Ross Hodge press conference summary: Big 12 Conference annual spring business meetings
West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge spoke with the media as part of the Big 12 Conference’s annual Spring Business Meetings for men’s basketball and here is a summary of what was said.
Hodge was joined by Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd alongside Big 12 Chief Basketball Officer Brian Thornton.
—Main topics of discussion: Touch it all, get a brief synopsis of meeting with John Higgins for some rules stuff, broadcasting rights. Changing legislation to try to get some consistency with rule changes such as the amount of people you could have on the floor and go recruit. Also the amount of hours you can have with your team in the summer to recap that.
—On Big 12 Conference games, scheduling: Hodge said anytime you get a chance to schedule more aggressively without feeling like it’s hurting you it’s good for your brand and collectively with the league. With the expansion of the tournament you can look at those opportunities.
—Revenue sharing and roster construction: You’re playing a game with rules that is ever-evolving and changing. It’s hard to predict it because Hodge wouldn’t have predicted the market would have increased like it did. You have to be able to adapt quickly and pivot and do the best you can and make the best decisions you can in the time period you’re making those. It can be easy to look back six months from now but you can’t get too far ahead or behind it because you must look at it with the rules in the moment although you understand that those can still change.
—TV Ratings, access and effect on recruiting. From West Virginia’s perspective absolutely, they had 18 league games and 16 of those were on national TV. The two other on Peacock and from a league standpoint they have such powerful brands and you combine that with some of the best coaches and last year specifically with the amount of young talent giving compelling story lines. Hodge grew up in Texas and has known it and now that he’s a part of it there is a top of the mind awareness of the league has impacted West Virginia in a positive manner. It continues to set the bar high for the Big 12.
—Calendar changes. That wasn’t discussed a ton from the coaches standpoint. The buzzer goes off on your season and then you’re immediately trying to figure out your roster, retention or recruiting or any other thoughts going into the five for five or calendar that’s at the end of the thinking. And it’s more just tell us the parameters to operate in and we’ll operate in it.
—Players coming back to develop instead of going pro affecting the game. Hodge thinks the talent and depth of talent available to so many teams is reflected in the viewership, fan engagement and the eyes on college basketball itself. It’s never been better in that regard and a lot of that has to do with the talent remaining in college.
–Note from the presser: Going back to 20-conference games is on the table but nothing has been decided. This week was the first time they had discussed it.
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