Coach P Answers Questions For Notebook

Hello everyone! Sorry it has taken so long to respond to all of your questions. Thanks to everyone who has sent in questions and I will do my best to get to all of them. There have been some excellent submissions and it is great to see the love and enthusiasm the Blue Devil nation has for women's basketball. It is exciting to be back in Durham for good!

I appreciate all the well wishes. There have been so many wonderful people sending emails like these below and I appreciate all of them!

From Bonnie & Bill-- Just wanted to say thank you for your incredible notebook! Bill and I welcome you to Durham and especially to Duke! We have supported the Duke girls the 8 years we have been here and look forward to many more! GO DUKE! Thanks Coach P for being at Duke!

From Jamie-- I am one of those older guys (Duke 78) who show up for the Coach K Fantasy Academy every year or so and bumble around for four days. I got to know Coach G over the last few years and appreciated what she did for Duke. The purpose of this note is simply to welcome you to Duke and tell you how impressed I am with your approach to the game, and perhaps more importantly, your response to the Duke community. We Dukies take our basketball seriously, perhaps too seriously at times, but we are consistent in our loyalty to and support of those who respect the game. Everyone is excited about your time here, and the best of luck to you and the women's program. Welcome to the Duke community. You are off to s spectacular start.

From Gary-- Coach P, No question - just a quick note to congratulate you on the great job you did with Team USA Women's U21. Thank you for the USA Gold Medal and thank you for being our Duke Coach!

From Kate, Sue & Mon?Joanne, we are so happy for you and the USA team . . . and very proud. take care.

Now for the Questions...

Question from Meredith: Hey Coach P, is there any possibility of a women's blue/white scrimmage? I would love that. I cannot wait for the season to start! Best wishes!

Question from Chris: Coach P - I think the Women need their own version of the infamous Blue/White Game. I think it would really ramp up the excitement for season and get the fans and the team pumped. Let's bring some of that Midnight Madness to Duke, what do you say?

Coach P: Great questions Meredith and Chris! When I was at Michigan State, we played a green and white game every year and I would like to incorporate a blue and white game at Duke this year. We are in the process of working out a date and more information will be released when we finalize it.

Question from Tony: What's going on in the recruiting world? I have always been a fan of the men's basketball teams but since Alana Beard and Monique Currie years I find myself rooting of the Duke Blue Devils Ladies. Do you have any prospects that are ready to sign with you and the Blue Devils? Welcome to Duke! I hope you win many games and lost of championships with Duke.

Question from Sammy: Hey Coach P, I think you are an amazing coach and a great fit for Duke!!! Anyway, are you still recruiting for the 2008 class? If so what positions are you looking for? Thanks so much.

Coach P: Hey Sammy & Tony, we are busy recruiting for the 2008 and well as the next classes. The summer is a very busy time for our entire staff as we are on the road most of the summer months. We are recruiting some tremendous student-athletes and I am excited to see what the future brings for the Blue Devils. Due to NCAA rules, I cannot comment on any recruits until they sign a national letter of intent.

Question from Krista: Thanks so much for keeping your notebook. It's nice for us fans to have an insight into your coaching life. What I'd like to know is what you think of Abby Waner's incredible good fortune in getting to play for her brand-new coach in a setting like what you both experienced. Is she just living right, or what? She had the same opportunity to play for her new college coach in a similar setting two years ago. What would an objectivist say about the timing and good fortune?

Coach P: Hey, Krista, Abby and I did talk about that. That she in fact did play for Gail coming in as a freshman and she loved it. Then she has played for me with what we both describe as a much more competitive arena. The teams were much more talented. Abby and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I know that getting to work with Abby individually, away from this country so to speak is a tremendous benefit. Just getting to know her personality, how hard she is on herself at times and how diverse she is as a player. She is incredibly multi-faceted as she has excellent passing and rebounding skills as well. There are so many things that impress me about Abby. So I was able to get a great snapshot of all of her potential to be a great guard in the league and nationwide. Abby learned a lot about me, I know that I learned a lot about Abby and think that she is very, very special. She has two fantastic years ahead.

Question from Herb: First on behalf of all Duke fans, I want to thank you for being so open and sharing your thoughts with us. Since you were known as Coach P at MSU, would you consider changing your name to Coach Mac for your new beginning at Duke?

Question from Ri: I think it's interesting that you've chosen to keep your nickname ?coach P.' We don't know you as P; why not let a new nickname come? Seems timely as you're establishing yourself here with the players, staff and fans to see what kind of new name comes up. Coach Mac? Who knows, but it's interesting that you're tied to a name that none of us ever knew you by.

Coach P: Herb and Ri, Coach P is a very special name for me and it goes way back to Jimmy V. My maiden name is Palombo. I'm Italian, I look Italian, therefore if I were to use the name “Coach Mac” I would some how come across as Irish or Scottish. I am a little bit of those but my heart and soul is Italian. I even speak with my hands; so therefore, the P is symbolic of that maiden name. It has huge meaning and at the time that I thought about it, I went back to Jimmy V and Valvano because I thought that it was neat that he was Jimmy V. If there was a Jimmy V could there be a Joanne P? Somehow I don't think that Joanne Mac...sorry guys it is Coach P.

Question from Jared: Welcome to Duke Coach P! Do you think we have the talent to win the national championship this year?

Coach P: Thanks for your question Jared. I think that we can will the championship every year, depending on how well we come together. Are we young this year? Yes. Did we lose two great players? Yes. But without question we have some fantastic student-athletes and it appears to me that it will be some more leadership by all, everyone offering what they can offer as opposed to a reliance on one or two. This year will be more distributed and we can create whatever future we want. The key is the preparation piece headed into the season and what we do in the summer. I believe we can play and compete every year.

Question from Holly: Coach P, How different do you think it'll be for you coaching in the ACC?

Coach P: I think it will be exciting because your guard is up as there are a lot of new things going on. I really do think that it brings the best out in coaches and staffs because we over prepared or we over detail things. So, I think that we will be sharp and be at our best. I think it will be exciting. In regard to the actual games, I've coached against almost all of the ACC teams so there is a familiarity. But, I think that there is just pure excitement where the ACC Women's Basketball is just the best that there is. There is just an overall excitement to be in the finest league.

Question from Yvonne: Do you think organizing students (I am a graduate student) and having some sort of student promotion would increase the number of students coming to games. There seem to be many promotions during the season but very few targeting students. Thanks!

Coach P: Great question Yvonne. We want to have as many students as possible at all of our games. We are thrilled that they get in free. It is a matter of getting to know them and making it a little more personal. I would like to be on campus more, eating in cafeterias and being a little more visible campus wide. That is one of the things that we are going to try to do to bring students closer to our team and again get back to those sellouts.

Question from Freida: Welcome aboard to Duke! I was wondering what do you look for in a high school player who is trying to make it to the college level?

Coach P: In a player we look for a lot of intangibles. Obviously they have to be a great student, a great person, a competitor and someone who always wants to get better. Those are fundamental, but then you are looking for the heart and soul kids. Kids that take play passionately, kids that pick their teammates up off the floor, that are verbal, confident, that can communicate. It doesn't matter what position but can they have a core presence. Besides making the points, rebounds, assists, steals, whatever, do they have a presence on the floor? I do want to see people that are really talented, just dream big and really want to get better. They aren't so sensitive that they can't understand about getting better and they are really willing to pursue that and they want their very best basketball to occur in college and catapult a future out of it.

That is all for now, but I will respond to more in the next couple of weeks. Thanks again for all the questions!