Everything From UVA Women's Basketball Head Coach Aaron Roussell's Introductory Press Conference

It is a new era in Charlottesville.

Last weekend, Virginia hired Richmond head coach Aaron Roussell to be the next women's basketball head coach and today, he was officially introduced. Here is everything that he had to say at his introductory press conference.

Opening Statement...

"Wow. Thank you. I’m very excited to be here. I do want to start off by thanking Carla. This has been an amazing last week, but thank you for believing in me. President Beardsley, very much looking forward to working with you. I am very excited to work with you guys to represent this university.

I also want to send a shout out to the UVA head coaches that are here who have reached out to me here in the last week that made me feel incredibly welcome. You've got some big-time fans for all of your programs here. And also, I know I've got a lot of mentors come my way, Coach Odom, I've known here for a little bit. I know Coach Elliott, was one of the first ones to reach out. So, we've got some great programs here, and looking forward to being a part of the mix with that. I would also be remiss if I didn't send a lot of thank yous down 64 the other direction. The last seven years have been incredibly special to me at the University of Richmond, an incredibly special place. The athletic director, John Hardt, hired me at two institutions. He hired me at Bucknell and then he went to exec in Richmond and hired me there. President Hallock was unbelievable to me. All of my staff over the years there, the current team, which, obviously, was really, really hard to say goodbye to. But with all the former players, staff, and families at Richmond, it was an amazing run. It is a very special place. We're not going too far, so we'll still be fans over there as well. I also want to thank my family. They're sitting here, in the front row. They're really excited with the new gear, the orange and blue suits them well.

But I also want to thank all the former players and staff that I had at all the institutions in Chicago, at Bucknell, at Richmond, and now here with this group. Again, I just want to let y'all know how excited I am. This is a really special place. I could tell already from the outside, but also from where we are right now. I wouldn't be here if I didn't think the ceiling was really high. I wouldn't be here if I didn't think we could do really, really great things. So, you've got the foundation that's been started by a lot of people before me. I had the pleasure of the enjoyment and entertainment on Friday through spending a couple hours with Coach Ryan in my office, and she's been great. Those of y'all that know me, maybe it's bad, but you should know I'm smart enough that my first phone call was to Coach Staley. I've known Tammi for a really long time. I talked to Tammi Reiss after that, knowing a little bit about the tradition and folks that I've met since my time being here. Really small world. But Monica Wright, who was actually in our last game against Nebraska was watching one of our players there. So, a small, little world. My wife and some of my close friends have worked with Wendy Palmer. I'm going to see Debbie Sterling this week. There has been a really, really rich tradition here and we're going to do great things in the future. We're going to have a lot of celebrations in the future. It's going to be great, but we're going to make sure this is an inclusive place that does involve and include everybody that's been here before my time.

Again, I'm going to tell you, man, I think my agent is here, and he's probably been yelling at me for the last few years. Been really, really picky. We were not looking to leave Richmond. Richmond was a great place, but this place is really special. This place is really, really doing great things. Seeing the crowd right here today, what you guys are going to be a part of, I told the group upstairs, we’ve got a lot of work to do, and we'll talk about our staff. We’ve got a lot of work to do in this environment. Y'all got some work to do as well. We’ve got to fill this place. We’ve got to create a buzz. We’ve got to get this thing rolling, and it's got to be sustained excellence, right? We're going to build this thing so it's not just, “Hey, how are we going to be in a few months?” This is going to be a sustained excellence program. How we go about things, how we handle ourselves, the perception of our women's basketball program will matter, and we’ll make you guys very, very proud of being fans, but also just being a part of what Virginia women's basketball will be. So, I thank you guys, I’m open for questions, and really, thank you guys for being here.

1. On his experience coaching at the division three level...

"What athletics is supposed to be, really, was housed at Division Three, right? It's about the student athlete. This was, you know, many years ago, it was about the student athlete. And you can be a student athlete, and there were battles. And I wasn't a star basketball player, you know, I didn't think I was going to do this. I thought I was going to law school. I thought I was going to be a journalist. That was my path. Coaching was a hobby. Never thought I could make this a career. And so, I thought Division Three aligned with me. I remember I talked to my boss, my future boss, and I thought I sold my soul coming to Division One. I thought that was where the nastiness happened. And he assured me, and I bought in, that we're going to do things the right way. It's going to be similar to that. Obviously following him to Richmond, the message was the same. Talking to Carla during this process, the message was the same. This is a special place to be a student athlete. We’re going to win some games but we’re going to do this the right way as well."

2. On running other programs and how that translates to running an ACC Program

"Well, I'll tell you this, I’ve got a lot of help right now. This has been great. You know, the support staff that I have through this, the number of fans, the number of people associated with this program that are offering help. I think that part's been tremendous, My staff has been dynamite. I don't know how we could have navigated this. Part of that is the level of being in the ACC, part of it is what the landscape has been for the last couple years. I said earlier, this is no longer, you identify talent, “I really like that kid, she'd be a great fit”. And then “Hey, coach. I really like it here, too”. There's more to it right now. And so, I think that's where understanding would impact that experience. We had a little bit in Richmond, but not having that experience there, that's why we've got staff that has been there at that level and to help guide through that."

3. On what led him to coach women's basketball...

"To be honest with you, opportunity. Coaching on the boys’ side, I was working camps back in the day. I saw coaches get into it through camps. Got very lucky to have some prominent people in Minneapolis. At that point, I was coaching Flip Saunders kids when I worked at Flip Saunders’ camps. And from that, made a connection with somebody who was a GA on the women's side, Division Two level in Minnesota. And an opportunity came about. I had a friend that was a football player in college, and he was helping the women's basketball team there, so I used to go watch his team. And so I think that was kind of my first invitation to it. So it truly started as an opportunity. But then it was passion. I thought I was going to law school. I took the LSAT and thought that was going to be a little bit of a break before law school, and for five years I had to have a come-to-Jesus of if I was actually going to go. Every lawyer I know tells me I made the right choice. Some of you guys will have to help me out with some things, but I never thought I could make a career out of this. And once I thought I could, this is my true passion."

4. On what he needs to establish in year one to have a successful program...

"Culture. I know that the C-word gets overused a lot, and it used to be something different. Now you still need a culture. You still need culture. You still need work ethic. You know, the standards that we allow, the expectations that we have. We have high expectations that you're going to meet, or you're going to meet where your expectations are. So what are your expectations for winning championships? I think it also starts with the staff. You have to be aligned with people that share the vision that you have. I tell people when they're getting new jobs, the number one thing you need to do is think about what you want in your staff. Think about what you are and compliment that. Think about the things that you don't have, what your weaknesses are, what that job entails, and then make sure that you're aligned and doing things the right way. I always told my ADs “Start judging me in year four because we’re going to do things easier and that’s going to establish that.” That was before the transfer portal. That was before you could flip things over a little bit quicker. So I think we're aligned on how quickly we want to do this, but I think you have to establish the expectations and standards right away."

5. On putting a staff together...

"Yeah, some of them are here, you know. So I think, like I said earlier, some of this, you have to identify what you are, what you're not, what the job entails, you know. So sitting front row with Darren here, Darren’s been at Virginia Tech for the last few years and able to get him over with me and have that experience. So I had familiarity with him. So checking off some of those boxes. You know, AJ and Alex and Ariel, great, great human beings, their skill set in video and what's going to happen in this room, in this setting, with player development and getting the right people. I'm going to make this a really quick story.

That story I told you about coaching high school boys for that one year. Well, there was a player girls team whose dad was the coach, and she was a sophomore on the team who's been coaching the SEC at a very high level for a while that's now going to be on our staff. So it's just a wild story of how this happens that you know people. You know Kelly and I knew each other before either one of us got in this business, and she's been a fantastic addition to what we're doing, and we're still working on completing the rest of the staff. I also will tell you, I think there were some superstars that were on the support staff team here already. So we will retain some greatness that was already part of this program. And I think I used the analogy last week, and hopefully there are some restaurant owners that can feed us here a little bit. You know, you're a restaurant owner, you're taking over a new business. You're not changing the whole menu, right? There's probably some things that worked a little bit. So I think we want to make sure we can come in here and not feel like it's a cleaning of house. I think it was an assessment of what was working, what was great, it was very obvious from the student athletes of what was great. And so we're going to retain some of that as well."

6. On Dawn Staley saying his teams play a great style of basketball...

"Yeah, I think in coaching circles, we've gotten some of those compliments as well. I think it's a very fluid style. I think it's easy on the eyes in the sense of the balls moving, players are moving. It's not a lot of ISO ISO ISO. It’s just synergy of players playing together. It takes a while, when you first start this thing, it doesn't always look awesome right away. It takes some time. This style of play, you play the best at the end of the season. And so I think it's fun to watch the movement. You know, some of the coaches that I've really, really looked up to, I’ll give this little humble brag of all these crazy things, all these great things that happen at the University of Virginia. I'm walking back there up to my office the other day, and I thought I saw Coach Carlisle, and so I quickly came back down here. I saw Coach, I know he's not here right now, but I said “Hey, I'm going to be here tomorrow.” I invite him to breakfast. He's like “No, but I'm going to be watching film of the men's staff up there at noon if you want to come over here with me.” So getting to watch that with an NBA coach this week and talking about the style, drawing up stuff on the board for an NBA Coach, your first couple days from the job, and just seeing that a lot of what we do is kind of modeled after the professional ranks, right? The pro style model, what they're doing in Europe, that they're doing at the high levels here. So we're going to have to adjust things as well, right? If we went back to Richmond this year, we were going to have to change based on our personnel. We're going to have to do that after we construct a roster. But I think just that fluid and fun motion style, you'll see the framework here."

7. On learning how to coach at such a young age...

"Yeah, do the math. I think Carla gave away my age earlier, it’s all good. You know, it's interesting, because at that point, I wanted nothing to do with being thrown into being a head coach. I didn't feel like I was prepared. You know, I think when I talk to people right now and they’re like “What do you mean? You're mad you got a head coaching job at that point?” Yeah, I didn't get to learn from folks. I think, you know, just that fear of failure at that point. I learned a lot from the other coaches that were in the league. I learned a lot from, there was still the internet back then, don’t think I’m that old. I was just getting online and watching some of that, just learning from other people. And I remember just talking, I had a great group of coaches in our league at Division Three level, there was a real camaraderie there. And just felt like I learned a lot at that point. And then you learn from your staff. And I think that's the diversity of folks that you have coming into your program that haven't always been with you. You learn from your staff. 22 years into this, and there's nothing I'm married to. There's no order a business of how I do this. You're supposed to be a lifelong learner in every business, that's in college basketball to a T. You know, things are changing. What worked in college basketball 22 years ago, it's a different game right now, and I think I've been taking a lot of pride in making sure to try to get ahead of the curve when things are changing. We did this a few years ago because freedom of movement was a big thing. The referees still tell you there's freedom of movement, but how they officiate that is a little bit different. So I think we're trying to get ahead of the curve a little and adjust to the physicality."

8. On constructing a roster...

"I think we talked first and foremost about player development. That's part of why I hired the staff that I did, was about player development. When we first started at Richmond, it was about different things of what we were recruiting. At the end of Richmond, it was, we want to recruit, and develop pros. So you obviously get to this level and you have a little bit of different resource. You have a different level, and maybe a different ceiling of saying, “I want to coach pros. I want to prepare for pros.” That's part of why we did what we did, how we changed our offense over the years. I wanted that to translate. I wanted what we were doing, what we're teaching, to translate to the next level. That's a big part of it. You know, I think it's a fun style to play, you know, I think that's something that we teach. It's a fun style, It's reading. You know, it's not a lot of memorization. It's playing basketball, and sometimes it's just play, it's just play, it's just play. So I think it's fun for them. It's fun to teach. That's also part of what we teach too. Sometimes, as a teacher, you just got to learn new things, so you're not getting stale and stagnant."

9. On Charlottesville...

"My first week was about, up in that office, in the parking lot, and going home, taking a nap and doing it all over again. The big decision at night, am I driving back home or getting a hotel? So it hasn't been a whole lot outside of being on the phones. I apologize to folks I'm not getting back to I promise you I will. It is a daunting order. These guys have heard me say how interesting it is taking a new job in the middle of the portal being open. This is our most chaotic time, for every college basketball coach, imagine trying to get a move, I started this week. I don't think we said this. I was in Jamaica on a family vacation when I first talked to Carla last week. So that's been a challenge. Yesterday, we did have a recruiting visit with a player, and that was my first time. I had a 30 minute tour with our staff and with players, and I was like, oh my god, this is incredibly cool. These are the things that you learn about, or at least try to pay attention to enough in school about the history of everything. Here we are, like, it's incredible, and so I think I am smart enough, and we kind of strategize a little bit last night of like, really, we got to get people to campus. We gotta get people to campus. And once they see this place, going to realize just what we all have here."

10. On his expectations for the program...

"To be fair, and again, as much as I always stand here and respect the journalists and not standing up here and not giving coach speak, I pride myself on that, you can hold me to it. That's a little bit, you know, I think that's beyond us right now, but I will tell you that's part of our roster construction is selling what this place can be and having really high expectations, I think the setting of goals, which is maybe not kind of how I go about things anyway. I think that comes once we get that roster. But I'm telling you, when I'm talking to kids, like this is going to be a place that should win at the highest of levels on the national stage. And that's my pitch to recruits. And then once we get the right kids in here, it's giddy up and let's go. If this was just about surviving, there would be Coach Roussell would be at. I'm here because I think this can be really, really great. I think this is a sales pitch that we've got the campus, we've got the student athlete experience, we've got the academics. We have all those things that as a parent should be important to my children. Now we’ve got to convey that. And there's other things that go into this decision these days. I know things have changed, but the style of playing everything else, I think this is more of a why not? Why not Virginia? I don't care what level. Obviously the phones have been on fire here this week with my staff, and sometimes you take a step back, like “oh we’re talking to this kid?” Well, yeah, we should, look at this place this is what we get to offer here. So I think first things first we got to get that roster. But this is a program that we want sustained excellence. We want to hang some banners. We want to do all those things that you guys can cheer about, we can celebrate together with."