Valpo Press Conference

[Chuck A]

As a fan of an opposing team, I just want to say, I was absolutely blown away by the press conference. From Roger Powell's inspirational opening to the questions from the reporters to the answers given. It actually got me excited and hopeful for Valpo's success! You guys have the right guy for the right time. Go Beacons!

[historyman]

As a fan of an opposing team, I just want to say, I was absolutely blown away by the press conference. From Roger Powell's inspirational opening to the questions from the reporters to the answers given. It actually got me excited and hopeful for Valpo's success! You guys have the right guy for the right time. Go Beacons!

Every coach is extremely optimistic when they are introduced. The whole Valpo community needs to help Coach Powell and his staff follow through with the vision. We need to get behind this team 110% (or whatever impossible number above 100 you like to use) and coalesce as a community around the monosyllables of life: faith, hope, and love and show the MVC what it truly means to be VALPO and Beacons in our personal communities.

[Chairback]

Wow. That was good.

There was a lot that stood out, but one thing that stuck with me is Coach Powell talking about the assistant coaches he is bringing and that they are bringing players.   

[valpolaw]

Is there a replay of the press conference available somewhere?

[historyman]

Is there a replay of the press conference available somewhere?

It's archived on ESPN+.

Go to NCAA Men's Basketball near the bottom of the ESPN+ page. Then go to the bottom of that NCAA Men's Basketball page and you will see it listed as "Valparaiso Press Conference"

[chgovalpofan]

Great press conference.    He should be able to recruit because you can't help but want to be apart of what he going to build. 

[VULB#62]

Posts on MVCFans were generally positive. One quote " He [Roger] won Press Conference Bingo in the first 5 minutes." 

[JD24]

Somebody toss me uniform. I'm ready to go!

[wh]

Wow. That was good.

There was a lot that stood out, but one thing that stuck with me is Coach Powell talking about the assistant coaches he is bringing and that they are bringing players.   

Wow, that's huge!

[vok22]

I just listened to the press conference in the background while at the gym, so I may have tuned out at some points causing me to lack some context, but here are my takeaways:

1) the new ARC comment by Padilla seemed to be referencing mostly already known info. He said something along the lines of "the new ARC we are building in a couple of years as outlined in the Valpo Vision plan" or whatever that 2030 campus plan that is already out is called. Padilla, in reference to the new stadium, said that it will be "rogers house". So that would seem to indicate some sort of plan in the relatively near future. Reading between the lines of Paul Oren's comments, it seems like there might be some further probing into that possibility that rise above just the Valpo vision plan. I guess we will find out in one of Paul's new articles.

2) Powell mentioned that he is putting together a "dynamite staff" with "high level experience". He said that staff will hopefully be finalized by the end of the week. I doubt the public knows the staff by Friday, but sounds like he already has the staff tentatively put together.

3) when asked about handling the transfer portal and putting together staff, at the end of his answer he said his staff will have "their guys". The way he said it made me interpret that as meaning their own connections to guys, not that there are any transfers following their coaches to Valpo already locked up. That being said, that certainly could happen. He did, however, say that he's going to bring in guys that will help them compete day 1.

4) he seemed FULL of energy for Valpo basketball. It really sounds like he has a plan to build the program, and no bounds on how ambitious the boundaries can be.

There was a LOT more to unpack as far as his team building and family building plans, and the excitement he exuded for the future of Valpo basketball, but those were just the four big bullet points that I think people care about.


Edit: Padilla also mentioned the creation of a new fundraising campaign specifically for Valpo Basketball called the coaches circle. I'm exchange for exclusive access to coach Powell, you can fork over 50,000 dollars for gold level or 25000 for brown level. I don't anticipate too many of us will be contributing for that price, but at least it seems as if they are TRYING to raise money for Valpo basketball. They said it would go towards recruiting among other basketball expenses. Possibly NIL related?

[tiny707]

Wonder who the other two candidates were interviewing at O Hare hotel last Wednesday. I assume Jake Diebler and JR Blount?

[wh]

Just finished watching the press conference. It was so full of high points about not only men's basketball but so much more that I'm still trying to wrap my brain around what I just saw. I will say this - Roger Powell, Jr., AD Charles Small, and President Jose Padilla became bigger than life figures today.

[vok22]

Just finished watching the press conference. It was so full of high points about not only men's basketball but so much more that I'm still trying to wrap my brain around what I just saw. I will say this - Roger Powell, Jr., AD Charles Small, and President Jose Padilla became bigger than life figures today.

Every day I become more and more confident that all three of them were home run hires.

[VULB#62]

Every day I become more and more confident that all three of them were home run hires.

Welcome aboard 👍

IMHO, Valpo is turning a VERY big corner.

This guy, Padilla, has the stones to drag Valpo into national relevance.

[Chairback]

What is Padilla's sons role at the university?  He mentioned his son was part of the interview process and had "spidey senses"

[VULB#62]

 Aha!  I thought super powers were involved. 

[VUGrad1314]

As a fan of an opposing team, I just want to say, I was absolutely blown away by the press conference. From Roger Powell's inspirational opening to the questions from the reporters to the answers given. It actually got me excited and hopeful for Valpo's success! You guys have the right guy for the right time. Go Beacons!

Thank you! I am very excited about Valpo's future and the future of the MVC! I still can't believe we got Powell to say yes!  I'm also very excited to see what UIC can do for the league once they get up to speed and marshal their considerable resources behind building a strong all around athletic program. They have the potential to be a better add than Loyola ever was! Good luck! Looking forward to many good battles and a friendly rivalry between our two schools!

[AB]

Strong press conference. Definitely has a big/confident personality that will sell with recruits. Right now it's a honeymoon and winning a press conference is one step in the right direction. NIL money, new facility, winning the city over. Said all the right things, let's hope these things happen. All things considered we prolly hired the best possible candidate for this job!
         Clear they have players/coaches he wants to bring in. Looks like a whole new staff. Will be interesting to see the players they are bringing in, and for the ones staying, how he develops them especially like the very intriguing prospect Ibra Bayu.
How good are the two Canadian prospects coming in?

[Valpo89]

What is Padilla's sons role at the university?  He mentioned his son was part of the interview process and had "spidey senses"

He has no official role, and using that phrase is somewhat embarrassing.

[AlaskaCrusader19]

I finally got the chance to watch the press conference last evening. Very impressed with Powell. It will not be an easy process to make Valpo competitive in the MVC, but I'm quite confident that if there's someone who can do it, Roger Powell fits a lot of what you'd like to see from that person.

[vu72]

What is Padilla's sons role at the university?  He mentioned his son was part of the interview process and had "spidey senses"

I think it points out the process Padilla was willing to go through to get the right hire.  He wanted to have his son involved--though not an employee of the university--because, among other reasons like a father/son understanding of what he wanted in a coach, but further that his son had been a head coach at the college level at a small private university and as a result at a very good understanding of how a coach needed to fit in or have the personality to fit in.

[wh]

It's a rare inside baseball moment when the person who has final authority for hiring a head bb coach publicly shares who comprised the interview team. I appreciated being on the receiving end.

[crusader05]

https://twitter.com/WJOB_JEDtv/status/1646500726275710976


More interviews and such are coming out and one thing i picked up: when asked about putting together the team he mentioned older guys from high majors who want to come back home....

[VULB#62]

Brandon Newman

[crusader05]

That was my initial thought. At the very least it seems there has been outreach/conversation unless his concept of hometown spreads out to Chicago.