Tech Talk Live Notes: Mike Young Talks Dayton, J.C. Price Talks Maryland

On Monday, Dec. 13, Virginia Tech men’s basketball head coach Mike Young and interim football coach J.C. Price joined Tech Talk Live. Young discussed the road loss at Dayton and how the Hokies will prepare for St. Bonaventure, while Price talked about recruiting and the Pinstripe Bowl vs. Maryland.

Mike Young

On the shooting struggles:

I’m watching a lot of film and I’m trying to figure it out. If you would’ve told me back in August that my biggest concern would be offense and we’re not scoring the ball well enough, I would’ve told you that’s a good problem, we can figure it out, but I would’ve never expected that. We’ve got a number of kids that can ring the bell. 

A kid in the post in [Keve] Aluma that has really come into his own again, over the last two or three games and playing really good basketball. [Justyn] Mutts can score around the basket. I’ve gotta do a better job with them. We are watching a lot of film. We’re going to get it squared away rather sooner than later.

How do you start faster?

I’m not sure. They’re conscientious people. We talked about the first four minutes. We talked about the first four minutes of the second half and what a pivotal portion of that game, those time frames are. They understand we gotta get out of the blocks and we defended really, really well in the first five minutes, thank goodness we did. We had our struggles offensively. I thought we had some good cracks at it in the first four minutes of the first half and couldn’t get them down. 

We had a shot from guys who were willing to shoot it, but I’m not sure how to pinpoint it. Just something we’ve got to work through and we’ll address it again tomorrow. Again, they understand. They know exactly how pivotal those segments are in each game and we’ve gotta do a better job with it.

On Sean Pedulla and him potentially receiving more minutes:

We’ll see. His pace is good. He made a shot, thank goodness he made the shot, it wouldn’t have been a very good shot had he missed it, but he got the thing down. He is fearless. He is competing on the defensive end. Sean Pedulla is playing good basketball for us and we’ll see how things shake out.

What did you say to the team at halftime at Dayton?

It wasn’t so much X’s and O’s in that particular game as it was playing the game the right way. I thought we slipped a little bit at different stages in the first half on the defensive end. Our motion, I thought their pressure – we looked like freshmen and sophomores – their pressure jacked us up a little bit and our shot selection dropped way down. We’re not getting the ball to Aluma as much as we needed to. So those are some of the things we talked about.

On Dayton’s environment:

Like Cassell Coliseum, like our fan base, they’re knowledgeable people. They’re basketball fans. They know what they’re looking at as it pertains to good basketball. Just great hospitality. They do a nice job. Really a cool venue and that’s every game. 

Anthony Grant, their head coach, who’s terrific and a very good friend, he said, ‘we’ll be full in here tonight and we’re thankful to have Virginia Tech here, ACC, so on and so forth, we welcome you Mike, but they’d be like this if Coppin State or anybody else was in here on this particularly evening. It’s every night.’ Pretty impressive.

On the Hokie fans in Dayton:

I saw them. Several of them came down before the game and spoke. We are very appreciative. Great Hokie fans.

On getting the ball into the frontcourt quicker:

We’ve got strides to make in that area. We’re coming into the frontcourt [with] 23, 22 [seconds on the shot clock] too often and that puts us behind. We have had some issues getting our offense started, now it’s at 18, 17 [seconds on the shot clock]. As good of players as we have, we don’t have guys that just drive you off the bounce and get in the air and make a jump shot. It takes us a little bit to get to what we want and we’re having a hard time getting those areas. I do think that I can get that ironed out as we move ahead. We’ve gotta handle the ball a little bit better.

On turning the ball over 13 times against Dayton:

Too many. Just not how we play. Not what we’re accustomed to, any of my teams, going back several years. Those assists need to be 16, 17, 18. We’re still I think 40th in the country in fewest turnovers per game. You go into Dayton. You go into an ACC venue and you kick it 13 times. It’s no different in football. It’s no different in base on balls in baseball. Those bite you.

You’re playing with fire when you’re turning the ball over. Turnovers and bad shots turn into fast break opportunities for the opponent. It’s typically a lay-in or it’s typically a three because you’re not set. You’re trying to get the cavalry back into the defensive end and that makes it really hard on you. It puts a lot of pressure on you.

On the defensive performance up to this point in the season:

Good. They are really smart. Our staff has done a really good job in preparation and we’re taking away the first option, second option, third option. We are struggling a little bit as that clock gets under ten and they’ve exhausted whatever they’re throwing at us. Now it becomes man-on-man. It becomes, ‘Can you stop me?’ 

We’ve gotta do a better job of that, better job of shot-contestment and rebounding that first miss. Our rebounding’s been fine. We weren’t great yesterday [at Dayton]. They out-rebounded us by six. I thought that was a little skewed because we couldn’t get the darn thing in the basket, but all those things are going to work themselves out, hopefully here real soon, hopefully Friday.

On fixing the inconsistencies:

Well, it’s such a long year. It’s so repetitive, redundant. Play, prepare, prepare, play. We need tomorrow [Tuesday]. We need Wednesday, badly, to work on our stuff and not worry about St. Bonaventure as much. We’ll look at them a little bit tomorrow. We’re not going to guard anything on the floor. This will be a Hokie day. We need a Hokie day. We’ll start getting it to them a little bit more on Wednesday in preparation for Friday. 

You’ve heard me reference ‘the saw.’ The saw’s a little dull right now. We’ve gotta sharpen our own saw, not worry about somebody else. I had a glorious day today. I wasn’t looking at another team. I was looking at our team. I needed to look at our team and I look forward to practice tomorrow.

On the struggles at the free throw line and it possibly being a mental issue:

I think so. I think more so for [Justyn] Mutts than it is for David [N’Guessan]. Justyn Mutts is a really good foul shooter. He was in the 70’s at Delaware his last year there. Surprisingly, in the 50’s last year, he hasn’t shot them very well this year. Mechanics are a little different for him for whatever reason when he’s up there right now and we needed those yesterday. I think he had four going down the stretch. 

He made one of four, now Aluma grabbed one of them and got it back in for a three point possession. But Keve [Aluma] missed two. I don’t have a lot of heartburn about that. That’s a matter of Justyn getting up there tomorrow and Wednesday, Thursday, and getting a hundred up a day and getting that groove back from the foul line. We need those.

On the preparation for St. Bonaventure:

We’ll turn our attention to them completely tomorrow. I know their head coach very well, Mark Schmidt, another friend. I know they’re really good. I saw them play a little bit on Saturday against UConn. UConn beat them, but it was a good ballgame. They do expect [Kyle] Lofton to play. I hope he does play. It bothers me when kids get hurt and miss time. Lofton is really talented. I did see them play some down in Charleston against Clemson. Clemson should’ve won that game. 

They’re explosive. They’ve been around. I think they start five seniors. Big kid in the post, can block a shot. Got a couple of kids who can really shoot the ball, so it’ll be a good ballgame for us. I guess that’s our last non-league game of the year. Last non-league game of the year as we gear up for ACC play. We look forward to getting down there. I love that building. I love that town. It’ll be a great experience for our team.

On the absence of assistant coach Kevin Giltner due to his wife expecting:

He said, ‘you never ever want to watch your own team play from the couch.’ They’re in the waiting game. The two of us have been there and she [Katelyn Giltner] is healthy, everything’s great. She saw the doctor today, but I think it about drove him crazy not being there.

On not having one of your assistant coaches available during a game:

I caught myself looking for him [assistant coach Kevin Giltner]. He’s been with me now for quite some time. I rely on all of them and we’ve got a stream of stuff throwing around over there. Some of it not very pleasant. 

I was looking for him, but we talked before we left on Saturday and he was torn. I said “Nah, he’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to stay here.” You get up there and I can’t get you back and you’re not going to miss the birth of any children, not your first or your fifth. You’re gonna be here and that’s the prudent thing to do. Nothing happened, but he was here just in case something did happen.

On the team’s academic success:

I don’t want to speak out of turn. I don’t want to say anything prematurely. We are on the cusp, Alise [Svihla] thinks, of having every member of our team over 3.0 grade point average. She is phenomenal. She does a wonderful job with our team. Our team, in turn, works really hard and does what they’re supposed to do. They’re serious students. They’re here to get a world-class education. That part of our program is certainly a bright spot.

J.C. Price

On being named associate head coach:

Me and coach [Pierson] Prioleau, we left two weeks ago right after the show, and not knowing if we even were going to be kept on, but we wanted to go out and look those recruits in the eye and let them know, even though that I didn’t know if I was going to be retained or not, I looked them in the eye and let them know this is the place that they needed to come. 

They needed to honor their commitment when they committed to Virginia Tech. The concept, the brand of what Virginia Tech is. We were on the road and coach [Brent] Pry called on Tuesday and that was a good phone call to get about halfway on the road. It made going to the homes a lot easier.

On the recruiting trail:

Like [longtime strength] coach [Mike] Gentry says, ‘rest when you’re old, sleep when you die.’ We’ll be alright. It’s been a lot of fun getting back around those guys. The unique circumstances of the firing allowed all the commits to take an extra official visit, so they were able to come back on campus, which was unique because they had all visited – the commits had kinda been spread out over three visits in June. 

I’m telling you, the character of the kids that are getting ready to sign for Virginia Tech is just off the charts. The bond that those guys have built together through chat rooms and text messages and Twitter and I don’t understand all of it. They put pressure on each other to stay committed and they did as much recruiting each other as we did recruiting them.

On getting the phone call from Brent Pry:

Well, I think he knew it was recruiting season so he started on a spiel about this and that, I said, ‘you had me at hello.’ I was good. He didn’t have to recruit me. I said, ‘go on about your business and me and [coach Prioleau] will hold this down. Don’t worry about recruiting me. You tell me I’m allowed to be where I want to be, then that’s all you need to tell me.’

On the Pinstripe Bowl press conference:

We were in the car and we were recruiting. It’s me, coach Pry, coach [Shawn] Quinn who you’ll meet, and coach [Derek] Jones, coach cheetah, who’s got a lot of juice. You guys are going to love coach cheetah. And we’re driving around and I said, “guys, it’s time for me to do this press conference,” and they just randomly pulled over. Well, they actually pulled over in front of an elementary school of all places and I didn’t really see the sign and I’m just kinda, it’s like a side door to the elementary school. 

So here’s this big gigantic guy trying to FaceTime on this bench in front of a school, next thing you know some kids were coming by and the teacher’s looking at me all crazy and the principal comes out and says, “what’s your business here?” And I’m just trying to have a zoom for the Pinstripe Bowl. He didn’t really care or know what the Pinstripe Bowl was. He said, “sir, are you going to leave?” and I said “Yes, sir.” That’s why the rest of the press conference was taking place in the car. 

But you’ve got the other guys in the backseat who are trying to work and I’m trying to listen to the questions, so I’m holding the phone in all different kinds of views, because I can’t hear the questions through my phone. The suggestions that I was given by Pete [Moris] to how to answer the questions, you know how Pete tries to prepare you, I didn’t have any of that anymore. It was a little bit of a mess, but we got through it.

On recruiting being a 24-hour a day process:

Between the phone calls with the 22s and you can text the 23s and you have all the high school coaches who are [saying], ‘100% you should take our guys.’ It always gets interesting, especially during signing day.

On the feedback they’ve been getting from recruits:

Those kids have done a great job holding the class together with the help of me, [coach Prioleau] and when coach Pry and them got on board. Really those guys have communicated with each other through the whole process. They’ve got this big chat room on the phones and every time someone starts to waver, they’re like, ‘no man, let’s stay committed.’ 

They’ve done a great job of recruiting each other and just shows about the character – obviously, we think they’re really good football players or we wouldn’t be talking to them. You’re going to find out that this group has a lot of character to it and they come from really good families.

On the youth coach Pry has implemented on his staff and it’s impact of recruiting:

I definitely think the enthusiasm, being youthful, and being able to connect to the younger generation is important, but let’s not give up on the hard work of the old guys too, now. We can still grind it out with the best of them. It’s about relating to the kids and I think as long as you’re up front and you’re honest about it and they can see you’re genuine, especially with the genuine passion I have for this place. I like to think when I recruited for the other schools I worked for I did a good job, but I think when I’m talking to a kid on the phone or I’m sitting in front of them, there’s a little more passion in my voice when I talk about this place.

On the opt-outs:

That’s funny because as I was having the fiasco of the press conference for the bowl, that was the first question they asked me and they asked about that we had some opt-outs. My question back to them was, “is it anymore than anybody else in the country?” Every team is facing it. They put so much emphasis on the playoff that you see kids that are opting out of the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl. I would never in my wildest dreams ever thought about opting out of a bowl. 

The lowest bowl, technically if we’re talking about tiers and all that, the lowest one I played in was the Independence Bowl and that was the first one that started the streak and I could never imagine not playing in that bowl. And the memories that I got from playing in that one last time as a sophomore with the seniors and guys that helped turn this place around, I can’t imagine not taking one more opportunity to go out there and play with my brothers. But that’s the world we live in right now and that’s what these kids choose to do and you have to support them.

On what the roster is going to look like against Maryland:

We had a discussion the first couple days when some guys were coming to me individually, coming to the office and talking about it. We talked about, ‘look guys, if you’re going to do that, that’s fine, I’ll support you, I’ll respect your decision.’ But we get to a certain point now, it’s we gotta go. We gotta know who we’re taking with us on the trip. [Offensive Coordinator Brad Cornelsen] and those guys have to develop a game plan based off of the talent we’re taking with us. 

Who’s going to carry the ball? Who’s going to block? Defensively, [Defensive coordination Justin Hamilton] has got to develop the game plan around who can cover, what those DBs do best, what the d-linemen we have. I think right now we have an idea of what the nucleus we’re going to have when we go to New York and we’re working towards that.

On the depth at wide receiver:

You might see a couple more tight ends on the field. I talked to [Vance] Vice and we’re talking about running the ball. That’s the old Virginia Tech way, to run the ball and play great defense and special teams. That worked against little brother, who we told to go back to his room, so we’ll try and see if it’ll work against Maryland.

On Maryland:

[They’re] very similar to us. Their season has had some ups and downs, just as ours has. They have a really good quarterback. They have a solid running game. Their defense presents some problems with their size and they play an odd front. They do a little bit different things as far as stemming, that our offensive line and those guys, Brock [Hoffman], they’ve gotta be able to identify what front they’re in to make sure we’re blocking the right guys and they’re going to present some issues.

On Maryland head coach Michael Locksley:

We know some of the same people but I’ve never – maybe I’ve said hi to him at the convention through a friend of ours named George Barlow, who I coached with at JMU, who was with him at New Mexico. I know who coach Locksley is, he may not be able to pick me out in a lineup, but I know him probably enough to be able to say hi to him. 

On the message to the team as they stay in New York: 

The first thing that you want to point out, the fact that the Yankees came to our aid back in ‘07 and ‘08 in situations that were very similar to the 9/11 situation for them as far as what happened to our campus back in ‘07. What they did for our community and for our team and for our school was unprecedented and you’ll never forget that. We’re hoping to do something a little special to commemorate the Yankees. I’m working on something that will be pretty neat, so that hopefully it gets past major league baseball’s trademark office.

I’m not going to give any more than that, but it’s going to be a nice surprise. The fact that the first day we’re going to be able to go to the 9/11 memorial site and get to tour that, I don’t think any of our guys on the team have ever been there before and I think that’s going to be really special. At the end of the day I want them to enjoy the first couple of days, but then as we start getting closer to the 29th, we gotta realize we’re here to win the game.

On the mindset of guys who are coaching the bowl game who won’t be retained:

What they’re going through and as professional as those guys have acted and how they’ve gone about their daily business when all the uncertainty that’s going on in their lives with their families and their children. What’s strange to think about is that I was in the exact situation just a year ago. You talk about how blessed I am and how lucky me and my family are. 

I was out of work at this time last year and now here I am back at my school and get this great opportunity to stay and just a year ago I was the one looking for a job and was calling [Justin Hamilton] and coach [Justin] Fuente and they were generous enough to give me a shot and bring me on and just crazy how life can change that quickly. 

But those guys have been nothing but professional. I’m sure they’re going to have a lot of emotions between their families. They recruited all these guys. They’ve coached them for four years, five years. They’ve seen these guys grow up and the rally cry that we’re talking about is just let’s go out and play one more together.