Interview with John Margaritis

Interview with John Margaritis: June 8, 2004


John Margaritis was hired as the UC Riverside coach on April 22nd. He was an assistant coach for the last eight years at Northern Arizona. Coach Margaritis is very familiar with the Big West, as NAU won eight of their last nine games against Big West schools. He also was a finalist for the Cal State Northridge head coaching job that went to current coach, Tammy Holder. He is also familiar with the Riverside/Inland Empire area as he coached at Cal State San Bernardino. Cal State Northridge assistant coach, Eric Fundalewicz, was a student assistant at NAU when Coach Margaritis was coaching there.

I would like to thank, Brian Blank and Ross French of the UCR athletics media relations department, for their help in setting up the interview with Coach Margaritis.

Who is John Margaritis and what motivates him?

I am a product of my parents and where I was born. I was born in Athens, Greece. Then came here and spoke no English. Went through all the struggles, anywhere from learning the language to adjusting to bad neighborhoods.

The motivational part has changed. In the beginning I wanted to show people. Now its because I can help people. So what motivates me? If I can play any part in somebodys life in a positive way. That motivates me.

Talk about your coaching staff: Why did you decide to keep Seton who was with the previous staff?

First some background. I feel that in order for a coach to do well in a new situation, the more familiar they are with the situation the better they''ll do or they'll get to that point quicker. I felt that, if I would have a chance at any school in the country to do well at all, it's somewhere, where I've been there before or at least in the area. Being that I was at Cal State San Bernardino, I know the area. I knew something about UCR. I felt that going in; I felt I wouldn't be spinning my tires as somewhere else. In order for me to secure that, I wanted to have the type of staff that would enable me to progress quickly. So I felt that every position was important to be filled by somebody that would help us progress.

Seton is one of those pieces. He brings continuity from last year's staff to this year's staff. When I came here and I had a question about any of the players, even their names, he would help. If I needed to go down campus, he would tell me how to go there or walk me there. Now why Seton?

Well I knew Seton from before. Seton showed up to my office at Northern Arizona and asked if he could help out. He had just come back from (playing in) college, he had one more year to finish school and he was going to Northern Arizona and wanted to be a part of our basketball program. So he was student manager and he helped develop some of the former players. He was in practice. He broke down practice film. So I knew him, we worked together for a whole year. .. So I've known him for sometime. So having someone that I've known, trust and liked. And then him having the experience he's had here (at UCR) in terms of knowing the players, knowing the (athletic department) staff, and knowing the university, it was a no brainer. I really appreciate the fact they allowed me to hire the people I wanted to hire.

The reason why I hired Cathy Bogh, well she played from me at Cal State San Bernardino. She was a great leader. She took care of all the things that we as coaches aren't allowed to do. If somebody needed to be picked up and taken to the grocery store, as coaches you're not suppose to give them rides. So she was someone that would step up and do things. I found out later about all the things she would do as a leader for the team I thought that what better person than someone who is from this area. Someone who has all these people she knows. She will be able to get us involved with the community. I really feel that it's so important that we get involved with the community.

Lindsey Foster is the third assistant. She was a point guard at Northern Arizona. She really understands what we are going to teach. So if Seton and Cathy are out recruiting, Lindsey and I can run the practice and I'm not going to be worried about the other end of the floor. She's not going to be teaching something wrong. She's been with us for five years. So there's a reason for everybody and I'm glad I had the chance to hire them.


What type of offense and defense will you run?

I just think that this game is the type of game that offenses don't score points and defenses don't stop people from scoring points. People score points and people stop other people from scoring points. To me it's a lot more important, instead of what offense I'm going run or what defense I'm going to run, is how well will I be able to teach our players to understand whats going on around them. My approach to the game is such that instead of teaching somebody or guiding somebody to run an offense or a defense, maybe I can teach them to guide themselves through it. We would run a motion offense and we would run a man to man defense.

What was it like meeting your team for the first time?

I walked in the room. I said Hi to everybody. I knew everybodys name before I met them. I even knew a little bit about them before I met them. What I had done was I had done a scouting report of our team. So I kind of knew a little bit about each one of them. About what they did in the past. How they play. How good they are. A little bit of how they fit into what I'm trying to do. So we sat down put all the chairs in a circle and we talked. It was very comfortable. I did not want to mislead anybody. I did not want to say things; I felt they wanted to hear. I just wanted to be me. And I wanted them to be them. Well find out who we really are later, anyways.


What did you say to the team the first time you met them.

We are all in the same boat. When we are all in the boat, everybody is rowing. Nobody is going for a free ride. The other thing I told and this is straight from Pat Riley: If you fall outside the boat, meaning you have a problem, you have to be a willing participant of your own rescue. We're not going to try to help you out if you're screaming and kicking, saying "Leave me alone" You're not going to screw up and then we are saying We'll give you a chance if you dont want one.

We're not going to bring anyone in either, for next year. The reason why is when I took over about three-four week ago, there is an early date in November and thats long gone. Theres a late signing date starting in April and when I got hired that was half way through. Anybody who is left is not somebody that anybody wants otherwise they would not be left. (unsigned) I want to take a group of people we have here and work as hard as we can and start building from there. I want to build a base.

So when you go out recruiting this summer what are you looking for?

I can go to Chicago and go to the park and find five great basketball players and win games but I don't think I'll be successful. I think winning is part of being successful but its not the whole thing. I want to be able to have something that people can look at and say this is a good program and it's not just because we're winning. I want our young woman out in the community and the community says I want to go back and watch them.

I think we need to get players from this area. I'm looking for quality people. I'm looking for people who have certain abilities in terms of basketball. But also people who demonstrated that they have an interest in academics. I don't believe in tutoring and all this other stuff is how youre going to get people through college. You get somebody who wants to go through college and then demonstrate they are good students and you'll do just fine. The gpa at NAU was 3.5.

Ed. note: Coach Margaritis told me that travel at NAU was very difficult on the players as well as the coaches. NAU is in Flagstaff, AZ. The closest airport is Phoenix, which is about a two hour drive from NAU. So every trip would be four hours roundtrip from campus to the airport. So for the NAU women's basketball team to have a 3.5 GPA is even more impressive with some of the travel/time issues the players had to deal with.

How do you approach discipline?

I think coaches back themselves in a corner by having way too many rules. I think it's real simple approach. Do what is right. If you don't know what is right, ask. There is a right and a wrong and everybody really knows something about it. It's more important they understand I mean what I say, instead of what punishment is going to come. I don't want to play those games. I don't want after ten sprints later, hope that you don't do the same thing again. But I think it's important that I'm consistent with these people. But we're talking about responsibility.


What do you think about the support from the athletic department and the university?

Stan Morrison, what a wonderful person. What a great situation for me as a coach to be at the same university as he is. He has all that knowledge and experience. The other day I told him I'm going to take advantage of that (Morrisons knowledge and experience) I'll go into his office and ask What do you think about this? I can learn from him. I think you can always learn.

As we talked about before, he allowed me to hire who I wanted as my assistant coaches. That's a big things.

Talk about the process about why you wanted the head coaching job at UCR?

I always thought that if a job opened up somewhere: Would I want to be a part of that? So when the UCR job opened up, I thought: One, I know the area. Two, I know there are a lot of players I can recruit from the area. Do I want to live there? Yes. Who do I want to work for? When you have Stan Morrison, how can you not want to work for him? If you have a situation where you're a coach and you have somebody who has done so well and done exactly what you want to do. You want to be a part of that.

Talk about your schedule. Did you have many dates to fill?

No it was done. I think our schedule is not one of the toughest. It's not high on the RPI. But all the teams that we play are good teams. It will be challenging.

Whats your philosophy about scheduling?

You have a couple things. How do you spread your schedule out? Last year at NAU we had a young team. The first four games were once a week. It was almost like football. We had a whole week to prepare. The first couple days, go over the things you didn't do well last game and then you have four more days to prepare for the next team. You have to spread it out in such a way that you have a chance to prepare for your next opponent.

Then you have to do it in such a way that you give your fans an opportunity to show up. Don't play at a time when nobody can make it. Don't play at a day when youre competing with a local high school and people are trying to decide whether they want to go see their kid or you. You're going to lose out every time.

Think about at what level you want to play. You need to prepare your team, so you have to play a tough schedule. You don't want to go into conference 0-7 and pretend like its OK. So those are some of the things you look at when scheduling.

What are your impressions of the Big West Conference?

I think that it is a well coached conference. I think the coaches do a good job. I believe that its the type of conference that not all the schools have a lot of money. So we are all in the same boat. People are working really hard. I've been around coaching long enough to know that they are out there recruiting their butts off. So if they didn't get their players, it's not because they weren't trying. They will get some players because they are working hard. And the people they have, they do a good job with them. I think it will be a challenge.


In the BW, Idaho with Mike Divilbiss, has turned things around in three years. Is that the standard now for all the BW coaches?

I don't think there is a standard. The reason why I say that is you look at Mark French. He didn't turn Santa Barbara around right away. Yet he built it.

How many players does it take to be a good team? Just say two. If you get those two players can you sustain it? After this recruiting class can you do it again? And can you do it again?

Now Mike Divilbiss at Idaho, you said it and I said it; he's a very good coach. He knows what he is looking for. He got the type of kids he wants and those kids are going to play hard for him.

You only have a small window of opportunity as a coach. You start coaching and not winning, you go into a recruit's home and they are wondering are you building a basement? Which way are you going? You're building but what are you building?

What do you think of the facilities here at UCR?

I think they're great. I'll tell you why. They best team I've ever been a part of was at Northeastern Illinois. The floor warped. We went 29-4. We beat everyone in Chicago. When I was at Fresno St we played in the North Gym and that was a great facility. Great atmosphere. Why would you want to play in a 17,000 seat arena with 500 people in the seats? Why not play in our facility and get 4,000 fans? Then all of a sudden it's a great facility. I don't know, I have as many baskets as everywhere else I've ever been. .. If we lost a player because of our facilities then that player is looking for all the wrong things.

How do you measure success?

I measure success by results. Not always wins and losses. But by how much have we been able to accomplish. Cause we set our minds to achieve a goal. Putting ourselves into a situation where good things will come. The process is important.

If I talked to you a year from now, what would you consider a successful year?

That we improved. That we got better from game to game. We actually didn't have too many practices where we didn't come out and work hard. Every now and then that's going to happen. But it's not going to be that many. Academically we are doing well.