Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Rosalind Joseph Previews Indoor Track and Field Season
12/03/2019 | 2:48:00 | Track and Field
CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southern Illinois University Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Rosalind Joseph met with the media on Tuesday afternoon to preview the upcoming indoor track and field season. The Salukis are hosting the annual Saluki Fast Start this Saturday, Dec. 6 in the SIU Recreation Center beginning at 10 a.m.
Opening Statement.
We're kicking it off with year two for me. We're excited. We got our first recruiting class in, which is nice to be able to start them young and get them in our system. Now in year two as director, our staff is in place. With our men, we went from 17 to 18 active student-athletes to about 37 or 38. We really grew our men's roster and a lot of them will compete for the first time this weekend when we kick off with the season at home on Saturday. We'll be welcoming in a few Division I and Division II schools into town. It'll be a good introduction for us to just see how fall training has been going, see what we need to work on and see how the student-athletes manage themselves in the collegiate environment. It'll give us a chance to get back to work over the winter break, because we have a meet and then send the student-athletes home for about four weeks – which is nerve wracking for any coach. When we come back in January, we go right back on the road. This is a good tester for us to just see how our fall has been going.
On Damere Gilbert making the jump from St. Augustine to Southern Illinois.
His school is Division II and they've been national champions. He's been in a program that's been at the top of the Division II level and he really wanted to be able to compete at the Division I level. He just wanted that opportunity. I think that we offered the greatest opportunity for focus on him. He could've gone somewhere else and maybe been a factor, number four or five on the depth chart in his event for a year. We didn't really have any short sprinters for our men last year, so we had some work to do. It was an opportunity for him to come in and be the top dog on the program, get some attention, get some focus and then be able to compete. I tell the kids that we're all Division I and we compete at the same nationals as every Power-Five school, so you get the chance to be able to get there. I think he can really improve as a fifth-year student. It's all about the competition. He's looking forward to being able to compete at the Division I level week-in and week-out.
On how well-rounded the roster is.
I'm a multis coach. That's what I always say and that's because I spent 10 years at Ohio State as the multis coach. My coaches have their scholarship allotment and I try to spread it out and try not to be heavy in one area. The conference changed their ruling on how many individual people you can have in an individual event. Not that it doesn't make sense, but you can't have 20 throwers in there to see what could happen. Now you have five to six and just work on them. We've really kept a balanced program and I'm committed to that in the recruiting processes. I see all the talent and tell the coaches that if they see someone who is in a national class of their own, I don't care what event it is, get them. As coaches, we try to make sure that we cover all of our bases.
What do you foresee to as the best event for the team?
On the men's side, I have no clue and I kind of like that. I'm excited to see what happens. We have some returners in the throws, namely Adam Kessler and Ricky Hurley, so we expect them to continue in that role. We have a transfer in the men's shot put that is already on par with the throwers. We expect to continue to see big things out of that group. We've added hurdlers, jumpers, sprinters and distance runners, so this weekend gives us a chance to see where they're at and what they're capable of. Our women are not as new as the men. We have some of our top scorers returning from the sprinters and we will continue to expect a lot from them at the conference level. Our throwers are always strong. We're going to redshirt Shauniece O'Neal this year as she prepares for the Olympics, so we'll have some newcomers step up and take her place.
On the evaluation process after the first meet.
It's going to be hard. I have to just sit back and watch and evaluate. Having a lot of newcomers, I don't know what they know. I know what I've been telling them, but really just seeing how they execute some things. There are little things that we're still trying to instill and see where everybody is. That's the good and the bad with individual sports. You can have the same event, two different athletes and two completely different plans. We just have to sit and watch to figure out what they need, then over the break we have to instill what they need into them. The ownership belongs to them after the meet. We've been talking about it, now you've got the result, and this is what you need to do in order to accomplish X, Y and Z.
Click here to watch Coach Joseph's full press conference.
Follow the Salukis
For the latest updates on the Salukis, be sure to follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Opening Statement.
We're kicking it off with year two for me. We're excited. We got our first recruiting class in, which is nice to be able to start them young and get them in our system. Now in year two as director, our staff is in place. With our men, we went from 17 to 18 active student-athletes to about 37 or 38. We really grew our men's roster and a lot of them will compete for the first time this weekend when we kick off with the season at home on Saturday. We'll be welcoming in a few Division I and Division II schools into town. It'll be a good introduction for us to just see how fall training has been going, see what we need to work on and see how the student-athletes manage themselves in the collegiate environment. It'll give us a chance to get back to work over the winter break, because we have a meet and then send the student-athletes home for about four weeks – which is nerve wracking for any coach. When we come back in January, we go right back on the road. This is a good tester for us to just see how our fall has been going.
On Damere Gilbert making the jump from St. Augustine to Southern Illinois.
His school is Division II and they've been national champions. He's been in a program that's been at the top of the Division II level and he really wanted to be able to compete at the Division I level. He just wanted that opportunity. I think that we offered the greatest opportunity for focus on him. He could've gone somewhere else and maybe been a factor, number four or five on the depth chart in his event for a year. We didn't really have any short sprinters for our men last year, so we had some work to do. It was an opportunity for him to come in and be the top dog on the program, get some attention, get some focus and then be able to compete. I tell the kids that we're all Division I and we compete at the same nationals as every Power-Five school, so you get the chance to be able to get there. I think he can really improve as a fifth-year student. It's all about the competition. He's looking forward to being able to compete at the Division I level week-in and week-out.
On how well-rounded the roster is.
I'm a multis coach. That's what I always say and that's because I spent 10 years at Ohio State as the multis coach. My coaches have their scholarship allotment and I try to spread it out and try not to be heavy in one area. The conference changed their ruling on how many individual people you can have in an individual event. Not that it doesn't make sense, but you can't have 20 throwers in there to see what could happen. Now you have five to six and just work on them. We've really kept a balanced program and I'm committed to that in the recruiting processes. I see all the talent and tell the coaches that if they see someone who is in a national class of their own, I don't care what event it is, get them. As coaches, we try to make sure that we cover all of our bases.
What do you foresee to as the best event for the team?
On the men's side, I have no clue and I kind of like that. I'm excited to see what happens. We have some returners in the throws, namely Adam Kessler and Ricky Hurley, so we expect them to continue in that role. We have a transfer in the men's shot put that is already on par with the throwers. We expect to continue to see big things out of that group. We've added hurdlers, jumpers, sprinters and distance runners, so this weekend gives us a chance to see where they're at and what they're capable of. Our women are not as new as the men. We have some of our top scorers returning from the sprinters and we will continue to expect a lot from them at the conference level. Our throwers are always strong. We're going to redshirt Shauniece O'Neal this year as she prepares for the Olympics, so we'll have some newcomers step up and take her place.
On the evaluation process after the first meet.
It's going to be hard. I have to just sit back and watch and evaluate. Having a lot of newcomers, I don't know what they know. I know what I've been telling them, but really just seeing how they execute some things. There are little things that we're still trying to instill and see where everybody is. That's the good and the bad with individual sports. You can have the same event, two different athletes and two completely different plans. We just have to sit and watch to figure out what they need, then over the break we have to instill what they need into them. The ownership belongs to them after the meet. We've been talking about it, now you've got the result, and this is what you need to do in order to accomplish X, Y and Z.
Click here to watch Coach Joseph's full press conference.
Follow the Salukis
For the latest updates on the Salukis, be sure to follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Players Mentioned
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
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