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Five Questions - The George Washington University, Assistant Coach Roland Houston
By Chris DiSano | July 7, 2008
“Five Questions” continues with Roland Houston from George Washington. A Rhode Island alum and former assistant at LaSalle, Roland will be entering his fourth season on the Colonials’ bench. In between summer duties, CCT had an opportunity to catch up with Roland and talk Colonial hoops.
College Chalktalk: Can you comment briefly on the members of your incoming recruiting class?
Roland Houston: We have three freshmen who we’re extremely excited about coming to the program. They are hard workers and all have great character along with a burning desire to achieve great things both academically and athletically.
Tony Taylor is a young man from Archbishop Stepinac High School in New York. He is an extremely quick point guard and has a knack for getting the ball to his teammates in scoring positions. In addition, he’s a very good shooter.
Our second incoming freshman, Matt Allbritton from Garland Christian High School in Texas, is a terrific shooter with a high basketball IQ. He is a player who we envision will be able to help us spread the defense and make good decisions with our offense.
Lastly, Aaron Ware is a strong, quick, athletic wing from Bishop Montgomery High School in California. He has the ability to become one of our better defenders which will allow us to get back to our signature attacking defenses and constant pressure.
CCT: You played professionally for thirteen seasons in Europe, South America and the Middle East. What did you learn overseas as a player that has helped you in your coaching career to date?
RH: My thirteen year professional career was not only a great life experience for me, but I learned a great deal about the game of basketball and, more importantly, how to teach the game. As an American playing overseas, you are supposed to be the best player on your team. With that expectation, comes a great deal of responsibility. First and foremost, you must find a way to win… and the best way to do so is to familiarize yourself with the positives and negatives of your teammates’ individual playing styles.
As a coach, I try to make some of the same adjustments and teach players according to their skill set. At GW, we always try to put our players in positions to succeed. As an American playing overseas, pushing yourself and pushing your teammates to play to their strengths is a critical aspect of success in games. When I push a player on the court, I never ask that player to do what I know he isn’t capable of doing. I feel that sets the player up for disappointment and will also have negative results for the team as a whole.
A major adjustment in living overseas is the natural period of homesickness and dealing with everything being foreign, both literally and figuratively. The challenges are similar to what many of our college athletes deal with in this country. As a coach, I try to teach them that they must make the adjustment to the environment.
I was fortunate enough to study the French language at the Universite’ de Nice and also became conversant in Spanish. Nothing I did helped me succeed both on the court and off the court more than being able to participate in my surroundings. In my profession, and in dealing with players from different parts of the country, it is my responsibility to try to help players with any and all cultural differences. Once they become comfortable in whatever their situation, I think that they will not only excel athletically and academically, but the life lessons will help them become successful young men.
CCT: Damian Hollis played well down the stretch last season. On what areas must he focus to become a consistent contributor this coming season?
RH: Damian Hollis is a young man we are hoping will be able to put it all together this year. He is long, lean, athletic and is a versatile player. Last summer, Damian made the USA 19 and under team that won the silver medal in Serbia. He got a chance to play with some terrific players including Michael Beasley, Donte’ Greene and others.
Maintaining his focus throughout the season and using his international experiences will allow him to become more complete as a player. Obviously, we need him to improve on the defensive end and we also think he will devote himself to becoming a better rebounding forward. Damian’s strength has always been his ability to score in various ways. We expect this to continue, and for his game to expand further on the offensive end.
CCT: Coach Hobbs did a nice job holding a young (and injured) team together in 2007-08 until they were able to gain some confidence late in the season. What impressed you most about the job he did?
RH: Karl never allowed injuries to be an excuse for the struggles our team faced last season. It is not our way to make excuses, but losing key players, especially a point guard can be difficult. When we lost Travis King for the season, we knew that it would hurt us, but we never thought that it would be as difficult as it was. We had several more injuries after Travis and Karl never mentioned it to the players.
As the season went on and we were struggling, I think the thing that impressed me the most about Karl was his resilience. He continued to go about our daily preparation in a championship manner, and treated every opponent and every game as an opportunity to turn things around. He always pays attention to the small details and he has a great offensive mind. The energy that he was able to bring to work everyday was amazing given all the setbacks and struggles we had to face.
Once the players realized that Coach Hobbs wasn’t going to change his style based on injuries, we were able to improve and began to see results on the floor. He also did a terrific job of teaching our guys that it’s important to step up and realize that in life, you never know when your opportunity will come.
CCT: Despite the improvement late in the season, you failed to qualify for the A-10 Tournament last season. What must this team improve upon to erase that memory and make the trip to Atlantic City in 2008-09?
RH: I don’t think that Coach Hobbs will let them erase the memory of not qualifying for the A-10 Tournament. However, he will focus on getting back to GW basketball. Last season, the A-10 did a great job of representing itself nationally which resulted in more teams getting to postseason play. We have a core of players who have won championships, and are eager to get back to basics, hard work, defense and sharing the ball. We are excited!!!
(College Chalktalk would like to thank Roland for checking in with us. We look forward to catching up with him from time to time in the future.)
Topics: Five Questions |
July 9th, 2008 at 11:20 am
[…] been some speculation on whether or not Dwayne Smith would be joining the 2008-09 Colonials, as an interview with assistant coach Roland Houston only mentions three new players. However, today’s release […]