George Washington University Athletics
Jennifer Rizzotti Introductory Press Conference Quotes
4/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
GW Director of Athletics and Recreation Patrick Nero
Opening Remarks:
"First of all, I'd like to start off by thanking our wonderful women's basketball team. Thank you guys for your patience. You make our job easy, because someone would be crazy to not want to coach you. If I knew anything about basketball I'd coach you, you know that.
"I want to thank President Knapp, Chief of Staff Barbara Porter, Provost Forrest Maltzman and our Board of Trustees for their trust and guidance in this search. It's been a great search for us and something we're really proud of. I also want to thank Tanya Vogel, Mike Aresco from our staff, they haven't gotten much sleep the last couple weeks helping me, so thank you guys.
"It's really fitting today that we're in the Champions Club, because our women's basketball program has such a great championship history, and by far the most decorated club in our department. So it was really important that we go out and hire a champion.
"Jennifer Rizzotti was an NCAA champion as a starting point guard for the UConn Huskies in 1995, undefeated. She was consensus National Player of the Year and NCAA Female Athlete of the Year. As a professional, she won two WNBA championships with the Houston Comets. As a college coach, four conference championships. And as coach of the United States under-19 team, she has won two world championships. In 2011, she was USA Women's Basketball Coach of the Year, and this summer, she'll be the assistant coach for the USA team at the Rio Olympics.
"I have known and observed Jen for over 10 years. And what impresses me most is that she's a champion in so many other ways. She's a champion of students and a tireless advocate for the student-athletes she coaches. She's a champion of Title IX and the opportunities as provided to female athletes. She's a champion in her profession and a leader of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. She's always a champion of the importance of family and balance of the lives of student-athletes and coaches."
Head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti
Opening Remarks
"I want to start out by thanking President Knapp and Barbara Porter for welcoming me here to this wonderful institution. And especially to Patrick Nero and Tanya and Mike, it has been a quick and fast but thorough process, and its been handled with such class and dignity and integrity. I told the girls, 'You remember being recruited, you want to feel like you're wanted. You want to go play for someone that really values what you have to offer," and that's what Patrick made me feel like. He made me feel like I wanted to be the next coach at George Washington University, and so it was thrilling for me to be able to come down here and see what it was all about.
"I want to also recognize my family that's here today. My husband, Bill Sullivan, and my two sons, Holden and Connor. Obviously, it's a big family decision for us and I couldn't have made it without the support of my husband. He's been by my side for a long time, not just in marriage, but in coaching. We've been at a wonderful place for our family for the last 17 years, and we knew it would take a special place to pull us away, and GW is that place.
"I want to make sure I give special recognition to Pat Meiser, the former athletic director at the University of Hartford, and President Walt Harrison, who gave me the opportunity 17 years ago to start my coaching profession and put me in a position where I could be successful and call a place my home. So as I told the girls in the locker room, as hard as it was to leave, there's things that I want to accomplish in my professional career and I knew that an institution like George Washington would give me the opportunity to do that.
"Really, really excited to be here. I'm very aware of the outstanding basketball tradition here at the university. I followed the men's team to their NIT Championship this year, congratulations.
"I started in the profession when Joe McKeown was here many years ago. I saw the team that went to the Elite Eight, I've seen the teams that have played in the Sweet 16, I know what the possibilities are here - there's no limit for what this women's basketball team can accomplish, and I'm really proud to be its next leader.
"I've had a chance to watch these girls through scouting them before playing them, but also in the postseason this year, in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. I remember watching them play against Duquesne with my son, Holden, so he's familiar with the girls as well. I remember watching them in the NCAA Tournament. And seeing the end of the career for JJ and Lauren and the rest of the seniors, and what a wonderful four years they accomplished here at GW, and I look forward to the future with the players that are coming back.
"It felt really special to walk into the locker room to such a wonderful welcome. They said they YouTubed me, so they know I was a baller, but I told them that as much as I might have been a great player, I hope they'll come to think of me as an even greater coach.
"I'm all about family, my kids will be around a lot, obviously my husband's around a lot, but that's what we've built in our tradition of coaching. So whether these girls are with me for a year or three years, they are always going to be a part of this GW family, and a part of mine now, so you're stuck with me.
"So I just want to say thank you again to everyone that was a part of this, thank you to everybody who came out to see me today, and all I can say is let's have a great future here together. "
On what she wants to accomplish at GW:
"I think every coach has dreams about what they want to accomplish, and as a player who's played in the Final Four and somebody who has been active in the Coaches Association leadership, it was exciting to watch three new coaches and three new teams fulfill their dreams. I don't ever want to put limitations on my team or my players, and they're going to know that pretty quickly, that I'll always be realistic and that I'll always be honest. I'll know when we're the underdog - I don't mind that, I love it - but we're never going to allow them to think they can't accomplish what they want. So we'll sit down as a group and have some very short-term goals moving forward, some long-term goals in terms of what I want to accomplish here at George Washington, but certainly making a run in the NCAA Tournament is what it's all about. I told my son Holden that I want him highlighting my team's name as we go through the bracket, that's what this move is all about. So I have to live up to my end of the bargain."
On how being a player has impacted her coaching career:
"I don't think that every good player makes a good coach, but I think that, as a point guard, there's some responsibilities that are constantly put on our shoulders that forces you to be a leader. I've learned from the best. I'll never be shy about saying that Geno Auriemma is the best, and he put a leadership role on me at a very, very young age at the University of Connecticut. I've been preparing for this since 1992. I had no idea what I was doing when I started in the coaching profession, but when you love the game and you're willing to work at it, when you're willing to take a group of young women and show them how much you care about them as people and have you allow that to push them to their limits as a basketball player - I think that's the key to success. I've never stopped learning. I'll never be at a point in my career where I don't think that I can learn from somebody else, and I'm going to expect to learn as much from them as the players here as they are going to hope to learn from me. Like I said, I was fortunate to be in a great environment that set a great foundation for my coaching career, and I've worked really hard over the years to fine-tune that. I've been through all experiences - as a player, as an All-American, I was also a bench warmer at times, I played for championship teams, I've played for last-place teams, I've coached teams that were really good, I've coached teams that have struggled - I think it's made me stronger as a person, it's made me stronger as a coach, and I look forward to the next phase of growth in my professional career."
On her goals for the next two years:
"It could probably change in a year of two so don't hold me to it: I've always kind of wanted to be the team that nobody wants on their side of the bracket. It says a lot. It could be in a conference tournament, it could be in the NCAA Tournament, you want to be the other team that coaches are like, 'Ugh, I don't want to see them on my side of the bracket," because we play with a toughness and with an intelligence and with a passion that allows us to win on any given night. That's what I want our team to be defined by. I told them that we'll have some opportunities to grow in terms of who we are offensively and how we utilize the players in the program, especially with some of the losses of the players that made their team go offensively, but we'll be known as tough defenders, they'll be known as guys that give constantly high effort at all times. Everything else, we'll figure out. "
On recruiting local players:
"I've been trying to recruit players down here for a long time, so it will be nice to not be so far away. I think that there's a great source of pride when a kid goes to their local university. I know that there's a lot of options down here in the D.C. area, but there's not a lot of schools like GW. I'm expecting to continue to build on the relationships that I already have. I'm going to work hard to make some of the local kids stay home and go to school. We've got great players in the program now that are not from the area, so I want to get the best kid that wants to be here. For me as a coach, that's what I've always believed in. If a kid wants to be here, wants to play for me, then I can make them a great player. So, hopefully we'll get to a point where there's no other destination that these kids locally want to go and we're always going to be an option for them. We're going to continue to also scour the country and make sure that we're doing our diligence to bring the best kids to not just the basketball program, but to the university. It's such a great opportunity to become a well-rounded person. What we do is special, it is so special to have a kid that got drafted into the WNBA. It's amazing for the program; it speaks volumes for what Jonathan did and what these girls have done. But most of these kids are not going to have a long professional career, and what George Washington does is prepare them for life after college. So I'm constantly going to be looking for kids that, yeah, maybe their goal is to play professionally, but their ultimate goal is to be in a position that once they graduate here they can accomplish anything in any field. That's what special about this place."
