Newly-minted University of Akron men’s basketball coach John Groce certainly knew the notes to hit upon during his introductory press conference at the Student Union Thursday morning.
Mentioning the fact that Northeast Ohio is a blue-collar area and invoking the name LeBron James along with his signature quote “In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned,” and the former University of Illinois and Ohio University coach surely won some converts.
The next step will be replacing a coach in Keith Dambrot who essentially laid the foundation for what currently is the UA basketball program. Beyond the cursory recognition of what Dambrot accomplished in his time at the school, Groce and school administrators looked squarely ahead.
“We want to build on that great recent success that previous coaches and players have done such a great job — as I said earlier — of laying that foundation,” he said in front of a packed house of fans, students and university employees.
There will be plenty to build upon as Dambrot leaves not only a solid program, but also huge shoes to fill as UA’s winningest men’s basketball coach and one who collected 21 wins or more in 12 consecutive seasons.
Groce said the university’s willingness to attempt to chase and grab greatness is the reason he was attracted to the position, which was filled with the aid of the search firm DHR International. In short, it was about the fit.
And it obviously worked for UA, too. What stood out for director of athletics Larry Williams? It came down to character for players and those associated with the program.
“John’s responses to those queries about character were absolutely stellar,” Williams said. “He recognizes that it’s that character in which you build all of your skills that will allow and dictate how successful you will be — how impactful you will be as a member of society.”
Of course, Groce’s resume played a significant role.
“We wanted to get someone who had that experience [at the Division I level], who had the appetite for success and excellence, a proven track record in the regular season, accomplishments in the postseason, as well,” UA president Matthew Wilson said.
Groce amassed a 180-131 record in nine seasons between Illinois and Ohio. With that record came three NCAA Tournament appearances, including his Bobcats’ race to the Sweet 16 in 2012. By the time he left Ohio, that school and UA had developed an intense rivalry.
“We did get a few text messages from our few friends we developed relationships with in Athens,” he said. “Some of those were a little interesting.”
The relationships concerning him most, however, are those with current members of the Zips basketball team. Six members, including Jimond Ivey, Aaron Jackson, Daniel Utomi and Antino Jackson, who has proclaimed that he’s transferring, attended the news conference. Jackson reiterated that his “recruitment is still open.”
Groce planned to spend part of Thursday with the players to get to know them, likely hoping to stop anyone from leaving the program. He said that he understands what the players are going through.
“Transition is hard. Most people don’t like transition, but that’s a part of life,” he said. “It’s really how you handle that — how you respond.”
He knows how he wants to play the game, but understands he will have to get to know his personnel and adapt to their strengths.
“We want to attack. We want to be aggressive. We want to attack in every single thing we do. We want to play with great speed and pace offensively and great spacing,” he said. “We pick-and-roll a lot. Player development will be a big part of this.
“Defensively, we play man-to-man, mostly. I told [the players] yesterday we will sprinkle a little bit of zone in here and there. We will put you under duress when you’re trying to inbound the ball … those things will probably stay the same.”
UA signed Groce to a six-year contract with the first two years paying $350,000, Wilson said. There are bonus opportunities for meeting specific goals.
George M. Thomas can be reached at gmthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Zips blog at www.ohio.com/zips. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GeorgeThomasABJ.