December (Radford, Texas-San Antonio, Penn, Virginia Tech, Mount St. Mary's, Canisius and Villanova), we were an unbelievable defensive team during that span. When he is on the floor, we are just much better. His loss is a significant loss and a lot of people don't see that by statistics but he does so many little things. His offensive role needs to continue to expand, but we have no reason today to believe he won't be 100 percent by October, if not earlier.
NavySports.com: We see you have a Twitter page. How much do you enjoy doing that and reaching out to the Navy basketball fans?
Lange: It's been great. We have some alums and guys out in the fleet that follow it. A lot of our players have signed up for it and its easy and convenient to get a quick message out, especially when they are on their summer cruises. Its just a way to show my personality and the personality of the Navy basketball program. I don't go overboard with it with every little detail, but its just a nice way for fans to see what we are doing in regards to the team.
Lange's Twitter page can be found at www.twitter.com/blange2.
# GO NAVY #
