Coach Cook a guest on D3hoops' Hoopsville online talk show

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Gallaudet University women's basketball coach Kevin Cook was a guest on Hoopsville, a Division III men's and women's basketball online talk show sponsored and presented by D3hoops.com, on Thursday night (January 27) where he was interviewed by host Dave McHugh. Cook was asked a wide range of questions about this season and coaching at Gallaudet during the 15-minute interview.

You can view an archived copy of last night's show here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/12288562.

Below is a complete transcript from the interview. A special thanks to Gallaudet Sports Information Office intern Alana Dyson for compiling the transcript.

Hoopsville airs Thursday and Sunday night from 7-9 p.m. on www.d3hoops.com. You can also follow them on twitter at #hoopsville.

Kevin Cook Interview on Hoopsville (1/27/11 at 7:30 p.m.) Transcript

Dave McHugh (Host of Hoopsville): Coach welcome to the show. Welcome to the program and congratulations on the undefeated start.

Kevin Cook (Gallaudet Women's Basketball Head Coach): Thank you very much. It's good to be with you and we are happy to get off to such a great start.

McHugh: I know Gallaudet basketball pretty darn well as I'm a Capital Athletic Conference alum at Goucher College. This is going to sound shameful. I actually helped the women's basketball team for a couple of years because of a so and so Ronda Jo Miller. They needed somebody a little tall inside. I'm not saying I was a good basketball player, they just needed somebody tall to get use to for when they played against Ronda Jo. We will talk about her legacy in a bit. You know since then Gallaudet women's basketball has fallen off a little bit. The Capital Athletic Conference certainly kind of swallowed them up. It's been tough but the move to the NEAC has certainly been a benefit to the Bison.

Cook: There is no doubt about it. The CAC is a great conference. It was an institutional move to make that change but we were happy with the season we had last year and able to make the playoffs for the first time in over a decade and so yes were excited to go out with a bang from the CAC and it's been even more enjoyable to be in the new conference the NEAC this season.

McHugh: Yes certainly let's talk about that season that has certainly been pretty good to say the least. You are 16-0 overall, 13-0 in conference. I'm quickly looking at my cheat sheet. You obviously have this week so far have not played any. You got Cazenovia and Morrisville State coming up this weekend. You are sitting in 27th unofficially in the DIII hoops top 25. You are sitting 20th I believe in the WBAC poll. It's been a long time since the Bison have gotten some headlines. Has it effected the team just yet as you climb the polls?

Cook: No I think it's been exciting for the players, the staff, the athletic department, and everyone at the university. Just a ground swell of pride and jubilation and we just want to keep that going and get better. Talking about that 16th straight win, that did set the record here at Gallaudet for consecutive wins and there has been women's basketball since 1896 so that's a lot of basketball years and we didn't plan on setting any kind of record, that wasn't a goal, that is something nice that happened along the way. We did want to set the goal of winning the NEAC that is still within our sights, also to go to the NCAA tournament

McHugh: Certainly impressive considering how good Gallaudet women's basketball has been in the past that that has been the mark now set by this team. Let's talk about the team just a little bit. You are led by and I hope I get these names right and if I don't I apologize, but you are led by Easter Faafiti.

Cook: That is correct Easter Faafiti.

McHugh: Nice 19.4 points per game, I get lucky every once and awhile coach, and 12.3 rebounds per game. She is a 5'10 senior forward from California. I don't want to make direct correlations to Ronda Jo who is about four inches taller, but it's nice to have someone that tall inside who has got some moves and by the way I don't want to forget your six footer in Hayes who is 14.1 points per game.

Cook: Yes what a dynamic duo Easter Faafiti and Nukeitra Hayes. They have been our senior leaders, a one-two punch as you will. Easter Faafiti is a powerful player. I can even put her out there as point forward. She handles the ball well. She defends. I was telling someone the other day, I had the opportunity to spend ten years with the Houston Comets as an assistant coach, and there's two people that I have been around that have good anticipation and one is Sheryl Swoops and the other is Easter Faafiti. She's averaging over four close to five steals per game, I mean just great anticipation on defense, great hand strength, and she can finish and knows what to do with it down low as well as attacking the boards. Nukeitra Hayes is finally after three years of having this potential coming into her own and blossoming her senior season. She can do it 15ft and in and has as much talent as anybody in the NEAC.

McHugh: Yeah by the way I misspoke. She actually averaging 12.8 points per game and hauling in 10.2 rebounds. You got two players hauling in double figures in rebounding and that certainly helping that 11.6 rebounding edge. You are also getting ten plus points out of Britny Latham. Tell us a little bit about the rest of the team and where you get you contributions on a nightly basis.

Cook: Sure. Britny Latham has missed the last three games due to a stress fracture and you know we are all day to day but she is definitely day to day as a player and we hope to get her back quickly because she is a sharp shooter from Cleveland, Tennessee. Somebody that has been very stable for us that has started every game is a freshman point guard Stephanie Weiss. She is from Wellington, Florida. She has just come in and been a very steadying force for the team. Andrea Amati at the wing, a junior has done a nice job and overall everybody has done a nice job contributing on different nights to the success of this team.

McHugh: Coach let's talk about the fact that there is the other part of this that maybe not everybody understands. I think everyone understands that Gallaudet is a deaf school but I don't know if they really appreciate the fact it's a deaf school. I played soccer against Gallaudet, it was a very different game in some senses. I've been to basketball games, it is a very different game and its strange how quiet the gym is for visiting fans and even visiting teams. What is it like to coach players, and I've asked this of coaches before you and I've asked this of coaches who have come through the system you know Gallaudet's former basketball coach is up at Stevenson and I've asked him the same question. What's it like to coach players who are mostly, completely, half deaf? There is a line before you are no longer eligible for Gallaudet, but what is it like to coach these players and to communicate with them and then do it in the middle of a game?

Cook: Yes that is a good question. It is different than any other team and it takes a lot of patience on their part really because I am not as fluent as a signer. I am still getting versed in ASL American Sign Language and I can get through a practice without an interpreter but for games I'm not quick enough and still have Chris Ball who does a fine job interpreting for us but that makes for a deaf friendly timeout that I can diagram and he can sign and we can get a lot of information to the players in a little time but does it put us at a little bit of a disadvantage? Do I think maybe I can save us four or five points a game by being able to yell out something quickly like ball screens or this or that? Yeah I do think it could. Everybody that is listening to this program understands how much communication you need in man to man defense, well we are playing a high percentage of man to man defense this year and when I first came in people said you can't play man at Gallaudet. Well I said hey we can and we are and right now we are the second best defensive team in the conference and we are trying to move up to number one.

McHugh: Well coach and that is one thing before we run out of time that I always found interesting. I will admit I have not watched a lot of Gallaudet basketball men or women in the last few years because my attention has been elsewhere, but the one thing I remember very well about Gallaudet men and women basketball is their defense was always sound. Even a zone defense is difficult when you can't communicate if you have someone cutting across the baseline underneath a two-three or a one-three-one. It is tough to communicate if someone snuck up on the wing for a shot on the weak side in a two-three or a one-three-one or a man defense as you point out and I amazed that players knew to get to the mid-line. Players knew where to find their players. Players anticipated where other players were going. Is it just that they have learned to find a way to constantly either keep their head on a swivel or they create another inane sense they know where those players are going to be?

Cook: Yes I mean I think you hit it when you said anticipation, keeping their head on a swivel. We've got to constantly communicate with our hands and be aware. I think that deaf people in general are maybe more aware then maybe people who have their hearing. They have learned to master the other senses and it is something we do work on each and every day. I know the shell drill is something we get after on a daily basis and as a basketball team you are good at what you emphasize and what you work on and that's why Jeb Barber and the men's program have that same kind of success because they do the same thing. Defense is just something you got to work on daily whether you are working in the deaf world or with the hearing.

McHugh: Oh absolutely. I just find it sometimes amazing that I think back in the day when I watched, Gallaudet play better defense than anybody else.

Cook: I like the way you are thinking and I hope we can continue that throughout the rest of the season.

McHugh: And I am being honest. I was always impressed that I thought Gallaudet played the best defense against any team and better than the teams they were playing that could communicate. Now what is very strange and I'll admit it especially when you go visiting Gallaudet's gym, you forget to communicate. I know as a soccer player we forgot to communicate because we were so use to the other team communicating and all the sudden you don't hear the voices on the other team you just stop talking too. It's just an unconscious thing.

Cook: I have seen that happen I agree.

McHugh: We had to go into games against Gallaudet and say guys we got to talk. We got to talk. We got to communicate. It is going to be strange when they aren't because you are so used to hearing the other team talk. Anyway, coach I want to congratulate you on certainly a successful season.  I know it is the NEAC and so a lot of people may be keeping you low on the polls because it is not as tough as conference as the CAC certainly was or any others but you are still undefeated. You are still playing pretty well in late January.  You still got a pretty good chance of making the NCAA tournament. We will find out the regional rankings coming out later next week but congratulations none the less to you and your lady Bison and before we let you go coaches always get the final word on this show so any final thoughts you want to share with those listening?

Cook: Yes I want to say that I think our conference, whoever goes to the NCAA tournament, will give a good representation. Keuka has mowed through, they are 15-1. The only hit they have taken is to us when we went up there and beat them. We were on the road and got them at their place but there will be a return match soon, and with the 22 conference games that we have it doesn't give us a chance to go outside the conference and I still am very proud that we are able to give highly ranked Lebanon Valley still their only loss this season. Thank you for recognizing us. We really appreciate it and look forward to talking to you again in the future.

McHugh: Absolutely coach congratulations as I said we will certainly keep an eye on the Bison between now and the end of February and see if and when you make the NCAA tournament and how well you do.

Cook: Thank you very much. Take care and see you soon.

McHugh: Take care coach.