NCAA Corvallis Regional Coaches Comments
2006 N.C.A.A. CORVALLIS REGIONAL PRE-TOURNAMENT QUOTES – JUNE 1
Oregon State head coach Pat Casey
"We’re very happy to be back in this tournament, and we’re very happy to be playing at home again. We’ve got a lot of guys back from the ballclub we had in the postseason a year ago, but this is a new year so it’s a new team, and I think they’ve got that same sense of excitement that we had a year ago. This is a team that feels good about where it is, but it knows that when you reach this stage in the season, every team that you’re going to face has some good arms, they can hit, and they field the ball pretty well. Our guys are cognizant of that fact, and they know they’re going to have to play very, very well if they want to keep playing past this weekend."
Kansas head coach Rich Price, who is originally from nearby Sweet Home, Oregon
"What I really want is for the players to have a good experience here. Beginning Friday, I want this to be about the players. I don’t want this (homecoming) to be a distraction."
Hawai’i head coach Mike Trapasso
(On whether his team has been under-recognized during the season) "That’s a good question. When you get in the postseason, any thoughts of being under the radar are don. If they’re in those 64 teams, they’re a good club and they deserve to be here. Some people had the same question about Kansas, and it’s the same answer. If that’s the case, that’s okay. We can’t worry about how we’re perceived; we don’t have any control over that. We can just worry about what we can control, and that’s how well we play."
Wright State head coach Greg Cooper
"We have two goals. The first is to have a lot of fun. Our other goal is to make it a game. We want to keep that great Oregon State fan base as quiet as we can as long as we can. When we got here (to Wright State for the 2005 season), I figured we had enough things in place to compete at this level. I just didn’t think it would happen this quick."
