Indiana University Athletics
Gibran Hamdan Press Conference (11-05-02)
11/5/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Bloomington, Ind.--
Opening Statement: The loss at Northwestern was very disappointing for us but again, we just have to move onto the next week and the next Big Ten foe. That is where my focus is right now and our team's focus is there. We need to now get prepared for Michigan State.
Did you see the same thing Coach saw after the Northwestern game, the team taking the loss casually?
"I didn't see a specific incident. I was upset after Sunday in that the word of the team was that the mental state wasn't necessarily where we should have been after a loss. Often it is tough for me to say whether or not a certain individual wasn't taking things right or wrong. I don't like to pass judgment on my teammates in how they choose to handle losses. As the leader of the team, Coach DiNardo made that decision and I am behind him 100 percentage. He has been in a leadership position of a major college football team a lot longer than I have and has a lot more experience. From my standpoint, I don't really concern myself with deciding how my teammates are handling a loss. Overall, I understand the points he made on Sunday. I think that the point has been made and we are going to move on."
What was the team's response to the Sunday night scrimmage?
"I thought that it was very positive. It is a challenging thing on a Sunday for guys that maybe played a lot. Quite a few guys that played a good amount on Saturday were asked to play in the scrimmage on Sunday. For the most part it was positive and there was a lot of energy. I thought it was good for a lot of guys to get in there and get an opportunity to play. I can remember last year and the year before when I was one of those guys. It is a very disheartening thing to practice week in and week out, and not get a chance to play the game of football in a game situation."
How surprised where you when coach said you were going to scrimmage?
"We were surprised from the standpoint that that has never happened on a Sunday before. That has gone against our normal routine. As a coach that is a decision that he made and again it was surprising in the fact that it was different from our routine, but our job is to follow what he believes is best for the program, and that is what he believes was best for that time. I think that we took it that way and practiced as hard as we could."
What is normal Sunday routine?
"We will go over the previous game on a Sunday, and then we will meet as a team and go through the special teams from the game before. We will meet and go through what happened from the game, things we need to improve on, and have just a general team meeting. After that we go walk through on offense and defense things that came up in the game that maybe we need to work on, reads or blocking techniques, then we will go through our stretch that we do before practice. Last we do a special teams run through and then we condition."
How important is it to finish well?
"Obviously anybody who has ever played on any organized sport team will tell you that you are always out to improve the next week and add more wins to the win column. I don't sense any despair on our team and we are going to fight hard to the end of the season regardless of what anybody else thinks. We are not concerned about what anybody else thinks and that is something that this team continues to show. That is going to be the strength of this team regardless of how we end the season. We are going to go out and work hard and play our hearts out and see what happens. We need to focus on Michigan State this week."
What do you anticipate from them after what they are going through?
"They have got to be going through a rough time right now. We obviously have been through a coaching transition, but never in the middle of the season. I think that Morris Watts has taken over and from what I have heard he is an outstanding football coach. It is obviously a difficult time over there but I am sure that they are going to get prepared just like they would if Coach Williams was still there coach. It will be a good game. I can't exactly tell you the dynamics of the situation because I am not in their locker room but it is obviously a tough situation for them.
Opening Statement: The loss at Northwestern was very disappointing for us but again, we just have to move onto the next week and the next Big Ten foe. That is where my focus is right now and our team's focus is there. We need to now get prepared for Michigan State.
Did you see the same thing Coach saw after the Northwestern game, the team taking the loss casually?
"I didn't see a specific incident. I was upset after Sunday in that the word of the team was that the mental state wasn't necessarily where we should have been after a loss. Often it is tough for me to say whether or not a certain individual wasn't taking things right or wrong. I don't like to pass judgment on my teammates in how they choose to handle losses. As the leader of the team, Coach DiNardo made that decision and I am behind him 100 percentage. He has been in a leadership position of a major college football team a lot longer than I have and has a lot more experience. From my standpoint, I don't really concern myself with deciding how my teammates are handling a loss. Overall, I understand the points he made on Sunday. I think that the point has been made and we are going to move on."
What was the team's response to the Sunday night scrimmage?
"I thought that it was very positive. It is a challenging thing on a Sunday for guys that maybe played a lot. Quite a few guys that played a good amount on Saturday were asked to play in the scrimmage on Sunday. For the most part it was positive and there was a lot of energy. I thought it was good for a lot of guys to get in there and get an opportunity to play. I can remember last year and the year before when I was one of those guys. It is a very disheartening thing to practice week in and week out, and not get a chance to play the game of football in a game situation."
How surprised where you when coach said you were going to scrimmage?
"We were surprised from the standpoint that that has never happened on a Sunday before. That has gone against our normal routine. As a coach that is a decision that he made and again it was surprising in the fact that it was different from our routine, but our job is to follow what he believes is best for the program, and that is what he believes was best for that time. I think that we took it that way and practiced as hard as we could."
What is normal Sunday routine?
"We will go over the previous game on a Sunday, and then we will meet as a team and go through the special teams from the game before. We will meet and go through what happened from the game, things we need to improve on, and have just a general team meeting. After that we go walk through on offense and defense things that came up in the game that maybe we need to work on, reads or blocking techniques, then we will go through our stretch that we do before practice. Last we do a special teams run through and then we condition."
How important is it to finish well?
"Obviously anybody who has ever played on any organized sport team will tell you that you are always out to improve the next week and add more wins to the win column. I don't sense any despair on our team and we are going to fight hard to the end of the season regardless of what anybody else thinks. We are not concerned about what anybody else thinks and that is something that this team continues to show. That is going to be the strength of this team regardless of how we end the season. We are going to go out and work hard and play our hearts out and see what happens. We need to focus on Michigan State this week."
What do you anticipate from them after what they are going through?
"They have got to be going through a rough time right now. We obviously have been through a coaching transition, but never in the middle of the season. I think that Morris Watts has taken over and from what I have heard he is an outstanding football coach. It is obviously a difficult time over there but I am sure that they are going to get prepared just like they would if Coach Williams was still there coach. It will be a good game. I can't exactly tell you the dynamics of the situation because I am not in their locker room but it is obviously a tough situation for them.
Thursday, August 13
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