April 13, 2007
Dr. Dougherty:
"Good afternoon, I thank you for all coming. We are in the midst of a significant renewal in our commitment to excellence in Duquesne Athletics. Two years ago we brought in a new and creative Athletic Director. Last year we added a new basketball coach to our men's program, who had an outstanding first year and we're looking for great things next year. Most recently we built on our winning tradition in football to elevate it to a new league and to add scholarships. At that time we also announced new scholarships next year for women's programs in lacrosse, soccer, and cross country. Today is another significant chapter in that important journey of when we add new leadership to our women's basketball program. We intend to be excellent across the board. We intend to win. We intend to be competitive in the Atlantic 10 and beyond. We're just pleased to have Suzie McConnell-Serio with us. And to turn it over now to Greg Amodio our Athletic Director."
Greg Amodio:
"Just a few comments, I'll keep it brief. I want to thank everyone for coming out and welcome everyone here to our campus today. We have a couple of thanks I would like to extend to our selection committee who worked very hard in taking a look at the various profiles that were offered to us and ultimately deciding on a final candidate that made the most sense for Duquesne and for our future. And as always to Dr. Dougherty for his continued leadership and support in all that we do down here in Duquesne Athletics. We're fortunate enough today to announce to you the new women's basketball coach at Duquesne. An individual that many of you are very familiar with, that brings a great deal of energy, fire, passion, and experience to our program from all that she has done and been involved in as a player and as a coach. We really look at this as a great opportunity to elevate our program to a whole new level with a whole new mindset and a whole new coach. I would like to introduce to you the new women's basketball coach at Duquesne University, Suzie McConnell-Serio."
Suzie McConnell Serio:
"Thank you very much. First I'd like to thank Dr. Dougherty for this opportunity and also Greg Amodio for this opportunity as well. The opportunity for me to go to college coaching is at an ideal time. I'm excited to be a part of Duquesne. I think Duquesne is one of the best kept secrets in Pittsburgh having been around the campus and seeing what it has to offer. I believe our student athletes will have the best of both worlds. Going through this process and evaluating where I wanted to be it took all of ten minutes to realize Duquesne was a great fit for me. After meeting with Greg Amodio and seeing his commitment, his vision, the passion that he has, the energy, the enthusiasm, this was the place I wanted to be. Then through the process meeting with Dr. Dougherty getting to know him and being a part of once again a catholic unity, having grown up in the Catholic school and coaching at a catholic high school in the area, this just has everything that benefits me getting into college coaching at this time. I had the opportunity to meet with my team , my new team now, as you see them standing here and I'm excited and thrilled about the opportunity to work with these young ladies and what they have to offer. We are excited about the challenge of bringing tradition to Duquesne and building a program that we can be very, very proud of. The mentality with talking with our players is the mentality that we are trying to change here at Duquesne that we have the team that can compete in the Atlantic 10. Our goal is to bring a championship to Duquesne and to be in the NCAA tournament and to become a national contender. That is our goal and I'm excited about the opportunity to get in to college coaching and thank Greg and Dr. Dougherty for giving me the opportunity. I thank my husband, Pete who is here. With our four children being from Pittsburgh is just a bonus. Giving me the opportunity to have the best of both worlds, being a college coach and being a mother of four. We are very excited as a family to be a part of the Duquesne family and hopefully I can be extended family for these players as well in terms of environment that we would look to create here as with the women's program."
Question Segment:
Q: "Suzie this is kind of the piece to the puzzle that's been missing for you. I mean you've done everything in the pros and high school and player level and now you get to coach at the college level that kind of makes it, I mean, completes your professional career for coaching."
A: "Well it's a matter of opportunity for me to get into college. Duquesne is a great academic institution. There's a lot to offer with the basketball program as well. But this is not a level I'm looking at for doing something I haven't done before. I think what being in all coaching period, one aspect I shied away from was the recruiting because of having had children. My children are now older, they are willing to be a part of this. They are excited about my ability and my challenge of being at the college level. So having that support means a lot for me to be able to do that because I know to be successful that I need to put in a lot of time and be able to work very, very hard to be successful. I have that support then makes all the difference for me."
Q: "Suzie did you consider other college coaching positions? I know there's an opening in central Pennsylvania."
A: "Hahaha. No, with that whole situation I think that became more of a perception then anything. I know you're talking about Penn State and having played at Penn State everyone thought that was the natural progression becoming the next coach. But for me this was the perfect fit. Being able to build a program from where they are now, it excites me more about the challenge of where Duquesne can be. The vision that I have of being successful and bringing tradition to Duquesne. So was there consideration, yes absolutely, but this was the perfect for me.
Q: "Greg what convinced you that Suzie would be the perfect here?"
A: "I think that when you look at, again, her track record of various experiences as a player and a coach she can relate to both, being a mentor to our team, but also having been in their shoes playing at a high level, whether it be at the high school level, college, pro, Olympics, all the experiences that they know. And again, a great fire and a great energy for who we are and what we're about and where we want to take the program. And we laughed a little, it's a collision of two Pittsburgh traditions, the McConnells and Duquesne, and bringing those two together and taking it to a new level.
Q: "Suzie, how does this challenge compare to your other coaching opportunities?"
A: "I think they're very similar. When I took over at Oakland Catholic, they were a year old, as Oakland Catholic, because two schools had merged and were not very successful in their first year. And so there was a situation where I remember my players specifically saying `Oakland Catholic, we don't have an identity'. And right with that part of our answer was `we'll create our own identity'. And that comes in with what we need to do at Duquesne. To create that identity of who we have to be, who do we want to become. And when I went to Minnesota it was a franchise that had not made the playoffs in franchise history and in my first two seasons we were able to make the playoffs. So I look at it as a challenge of a struggling program that through our hard work, determination, and having the right people. You have to have the right personnel as far as the staff and as far as players that are willing to make the commitment to work to be able to change it. So this to me is very similar and that's what excites me about this opportunity. I'm not going into it with a team that has been successful and I have to try and maintain that. This is, we have to build the tradition and work for the success and I'm up for the challenge.
Q: "Do you hire a guy named Pete Serio as an assistant?"
A: (Laughter from the table). "No I'm not letting that happen". (Laughter continues). "I don't even spend 24 hours a day with anybody." (Laughter continues). "That won't happen".
Q: "Suzie, were you actively looking for a coaching job or was it timing, the fact you were back in Pittsburgh, that everything just fell in line at the right time?"
A: "Well I believe things happen for a reason. We had moved away to Minnesota, we uprooted, moved. Then when things didn't work out in Minnesota we decided to come back to Pittsburgh, this is home for us. As I said Duquesne being in Pittsburgh is a bonus because I wanted to get into college coaching. If it would have meant moving obviously we would have considered that aspect, but, Duquesne has everything to offer. And what triggered it was actually very common in coaching, that I had his number, he had my number and I've got to learn how the process works. Sometimes people go after who they want, but then you have to be aggressive and go after it. So that kind of initiated the contact between the two of us and from there it just took off. Q: "Who called who?"
A: (laughter). "I called Greg".
Q: "Greg, what kind of reactions have you received since the news release?"
A: "Everything has been tremendously positive. Obviously, in the Pittsburgh community everyone is well aware of Suzie and where she's been and what she's done. But even having the opportunity to be on the conference calls yesterday and today with some of the Athletic Directors from the Atlantic 10 and how complimentary they were of the move and the hiring of Suzie and what she brings to the table and how that will elevate our women's basketball program and along with that the idea of what we've done with the men's basketball program and how that will elevate. I think it's giving people a different idea about Duquesne and about what we're trying to do here from an athletic standpoint and how we're trying to elevate the entire program across the board.
Suzie's additional comments: "And if I may add something, and I know when I was hired to be the coach at Duquesne here and obviously that bring some recognition immediately. But I'll take that, being the face of Duquesne women's basketball right now, but look to the side of the room, right there, they need to be the face of Duquesne women's basketball and those are the people that I want you to read about. Because that is why any college coach, that for me..., yes I have a passion for basketball. I love coaching. But because of those ladies right there I have an opportunity to make a difference in their lives on the basketball court and hopefully beyond."
Q: "Can you talk a little about style of play you want to have".
A: "I'm very excited. I have an opportunity the next couple of weeks to work individually with the players and I'll have a better mindset of what we're looking for. But, traditionally, having been a point guard, I have an uptempo style and get out and run and allow players to create. But you utilize your personnel. As far as run, run and jump, man to man, zone, whatever it takes, obviously you have a game-plan and make adjustments. But getting to know these players and what style and what suit they play but hopefully we'll bring an exciting style of basketball to Duquesne. And the atmosphere that we want to create is one that I've been a part of in the Palumbo Center as a high school coach and we want to create an exciting atmosphere and sell out the Palumbo Center. So we want fans to come watch us play and we know to do that we need to win."
Q: "Suzie, what was the first thing you said to the players and what were their reactions when you met with them?"
A: "I don't think they said more than two words." (laughter). "I just introduced myself, I talked about expectations, what we need to do from now until October 15th will determine how successful we will be as a team. Because players are made in the off-season. And so working with them and talking about who will be here for summer working with them. Just having the opportunity to see where their skill set is right now and what we need to do."
