Connie Yori Press Conference Quotes

University of Nebraska Director of Athletics Bill Byrne
"Eleven days ago, we had a press conference, and I brought you the sad news that Paul Sanderford was stepping down as women's basketball coach because of health reasons. We are all sorry to see Paul go. He brought great excitement to Nebraska. He created interest in Nebraska women's basketball like we have never seen before. I also told you at that time that we would move expeditiously to find a replacement for Paul because recruiting season was approaching rapidly. We wanted to find someone who had the same culture and values that we have grown accustomed to at the University of Nebraska. What I didn't tell you at that time, was that just before I left for the news conference, I called Bruce Rasmussen the Director of Athletics at Creighton University and asked for permission to talk to Connie Yori. We have been talking for the last few days, and I am pleased to tell you that Connie has accepted our invitation to become a Cornhusker. Let me introduce you to the new women's basketball coach at the University of Nebraska, Connie Yori."

On having watched Connie Yori in the past
"I have just been so impressed with watching her teams just improve and improve. I keep a list of coaches. I watch coaches, kind of like you guys watch TV, I watch coaches. I have just been thrilled to watch her improve, and watch her teams improve over, particularly, the last five years. I told her, the job she has done with the resources that she has had available to her has just been phenomenal. As I said, she was at the top of my list. I wanted to recruit Connie Yori to Nebraska."

On hiring a woman to fill the coaching position
"I was told that I should hire the best person that I could find, but that was what I was told last time. I tried to get the very best person we could, and I think we did again this time."

On replacing the women's basketball and baseball coaches rather quickly
"My approach has always been to find the best possible coach. In the baseball situation, I was able to evaluate Mike Anderson for eight years. I was able to evaluate Rob Childress for five years, so I know what the products were, and I knew they were going to be great coaches at Nebraska. I wanted the continuity in that program and we got that. I have been watching Connie Yori closely for the past five years, and I have just been pleased. As I told you earlier, to watch the growth in her teams, and watch the growth in her coaching style. I have really been impressed with that. I thought we really needed someone like that at Nebraska. I also want people who fit into our culture. I want someone who has the same values that we have. The hard work and the Midwestern values that we all appreciate. She has that. We need her at Nebraska. I told her when I first met here that she looks good in red."

Nebraska's New Women's Basketball Coach Connie Yori
"Let me first say I want to thank Bill (Byrne), because this has not necessarily been an easy process for me personally. But Bill has made this an easy decision. I want to thank the administration of the University of Nebraska for giving me this opportunity. I want to personally thank Bill Byrne for making this something that actually took place and actually happened. I am very, very excited about being the University of Nebraska Women's Basketball Coach. The opportunity to coach in the Big 12 is something that I am very excited about. The opportunity to work at the University of Nebraska, which I think is one of the top-five athletic programs in the country. I think this is a good fit, and Bill mentioned, I think it is a very, very good fit for what the University of Nebraska needs in their women's basketball program. And, it is a good fit for me. I am going to move 50 miles down the road. It will be an easy transition. The University of Nebraska is a tremendous athletic opportunity in terms of its facilities, in terms of its commitment to women's athletics, in terms of student-athletes already in the program. I am just thrilled to be a part of it. It is an easy transition also because I am one of the few coaches in the country who will have an easy time trying to find the Devaney Center, so that will be an easy thing. I am excited about this opportunity for many, many reasons. The fan support has been tremendous. Bill mentioned that Paul got that going, and Coach Sanderford took the University of Nebraska women's basketball program to a new level in terms of attendance, and I want to make that continue to happen. I am excited about continuing in that area."

"You of course are probably going to have questions in regards to Creighton University and my experiences there. I want to thank Creighton University for giving me the opportunity to be a student-athlete. I very much enjoyed being a student-athlete at Creighton. Ten years ago, Bruce Rasmussen hired me to be the women's basketball coach at Creighton, and I feel like I did a good job, and that I did things the right way. Now, I am getting an opportunity to continue on in my career and hopefully make good things happen here as well. I had some emotional meetings with my players at Creighton in the last couple of days, and in many ways it is very hard to leave them because of our relationships we have developed. Yet, I know, and I expect that is going to happen here. I expect the student-athletes in our program to have a good situation in terms of coaching and my commitment to them, and hopefully, their commitment to me. I am going to recruit, retain and graduate, hopefully, outstanding people to Nebraska. I want to build the same sort of relationship at Nebraska that I did a Creighton."

On moving on to Nebraska from Creighton
"December 1 is going to be a tough day for me personally. That is the day, right now, that the Creighton/Nebraska game is scheduled. I know that is going to be a very difficult day, but it is also going to be a really fun day to go back and see the student-athletes that I recruited to Creighton. I believe that we can get things done here, the way I got things done at Creighton. I have a long history with Creighton, and there are definitely the relationships there that I hope to create here. I think one of the strengths that I have had as a coach, is that I have had good relationships with the players in our program, at Creighton, and hopefully, I will continue to develop that here."

On this job being something she had looked to in the past
"You always look as a coach, what are good jobs? I have always told people that I have recruited that I am necessarily going to stay at Creighton for the rest of my career. I have been very upfront with our student-athletes from that respect. I have always looked down the road 50 miles, and I have known that this is a good job. I know that because of the fan support, and the facilities and the commitment here to athletics. I know this is a good job. From an outsider's perspective at Creighton, I knew this was a good job. I came over Friday and took a look, and I learned a great deal more about the job, and I think it is even a better job than I had really realized maybe a week ago."

On feeling like she is crossing enemy lines
"Well, I think that is a natural question, and a legitimate question. But, I have always had a good relationship with the women's basketball coaches at Nebraska, both with Paul (Sanderford) and with Angela Beck. I have not ever had that type of feeling, that there maybe has been at times in some of the other sports, and I think I really have an opportunity to bridge some of the gap. Although, it really hasn't been the case in women's basketball that there isn't much of a gap to bridge. I think people at Creighton will understand, and the most important thing to me was the student-athletes that are at Creighton right now and they understand. They told me that they understand that I needed to make this move, and to me, those are the most important people for me to take care of. And, there opinion is the one I most appreciate."

On what role did the Big 12 Conference play in your decision
"As you know, I have had other opportunities recently to make a move. One of those opportunities was at Southwest Missouri and moving from one league school to another was not as interesting to me, as having an opportunity to coach in the Big 12. I know there are a lot of great coaches in the Big 12, and I know I am going to be challenged tremendously that way. But, I believe that if I put together the right staff and continue to recruit good people, I think we can get it done."

On contacting the three girls that have recently left the NU program
"Well, Steph Jones has already made a determination that she has signed with another school. I plan to communicate with both Katie (Robinette) and K.C. (Cowgill) fairly quickly here, and get a read on what their plans are. But I haven't at this stage, gone any further than that."

"I haven't talked to Katie. I haven't spoken with her. I have talked to Kelly Flynn. I would like to hear from a lot of people involved in the program. I want to hear from the players that are currently in the program as to what their feelings are, and I would also like to, of course, talk to Katie (Robinette) and see where that takes us."

On bringing players over from Creighton
"I do not have that intention, and that is not why I am taking this job. I wish everyone in the Creighton program well, and I hope things go well for them because I have great respect for student-athletes that are at Creighton and who will be at Creighton."

On putting together a staff
"I am going to sit down and talk to the current members of Paul's (Sanderford) staff and get a good idea of what they have to say and interview them and speak to them and then kind of take it from there. I have some ideas on some people that I would like to talk to a little bit further. I think we are just going to approach it that way."

On how her life is going to change moving over to Nebraska
"Well, my life is going to change about as little as it could, based on making a coaching change. Unless you actually make a coaching change and move from a school that is in the same city, I don't know how much easier there could be in terms of a transition. I'm going to move 50 miles down the road. Yes, there are many things that are attractive here to this position. The opportunity that the budget affords you will, hopefully, allow us to do some good things and bring in some good kids and take care of the kids we currently have in the program."

On how much work has to be done
"I have to hit the ground running, I know that. I need to sit down with the current student-athletes, and make sure they are well taken care of, and that is my number one priority. I need to put together a staff and the recruiting process is really ongoing, as you know, the recruiting process is not stop and go. You really need to get after it all of the time. A recruiting period is actually going to start for us in two weeks and there is a telephone period that just started on Friday, so we have a lot of things to do."

Is there added pressure after the success you had at Creighton
"I think pressure is, typically, self imposed. My feeling is that as head basketball coach, there is no one who is going to put more pressure on me than I am. Nobody who is going to expect more than I am. You hope that is how you get it done. If you are worried about what everybody else is thinking, or what everybody else is saying, I think you have a tendency to lose your focus a little bit. I am going to do things the way I think they need to be done, and I plan to go with that route."

On what kind of basketball she plans on playing at Nebraska
"As a coach, you want to have a certain philosophy that you want to kind of stick with. Yet, you have to make adjustments based on personnel. If you don't have the ability to shoot the three, you don't shoot as many threes. That only makes sense. I think that there are some things that this program has in place in terms of personnel that are pretty exciting. I really think that we can be a really good defensive team. We have kids in the program that can get after it that way. One of the concerns is that there isn't a lot of depth. That is something that we, of course, want to try and improve on. Historically, the teams that I have coached, I have played a lot of kids. I have tried to be consistent in their playing time and get them an opportunity to play and prove themselves on the floor. I think that is a fun style. If you can play 10 kids, you can ask your kids to play really hard and ask them to do those things. Right now, we don't have that depth. We know that is a concern. Going into next season, we know we may start the season with as few as 10 scholarship players. That is a concern, but I know that we can get it done, and we can get it done with the style that I want to play with a few adjustments early on."

On Bill Byrne's comments about looking good in red
"My husband says that and that is the truth. In fact, I would like to introduce my husband, Kirk Helms, mister shy guy. We have been married for six years, and Kirk has been a big part of, obviously my life, but also a big part of my career. He, hopefully, is going to continue to do that here and be a part of the student-athletes lives here at the University of Nebraska."

On having a leg up being so familiar with Nebraska
"Obviously, I know the Midwest. I do think we can go outside of the Midwest to recruit. At Creighton, I recruited a lot of Midwestern kids. I think at Nebraska, we want to continue to recruit those types of kids, and maybe extend ourselves a little bit more. I definitely have a little bit of an advantage in terms of having an understanding, right now, of who I want to go after."

On putting red on for the first time
"I own a couple of red things, I just need to expand my wardrobe a little bit. I actually have maybe a cute story. Coming down here, I thought I would throw in a couple of T-shirts and maybe later on get a workout in, but I couldn't find a T-shirt that didn't say Creighton on it. So I had to go to Kirk (husband) and say, do you have any T-shirts that I could borrow? But, I'm sure we can take care of that."

On what was a factor in making the move
"Location was a big factor. Also, of course, being in a different league and competing in a higher level. This is a very, very easy transition for my husband and I to move to 50 miles down the road. It is an easy transition for our family. Kirk is originally from Omaha and has his family there, and we are very close to them. This is a really good situation for our family, as well as for me professionally."