Interview With John Robic, Assistant Coach of Kentucky Men’s Basketball

University of Kentucky made news recently by hiring coach John Calipari, luring him out of Memphis.  This resulted in a mass uproar, as recruits followed him and his staff to UK and Memphis was left with next to nothing.  About two months later, the stir has died down, but the Kentucky faithful is just as excited as ever.  Assistant coach John Robic answered some intriguing questions for us regarding how the University of Kentucky basketball experience has been to this point.

 

What has been the most difficult part of your transition from Memphis to the University of Kentucky?

 

The hardest part of the transition moving from Memphis to Lexington is having my family staying in Memphis for another year because of my oldest daughter being a high school senior next year.  We don’t get to see each other very often but we are making the most of it.

 

What are your primary duties under Coach Calipari? 

 

  All of our duties are pretty much the same.  We all recruit and coach on the floor.  I am responsible for all of our scouting and game preparation.  We run our summer camps and coaching clinics.  I also assist Coach Calipari in our scheduling of games.  He wants us all to be well rounded and participate in all aspects of coaching.

 

Everyone knows that you got a talented team next year, is their anything about the team, whether it be a player or a team characteristic, that will surprise the public? 

 

          I think that the biggest surprise for next year’s team will be how fast we will be able to play with the talented team that we could put on the court.  We hope to be a deep team that if we play how we are supposed to can eventually wear a team down.     

          

   

What is the most pleasant surprise about being a part of the Kentucky faithful? 

 

      The amazing thing about being at UK is the total support of everyone in the state or Commonwealth.  Every where  that you go around here all that is spoken about is UK Basketball.  Its neat to hear that from all of the fans.  We are looking forward to seeing 24,000 fans at Big Blue Madness on October 16^th.

 

As a coach at UMASS and Memphis, you and your staff made winning an expectation bringing both schools to the Final Four.  What was the most important aspect in building those programs and what were the hardships that your staff faced in your attempt to do so? 

 

The biggest aspect of building a winning program is recruiting very good players.  We have always said that it takes 3 players with professional potential on your team to have the opportunity to win a National Championship.  If you look at the past National Champions that is what comprised their roster.  We also want good kids and student-athletes that will obtain their degrees.  We have had very good success with our players both on the court and in the classroom.

 

Having already had a stint as a head coach, do you aspire to finish your career as an assistant, or will you be trying to find a head coaching position in the future?

 

      At this time I am not sure if I will have another opportunity to become a head coach but if there is a good       opportunity that I believe has a chance to win I will look in to that program.  I have one of the best jobs in the country here at Kentucky and want to be a part of something special here and hopefully accomplish our goal of winning the 8^th National Championship in the program’s history.

 

 

 

Interview Was Conducted By: Danny Connors

 

The Sports Unit… Over&Out