Bucknell University Athletics
Joe Susan Press Conference Quotes
1/28/2010 7:00:00 AM | Football
Jan. 27, 2010
Bucknell Head Coach Joe Susan
Opening Statement:
“I want to thank John Hardt and the administration of Bucknell. It is great to be back home. Going by Evangelical Hospital, where we brought three babies into the world; going by the Galloway House, where we lived for the first six years that we were here; and see the University change in many ways from a facility standpoint, from a personnel standpoint, but it was the heart of the University that led me back here, and I am so excited.”
On meeting with the team:
“For the past 45 minutes I have been able to spend time with the guys that are this team, and to look in their eyes and then get to know them briefly afterwards, I am excited about the opportunity to compete in the Patriot League and to be able to put my signature on this program.”
On Bucknell and excitement for the future:
“I have a passion for this place. It is great to be back among friends and I am excited to get going. We didn't sleep very much the past couple of nights. I have been fortunate in my career to put roots down. I look at other people's resumes and one year here and two years there. I have been 10 years at Rutgers, nine years at Princeton, and 10 years at Bucknell. I am fortunate. You put roots down when you do that and I think that I have roots here that I can rekindle. I am excited about the opportunity and look forward to the challenge of competing and winning Patriot League Championships.”
On his one year at Davidson:
“A magical team. To be 10-0 you have to win the close games and take every game the same way. They were a magical group of kids that I keep in touch with until this day. A very hard place to leave, but for family reasons and, the guy that hired me was a Bucknellian, and made me change and come back to New Jersey. I actually took my children out of their school system for just one year and then was able to bring them back. Undefeated is pretty good. It is a goal of everybody's, but one at a time undefeated.”
On return to Bucknell:
“It is not easy, but the opportunity and the vision that (athletic director) John Hardt and (senior associate AD) Tim (Pavlechko) shared with me, the administrators and the faculty and the opportunity to take a program put your signature on it. Having been a head coach, the interest in being a head coach once again sparked my interest in this program, and the familiarity I have with this place, plus the passion that I have for this place made it easy. Really easy. I am so excited to be back.”
On upcoming challenges:
“Recruiting. The staff has done a great job in recruiting. They have yielded commitments in recruiting. They need to get in touch with those guys and finish the recruiting. We are creating a staff, which is obvious in any transition, and catching up with the kids that are on campus. The kids that are on campus are the kids that are going to win games for us. We need to get to know them, trust them, and they need to trust me. It doesn't happen overnight.”
On leaving Rutgers:
“It does make it tough to leave because I was there for so long. That is something that when John called me the other night that I have dealt with for the past 48 hours. I actually spent yesterday morning with Greg Schiano in a helicopter. He knew, and so did I. You get to love kids. You recruit kids and you become passionate about them. Being guilty of staying in one place for awhile, I left kids that I love, but I told the kids tonight that one day they are going to come to me and say, 'I love you coach', and I am going to say that to them. Again, it is a process and it will not happen overnight. If I am blessed to stay here for 10 years one more time, or more than that, because there is a difference between physiology and chronology.”
On recruiting relationships:
“I have a lot of relationships around a variety of geographic areas. I actually fielded phone calls and the neat thing about some of those phone calls are people that I know have sons who want to send their sons here. That is exciting to me and I see that as a privilege and a responsibility that someone trusts me with their child. Some people make the mistake in transitions between someone who is graduating high school and entering college for a man. That couldn't be further than the truth. I am 54 and I am still trying to figure it out. We will be aggressive and at the present state we have done a great job of recruiting.”
On how influential Greg Schiano was:
“He has a strong feeling for this place. I think that is consistent with everyone who has worked here or played here. Obviously, he has a much dearer feeling because he played here and went here. He has a network of people that he keeps in touch with that are his close friends that are Bucknellians. He said, 'Joe, you have always looked at things for me as a head coach.' He said, 'Joe this is your opportunity to be a head coach.' It will be interesting because I will have to tell myself to go home at night.”
Closing statements:
“I hope that you see a good product on the field. You enjoy and see the kids compete from a tough standpoint, a strength standpoint. We want to be a class operation with everything that we do, which fits this University. I thank you very much.”
