Nov. 20, 2002

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Men's head coach Jimmy Tillette referenced Patty Hearst's kidnapping and women's head coach Mike Morris referenced Joe Namath but would not guarantee a victory over Alabama as both coaches addressed the media and members of the Samford faculty and staff at a meet and greet luncheon at the Samford Flag Colonnade on Wednesday.

After their attempts at comedy, both coaches got down to the business of talking basketball. Morris begins his first season as head coach of the women's program after spending eight seasons as an assist with the men's team. Morris talked about the transition from coaching men to coaching women as paling in comparison from the transition from assistant coach to head coach. After coming off a 3-24 season, he said that he hasn't talked to his players much about winning and losing but has instead focused on improving the fundamentals for his players and working harder on the defensive side of the court. He will implement a modified version of the Samford offense that he learned under Tillette, but cautioned that it takes time to learn the system and that although you'll see a back-door cut every now and then it is not going to be nearly as complicated as the offense the men are running.

Mike Morris begins his first season as head coach of the Samford women.

The women only graduated two players and return their leading scorer, Giovanni Price from a year ago. The Bulldogs will be more experienced in 2002-03, but still have to adjust to a new coach and a new system. Morris said he wanted to take a page from Namath and guarantee a victory over Alabama, but said that he would not. He wants his Bulldogs to play hard on defense and intelligently on offense and hopes the team will continue to improve through out the season.

Tillette begins his sixth season as the Bulldogs head coach and is one win shy of passing his predecessor John Brady as Samford all-time leader in wins as head coach. Tillette talked about the depth of his team. The Bulldogs played 10 players in its exhibition against VASDA on Monday night. The Samford offense is one that takes many repetitions in practice and it is difficult to get those repetitions with so many players. However, Tillette knows that his team is deeper than it has ever been. Cornell Felton is the only senior on the Samford roster. The 'Dogs have four juniors who all have the ability to step up and become scoring threats. Red shirts, Josh Hare, J. Robert Merritt, and Anthony LoPiano had solid outings against VASDA. The Bulldogs also return Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year Jon Mills. Tillette says he knows that it will take a few games to settle on a starting line up and a substitution pattern but he enjoys the versatility he has looking down the bench.

The Bulldogs lost their top two scorers from a year ago to graduation after a 15-14 mark last season. Samford faces its most challenging non-conference schedule ever as it faces three NCAA Tournament teams before beginning conference play.

Both teams open the regular season on Friday at Seibert Hall. The Women face Alabama at 5 p.m. while the Men face Chattanooga who is coached by former North Carolina guard Jeff Lebo at 7:30 p.m.