Army West Point Athletics
Ask The AD - January 12, 2007
January 17, 2007 | General
Rich DeMarco: Hello everyone! Rich DeMarco, back for another edition of “Ask the AD”. Your chance to ask questions of Army athletic director Kevin Anderson, and have Kevin Anderson answer your questions about the Army athletic department.
Here is how the show works. Just log onto the official web site of Army athletics, www.goarmysports.com, click on the “Ask the AD” button, you can submit your question there, then Kevin Anderson and I get together once a month to answer your questions about the Army athletic department. Just a reminder, not every question we can get to on the show. But, we will get back to you and direct your question through the proper channels about Army athletics.
Well, Kevin, Happy New Year! Good to be back with you on another edition of “Ask the AD”.
Kevin Anderson: Hey, Rich. Happy New Year to you and to all of the fans out there! It is good to be with you once again.
RD: Kevin, lets start with a very award bestowed by the NCAA at the recent NCAA Convention in Orlando, Fla., to Derek Hines. The great Army hockey player, who was killed in military action was honored with an award. Just talk to me about how it felt to have Army athletics and Derek Hines recognized at that convention.
KA: Rich, I was actually able to present the award to Mr. Hines. This is a very special award. You know, it is sad. We would rather have Derek with us. But the NCAA was so moved by Derek’s story and how his men over in Afghanistan responded to his death and to his leadership, that the NCAA awarded Derek the Award of Valor. Only 10 people have won this award, and the award is 34 years old. So, it tells you how special this award is. Mr. Hines accepted it on behalf of his family, and it was a very moving ceremony. It made me proud to be part of the Army family. But it is sad too because Derek died at such and young age and it is still very much fresh with us. I am just glad that we were able to be a part of this celebration of this award, celebrating Derek’s life.
RD: Kevin, when you drive around West Point and drive through the athletic venues, Michie Stadium, Holleder Center, you’ll notice the Foley Athletic Center is as close to completion as it is going to be the indoor training facility, which will be utilized by so many of Army’s athletic teams, especially the football team, talk to me about its progression.
KA: Well, we’ve always been waiting for the Foley indoor athletic facility to open up. By Feb. 14, I’ve been promised that we will have everything done inside the building. We are doing some workouts in there right now. It’s bigger. It’s better than I ever thought or imagined that it would be. I know Coach Ross is happy, the superintendent is happy, and it is going to service all our cadet-athletes. It’s going to help us become better at what we do. So, we are starting to slowly work in there now. By Feb. 14, we will be full steam ahead. It’s just wonderful to have Army athletics with another facility such as this.
RD: Time to get to questions here on “Ask the AD”. And, just a reminder to log on, to www.goarmysports.com, click on the “Ask the AD” button if you have a question for Army athletic director, Kevin Anderson.
Kevin, we start with Michael Garrett from San Francisco, Calif., and he has a question about the Army men’s basketball team. “With 10 non-conference wins this season, what has been the reason for the Black Knights’ turnaround more wins this season than the last two seasons combined?”.
KA: Well, I’m very happy with the progress. One thing that Coach Crews and I talked about last year was that we knew we were going to have to be patient to bring in the kind of athletes he has to run his system. It was a matter of time before things turned around and we were going to see some success. We are seeing this now. Coach Crews is a great basketball coach, who comes from a great basketball tradition. He has worked with some great people. Who better to learn how to coach basketball from than Coach (Bobby) Knight. I’m not surprised. The wins were slower than we wanted them to be. But, know we are starting to see the fruit bear with our hard work and our patience. We could go into league play and compete in the league now. The last couple of years it was more difficult. I believe the program is on the up swing, and I think bigger and better things are still yet to happen.
RD: Talking about the other Army basketball program, Ray Cozeby from Spring Lake, N.J., wants to know about the Army women’s basketball team. As you and I talk right now, winners of 10 games in a row, 15-2 on the season and opening up defense of their Patriot League regular-season title from a year ago, starting out 2-0 in the league.
KA: Again, we are not only excited about the start of the season, but where the women are right now. This year is very different from last year because last year we were the hunters. This year we knew we were going to be hunted. To be quite frank with you, and I’ve talked to Coach Magarity about this, we were a little concerned about how we would react to that. Last year, we surprised a lot of people. It wasn’t until the middle of the season that people started taking us seriously. From the get-go, we knew we were going to have people coming into our house and have to go out to the opposing sites and play hard and have the expectation that people knew we were good, and have people looking at us on the schedule and say, “That is going to be a hard game. We are going to play one of our best games because we are playing the champions.”
Again, the women have responded tremendously. I’m just looking for the season to progress, and hopefully, everything works out so that we can enjoy the same fruits of last year.
RD: Kevin, our final question about football, and would you believe it, football season is right around the corner spring practice begins in just a few weeks. Scott Sutera from Oak Ridge, N.J., wants to know when the 2007 schedule will be released.
KA: I’m happy to say that next week we will be releasing the 2007 schedule. I appreciate everybody being patient with us. There are a couple of games and a couple of changes that have been made at the last minute. But, I think they behoove the Army football team and I think it will put us in a position to be competitive. Again, our goal is to go to a bowl game and win the Commander In Chief’s Trophy. I truly believe that we are in a position to do that. Coach Ross feels very good about his staff and the 2007 football team. So, we will be announcing that next week. There will be a couple of announcements concerning Army football next week. So, I hope everyone stays tuned.
RD: Kevin, always good to be with you on another edition of “Ask the AD”. We will catch up with you again in early February for our next show
KA: Rich, thanks again. It is always a pleasure to be with you.
RD: That’s Army director of athletics, Kevin Anderson. If you have questions for Army director of athletics Kevin Anderson. Just submit them on the army web site, www.goarmysports.com and click on the “Ask the AD” button. Rich DeMarco saying so long and have a great day!
