The Legacy of Coach Nolan (ch2k8)

[nolan887]

UCF HOPING TO TURN IT ALL AROUND, HIRE NEW HEAD COACH

Orlando, FL - After another disappointing season, the University of Central Florida has replaced their head basketball coach. The Knights will start their 2013-2014 season under the reigns of head coach Charlie Nolan. Coach Nolan was relatively unknown until this past year when he led his USC Upstate Spartans on a Cinderella run to the Final Four. UCF was not the first team to offer him a position, but it was his top choice. Nolan, 31 years old, will be holding a press conference with Athletic Director Keith Tribble and will be open to any questions. With consistent trips to the NCAA tournament and a great coaching record, we are all hoping that Coach Nolan will be a good fit for the Knights.

[nolan887]

Orlando, FL - A press conference was held today in regards to Charlie Nolan being named the new head coach of UCF Knights men's basketball. Aside from Athletic Director Keith Tribble and Coach Nolan, his new staff and various members from the media including newscasters from Central Florida News 13, The Orlando Sentinel, and even students writing for Central Florida Future.

AD Keith Tribble: "Thank you all for coming. Before we open up the floor to Coach Nolan, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say a few words about our hire. Ever since Coach Kirk Speraw left our team in 2009, we have struggled to even keep a record above .500, let alone reach the NCAA tourney. Since our last trip with Speraw, his fourth with our team, we have consistently been a poor basketball team, period. Going into this off season, we looked for the best coach available and luckily for us, he was eager and willing to accept the job. It is with great honor that I introduce to you Charles Nolan, the new Knights basketball head coach."

Coach Nolan: "Thanks Keith. Hello everyone, and thank you for coming out. This is a little bit of a larger crowd than I have grown accustomed to in Spartanburg, but its great. Rather than blabber on about things you probably don't even care about, I'm going to go ahead and open up the floor to any questions."

Reporter: "Coach, Mike Bianchi from the Orlando Sentinel, can you tell us a little bit of background information about yourself? To be blunt, before your Final Four run last year, most of us had never even heard your name before."

Coach Nolan: "Sure Mike. I am originally from Boston, Massachusetts, but attended college at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. It was at Drexel working towards my Sports Management degree that I really grew to love basketball. I worked as a team statistician all four years, and grew to become great friends with the Dragons' then head coach Bruiser Flint. Bruiser really turned me on to coaching, and it must be from him that my defensive mindedness comes into play."

Reporter: "Ryan Bass from Central Florida Future.com, what about your coaching background? Coach Flint got you into coaching, but how?"

Coach Nolan: "Good question Ryan. With a degree in Sports Management, I was planning on teaching at a high school and coaching either men's lacrosse or men's basketball at the high school level, but while looking for a job there was a head coaching position available at the University of South Carolina Upstate, a small Atlantic Sun school. USC Upstate was in the same type of situation that UCF has fallen into with low attendance and sub-par records for a few years. At USC Upstate, I was able to coach the team to a 125-72 record over six years, with five NCAA tournament bids, one being to the sweet sixteen and one to the final four, along with one NIT bid. Along with strong post season play, we were able to win the regular season conference twice. During this time, we were also able to produce three twenty-win seasons, eight all-conference players, one all-american player, and one national player of the year."

Reporter: "Wow Coach, that is quite the resume. Andrew Kennedy, also with Central Florida Future.com, I have a two part question for you. One, do you plan to implement the same play style here as you did at USCU. And also how are you planning on going after recruits?"

Coach Nolan: "Thank you Andrew. Firstly, for those of you unfamiliar with my tenure at USCU, I will explain. I run a very up-tempo type offense, we like to push the ball at all times and get out on fast breaks. When possible, we like to dump the ball down low for the high percentage shots, but I like to have some guards who can knock it down from the outside as well. For those of you looking for some high scoring games, we will certainly try to deliver. If we can't score as soon as we get the ball down the court, we work out of a motion based playbook. On the defensive side of the ball, we like to play a little man-to-man, a little 2-3 zone, and a little 1-3-1 zone. As for the question about recruiting, we will go about it the same way as we did at USCU. We will mostly recruit local players, as most high school students aren't very keen to move far away from home to college. Our main concerns are defense and shooting, in that order. If we can stop the opposition from scoring and create turnovers, you students will be able to indulge in free tacos for the nights we put up 100."

Reporter: "Tiffany Greene, Central Florida News 13. You seem very confident in your team. With three freshman coming in and thirteen players on the roster coming back from last year, what are your plans in that regard?"

Coach Nolan: "Well Tiffany, the first thing I did when I got into Orlando was met with the players. I let them all know that they will have their spots on the roster, and will not be cut. They were recruited and wanted to come to UCF to play basketball, and I will not come in and ruin any team chemistry by cutting players. They all understand that we mostly run a 10 man deep bench, and their playing time may take a cut. Rios and Cooper are promising players coming in from Cape Coral, FL and Des Plaines, IL respectively, and have both been red shirt for the upcoming season in order to further develop their skills. Once the season starts, we will know for sure what the lineup will look like."

AD Keith Tribble: "I think we have time for one more question so we can let Coach Nolan get back to work and getting acclimated to his new surroundings here in Orlando. Go ahead Iliana."

Reporter: "Coach, Iliana Limon from the Orlando Sentinel. With an attendance of only thirty percent at the end of last season, the student morale is fairly low in regards to the basketball team. What are your goals for this season, and for your tenure at UCF?"

Coach Nolan: "As a team, we will come up with many goals for ourselves throughout the season. As a coach, however, my goals are to win the regular season conference, win the conference tournament, and win the NCAA championship. Another goal is to recruit a Mr. Basketball of the state of Florida. It would be a great honor for this school to be able to say that we have the best basketball player in the state coming to play for us."

"It was so nice to meet all of you. I would like to thank you all for coming out, and I look forward to a big turnaround, and a great season this year."

[nolan887]

NOLAN IMPRESSES REPORTERS AT PRESS CONFERENCE

Orlando, FL - Coach Nolan held a press conference yesterday with various members of the local media. After talking a little about himself, he went into some detail about his six year stretch at USC Upstate and some of his plans for UCF Basketball. Below some additional information about Coach Nolan and his staff that didn't make the press conference can be found.

Coaching Ratings:

                Age   OVR   OFF   DEF   TEA   SCO   CHA   DIS   
C Nolan          31    B     A-    A+    C-    C-    A+    C-
V Valavicius     31    C+    C+    C+    C-    B     F     B-
A Holland        51    B-    B     D     C-    B+    C-    B+

Coaching Record:

  YEAR      TEAM       RECORD    Tournament?
2013-14      UCF         0-0        ---
2012-13  USC Upstate    20-16    Final Four
2011-12  USC Upstate    26-6    Second Round
2010-11  USC Upstate    28-7    Sweet Sixteen
2009-10  USC Upstate    16-15    First Round
2008-09  USC Upstate    18-15    First Round
2007-08  USC Upstate    17-13       NIT
Career                 125-72

Coaching Achievements:

Achievement                     Career
Regular Season Championships      2
Confrence Tournament Champions    5
NCAA Tournaments                  5
NCAA Sweet Sixteens               2
NCAA Final Fours                  1
NCAA Championships                0
Preseason #1 Rankings             0
20 Win Seasons                    3
Confrence Coach of the Year       3
National Coach of the Year        0
All-Confrence Players             8
All-American Players              1
National Players of the Year      1
Pro Draftees                      0

Coaching Goals:

Go an entire season with no unhappy players
Have a player chosen freshman all conference
Have a player chosen all conference
Coach a Conference Player of the Year
Coach an NCAA All-American
Coach a 2k Sports Award winner
Coach a team to a winning record
Coach a team to 10 wins
Coach a team to 20 wins
Win a non-conference tournament
Upset the #1 ranked team
Coach a team to a conference championship
Coach a team to an NCAA Tournament bid
Coach a team to the Sweet 16
Coach a team to the Final Four
Be chosen conference coach of the year
Get hired by a larger conference team

[nolan887]

PRE-SEASON TOP 25 AND SCHEDULES ANNOUNCED

Orlando, FL - Coach Nolan kept the schedule suggested by Athletic Director Keith Tribble and suggested two minor tweaks. The Knights will be playing in the Hangar Challenge Tournament at the US Air Force's stadium Clune Arena in Colorado. Nolan also added a game against his previous school, USC Upstate. After leading the Spartans to the Final Four last year, he wants to see how his new team at UCF stacks up.

UCF Schedule:
red indicates a conference game
11/8 vs. Charleston Southern {Hangar Challenge}
11/9 at (24) UNLV or Harvard {Hangar Challenge}
11/13 vs. Kennesaw State
11/24 vs. New Hampshire
11/27 at Illinois-Chicago
11/30 vs. Morehead State
12/3 at Kennesaw State
12/17 at Seton Hall
12/21 vs. Cornell
12/28 vs. USC Upstate
12/30 vs. Loyola Marymount
1/4 vs. Radford
1/8 at UTEP
1/11 vs (13) Memphis
1/16 at Tulsa
1/18 vs East Carolina
1/22 at South Florida
1/25 at Alabama-Birmingham
1/29 vs Tulane
2/1 at East Carolina
2/5 at Houston
2/8 vs Tulsa
2/12 at Southern Miss
2/15 vs Marshall
2/19 vs Rice
2/22 vs Houston
3/1 at Tulane
3/5 at Marshall
3/8 vs Southern Methodist

Pre-Season Top 25:
1. Texas
2. USC
3. Louisville
4. Arizone
5. NC State
6. California
7. Oklahoma
8. Texas A&M
9. Villanova
10. Texas Tech
11. UCLA
12. Tennessee
13. Memphis
14. Maryland
15. Syracuse
16. Illinois
17. Wisconsin
18. Oregon
19. West Virginia
20. Georgetown
21. Georgia Tech
22. Duke
23. Mississippi State
24. UNLV
25. Michigan State

[nolan887]

NOLAN TALKS RECRUITS, FINALIZES ROSTER

Orlando, FL - In a phone interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Coach Nolan talked a little about his current recruiting targets as well as his finalized roster for the season. "I feel pretty confident that we will land a least one four star recruit this season," Nolan was quoted as saying. "As I stated when we got here, I will stop at nothing to bring a Mr. Basketball Florida to our university. We are currently 10 out of 11 on his [Whitworth's] list of schools, but we will not be discouraged." Nolan also went on to suggest that the players still on the team that see significantly less play time may be prone to transfer after this season. "It is hard to have a sixteen man roster, only play ten people, and keep everyone happy."

Pre-Season Recruits
1. A. Whitworth, 6'-1", 176 (Clearwater, FL - #4 OVR, #2 PG) 5*, Mr. Basketball FL
2. S Poole, 6'-9", 243 (Albany, GA - #29 OVR, #5 PF) 4*, Mr. Basketball GA
3. J Black, 6'-5", 204 (Pompano Beach, FL - #45 OVR, #10 SG) 4*
4. C Haigler, 6'-6", 197 (Clearwater, FL - #219 OVR, #39 PF) 3*
5. G Logie, 6'-5", 184 (Charleston, SC - #413 OVR, #117 SG) 3*


Finalized 2013-14 Roster
Starters:
PG #33 J Bone, 5'-9", 162 (Orlando, FL) 69 OVR Sophomore
SG #30 D Hill, 6'-3", 194 (Coral Springs, FL) 72 OVR Senior
SF #24 K Cassler, 6'-9", 225 (Orlando, FL) 66 OVR Freshman
PF #43 K Kleinzweig, 7'-0", 282 (Davie Town, FL) 70 OVR Freshman
C #45 P Shannon, 6'-9", 235 (Jacksonville, FL) 69 OVR Junior

Bench:
G #14 N Simmons, 5'-10", 184 (Miami, FL) 67 OVR Sophomore
F #54 A Ross, 6'-9", 242 (San Antonio, TX) 64 OVR Sophomore
G #32 L Gardner, 6'-2", 213 (Coral Springs, FL) 56 OVR Sophomore
F #42 E Carlson, 6'-8", 218 (Jacksonville, FL) 56 OVR Sophomore
F #31 H Neal, 6'-6", 219 (Miami, FL) 55 OVR Senior
F #20 M Allen, 6'-7", 199 (Port St. Lucie, FL) 55 OVR Sophomore
F #44 D Peters, 6'-6", 219 (Portland, OR) 54 OVR Sophomore

Reserves:
F #13 C Chapman, 6'-7", 240 (Jacksonville, FL) 53 OVR Sophomore
G #5 K Burton, 6'-5", 199 (Coral Springs, FL) 53 OVR Junior
F #55 R Rios, 6'-8", 229 (Cape Coral, FL) 54 OVR Freshman {RS}
G #11 F Cooper, 6'-3", 190 (Des Plaines, IL) 53 OVR Freshman {RS}

[nolan887]

KNIGHTS LOOK STRONG IN OPENER, ROLL BUCCANEERS

University of Central Florida (1-0) vs. Charleston Southern University (0-1)
Clune Arena
USAFA, CO
November 8, 2013

USAFA, CO - Nolan's UCF Knights looked golden all day against a far inferior Charleston Southern squad. The Knights held the edge in almost every category on the stat sheet. UCF shot 40% from the floor, and were able to visit the charity stripe thirty four times. The Knights were lead by senior starting forward Kody Kleinzweig who managed a double-double in this year's debut with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Following closely behind Kody on the stat sheet was Eddie Carlson, a sophomore who came off the bench to put up 13 points and 6 rebounds. At no point during the game did it look like CSU was even close to keeping it close.

With a strong showing in his first game, Coach Nolan stopped by for some brief comments after the win. "We really played our game in and out for forty minutes out there today. When we have kids coming off the bench and scoring as many as Eddie did, I think it was something like fifteen? You know it's just your day. It was good to see a mix of senior leadership and bench play contribute to our win. At this point, we are looking forward to playing #24 UNLV for the tourney championship tomorrow night."

UNLV is ranked 24 in the nation and beat Harvard in the first round to advance to the tournament championship game against UCF tomorrow night. UCF will be the away team and will hope to have another solid game from Kleinzweig along with their defense stepping up their play. I think we all are looking forward to see if Coach Nolan can actually turn this UCF Knights team around, but for now it is so far, so good.

University of Central Florida (1-0) at Charleston Southern University (0-1)
November 8, 2013 1 2 F University of Central Florida 44 38 82 Charleston Southern University 31 25 56 Top Performers University of Central Florida - Stats Edmund Augustine - 17 Pts, 2 Reb, 4 Ast, 2 Stl, 1 Blk Miles Mcleod - 11 Pts, 12 Reb, 1 Stl Charleston Southern University - Stats Kody Kleinzweig - 19 Pts, 10 Reb, 1 Reb, 1 Stl Eddie Carlson - 13 Pts, 6 Reb, 3 Stl	Team Stat Comparison CSU UCF FG Made-Attempted 24-64 29-72 3P Made-Attempted 3-17 2-9 FT Made-Attempted 5-17 22-34 Rebounds 36 50 Assists 16 20 Steals 9 15 Blocks 6 2 Turnovers 16 9

[nolan887]

KNIGHTS NOT YET READY TO CONTEND WITH THE BIG BOYS

University of Central Florida (1-1) at #24 University of Nevada-Las Vegas (2-0)
Clune Arena
USAFA, CO
November 9, 2013

USAFA, CO - The Hangar Tournament ended today in disappointing fashion for the UCF Knights. After keeping it close the entire first half and going into halftime up one point, the Running Rebels of UNLV turned it on in the second half and did not look back. Immediately out of the locker room Shannon Whelchel of UNLV stole the ball and took it to the house. After his slam dunk that shook the building, the Rebels lead for the rest of the game. Kleinzweig, who had a double-double in UCF's season opener got into foul trouble early, and just could not hit his shots. Unfortunately for Pearson Shannon, his 36 points and 11 boards were not enough to keep his team in contention.

Coach Nolan briefly spoke after their first loss of the season. "We went out there in the first half and tried to pound it down low to our big men. Pearson was hitting from all over the place and went into the locker room at halftime with twenty points, but Kody couldn't hit a shot to save his life. I think they hear about his big game yesterday and went right at him because he was in foul trouble with limited minutes all game long. It seems we may have been exposed as a team, but this UNLV team is no joke either. We have a lot of work to do this season if we want to be able to contend in the big dance come March."

Exposed is absolutely the correct word to describe UCF's team in this game. The Knights were not very composed and picked up a ton of fouls this game. Twenty-three of UNLV's points came off of made free throws. If UCF wants to win, they are going to have to be more disciplined on defense. It is also hard to overlook that they let the Running Rebels score a whopping fifty-five points in the second half. Although they held UNLV to 4-20 from 3 point land, the Rebels were still draining 2's like it was their job. Better defensive performances all around will be something we are all looking forward to. The Knights will have what looks to be an easy win against Kennesaw State for their home debut.

University of Central Florida (1-1) at University of Nevada - Las Vegas (2-0)
November 9, 2013 1 2 F University of Central Florida 43 37 80 #24 University of Nevada - Las Vegas 42 55 97 Top Performers University of Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 36 Pts, 11 Reb, 4 Blk Kody Kleinzweig - 13 Pts, 5 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Blk University of Nevada - Las Vegas - Stats Shannon Whelchel - 19 Pts, 7 Reb, 2 Ast, 2 Stl Harrison Evenstar - 16 Pts, 7 Reb, 3 Ast, 2 Stl	Team Stat Comparison UCF UNLV FG Made-Attempted 34-70 35-79 3P Made-Attempted 2-7 4-20 FT Made-Attempted 10-16 23-30 Rebounds 34 44 Assists 24 21 Steals 7 15 Blocks 6 3 Turnovers 18 10

[superjames1992]

Wow, you must have had a sub-.500 record before postseason play started in your last season at USC Upstate, yet you went to the Final Four! That must have been a crazy Cinderalla ride!

Good luck with this; I'll be following along.