University of North Carolina Athletics
Quotes From Head Coach Mike Fox
June 3, 2003 | Baseball
Head Coach Mike Fox
On his memories of the 1978 College World Series...
"I remember that it was a great time. I remember losing to Southern California, 3-2, after
leading 2-0 after seven. If we had won we would have played in the championship game.
It was a great place to end my playing career."
On getting the team to forget last weekend and focus on this weekend...
Mike Fox |
"I got them back out here yesterday (Monday) about 5:00 p.m., and we did a little bit of running and loosening up. A couple of good days of practice will get us looking ahead."
On his approach to this weekend...
"It's a lot like last weekend as they're both double elimination with the exception that
there's no chance, barring weather, that you'll have to play two games in one day.
"The first game's the most important one, we'll do everything we can to win that one. We won't hold anybody back, we'll use whoever we need out of the bullpen.
"We'll try to keep the pressure on. The most important thing we can do is go down there and play aggressively and try to keep the pressure on. You have to play aggressively in that tough environment."
On the play of his freshmen in Starkville...
"All of our freshmen played well. Blair Waggett made two unbelievable catches that helped us
win the championship. Without those two catches we don't beat Missouri.
"Mike Daniel had the big pinch hit home run to tie the game against Missouri. Adam Kalkhof threw well. Those guys didn't play like freshmen. I hope that's the case this weekend."
On whether there will be more motivation after losing in Columbia last year...
"I don't think there can be any more motivation than the chance to get to Omaha. That should
be enough. It may help us a little bit, but we're not focusing on revenge. We just want to
keep playing our best while realizing there's another good team in our way.
"Motivation isn't something I worry about too much this time of year."
On Daniel Moore's draft position...
"We're very, very happy for Daniel. We felt like he would go anywhere from the second to the fifth
round, so to see him go so high was quite a thrill.
"We've felt all along that this would probably be his final year. He probably knew that as well.
"Daniel has really matured as a pitcher since he's been here. He's gotten stronger mentally, he's able to work out of situations and not give in. He's had better control this year, he's been more efficient.
"Daniel has really grown as a player and a person since he's been at Carolina."
On getting prepared to play in front of a hostile crowd...
"I think you have to feed off the crowd. You have to be a competitor and do everything you can
to quiet the crowd. The only way you can do that is to play well and get ahead early.
"Anything else will just make matters worse. If they get ahead early, or we look tentative, the crowd will just get into it that much more."
On the competitiveness of this team...
"This team is very competitive, they're very goal oriented. We've got some great leaders, some guys
who are very confident going into tough places. I don't see us being intimidated.
"It's nothing I've really said to them, I think we've just got that type of kids. We have some pretty mature kids."
Your approach to developing the program you want here at Carolina...
"The first thing I did here was to want to play really good teams, so we started scheduling
teams like UCLA, Miami and Auburn. I wanted us to go on the road and play in some tough
places.
"I wanted to put it in their minds that there's no reason we can't take this program to the next level. I didn't want them to be satisfied with anything else.
"I was a little upset with my team after the ACC Tournament because I think a lot of them were satisfied that we'd won two games there for the first time since I've been here. That's not what we were trying to do. We were trying to win the ACC Tournament. The guys got over it a little too quickly for me.
"When we got back on Sunday I gathered them in the dugout and told them a few things about the way I felt. I told them I was tired of being satisfied with beating teams like Clemson and Florida St. just one game on the road. If you get satisfied with that, that's all you're going to shoot for the next time you go down there.
"I told them that if they didn't start getting upset after winning just one game, then we're not trying to move forward. It's a mindset of not being satisfied with lesser results.
"I didn't say too much to them before any game last weekend, I basically just read them the line-up card. I had told them in the dugout that day that this is all I'm telling you, this is it.
"I'm going to do the same thing down at South Carolina."
