Bobby Gonzalez Unplugged

Seton Hall just held a conference call with Bobby Gonzalez to announce his three-year contract extension, and as usual there were some interesting comments about various members of the media and his goals and plans for recruiting and the long term.

The call began 20 minutes after it was supposed to because Gonzo said he had to discipline a player for missing class this morning.

“Anytime a guy misses class, we make him run,” Gonzalez said.

Here are some specific quotes:

ON SECURITY IN RECRUITING

“Very, very excited to have this announcement made, especially right before the season. I just think it makes a statement about our hard work of our kids, our coaches and our program.

“When I started we were picked 15th in the league, We’ve built it to the point where we’re being talked about in competition with the upper-echelon teams in the league…those things are all potential and we haven’t done it yet, but the fact that those things are being discussed means we’re heading in the right direction.”

“Security is important with recruiting and with all the people who are following the program. I want to know the school’s committed to me and the school wants to know I’m committed to them.”

ON THE PRESSURE TO PERFORM

“I think it’s completely the opposite, 360 degrees in the other direction.. I’m not coming off of 20 losses or one winning season in the last five years…I think there’s a feeling out there we need to win 20, 25 games to go to the NCAAs, if not, how many years do I have on left on my contract, what’s my situation with monsignor leaving because he was the person who hired me…if anything, this would clarify that the only pressure will be self-induced.”

WHAT THE EXTENSION DOES IN PRACTICAL TERMS

“I understand there might have been a little controversy following me, especially after my second year and I got into trouble after the Rutgers game. There was the infamous Lenny Robbins article. And Pat Forde, who continues to say I’m on the hot seat, who I guess is a Louisville beat writer who works for ESPN, all those guys who continue to participate in this gang-up every spring. Rival coaches tend to pick up on that and it hurts your recruiting.

“I think this thing shuts everybody up and let’s everybody know, all this must not be true, it must be rumor, it must be inaccurate. Seton Hall has stepped up, they’re behind him, they must believe in him. It shuts everybody up—rivals, media, everybody.

GONZO’S SPECIFIC GOALS FOR THE SEASON

“We’ve got to continue to try to get ahead of Rutgers and St. John’s. We’ve got to try to get from that bottom six and fight like cats and dogs like crazy to get into that top 10. Some people might say we’ll end up in the top six, I hope we do, heck we’ll have a parade if we’re one through six. But realistically it’s not easy to jump up…we’d like to be in the high side of that 6-10. If you’re in the high side, like six, seven or eight, you’ve got a better chance of going to the NCAAs. That’s the next goal we have.”

“I wanted to get into the postseason in my third year, I think the Michael Glover thing set us back, not making excuses. To me I feel I’m putting pressure on myself to get into the postseason. The NIT is a lot harder to get into than it used to be. I’m not going to be satisfied with the NIT, and I know fans won’t be. I want this team to got to the NCAAs. I’m not going to sugarcoat it.

“So we’ve got to do better than the other teams in the metropolitan area, we’ve got to be in the top 10 (in the league), and we’ve got to make the NCAAs.”

HOW THE EXTENSION CAME ABOUT

“When I came here two of the last three coaches had been let go, one coach, Tommy Amaker, had success. There’s obviously been a lot of changes. I came in and we started out being picked 15 th out of 16. I think because of the slow steady progress we’ve made the first three years in the league, how hard this league is, where we were when I got here, I think that’s why the administration looked at what we’ve done so far, the possibility of what he can do, and if there’s a chance to be positive and promote somebody, you’ve got to do it. You look at college basketball and there are scandals all over the place.”

SENATOR CODEY ACTING AS HIS AGENT

“This is something that’s been in the works for a while. Senator [Richard] Codey has been very influential. He’s been helping out, sort of representing me, almost like a quasi-agent. He’s a wonderful supporter of the program.

STATE OF SETON HALL’S PROGRAM RIGHT NOW

“When I got here I wanted to establish our style of play, try to improve the buzz around the program in terms of the energy level, do a better job of keeping local kids home…for the most part we’ve accomplished all those things. I wanted to get to 20 wins and at least the NIT in our third year. We were very close. We had some setbacks.

“It’s taken some time, now going into our fourth year we’re now caught up and where we want to be. It’s the first roster we had that has the depth, talent and quickness. Where we can play the way I want to play…We’ve proven ourselves offensively, and people said our teams have been fun to watch but they’re not always consistent defensively…now we have to be tougher on the glass, we have to do a better job in our half-court defense when we come back from our full-court press.

“Yes we’ve taken a lot of chances on some borderline students, transfers, tough kids, JUCO kids, but now we’re getting involved with a higher level of player, a little bit of a better student, a more well-rounded kid.

“The last part of it we have to win. We can talk about this that and that and the other thing, and the school giving me the extension in phenomenal, but you know, in the metropolitan area it’s an event-driven world and you have to win.

“Somebody in the metropolitan area needs to take the bull by the horns and become a destination spot for those local kids. They continue to believe they have to leave to get to the NCAA Tournament, they can’t stay home and win. They have to go to some big-name place to get to the NCAA Tournament, and we’ve got to try to change that.

ON THE NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

“We know that some people have taken shots at us and said our non-conference schedule, and that’s fine. Only thing we can say to that, and it’s not me being defensive, is that word got out we’ve got four starters coming back and a couple of kids who sat out and hey, it’s not a great time to play Seton Hall. We had a hard time getting glamour teams. We did the best we could…

“My philosophy is, you’ve got to win enough games in this conference. You win enough games in this conference, you’re going to go the NCAA Tournament regardless of this non-conference schedule. That’s my take on what we need to do this year to go to the NCAA.

“It’s easier sometimes to get on a two-year track with scheduling than a one-year track. We’re in conversations with Minnesota and Dayton about coming to Seton Hall and playing us at home next year. We’re in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands. We’re in the Big East-SEC Challenge.

“I don’t worry too much about the team not being ready to play tough Big East competition. You may think this it’s a cop-out if I try to sell Cornell or UMass and Temple…but you get challenged…when you have four starter turning, when you have guys who sat on the bench and watched last year, I’m not worried about beign ready. It’s tough in the Big East no matter who you play.”

“This idea that we got cold feet (in making the schedule), that’s an unfair rap. We were willing to play just about anybody at any time, from Kentucky to Kansas to whoever. We were trying to get one or two glamour games at home, a couple of big-name teams that were willing to come into our building so we could get sellouts, excitement, and make money to so we could help our guaranteed money. The problem was people didn’t want to come here because they knew we were going to be good. We said OK we’ll start the series at your place but you have to return the game the following year. That’s where some of the big boys said, we’ll play you at our place but we’re not returning the game. There’s a lot more to the story than got out there. It’s a little unfair to say we got cold feet. We said yes to a couple of situations but they just couldn’t happen because of exams and TV.

“It was a combination of a lot of things, but I think some of that reputation of us being unwilling to play people was a little unfair and a little undeserved.”

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