See below for a transcript of Outlaws Head Coach B.J. O’Hara’s Week 1 MLL Conference Call
On following up a 14-0 season
“You mean 14-0? I don’t think so. We are going to be doing a lot of the same things. Having been with the Outlaws for the past two seasons with a lot of the same people there, I think I have a pretty good grasp of what has worked for us and what maybe hasn’t worked so well. I think we have a good line on the strengths of a lot of our guys. I think you’re going to see the same looks in a lot of ways – maybe with a few different wrinkles.”
“You mean 14-0? I don’t think so. We are going to be doing a lot of the same things. Having been with the Outlaws for the past two seasons with a lot of the same people there, I think I have a pretty good grasp of what has worked for us and what maybe hasn’t worked so well. I think we have a good line on the strengths of a lot of our guys. I think you’re going to see the same looks in a lot of ways – maybe with a few different wrinkles.”
On what John Grant Jr. brings to the team
“We obviously can’t wait to get John out there as soon as possible. I do have a history with John back in Rochester. He and I have a great relationship. We were together on the 2008 Rattlers team that won the championship. Speaking of championships, that is probably the thing that John brings as much as anything. He has won at just about every level – he’s won Mann Cups in Canadian box, he’s won NLL Championships, he’s won an MLL Championship, he’s won World Championships in field and in box. He knows what it takes and he has that experience. Not to mention, obviously some of the most amazing stick skills out there. He is still playing at a very high level. I saw him play the other night in Denver and he had five goals and he looked like a young boy out there leading the way for them on offense. We just can’t wait to get him going.”
“We obviously can’t wait to get John out there as soon as possible. I do have a history with John back in Rochester. He and I have a great relationship. We were together on the 2008 Rattlers team that won the championship. Speaking of championships, that is probably the thing that John brings as much as anything. He has won at just about every level – he’s won Mann Cups in Canadian box, he’s won NLL Championships, he’s won an MLL Championship, he’s won World Championships in field and in box. He knows what it takes and he has that experience. Not to mention, obviously some of the most amazing stick skills out there. He is still playing at a very high level. I saw him play the other night in Denver and he had five goals and he looked like a young boy out there leading the way for them on offense. We just can’t wait to get him going.”
On this week’s game at Florida and playing against former Outlaws Assistant Coach Stan Ross, who is now the Launch’s head coach
“I don’t think that will be much of an issue as far as the coaching staff. The game will be won and lost on the field. The big thing in the first game of the year in Major League Lacrosse is trying to predict who you’re going up against. It is hard to manage your matchups and things like that. We are going to have to do a lot on the fly because we really don’t know who they’re going to have. They have a number of guys playing indoor and coaching and things like that. We are trying to get through their lineup and see how they might matchup with different contingencies. The Launch staff has a pretty good idea of who we’re going to be putting out on the field and what they can do, so they probably have a little bit of an advantage there.”
“I don’t think that will be much of an issue as far as the coaching staff. The game will be won and lost on the field. The big thing in the first game of the year in Major League Lacrosse is trying to predict who you’re going up against. It is hard to manage your matchups and things like that. We are going to have to do a lot on the fly because we really don’t know who they’re going to have. They have a number of guys playing indoor and coaching and things like that. We are trying to get through their lineup and see how they might matchup with different contingencies. The Launch staff has a pretty good idea of who we’re going to be putting out on the field and what they can do, so they probably have a little bit of an advantage there.”
On which players surprised him at training camp
“One actually came to us via our open tryout about a month ago named Noah Molnar. He is a big, rugged, athletic defensive midfielder from Lehigh University. I think he was drafted last year by Rochester but never had an opportunity to suit up. He caught our eye right away. He looks good getting off the bus. He had a great first week of training camp and last weekend, the second week, our round-robin day with Chesapeake and Charlotte, he showed really well, so he was one guy that came to the tryout and he’ll make us deeper and more athletic in that role. Via some trades, we got some new faces. Namely, Matt Gibson, who was rookie of the year several years ago and did not play much at all last year due to an injury. Matt is playing real well for us. Mike Simon came to us in that (Brendan) Mundorf trade and Mike – if you’ve never seen Mike – you’ll be able to pick him out. They call him ‘tree.’ He’s big and tall and has a long wingspan and handles the ball real well. He is going to be a real effective defensive longstick middie for us.”
“One actually came to us via our open tryout about a month ago named Noah Molnar. He is a big, rugged, athletic defensive midfielder from Lehigh University. I think he was drafted last year by Rochester but never had an opportunity to suit up. He caught our eye right away. He looks good getting off the bus. He had a great first week of training camp and last weekend, the second week, our round-robin day with Chesapeake and Charlotte, he showed really well, so he was one guy that came to the tryout and he’ll make us deeper and more athletic in that role. Via some trades, we got some new faces. Namely, Matt Gibson, who was rookie of the year several years ago and did not play much at all last year due to an injury. Matt is playing real well for us. Mike Simon came to us in that (Brendan) Mundorf trade and Mike – if you’ve never seen Mike – you’ll be able to pick him out. They call him ‘tree.’ He’s big and tall and has a long wingspan and handles the ball real well. He is going to be a real effective defensive longstick middie for us.”
On expectations for attackman Curtis Dickson
“We have held his rights for several years now with wishful thinking that someday it might be possible. He did sign his contract, we have had communication with him. We have sent him sticks to get ready – he uses a different manufacturer’s stick, so we had to get him new sticks rigged up. From all indications, as soon as his indoor season is over, he will be available. And part of his incentive is to get ready for the World Championships, of course. We are excited. We are just trying to think of the numbers of ways we can use him and combinations of guys with him and Grant Jr. and Zack Greer. We have a lot of player power there offensively.”
“We have held his rights for several years now with wishful thinking that someday it might be possible. He did sign his contract, we have had communication with him. We have sent him sticks to get ready – he uses a different manufacturer’s stick, so we had to get him new sticks rigged up. From all indications, as soon as his indoor season is over, he will be available. And part of his incentive is to get ready for the World Championships, of course. We are excited. We are just trying to think of the numbers of ways we can use him and combinations of guys with him and Grant Jr. and Zack Greer. We have a lot of player power there offensively.”
On how important it is to win early in the season
“That’s a great question. I think it is really important, because everybody is going to get better as the season goes on. It’s an evolution for every club. We feel like we’re going to be able to add some pieces going forward that are going to make us stronger, but so are everyone else. If you can put some in the bank early, then that just makes it a little bit easier and takes some of the pressure off going down the home stretch. Every team in this league has such great talent. Even now, even before they get all their guys in. Every game is going to be a battle, no matter who you are going up against. We saw Charlotte and Chesapeake last weekend. They were without all their guys and so were we and they were three pretty evenly matched teams. So, it is going to be a struggle, even early.”
“That’s a great question. I think it is really important, because everybody is going to get better as the season goes on. It’s an evolution for every club. We feel like we’re going to be able to add some pieces going forward that are going to make us stronger, but so are everyone else. If you can put some in the bank early, then that just makes it a little bit easier and takes some of the pressure off going down the home stretch. Every team in this league has such great talent. Even now, even before they get all their guys in. Every game is going to be a battle, no matter who you are going up against. We saw Charlotte and Chesapeake last weekend. They were without all their guys and so were we and they were three pretty evenly matched teams. So, it is going to be a struggle, even early.”
On whether he plans to make any changes to the team’s playing style in 2014
“I definitely think we want to be smart about things. We want to make sure that we use the shot clock wisely. But the guys that we have on the offensive end, they are going to want to get to the goal. With the shot clock, you don’t have a lot of time to fool around anyways. On the defensive end, we think we have a great group at that end and they looked fabulous last weekend at our scrimmages. We are going to attack people on the defensive end and Jesse handles the ball so well, we like to think we can get it on the ground and up and out and create on the other end. But, we also want to make sure – one of our goals is to make sure we get a quality shot with every possession and not force and turn the ball over without getting a good look at the goal. Those are what we’ve talked about.”
“I definitely think we want to be smart about things. We want to make sure that we use the shot clock wisely. But the guys that we have on the offensive end, they are going to want to get to the goal. With the shot clock, you don’t have a lot of time to fool around anyways. On the defensive end, we think we have a great group at that end and they looked fabulous last weekend at our scrimmages. We are going to attack people on the defensive end and Jesse handles the ball so well, we like to think we can get it on the ground and up and out and create on the other end. But, we also want to make sure – one of our goals is to make sure we get a quality shot with every possession and not force and turn the ball over without getting a good look at the goal. Those are what we’ve talked about.”
On having early-season success in the past despite losing players to NLL action
“I think that as you are – (General Manager) Tony Seaman and I talked about this a lot since the end of the season – it’s trying to anticipate who might be late arriving due to their other commitments and who is in the pool or who could we trade for that might fill some of those spots early on until we get everybody in. That is exactly what we’ve done. For example, Matt Gibson is a very good left-handed attackman, a guy we felt we needed. Matt is an awfully good player, so he may well be around for a while. We made a couple of trades with those things in mind. We think we have all the bases covered for the time being. We’ll see.”
“I think that as you are – (General Manager) Tony Seaman and I talked about this a lot since the end of the season – it’s trying to anticipate who might be late arriving due to their other commitments and who is in the pool or who could we trade for that might fill some of those spots early on until we get everybody in. That is exactly what we’ve done. For example, Matt Gibson is a very good left-handed attackman, a guy we felt we needed. Matt is an awfully good player, so he may well be around for a while. We made a couple of trades with those things in mind. We think we have all the bases covered for the time being. We’ll see.”