Q & A With Interm Head Coach Matt Gianiodis
11/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
Nov. 17, 2003
This is your first head-coaching job, how is being a head coach different from being an assistant? You have to deal with more administrative issues. I think parts of it may take me away from dealing with the kids one-on-one.
Do you think there is extra pressure in a job at a Big Ten school like MSU? Yes, definitely. The school is so big, there is a heightened visibility level. What we do impacts so many more people than it does at a smaller school.
Did being involved in the program for so long before you took the head coaching position help? I got to work for two good guys, Richard Bader and Jim Lutz. Watching how Richard operated, especially administratively, helped me out very much as head coach. Being at the school has made me more familiar with the program, and I already knew the players.
What has surprised you about the difference between being a head coach and being an assistant coach? When I was an assistant coach I just had a lot more time to do things. Being the head coach requires a lot more time, but the day moves by a lot faster now.
What do you hope to contribute to the program now that you are the head coach? I hope we continue to do things well from an academic standpoint. Our team has a very good academic reputation. Student-athletes graduating from this program and leading productive lives, that's always our number one priority. We try to get represented at the NCAA Tournament, that's what gets major points for our department.
What are the strongest points of your team? Sprinters are one of our strong points because we have recruited a lot of them, but our men's team is deeper than it has been in years. We have some good young divers, but the strongest point of our team is the leadership from the captains. We also have a great staff this year who can get our kids ready to go.
What do you think your biggest challenge will be in the upcoming season? Meeting the individual needs for every student-athlete. The most difficult things will be making do with the numbers we have, in addition to being one coach short this season because of the transition.
What are your goals for this season? We want to focus on the Big Ten first. We need people to score in the Big Ten and in the NCAA Tournament as well. And as an extension of that, we would like to get people onto Olympic teams, whether it be Turkish, South African, Canadian or U.S.