CLICK HERE for all of our extensive Preseason Content
We continue our season preview coverage with new Georgia State coach Rob Lanier. The past 6 years have been arguably the best in Panthers’ history: an NIT appearance in 2014, a CIT appearance in 2017, and 3 trips to the NCAA tourney since 2015. Former coach Ron Hunter was hired at Tulane last March and Coach Lanier was chosen to replace him a couple of weeks later. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Lanier about starting a new job and having a great coaching staff.
In the 2002 NCAA tourney as head coach at Siena you beat Alcorn State before losing to eventual champion Maryland: what is your favorite memory from that postseason? It was a bit of a blur because we had to win 4 games in 4 days just to get in. I made a bet with my team that if we made it I would do a little dance at halfcourt. I hoped they had forgotten but they did not so I had a student manager go get my son so I could use him as a shield! I did my patented James Brown move and it was a fun time.
You later became an assistant to both Billy Donovan at Florida and Rick Barnes at Texas/Tennessee: what is the most important thing that you learned from either of these 2 great head coaches? After spending 10 years with Rick, 4 with Billy, as well as a few other years with a few other coaches, I just learned the importance of the grind/preparation. It was humbling to be around those guys because they kept working so hard. Every year is different so you have to constantly try to get better and grow.
You were hired as head coach of Georgia State in April: why did you take the job, and how is it going so far? It came out of nowhere. I was working for Rick at Tennessee and we lost to Purdue in Louisville in a heartbreaker. I was driving home with my family and licking my wounds when I got a call from Georgia State. I thought about saying no but felt that I owed it to both myself and my family to learn more about the place. I intended to say no…but after visiting the campus and meeting the administration I found a great level of commitment to the program and a vision for what would make it special for me. I was intrigued and by the time I got back into the car I called my wife and said that there was something special here. I knew that Atlanta was a great city but what mattered the most was the collective movement toward improving everything about the program. Football is definitely ascending here due to having the right leader in Shawn Elliott: it is no accident.
You lost each of your top-4 scorers from last year (Malik Benlevi/Devin Mitchell/D’Marcus Simonds/Jeff Thomas): how will you try to replace all of that offense? There is no plan because I never coached those guys so I am not replacing anything. I am just learning what our current group is capable of and we are trying to develop some leadership and help them rise to the standard that we have set for them. All I can do is coach the guys I have and I am enjoying the journey.
You have stated that player development will be at the core of your program: how do you develop your players on the court, and how do you develop them off the court? It is an everyday all-encompassing process that starts with the people you hire. We have 3 core values here: humility/respect/responsibility. It is not just a marketing tagline: it is really important to me to have young men who are humble or have the capacity to be humbled. Young men cannot get better if they think that they already have all the answers. Respect flows from a disposition of humility: you must apply a certain work ethic to everything you do and respect everyone on campus. Responsibility involves the tasks you must handle each day as well as taking accountability for your actions. I have some coaches who understand the game and can teach our guys the system while working on their individual skills. That is the basis for our team interactions and development will be a by-product.
1 of your returning players is SG Corey Allen, who sat out last year after transferring from Detroit where he was 2017 conference ROY: what kind of impact do you expect from him this season? He is a really hard worker who loves to compete so he has already established a level of consistency that I have embraced. Now it is just a matter of him applying his skill set to what we do. He is all about being a winning player.
You have some great assistant coaches including Jarvis Hayes/Cliff Warren: what do they bring to the table? I have known Cliff for a long time: we played against 1 another in college and I even made a shot in 1 game to beat him! Back in the day when we had fax machines I would fax the recap of that game to wherever he was working. He is the prototype for the kind of man I want our players to be around and is a head coach who happens to be 1 of our assistants. Chris Kreider has also been phenomenal: I first got to know him when he was recruiting my son so when this opportunity came up I thought about him due to his connections in Atlanta. He has made me look smart. I was a little more deliberate with how to fill the last spot but after communicating with Jarvis I was really taken by his message. The 1st 2 will be a great complement to Jarvis as he learns the profession. I feel like I have done something right here.
You have helped recruit 9 McDonald’s All-Americans during your career: what is the secret to being a great recruiter, and how will having a new arena (opening in 2021) help you out with that? The arena will definitely help. Recruiting is about building relationships: it takes time/effort and at the end of the day people have to trust you. There is no secret: you just have to work at it. You also have to be able to evaluate players with the clarity of how they will fit in both on and off the court. I have not always been right but I trust my evaluations of players, even if they are not McDonald’s All-Americans. You have to identify what is important to the coach, which is the process we are going through now. There is more to it then a player who can simply put the ball into the basket: we are developing a collective vision.
I know who the best athlete is in the family (your Hall of Fame cousin Bob), but are we going to see your/Bob’s alma mater (St. Bonaventure) on your schedule anytime soon?! I do not know. Scheduling is a tricky thing but any time you can get an A-10 team to play you that is great. If it makes sense in the future then we will explore it but it has to fit with what we want to do.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? Right now we are trying to get these guys to work/compete at a certain level. My only goal is to achieve that: after that happens then we can start wondering what that will add up to but until then it is fruitless to figure out what you can achieve. We need to get in the condition it takes to compete, which involves mental toughness. The program has been so successful in the past that some players might just assume that it will continue, which would be a mistake.