Quote:Lady Cougars earned respect the right way

Women's basketball head coach Joe Curl says team will have to keep 'prove it' mentality

By Sam Khan Jr.
The Daily Cougar

After another trip to an NCAA Tournament this season, Lady Cougar basketball head coach Joe Curl has turned UH into a perennial success. The Daily Cougar recently sat down with Curl to talk about this season, his senior class, and the public perception of coaching success.

Sam Khan Jr.: This is the second straight season the Lady Cougars have gone to the NCAA Tournament, and you've been very successful as a program in the last four years. What are your thoughts on this season and on the program's progress in general?

Joe Curl: First of all, I'm really proud and really pleased for the University of Houston -- our faculty, staff and students. Then our program comes into play. I think the University of Houston deserves to have successful and winning programs, ones that get to the very best of what its competition has to offer, and for us that's the NCAA Tournament. To do that two years in a row and to be in four tournaments in the last five years, whether it's the WNIT or the NCAA, I think it's really a compliment to the consistency the program is starting to have. I'm just really proud of our ladies, I'm really proud of our staff and the University of Houston, because I think they represented all of what is good in the sport.

Khan: In the past few seasons, you've talked a lot about the lack of credit and respect the program has received nationally. Do you feel that by getting an at-large NCAA bid, people are starting to take notice?

Curl: I do, but I also think that we're always going to have to have the "prove it" mentality. We're not going to take anything for granted. We're going to have to prove it every year. And to be honest, since I've been in the real world as an adult, I've never had anything given to me. I've never been overpaid. I've not had somebody say, "Hey, you just happen to be walking by. Let me throw this money at you." Anything I have I feel like I've worked hard for it. I've not cheated anybody, I've not stole, I've not done it in an unethical manner. I've done it right. 

I think our program has been built that way here. I think people will look at us and say that they're proud of us because we got to the NCAA Tournament, but I think the real pride of it is that we haven't had any NCAA violations, and we're not going to have any. We're going to be diligent on doing it the right way. But to be an at-large team is a compliment to the program. It means that somebody is saying, "They didn't win their conference tournament or (finish first in the) regular season, but boy, they played a great schedule. They're a worthy team." 

Khan: You've got a large senior class exiting -- seven, in fact (Daphne André, Ashley Cotton, Kiemona Harris, Sancho Lyttle, Joann Overstreet, Cynecia Robinson and Crystal Simpson). Talk about their contributions to the program in their time here.

Curl: They've been priceless. What they've done for our program is not calculable on a scale of 1-10. I think the first two years here those girls gave as much to building our program as they did the last two years, and they weren't as successful then as they are now. I'm really appreciative of them because they were really here during some tough times and a lot of the good times. Sancho Lyttle's been invited to go to New York to attend the (WNBA) draft, which means they think she'll go in the top 10. That's another great pat on the program's back, because it's proven to kids that there is a possibility here to excel.

Khan: It happens in a lot of places, but when you have a lot of success like the Lady Cougars have had in recent years, the public perception is that you're a better coach now than before. Is that true -- are you any better a coach now than you were three or four years ago?

Curl: No. I worked harder and was probably a better coach the first two years. Now I've got better players. Players make you a great coach. Very few coaches have made a good player great. But there are a lot of players who have made average to below-average coaches great. Last year, when I got four or five national coach of the year awards -- ESPN, the Basketball Times, Associated Press, Conference USA, etc. -- I smashed them up and gave them (away). I literally put them in a towel and crushed them and gave them to my staff, my wife, my daughters, all the players, the band director, the athletic director; I gave each of them a piece of it because of all their support. I was just as good a coach this year, so why am I not coach of the year this year? Because we didn't have that kind of success -- players make the program. My role here, I think it's important, but it's not as important as any player's role; not as important as any of the assistants. My role is a tough role, but everyone else's is a tough role too. 

This was a good interview. I agree wholeheartedly about his statement about coaching. In this day and age there are very few good coaches and there are fewer of those who actually make their players better. I know that I am going to have to make more ladies' games so that can give them the support they deserve.