Ohio freshman forward Antonio Campbell loves the excitement new coach Saul Phillips brings to a basketball court.
“He’s a player’s coach,” Campbell said. “He gets players going with his energy and that’s what players in this new generation want.”
When told some of his new players refer to him as a “player’s coach,” Phillips shrugged off the title.
“Of all the wonderful things about this job, coaching my guys in the locker room is what I like the most, and maybe that’s what they’re referring to,” Phillips said. “But they’re still going to get instruction and they’re still going to have structure and they’re still going to have expectations.
“I’m not by nature a screamer, so that might be what they’re referring to as well.”
But regardless of what Phillips says, his players have taken to his style and couldn’t be more excited to continue working with him.
Redshirt sophomore forward Treg Setty said that Phillips has shocked him with his demeanor and quelled any uncertainty stemming from having a new head coach.
“He’s blown us (players) away so far,” he said. “It’s fun to have someone who’s energetic and believes in us. The confidence he’s instilled in us the last two weeks is remarkable, honestly. It’s just fun to be able to play for somebody like him, and I’m looking forward to the next two years with him.”
To get a better idea of what he’s working with this season, Phillips has set up individual workouts with each player to study the strengths and weaknesses of his skill set.
With Campbell, whom Phillips said could be a dominant player in the Mid-American Conference, he’s worked on finishing at the basket as well as using his body size and weight to outmuscle defenders.
Freshman wing Khari Harley spent this season watching games from the bench and has developed a hunger to get back on to the court and play competitive basketball. And with the height of a forward (6 feet 8 inches) and the shooting touch of a backcourt player, Phillips has been working with Harley on the skills needed from that position.
What the new coach has found is that he has a lot of players who appear primed to break out in the upcoming season.
“I think you’ve got a lot of guys who are ready to take a bigger, more prominent step forward than they’ve had to at this point in their career,” Phillips said.
He’ll spend the summer putting together a scheme that works for Ohio’s current players, as he doesn’t want to throw away what has made the Bobcats a successful team under former coach Jim Christian.
Phillips also takes special consideration of next year’s seniors — Stevie Taylor, Maurice Ndour and Javarez “Bean” Willis — who will be working in their third different system.
“They don’t need a complete overhaul,” Phillips said. “They won games. They were successful, and I’m spending a lot of time this summer trying to figure out what they did that was successful and that I can incorporate what it is ultimately that I’d like to get done here.”
As Phillips soon moves out of the hotel room he’s currently living in and into a home in the Athens area, the former North Dakota State coach said he’s attempting to make his transition to Ohio’s head coaching position as seamless as possible.
Phillips said he could have recruited himself to play at Ohio and wants to remain in Athens as long as he possibly can.
“The one thing that’s hurt this program is a lack of continuity in the head coaching spot,” he said. “And that’s not by any means bashing the guys who came before me. They made good decisions for them. But I intend fully on planting anchor here and staying for a while, and I hope that’s a piece that allows us to grow to levels we haven’t seen consistently.”
@C_Hoppens
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