From the moment she was announced as the coach, she knew the first issue she would have to address, and it wouldn’t necessarily happen on the ?basketball court.
Moren stressed that building relationships with her players would be her and her staff’s immediate priority, a point she drove home at Thursday’s Big Ten Basketball Media Day.
“I think it was John Wooden who said ‘Your players don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,’ and I believe in that,” Moren said. “I think that’s where it starts — those ?relationships.”
IU sophomore Larryn Brooks said Moren did ?just that.
“She first came in and made sure she connected with us first before the rest of the public knew,” Brooks said. “So that was one thing that really helped with us.
“If you walk past her office without poking your head in she’s definitely going to take offense to that.”
A young team with only five upperclassmen on the 15-woman roster, Moren said the players were quick to accept her as their new leader after former IU Coach Curt Miller stepped down this summer for “personal health and family ?reasons.”
It was important for her to take over the leadership position on the sidelines.
Almost immediately, Moren felt she had won the team’s trust.
“They wanted to build a relationship with us as much as we wanted to build one with them,” Moren said. “These are great kids and we don’t give them enough credit for their ability to adjust and adapt.”
The Hoosiers return three starters from last year’s team: Brooks and fellow sophomore guards Alexis Gassion, and Taylor Agler.
Moren said nobody has stepped up as the sole voice of the team, but she has looked to these three as leaders, despite their youth.
“I think leadership has been by committee with this group,” Moren said. “One of the things that this group did a great job of was sticking together and relying and leaning on each other.”
Gassion agreed the sudden coaching turnover strengthened the bonds among teammates. She said she felt they had to take the challenge head on and be leaders.
“We are the biggest class, so we need to step up and take the freshmen under our wings and show them the ways,” Gassion said. “We just have to be leaders and be there for them.”
Moren said since this group has already dealt with adversity early on, they know how to deal with it. She hopes that translates to success on the court with her young but talented team.
“There’s no secret sauce to it,” Moren said. “If you create good relationships with your players and they believe that we care about them more than just as basketball players, then they are going to give you the effort and energy level you’re looking for.”
