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The Preeminent One!
MVSU coach hopes to cut down on non-conference travel
By:Tim Kalich, Editor 06/20/2006
The Delta Devils started the season with nine consecutive non-conference games on the road, all of them losses, many by lopsided margins.
Green, who inherited that schedule, told the Greenwood Rotary Club Monday he doesn't want a repeat of that long journey.
Although the schedule hasn't been finalized for the 2006-2007 season, Green said he expects MVSU will play five non-conference games on the road and at least three at home.
Among the possible road games is a trip to Green's alma mater, Ole Miss. He's had talks as well with USC, Creighton and Kentucky. Green also is working on a deal to have a home-and-home series with Central Arkansas and McNeese State.
MVSU, as with many schools from the lower profile conferences, is forced to go on the road early in the season against power teams as a way to generate revenue for its program.
"In our league, we go play games for money in non-conference. ... There is no shame in that," Green said.
Although Green is hoping to bring in as much as $50,000 per non-conference road trip, last season's schedule was too much of a good thing for his players, the coach said.
"The time away from class when you play all your games on the road is tough."
Green said it's also difficult to build up a team's confidence for conference play when it starts the year on a long losing skid. Plus, Green said, he feels he can build fan support for the rest of the season by scheduling at least some games at home in November and December.
Green, a former head coach at the University of Southern Mississippi, was hired at MVSU in July last year. The late start put him behind in recruiting as well as adapting his players to a new, more patient offensive approach. MVSU finished the season 9-19 and in sixth place in the SWAC.
Five players who started at some point in the season will be returning next year.
Green is counting on Ronald Alexander getting a medical redshirt to return for one more season.
Alexander, who was voted in 2005 as the SWAC's preseason defensive player of the year, had an abbreviated senior campaign. The 7-footer saw only 10 minutes of playing time before a cracked bone in his hand and Crohn's disease, a digestive disorder, ended his year.
Green said he was pleased with his first recruiting effort at the school.
"We feel like we filled some needs both in ball-handling, perimeter shooting and toughness," he said.
On Monday, Green was going a little incognito, sporting a salt-and-pepper beard.
"When you play a season and only win nine ballgames, you try to hide all summer long," the coach joked.
By:Tim Kalich, Editor 06/20/2006
The Delta Devils started the season with nine consecutive non-conference games on the road, all of them losses, many by lopsided margins.
Green, who inherited that schedule, told the Greenwood Rotary Club Monday he doesn't want a repeat of that long journey.
Although the schedule hasn't been finalized for the 2006-2007 season, Green said he expects MVSU will play five non-conference games on the road and at least three at home.
Among the possible road games is a trip to Green's alma mater, Ole Miss. He's had talks as well with USC, Creighton and Kentucky. Green also is working on a deal to have a home-and-home series with Central Arkansas and McNeese State.
MVSU, as with many schools from the lower profile conferences, is forced to go on the road early in the season against power teams as a way to generate revenue for its program.
"In our league, we go play games for money in non-conference. ... There is no shame in that," Green said.
Although Green is hoping to bring in as much as $50,000 per non-conference road trip, last season's schedule was too much of a good thing for his players, the coach said.
"The time away from class when you play all your games on the road is tough."
Green said it's also difficult to build up a team's confidence for conference play when it starts the year on a long losing skid. Plus, Green said, he feels he can build fan support for the rest of the season by scheduling at least some games at home in November and December.
Green, a former head coach at the University of Southern Mississippi, was hired at MVSU in July last year. The late start put him behind in recruiting as well as adapting his players to a new, more patient offensive approach. MVSU finished the season 9-19 and in sixth place in the SWAC.
Five players who started at some point in the season will be returning next year.
Green is counting on Ronald Alexander getting a medical redshirt to return for one more season.
Alexander, who was voted in 2005 as the SWAC's preseason defensive player of the year, had an abbreviated senior campaign. The 7-footer saw only 10 minutes of playing time before a cracked bone in his hand and Crohn's disease, a digestive disorder, ended his year.
Green said he was pleased with his first recruiting effort at the school.
"We feel like we filled some needs both in ball-handling, perimeter shooting and toughness," he said.
On Monday, Green was going a little incognito, sporting a salt-and-pepper beard.
"When you play a season and only win nine ballgames, you try to hide all summer long," the coach joked.
