Interview with Sandy Simpson.

Interview with Sandy Simpson.

June 15, 2004

Sandy Simpson will be entering his eighth season as head coach at UC Davis. UC Davis is making the move up to Division One and will be a full Big West member in 2007-08. UCD finished 16-12 in the 2003-04 season. Coach Simpson took the time to answer questions from LA Women's Hoops.

Much thanks to Coach Simpson and UC Davis SID, Bill Stevens for their time and help with this interview.

Talk about having former UCD player, Jennifer Gross as an assistant coach. What does she bring to your coaching staff? (Gross spent the last two years as an assistant coach at San Diego St)
We are VERY fortunate to have Jen joining us as we transition to Division I and the Big West Conference. Jennifer was an All-Region player for us back in the mid-90's and, as a senior, captained a 29-3 squad that placed third in the NCAA DII Championship Tournament. Her character, leadership qualities, talent, and academic commitment (she was an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship recipient) established her as one of the all-time great players in UC Davis history and in 2003; she was inducted into the UC Davis Hall of Fame. In short, she personifies what UC Davis athletics strives to be: a well-rounded student-athlete who compromises in neither the academic or athletic realm.

How will her experience at SDSU help her at UC Davis?
As we transition to Division I play, Jen's experience at SDSU will be invaluable. From the logistics of recruiting, to familiarity with future West Coast opponents, Jen will offer the perspective of someone with recent experiences at DI. She knows what is necessary in order for us to become successful at the next level and I intend to fully utilize her expertise.
Who will be leaving your coaching staff?

Greg Bruce, who contributed a tremendous amount in his three-years with our program, is pursuing a return to the head coaching ranks, where he has already enjoyed a storied career at the DII, DI, and professional ranks. We were fortunate to have his contributions over the past three seasons and wish him the very best in his future pursuits.
What year will UC Davis come into the BW?We will become full-members of the BWC at the advent of the 2007-08 season. Until then, we will play a modified Big West schedule and will continue with the NCAA provisional-member transition steps toward full Division I certification.
Will UC Davis be eligible for the Big West Tournament right away?
No. As part of the NCAA transition process, we will be ineligible for NCAA championship play, and, thus, Big West Tournament play, until we achieve full certification for the 07-08 season.
Have you had a chance to see many BW teams play in person? What did you think of the BW?
I saw the conference tournament this spring and we played Cal Poly SLO back in December. Obviously UC Santa Barbara has been a power for some time and are the current standard for the Big West. Mark French has done an incredible job and it was nice to see them give UConn such a battle in the NCAA's. Idaho was also strong this year and should have, I believe, received an NIT bid. The rest of the conference is improving. I feel Long Beach State will be an impact team next year. Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton both made good strides this year and UOP was, once again, a contender. At the BWC Tournament, I was impressed with the level of athleticism on all of the teams and realized that we have some work to do to be physically competitive.
The last D-2 school to make the move up was UC Riverside. In their first year in the BW, they tied for second. And let's face it the BW isn't a strong conference. Do you think your team will be competive in the BW right away?
UC Riverside's first-year showing was impressive, but...and this in no way diminishes that accomplishment...the Big West is better now. I don't think you'll see that same scenario again. It's hard to speculate how we might do in our first year or two. We're like an entering freshman player...that first year's value is in developing an understanding of just what it takes to be successful at the next level of play. It will be an educational year for us.
How has your scholarship and recruiting budget grown since the move to D-1?
With 26 sports here at UC Davis, we're a broad-based program that endeavors to serve the needs of all of our sports programs. As a result, we will phase in resources over the four-year transition period. Our scholarship money and recruiting budget will increase each year. We're excited about moving in a direction where we'll be able to help our student-athletes to a much greater degree financially.

Did you change your recruiting focus knowing that UCD was moving up to D-1? If so, how did you change your focus?
Yes and no. No in the sense that we will continue to focus on character and academic aptitude. We're a team sport and we feel that team sport athletes need to be selfless and capable of understanding the riches to be gained from giving of oneself to the team, to the group. And we are adamant that our academic standards will not suffer. Lots of people view that as a constraint, but I see it as a positive. First, our recruiting pool is narrowed for us and we don't dissipate staff time by pursuing non-qualified students. Second, self-discipline is a character trait, whether it be academically or in terms of athletics. There's usually carryover, so we have an opportunity to pursue young women who are goal-oriented, high achievers in all aspects of their lives. However, we are setting our sights on the level of athlete necessary to compete in the Big West. The increase in scholarship aid available will help tremendously. We've been operating on the equivalent of 1.5-2 full-ride scholarships, so moving toward 12-15 full-rides will definitely help.

What are the best selling points about UCD and UCD basketball?
Where to start? A beautiful campus. Great college-town atmosphere. An education second-to-none and the opportunity to play in a program with a tremendous tradition. We are blessed with great fan support, both from our student-body and from the community (averaged 1,200 in home attendance last year). Our location is centrally located, a great jumping-off point to San Francisco, the Napa Valley, and Lake Tahoe.
Why should a player choose to continue her basketball career at UCD?
Well, for the reasons stated above, plus this: she will have the opportunity to build something special. She will be part of a group that establishes a legacy for generations to come. Anyone can sustain a program; building something is the opportunity of a select few. At UC Davis, a young woman of ambition can have a tremendous athletic experience without compromising on the academic front.

What are your teams goals for your first season in D-1?
To learn. We will enter the season ready to compete. But we will also be assessing ourselves to determine where we are relative to the established DI programs and identifying what steps will be needed to be ready to compete for a Big West title in 2007-08.

I haven't seen your schedule for next season but I assume most of the games will be against D-1 teams. I believe you will play each BW school except Santa Barbara, twice. To fill out the rest of your schedule, was it hard getting D-1 schools to schedule Davis?
Not really. Wouldn't YOU be lining up to play us?! Actually, I believe that there were some programs who didn't realize we would count as a DI program for scheduling and RPI purposes. Once that was cleared up most schools were open to scheduling us. Plus, we are fortunate to have so many DI schools in Northern California that presented natural potential rivalries. Sacramento State, obviously, but also many of the Bay Area schools such as St. Mary's, Santa Clara, USF and San Jose State. I would love to eventually get Cal and Stanford on the docket. How do your returning players feel about their upcoming first season in D-1? I'm not sure they could be more excited. I've never seen our players more motivated for Spring workouts and I'm sure that is largely due to the anticipation of playing Division I level teams. They are all competitors and understand that we face a unique and exciting challenge next year. What do you think will be the toughest part about the move to D-1? Probably the physical nature of play at that level. It's not that Division II has been a namby-pamby experience...far from it. But, with DI, we're talking physical play by generally bigger, stronger, faster athletes. Of those characteristics, the strength, or power, of the DI game will probably be the biggest challenge to us. What style of play can Big West fans expect to see from your team? I believe in applying pressure at both ends of the court. Transition offense and pressure defense. Having said that, I believe you need to be well-rounded and adaptable to be a championship level team. One dimensional teams of any sort eventually succumb to the inherent weaknesses of being so narrow in their focus. Fast break teams have to be able to execute in the half-court. Pressure teams need to be able to adapt to quicker, more athletic opponents. Versatility is a must for championship squads.