This is from Tulane. I will add more later if I find out they skipped stuff.
Hunter talks like no coach Tulane has ever had, and his track record indicates he can back up his talk, although probably not as quickly as he expects.
Transcript: Ron Hunter Introductory Press Conference
Ben Weiner Director of Athletics Chair Troy Dannen
“I do want to start by thanking everyone for coming. Great of you to all come and support Ron and Amy as we get started with their tenure today. I do want to start with a couple specific thank yous, and the first is to Amy Hunter. Because people don’t understand, this is a family move. This isn’t a move that Ron is making, this is a family move. I want to thank you for endorsing this and being willing to bring your family. I want to thank their children, their daughter Jasmine and their son R.J. because when I talk about it being a family move, I know in this case the family signed off on this. And there’s one person I’m going to thank who five years from now, she will look at this on a video and that’s their 1-year-old granddaughter Phoenix. Because while she doesn’t know what she just gave up, she gave up grandma and grandpa being home in Atlanta. She doesn’t know yet that I should be thanking her for that. But she’ll be thanking me in six years when she’s on her fourth Mardi Gras and she’s coming to New Orleans and thinking this is the greatest thing they’ve ever done. Also want to thank the Board of Tulane and Chair Doug Hertz, Chair of the Athletics Committee Jill Glazer. Since I got here, I’ve said this doesn’t work unless everyone is behind athletics. From top to bottom, the Tulane board since I got here has done nothing but support this program in every way they’ve ever been asked to support it. They deserve a great deal of credit and thanks for anything that’s ever happening positively, one on this campus but certainly in the athletic department. And then to President Fitts: I’ve got the best president in the world to work for. He’s allowed a very wide berth, and I said from day one when I asked him in the interview what do you want out of athletics, he said, ‘I want to win.’ Everything that’s happened since then has been with that philosophy in mind. But the best advice he ever gave me, and it played out in this search, he said, ‘Always hire ambition.’ And there’s no question we’ve hired ambition in this case.
“A little bit about the search process: When you start this search you ask yourself four or five questions to determine what kind of a job you have before you ever go out to the market. No. 1 is institutional alignment. Are we all in line? Talked about the board, talked about the president. Coach has already met the provost, he’s met the CFO, he’s met at least one of the deans, he’s met some of the faculty. There is alignment on this campus, up and down and all around to make sure athletics can be successful. That is No. 1. You can have the greatest coach, you can have the greatest players, you can have the greatest of everything, but institutional alignment is the key to success. And we’ve got it.
“Resources. Everybody thinks about money. That is a key resource. But people, energy, commitment, motivation, those are all resources that have to be present for anything good to happen. And those are present on this campus in every way shape and form and every respect.
“And then the school and the league. There is no university in the country that is hotter than Tulane right now. You’ve read about it, you’ve seen about it. Everything about Tulane is arcing to all-time highs. And our league obviously there’s a lot of news about our league out there, and probably some of that news will be formal in a few days. But there’s so many good things happening in our league. And so, if you look at our school and our league and the commitment and all those resources, we have a treasure of a job. I don’t care what the record was. I care what the record is going to be. We have a treasure of a job. Now when you have a treasure, your job is to find somebody that has the map to open that treasure, unleash that treasure, unlock that treasure. So, we went out looking for the guy who has the map. The first characteristic we thought we needed to have is somebody who had taken a program that was at the bottom and brought it up to the top. And maybe somebody who has taken a program from NAIA up to Division I and taken them to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the school’s history. Maybe someone who walked into a program that had 10 consecutive under-.500 seasons in Atlanta and taken them to six out of eight 20-win seasons and took them to three NCAA Tournaments and a couple NITs and became the talk of the city and the state and became the best program in the state. Maybe somebody like that would have the map to unlock what Tulane is. Ron Hunter is two for two in that. And then we needed someone whose passion and enthusiasm is electric and was going to ignite all of us. Ignite the guys, ignite the department, ignite the university, ignite this community and start a fire in people that don’t know they have a have a fire yet for Tulane. I’m about ready to get off the stage and you’re going to understand, I don’t even have to tell you. This guy is an igniter. He is a fire in and of himself. He brings an enthusiasm and energy and passion that we’re all going to appreciate and we’re all going to love. And then let’s find a coach whose expectations exceed our wildest dreams. His expectations are beyond our – I’ve heard so many times that Tulane’s expectations aren’t what they need to be. Our expectations are exactly what they need to be. Our results have not met them. He’s going to lead our results to our expectations. And maybe the most important, I wanted to find a man who was a great coach but a better man than he was a coach, a man who is a better father than he was a coach. And a man whose integrity and character were impeccable. And in this day and age in Division I college athletics, that’s not as important to everybody. But it’s doggone important to Tulane and it’s doggone important to me. And we found a man who is a great man, who is a great coach, a great father and a great person with a great reputation. A guy like Ron Hunter, that’s the guy.
“So, the search that started eight days ago pointed to him very, very quickly. After Georgia State was eliminated last Friday, we made arrangements, Rob [Bernardi] and I did, to fly to Atlanta to meet with Amy and Ron. We met with them Saturday night. I had offered him the job halfway through dinner. … We came back, negotiated the contract, and Sunday night we announced our coach. Today it’s a pleasure for me to introduce him.
“I go back to the first question that Coach asked me. He said, ‘My charity, Samaritan’s Feet, are you good with it? Would you support it?’ And I was kind of like apoplectic at the question, of course we would. What you don’t know about Tulane, coach, is that since Hurricane Katrina, Tulane has really defined itself by community service. Your charity is our charity. As I thought back on it, I realized how important it was for him to ask me that question right off the bat. Samaritan’s Feet was founded in 2003, and it was about creating hope for kids by giving them shoes. It sounds pretty doggone simple. They’ve given out 7 million pairs of shoes all across the world, all throughout the United States. And you talk about institutional alignment, there is nothing that aligns better with this institution than a man who has that passion in his background above and beyond and outside of the coaching. So, Coach, [unveils gift shoes] we wanted to get things off, if you will, on the right foot. This is a symbol of our partnership as we go forward, and we’re going to support you in every way including what’s important to you in your life in what is now our charity, Samaritan’s Feet.
Hunter talks like no coach Tulane has ever had, and his track record indicates he can back up his talk, although probably not as quickly as he expects.
Transcript: Ron Hunter Introductory Press Conference
Ben Weiner Director of Athletics Chair Troy Dannen
“I do want to start by thanking everyone for coming. Great of you to all come and support Ron and Amy as we get started with their tenure today. I do want to start with a couple specific thank yous, and the first is to Amy Hunter. Because people don’t understand, this is a family move. This isn’t a move that Ron is making, this is a family move. I want to thank you for endorsing this and being willing to bring your family. I want to thank their children, their daughter Jasmine and their son R.J. because when I talk about it being a family move, I know in this case the family signed off on this. And there’s one person I’m going to thank who five years from now, she will look at this on a video and that’s their 1-year-old granddaughter Phoenix. Because while she doesn’t know what she just gave up, she gave up grandma and grandpa being home in Atlanta. She doesn’t know yet that I should be thanking her for that. But she’ll be thanking me in six years when she’s on her fourth Mardi Gras and she’s coming to New Orleans and thinking this is the greatest thing they’ve ever done. Also want to thank the Board of Tulane and Chair Doug Hertz, Chair of the Athletics Committee Jill Glazer. Since I got here, I’ve said this doesn’t work unless everyone is behind athletics. From top to bottom, the Tulane board since I got here has done nothing but support this program in every way they’ve ever been asked to support it. They deserve a great deal of credit and thanks for anything that’s ever happening positively, one on this campus but certainly in the athletic department. And then to President Fitts: I’ve got the best president in the world to work for. He’s allowed a very wide berth, and I said from day one when I asked him in the interview what do you want out of athletics, he said, ‘I want to win.’ Everything that’s happened since then has been with that philosophy in mind. But the best advice he ever gave me, and it played out in this search, he said, ‘Always hire ambition.’ And there’s no question we’ve hired ambition in this case.
“A little bit about the search process: When you start this search you ask yourself four or five questions to determine what kind of a job you have before you ever go out to the market. No. 1 is institutional alignment. Are we all in line? Talked about the board, talked about the president. Coach has already met the provost, he’s met the CFO, he’s met at least one of the deans, he’s met some of the faculty. There is alignment on this campus, up and down and all around to make sure athletics can be successful. That is No. 1. You can have the greatest coach, you can have the greatest players, you can have the greatest of everything, but institutional alignment is the key to success. And we’ve got it.
“Resources. Everybody thinks about money. That is a key resource. But people, energy, commitment, motivation, those are all resources that have to be present for anything good to happen. And those are present on this campus in every way shape and form and every respect.
“And then the school and the league. There is no university in the country that is hotter than Tulane right now. You’ve read about it, you’ve seen about it. Everything about Tulane is arcing to all-time highs. And our league obviously there’s a lot of news about our league out there, and probably some of that news will be formal in a few days. But there’s so many good things happening in our league. And so, if you look at our school and our league and the commitment and all those resources, we have a treasure of a job. I don’t care what the record was. I care what the record is going to be. We have a treasure of a job. Now when you have a treasure, your job is to find somebody that has the map to open that treasure, unleash that treasure, unlock that treasure. So, we went out looking for the guy who has the map. The first characteristic we thought we needed to have is somebody who had taken a program that was at the bottom and brought it up to the top. And maybe somebody who has taken a program from NAIA up to Division I and taken them to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the school’s history. Maybe someone who walked into a program that had 10 consecutive under-.500 seasons in Atlanta and taken them to six out of eight 20-win seasons and took them to three NCAA Tournaments and a couple NITs and became the talk of the city and the state and became the best program in the state. Maybe somebody like that would have the map to unlock what Tulane is. Ron Hunter is two for two in that. And then we needed someone whose passion and enthusiasm is electric and was going to ignite all of us. Ignite the guys, ignite the department, ignite the university, ignite this community and start a fire in people that don’t know they have a have a fire yet for Tulane. I’m about ready to get off the stage and you’re going to understand, I don’t even have to tell you. This guy is an igniter. He is a fire in and of himself. He brings an enthusiasm and energy and passion that we’re all going to appreciate and we’re all going to love. And then let’s find a coach whose expectations exceed our wildest dreams. His expectations are beyond our – I’ve heard so many times that Tulane’s expectations aren’t what they need to be. Our expectations are exactly what they need to be. Our results have not met them. He’s going to lead our results to our expectations. And maybe the most important, I wanted to find a man who was a great coach but a better man than he was a coach, a man who is a better father than he was a coach. And a man whose integrity and character were impeccable. And in this day and age in Division I college athletics, that’s not as important to everybody. But it’s doggone important to Tulane and it’s doggone important to me. And we found a man who is a great man, who is a great coach, a great father and a great person with a great reputation. A guy like Ron Hunter, that’s the guy.
“So, the search that started eight days ago pointed to him very, very quickly. After Georgia State was eliminated last Friday, we made arrangements, Rob [Bernardi] and I did, to fly to Atlanta to meet with Amy and Ron. We met with them Saturday night. I had offered him the job halfway through dinner. … We came back, negotiated the contract, and Sunday night we announced our coach. Today it’s a pleasure for me to introduce him.
“I go back to the first question that Coach asked me. He said, ‘My charity, Samaritan’s Feet, are you good with it? Would you support it?’ And I was kind of like apoplectic at the question, of course we would. What you don’t know about Tulane, coach, is that since Hurricane Katrina, Tulane has really defined itself by community service. Your charity is our charity. As I thought back on it, I realized how important it was for him to ask me that question right off the bat. Samaritan’s Feet was founded in 2003, and it was about creating hope for kids by giving them shoes. It sounds pretty doggone simple. They’ve given out 7 million pairs of shoes all across the world, all throughout the United States. And you talk about institutional alignment, there is nothing that aligns better with this institution than a man who has that passion in his background above and beyond and outside of the coaching. So, Coach, [unveils gift shoes] we wanted to get things off, if you will, on the right foot. This is a symbol of our partnership as we go forward, and we’re going to support you in every way including what’s important to you in your life in what is now our charity, Samaritan’s Feet.
