Press Conference Transcript
Jan. 21, 2003
Lynx Chief Operating Officer Roger Griffith
Today, we are excited to introduce to our season ticket holders, our sponsors, all the great basketball fans in the state of Minnesota and to the media, our new coach, Suzie McConnell Serio. Over the months since the 2002 season ended, we've devoted a lot of time into the search for a person to lead the Minnesota Lynx. Today, that process has come to a conclusion. She has distinguished herself among many fine candidates. Basketball has been an important part of Suzie's life from a young age in the playgrounds of Pittsburgh, playing basketball against nine boys.
Suzie offers a variety of experiences that, taken together, make us believe that she is the right person to lead this team in the future. As a player, she still holds the all-time NCAA assists record from her playing days at Penn State. She won a gold and a bronze medal playing for two different U.S. Olympic basketball teams, and she was the starting point guard for three seasons for the Cleveland Rockers of the WNBA, where she was named First Team All-WNBA in 1998 and twice won the league's sportsmanship award.
This playing experience has taught her the demands of what it takes to succeed and gives an understanding of a team's expectations of professional players and creates a respect among players that is necessary for her success. In every one of these playing situations, Suzie has been recognized as a leader on the team that she's playing with. Over the past 13 years, she has developed her coaching skills as the head coach of Oakland Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, where she has won two state championships and over 80 percent of the games she's coached. At any level, that's a great record, and more of a tribute to the way she develops and teaches players is that she is doing that with different groups of players year after year and she continues to have success.
People who have coached her recommend her knowledge of X's and O's very highly. As a person, her reputation, competitiveness and personal skills are second to none. Her personality, background in education and personal experience give her the skills to communicate and teach basketball to professional players. The WNBA still invites Suzie to the orientation program each year to help new players adjust to the demands of professional basketball. Suzie has demonstrated her outstanding leadership skills time and again as a player and a coach and a citizen in the Pittsburgh area. She brings her competitive spirit, high goals and boundless energy to Minnesota and to the Lynx.
We believe that Suzie is the right person to steer the course of this basketball team in the direction that we want it to go. I am proud to introduce to you, Suzie McConnell Serio.
Lynx Head Coach Suzie McConnell Serio
First, I would like to thank Roger Griffith. The initial contact was made with him, and from the outset, Roger has been very honest with me on the entire situation. If it wasn't for him, I would not be sitting in front of you today. But I do know that the final say goes to the man to my left, and that is Glen Taylor. I would most like to thank him, along with (team President) Rob Moor and (Timberwolves Vice President of Basketball Operations/General Manager) Kevin McHale and (Timberwolves assistant coach) Don Zierden, who were in on the interview process as well.
This is, for me, an incredible opportunity to be part of a great organization, back being a part of the WNBA. One thing I realized about this organization is that it is a big family. That is something that, when I got here today, was reinforced to me because everyone has said, "welcome to the family." If any of you know me, you know that my family is my number-one priority. And so being a part of an organization that is family-oriented is very important to me, and I am now very proud to be a part of the Lynx-Timberwolves organization. I'm excited about the opportunity.
My experience in the WNBA as a player for the Cleveland Rockers — now, I have to cheer against my old team on a couple of occasions — was very special for me because I think that the opportunity to play professional basketball in this country is a great experience. And I was fortunate to have that. I'm very impressed by the players on this team, and I believe that we can win. I know that question has been asked of me a lot of times — "Can you win in Minnesota?" I would not be sitting here if I did not believe we could win. I believe we have the talent and the players and, by the looks of the media and the fans, with them behind us, we can be a very successful organization. So I am excited.
I bring a lot of passion, a lot of energy. Hopefully, the players will come into training camp with a lot of enthusiasm. We're on a mission. We're starting over with a new coach and a new season, and I am truly looking forward to working with these players and being a part of the Minnesota team.
Timberwolves and Lynx Owner Glen Taylor
If you've followed the WNBA, you know that this is kind of a big change. Before, the league put everything together and we had a shared ownership of each of the teams. But the league has decided to take the next step, and each of the teams have been divided off. We take full responsibility of running our team and hiring our players. All of those things are going to be new this year. We're also going to be under a new labor agreement, which is being worked out and hasn't been finalized yet.
When we had this opportunity to think of where we're going this year, and we had this situation of reviewing who we were going to hire for a coach, the decision was made: let's get a whole new start. Some might say, "Boy, you're taking a gamble here — here's a young woman who has not coached at this level." We know that. But if you know our organization — and I know all of you do — when we hired Flip Saunders, we took a similar risk. We took a person that we believed was the right person, with the right personality and the right gifts, and we believe that was consistent with the cause of our organization. Suzie came along and, as you've heard, a number of people interviewed her.
We did this as teamwork — we got not only some of us on the business side involved, but we also got the Timberwolves people involved on the X's and O's. We came up with the decision that, with the new future of our ownership, Suzie would be the right person to represent us not only on the court but, more importantly, off the court, with our sponsors, with our fans, with our community, with greater Minnesota.
We know, as an organization, that women's athletics is having a difficult time showing a profitable business. We recognize that. But the organization has a belief that it is our responsibility in this state to be the leaders of that, putting together the right group that can provide a winning team. And off the court, we think that with Suzie's leadership, we can show young women in this state that there are great opportunities in the athletic field and great role models to follow.
McConnell Serio
It was a long process. The last time I was out here was in early December, so it was over a long period. I had to make sure that this was the right decision for me. When I had met with Glen, we talked about wanting a coach in the community, who would move here. That was a big step for me, growing up in Pittsburgh, having a husband, having four children. Both my husband and I coach high school teams; he is a teacher. There would be a lot of sacrifices made on his part, so when I made this decision, it was not really just me — I had to include my family in that decision. My husband has been incredibly supportive of my career, and we thought that this was just too good of an opportunity, a great challenge and opportunity, something new and exciting in our lives.
I have coached at the high school level, and I believe I have coached some of the best players. I have played in the WNBA. In my opinion, the game is the same. It's at a higher level. It might be more physical, it might be a lot quicker, these players are a lot better — these are the best players in the world. I've had the experience of being a head coach, making changes, preparing the team for championship games. I've been in, I think, any situation a coach can be in, even though it's not been at the highest level. So I feel my coaching at the high school level has prepared me for the coaching I will face here. I know I will need a lot of help from assistants and from the organization.
(on the rest of the coaching staff)
Just having talked with Roger, some people have contacted him and have some interest, but nothing has been determined as of yet.
(on what she knows of the Lynx players)
First, you have a player like Katie Smith, who is an Olympian, and who is, in my opinion, the number one player. I have always been impressed with Katie Smith. Then I look at two Connecticut players and two players from Duke. We're looking at players who have been part of winning programs, who know how to win, and have been in championship games. Those are great factors when it comes to stepping out on the floor and being able to win. I think we have exciting players, players who are fun to watch. It excites me to be able to coach them.
(on the Lynx team)
I think what I've noticed about the Lynx is that they've always started out strong. They always start the season very competitive and then they would just seem to fall apart. In my second year in Cleveland, I was a part of a team that was 7-25. And after my first year, we won the Eastern Conference championship. And it's almost... you watch a team, and you find a way to lose. It becomes habit. But I need to change that. I think winning is an attitude that is contagious and needs to filter down from the staff to the players, to make players believe that they can win.
(on what she will do now, back in Pittsburgh)
What I will do is watch a lot of film. I will try to prepare for the (possibility of a) dispersal draft, the regular draft. I will try to watch as many college games as I can, get out to college games and do a lot of scouting, have a lot of conversations with the players... as much as I can from the Pittsburgh area. If I need to be here for certain things, I think that they will be flexible enough that I can make a trip here and do the things I need to do.
(on the reaction of her high school team)
It was very difficult. My seniors were very happy for me, because they are graduating this year, and thought it was a great opportunity for me. My underclasses took it very hard.
Taylor
(on the future of the WNBA)
I think there might be some more changes. There are big changes this year, and as you've seen, four franchises have decided not to move ahead. Probably, the biggest changes have been made. Everybody's had the chance to evaluate, "Are you in or out?" Obviously, we made the decision very quickly. They asked us right away, "Are you in or out?" and we said, "we're in!" And we didn't even have all the information. That's how committed we are to this. But, being a practical businessperson, my guess is that you will fine-tune it over the next year or two and there will be some more changes that I don't even know of today. But I'm confident that we have a good future. But on the other hand, I'm also saying that we're in it for the long run, and if there are things financially so we can't show a profit next year, we're committed to that. We understand that this is a long-term goal. What we have seen is that the WNBA basically has a large group of fans that are different than the NBA. So we think that we can bring something to our sponsors — we have a lot of sponsors that are the same sponsors, and we have sponsors that are interested in just this group of fans — we can provide them a great opportunity to get to their customers through advertising. So we think it's not only fun and interesting and exciting, but it's a good business.
(on the status of Brian Agler)
When we made the decision last year that Brian (Agler) was going to give up coaching, he pretty well has made the commitment to find another coaching job. That's basically where we are. We're trying to assist him in finding another coaching job, and are supportive of him finding that job. When we got in the process of hiring a new coach, Brian was not a part of that. The only thing we have is a commitment to pay Brian if he doesn't find a job for awhile. If we can utilize him in some sense of helping us with some information, we will certainly do that. But our goal — and Brian's goal — is to find a new coaching job. We perhaps made an error that I probably wouldn't do again, where we gave the coach the responsibility of general manager. When we did that with Brian, we were kind of new, and I think everybody was kind of unsure of how to do that. At that time, we didn't have to hire the players. It is not a consideration to give that responsibility to Suzie. We will have to work that part out.
 McConnell Serio was introduced to Minnesota fans and media on Tuesday. David Sherman, WNBAE/Getty Images |
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 Lynx hire McConnell Serio McConnell Serio career notes
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Today, we are excited to introduce to our season ticket holders, our sponsors, all the great basketball fans in the state of Minnesota and to the media, our new coach, Suzie McConnell Serio. Over the months since the 2002 season ended, we've devoted a lot of time into the search for a person to lead the Minnesota Lynx. Today, that process has come to a conclusion. She has distinguished herself among many fine candidates. Basketball has been an important part of Suzie's life from a young age in the playgrounds of Pittsburgh, playing basketball against nine boys.
Suzie offers a variety of experiences that, taken together, make us believe that she is the right person to lead this team in the future. As a player, she still holds the all-time NCAA assists record from her playing days at Penn State. She won a gold and a bronze medal playing for two different U.S. Olympic basketball teams, and she was the starting point guard for three seasons for the Cleveland Rockers of the WNBA, where she was named First Team All-WNBA in 1998 and twice won the league's sportsmanship award.
This playing experience has taught her the demands of what it takes to succeed and gives an understanding of a team's expectations of professional players and creates a respect among players that is necessary for her success. In every one of these playing situations, Suzie has been recognized as a leader on the team that she's playing with. Over the past 13 years, she has developed her coaching skills as the head coach of Oakland Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, where she has won two state championships and over 80 percent of the games she's coached. At any level, that's a great record, and more of a tribute to the way she develops and teaches players is that she is doing that with different groups of players year after year and she continues to have success.
People who have coached her recommend her knowledge of X's and O's very highly. As a person, her reputation, competitiveness and personal skills are second to none. Her personality, background in education and personal experience give her the skills to communicate and teach basketball to professional players. The WNBA still invites Suzie to the orientation program each year to help new players adjust to the demands of professional basketball. Suzie has demonstrated her outstanding leadership skills time and again as a player and a coach and a citizen in the Pittsburgh area. She brings her competitive spirit, high goals and boundless energy to Minnesota and to the Lynx.
We believe that Suzie is the right person to steer the course of this basketball team in the direction that we want it to go. I am proud to introduce to you, Suzie McConnell Serio.
Lynx Head Coach Suzie McConnell Serio
First, I would like to thank Roger Griffith. The initial contact was made with him, and from the outset, Roger has been very honest with me on the entire situation. If it wasn't for him, I would not be sitting in front of you today. But I do know that the final say goes to the man to my left, and that is Glen Taylor. I would most like to thank him, along with (team President) Rob Moor and (Timberwolves Vice President of Basketball Operations/General Manager) Kevin McHale and (Timberwolves assistant coach) Don Zierden, who were in on the interview process as well.
This is, for me, an incredible opportunity to be part of a great organization, back being a part of the WNBA. One thing I realized about this organization is that it is a big family. That is something that, when I got here today, was reinforced to me because everyone has said, "welcome to the family." If any of you know me, you know that my family is my number-one priority. And so being a part of an organization that is family-oriented is very important to me, and I am now very proud to be a part of the Lynx-Timberwolves organization. I'm excited about the opportunity.
My experience in the WNBA as a player for the Cleveland Rockers — now, I have to cheer against my old team on a couple of occasions — was very special for me because I think that the opportunity to play professional basketball in this country is a great experience. And I was fortunate to have that. I'm very impressed by the players on this team, and I believe that we can win. I know that question has been asked of me a lot of times — "Can you win in Minnesota?" I would not be sitting here if I did not believe we could win. I believe we have the talent and the players and, by the looks of the media and the fans, with them behind us, we can be a very successful organization. So I am excited.
I bring a lot of passion, a lot of energy. Hopefully, the players will come into training camp with a lot of enthusiasm. We're on a mission. We're starting over with a new coach and a new season, and I am truly looking forward to working with these players and being a part of the Minnesota team.
 Lynx and Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor David Sherman, WNBAE/Getty Images |
If you've followed the WNBA, you know that this is kind of a big change. Before, the league put everything together and we had a shared ownership of each of the teams. But the league has decided to take the next step, and each of the teams have been divided off. We take full responsibility of running our team and hiring our players. All of those things are going to be new this year. We're also going to be under a new labor agreement, which is being worked out and hasn't been finalized yet.
When we had this opportunity to think of where we're going this year, and we had this situation of reviewing who we were going to hire for a coach, the decision was made: let's get a whole new start. Some might say, "Boy, you're taking a gamble here — here's a young woman who has not coached at this level." We know that. But if you know our organization — and I know all of you do — when we hired Flip Saunders, we took a similar risk. We took a person that we believed was the right person, with the right personality and the right gifts, and we believe that was consistent with the cause of our organization. Suzie came along and, as you've heard, a number of people interviewed her.
We did this as teamwork — we got not only some of us on the business side involved, but we also got the Timberwolves people involved on the X's and O's. We came up with the decision that, with the new future of our ownership, Suzie would be the right person to represent us not only on the court but, more importantly, off the court, with our sponsors, with our fans, with our community, with greater Minnesota.
We know, as an organization, that women's athletics is having a difficult time showing a profitable business. We recognize that. But the organization has a belief that it is our responsibility in this state to be the leaders of that, putting together the right group that can provide a winning team. And off the court, we think that with Suzie's leadership, we can show young women in this state that there are great opportunities in the athletic field and great role models to follow.
McConnell Serio
It was a long process. The last time I was out here was in early December, so it was over a long period. I had to make sure that this was the right decision for me. When I had met with Glen, we talked about wanting a coach in the community, who would move here. That was a big step for me, growing up in Pittsburgh, having a husband, having four children. Both my husband and I coach high school teams; he is a teacher. There would be a lot of sacrifices made on his part, so when I made this decision, it was not really just me — I had to include my family in that decision. My husband has been incredibly supportive of my career, and we thought that this was just too good of an opportunity, a great challenge and opportunity, something new and exciting in our lives.
I have coached at the high school level, and I believe I have coached some of the best players. I have played in the WNBA. In my opinion, the game is the same. It's at a higher level. It might be more physical, it might be a lot quicker, these players are a lot better — these are the best players in the world. I've had the experience of being a head coach, making changes, preparing the team for championship games. I've been in, I think, any situation a coach can be in, even though it's not been at the highest level. So I feel my coaching at the high school level has prepared me for the coaching I will face here. I know I will need a lot of help from assistants and from the organization.
(on the rest of the coaching staff)
Just having talked with Roger, some people have contacted him and have some interest, but nothing has been determined as of yet.
(on what she knows of the Lynx players)
First, you have a player like Katie Smith, who is an Olympian, and who is, in my opinion, the number one player. I have always been impressed with Katie Smith. Then I look at two Connecticut players and two players from Duke. We're looking at players who have been part of winning programs, who know how to win, and have been in championship games. Those are great factors when it comes to stepping out on the floor and being able to win. I think we have exciting players, players who are fun to watch. It excites me to be able to coach them.
(on the Lynx team)
I think what I've noticed about the Lynx is that they've always started out strong. They always start the season very competitive and then they would just seem to fall apart. In my second year in Cleveland, I was a part of a team that was 7-25. And after my first year, we won the Eastern Conference championship. And it's almost... you watch a team, and you find a way to lose. It becomes habit. But I need to change that. I think winning is an attitude that is contagious and needs to filter down from the staff to the players, to make players believe that they can win.
(on what she will do now, back in Pittsburgh)
What I will do is watch a lot of film. I will try to prepare for the (possibility of a) dispersal draft, the regular draft. I will try to watch as many college games as I can, get out to college games and do a lot of scouting, have a lot of conversations with the players... as much as I can from the Pittsburgh area. If I need to be here for certain things, I think that they will be flexible enough that I can make a trip here and do the things I need to do.
(on the reaction of her high school team)
It was very difficult. My seniors were very happy for me, because they are graduating this year, and thought it was a great opportunity for me. My underclasses took it very hard.
Taylor
(on the future of the WNBA)
I think there might be some more changes. There are big changes this year, and as you've seen, four franchises have decided not to move ahead. Probably, the biggest changes have been made. Everybody's had the chance to evaluate, "Are you in or out?" Obviously, we made the decision very quickly. They asked us right away, "Are you in or out?" and we said, "we're in!" And we didn't even have all the information. That's how committed we are to this. But, being a practical businessperson, my guess is that you will fine-tune it over the next year or two and there will be some more changes that I don't even know of today. But I'm confident that we have a good future. But on the other hand, I'm also saying that we're in it for the long run, and if there are things financially so we can't show a profit next year, we're committed to that. We understand that this is a long-term goal. What we have seen is that the WNBA basically has a large group of fans that are different than the NBA. So we think that we can bring something to our sponsors — we have a lot of sponsors that are the same sponsors, and we have sponsors that are interested in just this group of fans — we can provide them a great opportunity to get to their customers through advertising. So we think it's not only fun and interesting and exciting, but it's a good business.
(on the status of Brian Agler)
When we made the decision last year that Brian (Agler) was going to give up coaching, he pretty well has made the commitment to find another coaching job. That's basically where we are. We're trying to assist him in finding another coaching job, and are supportive of him finding that job. When we got in the process of hiring a new coach, Brian was not a part of that. The only thing we have is a commitment to pay Brian if he doesn't find a job for awhile. If we can utilize him in some sense of helping us with some information, we will certainly do that. But our goal — and Brian's goal — is to find a new coaching job. We perhaps made an error that I probably wouldn't do again, where we gave the coach the responsibility of general manager. When we did that with Brian, we were kind of new, and I think everybody was kind of unsure of how to do that. At that time, we didn't have to hire the players. It is not a consideration to give that responsibility to Suzie. We will have to work that part out.
