Men's Basketball Practice Underway For 2006-07 Season

Oct. 12, 2006

VIDEO: Highlights Of First Practice On Spider All Access FREE!

VIDEO: Mooney Talks About Starting Practice

You have been at Richmond for a full year now, how has it been?
I love being at the University of Richmond. The campus is wonderful and the community is very supportive. I truly enjoy working with the student-athletes here and my wife and I have gotten to know different parts of community.

You have said it can take a few years to get your offense working properly, are you where you want to be at this point?
Every team and situation is different. As a coach, I always want us to be better, but I understand that it can take time. Our guys are working very hard and that is most important. Also, our recruiting can continue to improve the overall talent level which helps everything.

Last year was obviously a frustrating season, having only seven scholarship players for most of the year, dealing with injuries and basically having no guards. What positives did you take from the year?
I take a great deal of positives from last year. Our team improved during the course of the season and began to understand the value of playing hard and playing together. Our returning players came into this school year in much better condition than last year and have been able to play and practice better because of that. They have also become better leaders because of the experience they gained last season.

It is no secret that you employ a drastically different coaching style than your predecessor. How big of a challenge is it to get student-athletes to buy into a whole new way of doing things?
Most basketball players are very interested in learning new ways to play and improve their overall game. The guys here at Richmond have been very receptive to coaching and new ideas. They have dedicated themselves to improving their dribbling, passing and shooting.

Do you expect the returnees, now that they had an entire season playing this style of play, to become more comfortable this year?
I expect the returning players will be more comfortable this season because they have improved individually. We have emphasized dribbling, passing and shooting and they are more confident now in their abilities. Experience always enables players to be more comfortable and our guys will show that this year.

What type of team chemistry, both player-to-player and player-to-coach, do you look for?
The emphasis in our program is on communication. Players need to communicate with one another, with professors, with coaches, etc. As a staff, we communicate daily with our players about their studies, our expectations and their performance. If the communication of our coaches and players is good, then the chemistry of the team will be good.

You appear to be very tough on your players, Richmond fans might say Dick Tarrant-like. What do you think of that?
It is important to be demanding of our players. We ask that our players compete and play hard and smart everyday. College basketball is a very tough and demanding endeavor. I would not feel that I was preparing my team for success team if I were not demanding.

What type of student-athlete are you looking to recruit here to Richmond?
We are looking for young men who appreciate the value of the University of Richmond. We want to have a program of student-athletes who are just as comfortable and motivated in the classroom as they are in the Robins Center.

Chris Mooney believes the Spiders are headed in the right direction as they enter the 2006-07 season.

Are you happy with the freshmen class?
Yes, I'm very happy with the freshmen class. I am thankful to my staff who worked very hard to attract these players to Richmond. Each of these players was very successful at the high school level and has the requisite skills to improve our team. They are working very hard to prepare themselves for their first college basketball season.

You will have seven freshmen - including red-shirt freshman Ryan Butler - on this year's roster. Do you have plans to red-shirt any of them?
We don't decide on red-shirting guys until we have seen them in competition at practice. The red-shirt year has certainly helped Ryan and there is value in a red-shirt, but as the coach, I need to see how that decision will affect the entire team.

Do you find it easy to recruit the type of student-athlete you are looking for here at Richmond?
Yes, the University of Richmond has a tremendous reputation among students, parents and teachers across the country. We are very confident that if a student-athlete visits our campus, we'll have an excellent chance to sign him.

What other types of schools did you compete with for the incoming freshmen class?
Georgetown, West Virginia, Saint Joseph's, Rice, Providence, Temple, George Mason, UNC-Wilmington, and Northeastern. Coach Beilien had a lot of scholarships to offer last year, and it seems we were recruiting against West Virginia for almost every player.

There is a perception out there that your style of play does not include athletic players, how do you respond to that?
It would be silly to say that our style does not include athletic players. We play a style that is greatly enhanced by speed, quickness and strength. While we value skillfulness in all of our players, we especially value the combination of skillfulness and athleticism.

With seven freshmen on this year's team, how important will the leadership of the upperclassmen be?
Leadership in college athletics is paramount. Freshmen have so many things to adjust to in college and in college basketball. The upperclassmen will be called upon to lead them in every way. I am grateful that we have good guys to lead the young players - I trust their judgment.

How long do you expect it to take the incoming freshmen to adjust to the offense and defense?
I expect the freshmen to adjust to our style of play quickly for a couple of reasons. 1. We recruited these players because of their ability to dribble, pass, shoot and defend. #2. The freshmen will have tremendous opportunities to participate in practice.

What is your philosophy on scheduling?
I would like to play the most competitive schedule possible while also maximizing our ability to play home games. I want our players to play in the Robins Center - in front of our students and fans - as often as possible. Of course, those two ideas do not always go hand in hand, but we are fortunate enough to attract major conference teams to Richmond.

Do you see Richmond being one of the top teams in the Atlantic 10 in the years to come?
Yes, we can build a great and solid program at Richmond. We will be able to recruit the types of student-athletes that can excel at Richmond and in the Atlantic10. We also have tremendous support from the university and the athletic department to go along with great tradition and superb facilities.

So much is made about the offense, but your defense ranked seventh nationally last year. Which is more of a key to your success, the offense or defense?
Our offense and defense are equally important. Sometimes our defense gets overlooked because our offense gets a lot of attention, but it is just as important. We emphasize defending our opponent every single possession. I hope that our defense can improve this season and we can force more turnovers, while still limiting our opponents' point total.

Off the court you are so mild mannered and are so passionate on the court. Can you talk about the difference?
I care very deeply about Richmond Basketball and my players. I want them to know at all times how much I care, and how committed I am to help them improve. We only spend two to three hours a day with our players on the court and I want to give them my 100 percent attention. I'm not sure that I am so mild mannered off the court, but I spend a lot of time thinking about the next practice or game - so maybe I'm just distracted.

What do you do in your spare time?
I spend a lot of time with my wife, Lia. We like to travel and visit our families. I love baseball and like to visit as many baseball parks as possible. We enjoy going to the movies and going out to dinner.

Chris Mooney will have to rely on the returnees to help a roster filled with seven freshmen.

You've said you always wanted to be a basketball coach, but coming out of college did you have any other possible career paths?
I truly did want to coach since I was very young, and I applied for several high school head coaching jobs while I was a senior in college. I didn't get any and so I did look into other things. I interviewed with the NBA for several positions (not playing, unfortunately) and I interviewed with the president of the San Diego Padres for an entry level position in the front office right before the players went on strike. I also had offers to play basketball overseas, but I decided to accept the head coaching position at Lansdale Catholic High School when it was offered.

You have made a rapid ascent through the coaching ranks, going from high school to Division III, to an assistant at the Division I level and now a head Division I coach. What have you learned along the way and how has each stop helped you?
I have been extremely fortunate in my coaching career. Each program that I have coached has been very different and challenging and each has taught me a lot. Lansdale Catholic is a terrific place. It is a school that is rooted in its principals and its families. I was lucky to have a terrific athletic director who took a chance by hiring me at 22, and also helped me with everything along the way. He taught me the value of organization and communication. I will forever be indebted to him. Beaver College, now Arcadia University, was a very difficult situation because the job was part-time and my other job on campus was very demanding. Our recruiting budget was $100 and we spent a lot of our own money trying to attract players. We had six players (including a walk-on) and only two were over 6-feet. We persevered and won eight of our final 12 games. The following year we had 14 players - 12 of them were freshmen. It was an extremely difficult job. It was really an honor to work at the Air Force Academy. We worked with so many impressive people, both military and civilian who strive for excellence in everything. We developed a system for recruiting there that was very successful for us, and more importantly, we worked very hard to change the culture of the basketball program into a winning mentality. The path to being the head coach at the University of Richmond is not one that I would suggest to any young coaches, but it has been very challenging and rewarding.

Every job you have had started with the need to rebuild the program. After one year here at Richmond, do you see the program on the right track and how does it compare to your other experiences?
I do see so much progress in our program at Richmond in a short amount of time. We can attract good players who can flourish and improve in our program. Richmond compares very well with my other experiences because of the things that Richmond has - that the other places did not. Tradition, outstanding commitment, great facilities provide a tremendous infrastructure for us to build a successful program.

Now that you will have players that fit better in the style of play, how is the offense going to look this year?
Our offense should be much better this year because of the improvement of our veterans and the potential of our freshmen. Our ball handling will be much improved and we will be able to score inside much more consistently. Our ability to penetrate and score inside should create better shooting opportunities for everyone.

You give everybody the confidence to shoot the ball, so do you think that will speed the process of the freshmen's transition to college basketball?
I give guys the freedom to shoot the ball - the confidence is up to them and their hard work! The freshmen will benefit from the freedom that we'll give them. They will have the opportunity to shoot and make decisions and hopefully, improve more quickly.

A lot is said about the style of play not being that exciting to watch, what's your response to that?
I disagree because I think that it is a winning style and winning is exciting. Our average attendance at Air Force was under 1,200 our first year, and was over 5,400 our final season. We attracted fans because of our style of offense, defense and because we were winning. The returning players will be more comfortable this season because they have improved individually. We have emphasized dribbling, passing and shooting and they are more confident now in their abilities. Experience always enables players to be more comfortable and I expect our guys will show that this year.

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