Lou West Press Conference Quotes

ISU Sycamores new football coach Lou West press conference quotes

TERRE HAUTE (12-13-2004) - Indiana State University Director of Athletics, Andrea Myers, announced today (Dec. 13), that Lou West has been named the new head football coach at ISU. The following excerpts were released by ISU's Athletics Office following Monday's press conference.

Athletic Director Andrea Myers' introduction:

Indiana State has a football history dating back to 1896. We have been playing this game for quite sometime. We have had more than 20 head coaches in our history of football. Four weeks ago today we began a national search for our next head football coach. Our profile for that head coach was to find a coach with a proven record of success, to find a coach with ties to the Midwest, and above all to find a coach that truly wanted to be at Indiana State. Today I am pleased to say we have found that man as Lou West is a man with all of those characteristics and a great many more. Please join me in welcoming Coach West and his family as the latest Sycamores.

Coach West opening comments:

Thank you and good afternoon. We are really glad to be here.

I am extremely excited to be here. I am looking forward to the challenge of being a head coach and being at a great school like Indiana State University and taking it to another level. Not necessarily building, but going from where we are at now and taking it to the next level. My whole goal is to put a competitive team on the field and to get ourselves in a position where we are known throughout the state as a competitive, hard-playing, hard-hitting, get-after-it, type football program. The young men we recruit here and the young men we want playing for us will be young men not only of great athletic ability but also students. We are looking to improve on a graduation rate that is already high. A graduation rate that is already one of the top in the country WE are looking to continue that aspect of the program. Again, I welcome the challenge. I am openly excited about being here and am looking forward to being a Sycamore for a long time.

Coach West on the process of taking the job:

We played in the MAC championship game a couple of weeks ago, and the head coach called me in and said that Indiana State was looking for head coach and asked if I would be interested. I said “Coach, I would definitely be interested in looking into that particular position.” So he put my name in there, and they called me up. I came down last week and interviewed and had a chance to meet the President and Vice-President and go around campus and see the facilities. When I came down I had a lot of interest. By the time I was done talking with the people around here there was a very, very high interest. The only thing that was holding me back was my wife. I have to check in every now and then and make sure that we are on the same page; otherwise I will be on the page by myself. I went back and talked it over and checked with my daughter. To me I put God first, my family second and my job third. After talking with the Almighty, and talking with my family, this seemed like a great fit for me. This is a great opportunity to get started at an institution with a background to it and an institution that is going somewhere and not an institution that is starting from ground level. I think this is a great fit for me and we look forward to being here.

Coach West on being the first African-American coach in the Gateway and the only African-American coach in NCAA-IAA outside of the predominately black colleges:

The first thing I am going to say about that is: so FAR. I think the African-American coaches are moving up and people are starting to realize that not only can they play the game but they can coach the game. It is only going to get better from here.

The second point I want to make about that is when I was I hired, I hope that I am not looked on as the black coach. I hope I am looked on as the coach and that is what I plan to do, be the football coach. In this profession as well as in the professional ranks, there are a lot of kids that look up to you as idols. When they look at me I don’t want them looking at me as a black coach, but look as me as a coach. A coach that is going to do the right things at the right times and make sure the kids that come under me will not only get a great opportunity to play at a great football institution, but also a great education and use that education to go out and further their life. I would like to be looked at as the football coach, as a teacher, as a role model and not just as a black coach. If it happens that a black child sees me as a black role model, then that is great because now he knows that there are opportunities and there are doors that are going to be open for him if he does the right things and puts his mind in the right direction.

Coach West on the transition from coaching Toledo in the bowl game and taking over as the head coach at Indiana State:

I think that is happening all around the country, like Urban Meyer who is a great friend of mine. He is going to coach in the Fiesta Bowl, but try to prepare a staff and get ready for Florida and several other coaches are doing the same thing and that is my plan too.

Coach Amstutz is probably the greatest coach I have worked for. He gives me, not only freedom as a defensive coordinator but he works with me, pushes me and provided me with an opportunity to be a head coach. As far as getting things done on this end, he allows me the freedom to take care of what I need to take care of here, but more importantly he allows me to finish my job at Toledo, which we started together four years ago, and that is coaching a bowl game. When I am here, I am all ISU and everything I do is heading in ISU’s direction. When I am in Toledo, I am going to finish up strong and my whole goal, obviously, is to win that bowl game and finish up on a strong note there. On December 28th, I officially become all ISU and as soon as I get back down here that is where I am headed. As soon as that game is over with, I am all ISU.

Closing comments:

Again, I am overly excited. There are a lot of happy people around here, but I guarantee there is no one flying higher than me. If you see me walking on air, you will understand the excitement inside of me is genuine. I am just so happy to be here and be apart of this program.