Baylor Coaches Media Luncheon -- 11/6/00
11/6/2000 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Nov. 6, 2000
Two of Baylor's head coaches spoke to the media at Monday's press luncheon. Below are excerpts from their comments.
Head Soccer Coach Nick Cowell:
On the team's missing the NCAA Tournament:
"After the Big 12 Tournament, we were fairly confident that we'd get in... As the other conference tournaments finished, I realized there were a lot of upsets. Teams that would have made the tournament anyway did not win their conference tournaments, instead taking wild cards. Those teams kept bumping us down the list almost hourly."
"We didn't have any bad losses, but the three ties hurt us... We tied three games we probably should have won. That was the difference between us getting in and being on the bubble."
"I'm more disappointed for the seniors than anything... I have nothing but positive things to say about this season. Considering all the injuries this year, we put ourselves in a pretty good position. We did slightly better in the Big 12 this year than last year, and with an inexperienced team."
On looking ahead to next year:
"This spring will give us an opportunity to see where we are... Our recruiting class for next year will have a lot of speed. We missed that this year... We're playing the most games we can in the spring, and against the best competition. We'll see who steps forward without the seniors."
Head Football Coach Kevin Steele:
On last week's game against No. 1 Oklahoma:
"When you've got the number one team in town, you've got your hands full. Our defensive staff did a good job, had a good game plan. We got some contact on [Oklahoma QB Josh] Heupel, got him on the run a few times, but he threw as well on the run as he did in the pocket."
"Offensively, we just couldn't get anything going at all... It has not been productive, to say the least, so we're looking at some things in that area. In their defense, on top of the injuries, we've played five of the top 22 defenses in the country -- in a row."
On this week's opponent, Missouri:
"They're gonna be well-coached... They'll show up here with the mindset of winning the game handily."
"They lost their quarterback, too. They replaced him with Darius Outlaw... He can beat you throwing or running."
"Missouri is a very good challenge for us, but... we're not facing the number one team in the country like we have recently. We're not going to approach this game any differently, we're not in a position to think any game is going to be easy."
On Missouri QB Darius Outlaw:
"We're facing a freshman quarterback... He's a little elusive, so we gave to be careful when we rush... He's almost an option passer... If you're going to blitz, you have to be really sound."
On the Baylor defense:
"Our defense has developed a personality now, part of that is they like to blitz. We don't want to take away that personality, but we've got to be real careful with Outlaw at quarterback."
On the quarterbacks:
"We're going to have a meeting with them today. We've got a complete assessment of their play all year. We'll look at a couple of different ways to do things... We're very close to going with one [quarterback]."
