 | | Fran McCaffery |
Live Chat With Fran McCaffery To help us debut our new website, head men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery will join us for a live chat on Thursday, September 29 at 10 am. Fran was named the 14th head men's basketball coach in program history on April 1, 2005. Over the last 20 years, McCaffery has enjoyed great success coaching Division I basketball and developing student-athletes on and off the court. Each of the programs he has coached has boasted a 100% graduation rate during his tenure, and he has recruited and coached several players who have gone on to play basketball professionally, some at the highest level. Pose your question to Fran below, and he will be in to answer it on Thursday! |
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 |  | Fran McCaffery: Hi everyone I am in the chat room now. We had some technical difficulties, so thanks for your patience. I have been answering some questions already, and will have those posted now. |
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| Schenectady, NY: Do you really think you can turn a team around coming off a 6-24 record; what's the goal? |
| | Fran McCaffery: Yes we can. Our goal is to show improvement every game. The players have been working extremely hard this preseason, and I am sure that we will have a successful season. |
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| Ana Claudia Braga: Coach Mc Caffery, O Sr acha que nosso time ter?? dificuldades por causa do reduzido quadro de jogadores na posi????o 5? Boa sorte na temporada! (Do you expect we will have difficulties this year because of the limited number of post players on the team? Good luck on the season!) |
| | Fran McCaffery: Thanks for the question Ms. Braga. Joao is doing outstanding so far! To answer your question, our lack of height might pose some problems during the year, however, our team concepts and defensive philosophy will limit this. |
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| DON RICHARDS: WHAT IS YOUR GENERAL STRATEGY FOR SUCCESS IN RECRUITING PLAYERS? |
| | Fran McCaffery: Thanks for the question Don. We are fortunate to have an outstanding institution to offer to young men. The education they will receive at Siena combined with the great basketball tradition and big time atmosphere of the Pepsi Arena are great selling tools for us. We will be recruiting young men who will make the Siena community proud. |
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| Matt (Colonie): How do you plan on bringing the excitment back to the Mens team following a down year, with the arrival of a pro team in Albany? |
| | Fran McCaffery: First we know we have to win basketball games. We play an exciting style of basketball. Our intense defense and uptempo style will be much more exciting for fans to watch. |
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| Julie(Latham): Have you enjoyed your experiences as the head coach of Siena College? Best of luck in the coming season. |
| | Fran McCaffery: Thanks for the support Julie. Yes, I have received a tremendous welcoming for the entire Siena community. I am really looking forward to my many years here at Siena! |
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| Michael Mendrick, Ballston Spa: Hello Coach, Hope you enjoyed your first summer here. Can't guarantee they will ALL be this HOT! Last season Kojo Mensah showed some real promise at point guard before being injured and missing most of the season. How is his health and how do you anticipate your guard situation to play out? Looking forward to November! |
| | Fran McCaffery: Kojo has had an outstanding summer and fall. He is 100% healthy and we expect great things from him this year. We are fortunate to have several high caliber guards in our program. As a unit, we will certainly have one of the better backcourts in the MAAC. |
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| Neil (Albany): Coach Fran, Welcome to Siena. What would you say to a season ticket holder like myself to get us to keep coming to the games ? It seems like it will be a completely lost season after the Haddix injury. Keep fighting the good fight. Neil in Albany |
| | Fran McCaffery: Thanks Neil. One thing I have been very impressed with is our loyal fans and the support we have received from our tremendous season ticket holders. Please do not believe everything you read. Our team has been working extremely hard and we will definitely surprise some people this year. Your continued support will certainly aid our quest this year. |
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| Paul Elliott Minnesota: No Question: Have a great season. Go Saints! |
| | Fran McCaffery: Thanks Paul. Hope to see you making that trip from Minnesota to our games at the Pepsi! |
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| Paul (East Greenbush): Does your coaching staff see a significant pool of local talent to recruit from? and will trying to keep some local talent here be a priority for the staff? |
| | Fran McCaffery: Thanks for the question Paul. We are fortunate to have great high school programs in this region that have, and will continue to produce many good players. We would love to be able to keep many of them home, while also recruiting great players from outside the area. |
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| Albany, Paul: With the up tempo approach you are taking of pushing the ball up the court, will the defense play man to man or zone since size this year is quite small compared to other D-1 Schools. Also if you could comment on the future recruits as for BIG MEN you plan or recruiting for the future and local talent. |
| | Fran McCaffery: We will primarily be a man-to-man team, however, we will be playing multiple defenses this year as each game warrants. As for your question about recruiting, unfortunately I am not able to comment on our future recruits until after they have signed a letter of intent (per NCAA rules). |
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| bill-clifton park: I imagine that a lot of teams will pressure the inbounding of the ball by Siena after a made basket. In the past, Siena has had a lot of difficulty executing this fundamental part of the game. Do you have any plans for how to improve this? Best of luck bringing our saints back. Thanks. |
| | Fran McCaffery: Bill we have several press offenses that we will put into place to handle what other teams try to throw at us. |
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| John Rouser(Albany): You have excellent 3-pt shooters, but last year the 3pt shooting percentage was below 30%. How will your offense help this? |
| | Fran McCaffery: Excellent question. Our uptempo style will lead to many open shots early in the possession. If we do not have a good shot early, we will execute our half court offense to free up our shooters and other scorers. |
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| Anthony (Rensselaer): Hi Coach. Many of the major college basketball publications are picking the Saints to finish last in the MAAC this year. I don't believe this will happen and expect Siena to surprise alot of people. Where do you see the Saints finishing this year? BTW, I'll be happy as long as you beat Albany this year!! |
| | Fran McCaffery: Anthony, I share your optimism for our season. I feel that we will be a very competitive team in what will be a very challenging season in one of the top mid-major conferences in America--the MAAC. |
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| Bill Murray Latham: Coach, Welcome and congratulations on getting a commitment from one of our local players. I know you can't get into any specifics regarding players, but what are your general recruiting priorities for the remainder of this class and the next? And more importantly for this coming season, what do you see as the strengths of the 2005-06 team? |
| | Fran McCaffery: Bill thank you for your kind words. As you stated, I can not comment specifically on our recruits, however, I can say that we are involved with several high caliber young men who will improve our program. Our strengths for this season and every season will be how hard we work, and how well prepared we are for each game. |
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| Jake K. (Greensboro): Fran, while coaching at UNC-G you were constantly in the shadow of the ACC schools. How nice will it be to coach at an institution where the school and community really supports the program? |
| | Fran McCaffery: Hi Jake how are you! I enjoyed our time together in Greensboro. You are correct, it will be nice to be in the forefront and have our program recognized as it deserves to be. |
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| Scott (Baltimore, MD): Coach - Welcome to Siena. How do you plan on attracting more students to the games? The Pepsi Arena allows the general community to rally around the team, however the commute from campus always seemed to prevent students from attending games. |
| | Fran McCaffery: Scott thanks for the question. Student support is certainly a priority for us. We have shuttle busses that run from the campus to Pepsi Arena beginning one and half hours before game time. My hope is that the students will rally around our program, and make the short trip to Albany for all our games. I know there are many exciting marketing promotions in place this season to attract more students to the games. |
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| The Infamous TTF (Albany): We all know you're from the Philly area... So what is it Pat or Geno? Thank you for saving our program. |
| | Fran McCaffery: Geno (The Original) |
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| dan-schenectady: it's great you have a few local kids on the team from amsterdam and guilderland . Do you think they will get any playing time? it may help put fans in the seats. |
| | Fran McCaffery: Dan everyone is working extremely hard in the preseason. I'm looking forward to our practices starting in mid-October where everyone will be competing for playing time. |
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| Mike (Clifton Park): Fran, glad to have you as Siena's coach. What line-up do you plan on using to start the season. And can Siena have a season over .500 this year? Thanks |
| | Fran McCaffery: Mike, right now everyone has been very committed to improving their game and learning our system. As we progress towards our first game I am sure some players will distinguish themselves. As for our season, I have high hopes for a much improved year! |
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| | Fran McCaffery: Thank you everyone for participating in today's chat. I really enjoyed it. The support everyone has shown so far has truly been tremendous. I look forward to seeing you all at our first home game November 28 against Fordham. |
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| Moderator: That's the end of today's chat--Thanks for participating. |
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