Last Saturday New Orleans had a 3-PT OT win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Southland tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. The Privateers have not made the NCAA tourney since 1996 but are finally back this year and will face fellow #16-seed Mount St. Mary’s tonight in the 1st 4 in Dayton, with the winner having the daunting task of facing defending champ Villanova in an East Region match-up on Thursday night in Buffalo. Yesterday HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Coach Mark Slessinger about why he took the job and how he ended up as conference COY.
You played PG at Aurora: how good a player were you back in the day, and how did you 1st get into coaching? I was an absolutely horrible player but the only thing I have wanted to do since 5th grade is become a coach. I worked at camps, became a student assistant, and was lucky enough to break into D-1 at age 22.
You spent more than a decade as an assistant to Mike McConathy at Northwestern State: what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? We do not have enough time to discuss everything because I learned so much while working next to him. He taught me how to keep basketball in perspective and use the game as a coaching ministry to teach kids about life. He was very influential in how I approach the game.
You were hired in 2011 with a 3-player roster and no conference affiliation: why did you decide to take a job that you yourself later called a “train wreck”? The circumstances were unlike anything that I have ever seen but it was an opportunity to become a head coach in a city I love. I met my wife here and it is a special place. I saw a chance to build a winner the right way.
You played several power conference teams this year in Northwestern/Oklahoma State/USC/Washington State: which 1 of them impressed you the most? We were very impressed with USC’s athleticism: it was simply incredible. The Cowboys were really good and I am very impressed with how Coach Brad Underwood turned things around so quickly. Ernie Kent/Chris Collins are great coaches as well.
SR SF Erik Thomas was named conference POY/conference tourney MVP: what makes him such a great player, and how crucial has he been to your team’s success? He is extremely disciplined in his game: he scores within our framework and is 1 of the most efficient players in the country. He can put the ball in the basket in a ton of ways but plays very selflessly. He is a winner and once we figured that out we became aggressive in getting him the ball in places where he can score.
You won 10 games last year and are now in the NCAA tourney: how were you able to improve so much in only 1 year? A lot of the credit goes to my staff: we never stopped working because we knew that we had a lot of the pieces already here and had a lot of good guys. Sometimes you just have to invest the time/human resources into getting your players to believe that they are winners.
Last week you were named Southland COY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It was a great honor not just for me but for my entire staff. I have been in the league for almost 15 years so it was very humbling.
Last Saturday you had a 3-PT OT win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: how were you able to pull out the win, and what was the feeling like in your locker room afterward? We just stayed the course with our game plan and did not get sideways with what we thought was important: defend/rebound. We have had some up and down nights during the season. You cannot always make your shots but we were relentless in the 2nd half and just would not lose. It was as good of a coaching experience as any that I have ever had: the looks on the guys’ faces was phenomenal.
Your $5 million athletic budget is 1 of the smallest in D-1: did you have anything saved for the Selection Show party?! We had a wonderful event on campus at our great facility featuring 1 of the best brass bands in the city: we have a very supportive campus.
How do you feel about getting a #16-seed, and what do you know about Mount St. Mary’s? We could not be happier to be in Dayton: there is no better venue to play in and we are pulling up for practice right now. We know that Mount St. Mary’s is very talented so it should be an entertaining game.