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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYSeptember 19, 2013Steve RohlikCHICAGO, ILLINOIS THE MODERATOR: Up next is Ohio State head coach, Steve Rohlik. Rohlik enters his first season as head coach of the Buckeyes after serving as associate head coach for the last three seasons. Ohio State returns 19 letter winners from last season's squad. Coach, if you'd like to begin with an opening statement, then we'll open the floor to questions. STEVE ROHLIK: First and foremost, it's fun to come back to this building. I've been coming down here since I was four, so it's nice to kind of come home. Hockey and what Big Ten can mean to hockey in this sport I think is tremendous. It's a great day for hockey as Bob Johnson would say. You know, from all the kids across states here north of the border. I have my captain here, Curtis Gedig, he was talking about this, born and raised up in Kelowna, B.C., and not knowing really what college hockey was with major, junior and everything else. So I do believe that what this Big Ten can do with Big Ten Network and the TV and be informative of these young men, I think it will really help the sport. At Ohio State, when you think of Ohio State athletics, you think of Big Ten. I think the hockey program there, we're just scratching the surface, so I think it's really going to affect our program maybe more than any other. With that being said with the city of Columbus, and the athletics and people who look at athletics down there in Ohio State, what Big Ten and the brand of Big Ten what that can mean to our hockey program is tremendous. We're excited. We've got a great group of kids back with our leading scorers, with Ryan Dzingel, Tanner Fritz, and Max McCormick back up front. Certainly going to have to lean on them. The biggest question we'll have is replacing our All‑American goaltender, Brady Hjelle. So we have a couple of guys there with Collin Olson from Minnesota here and Matt Tomkins from up in Alberta. We've got a great locker room, great people, and we've got a ton of support for the administration. I'm really looking forward to the start of this year. Q. What has the past six months been like for you going from an assistant coach to a head coach and having the staff you worked for now you leading that staff? STEVE ROHLIK: Well, any transitioning and exchange, there is a lot going on. It's certainly been a lot easier with the people around me, the staff, the players, the foundation has been laid there and it's my job just to keep moving forward. So once we got Brett Larson in place, everybody else is there, it's been the same, and all our guys are back. So it really in that transition point it was a matter of me being maybe in a little different chair. But now that our guys have been there, it's going a lot smoother and it's fun to be around and the excitement is there. So I'm certainly looking forward to moving forward. Q. How long has it taken maybe it hasn't gone a way the awkwardness. You replaced a good friend that lost his job. Have those waters calmed at all? Are you still kind of making your way through that? STEVE ROHLIK: Well, I guess like any change, things happen. Ohio State and the administration made a decision. You know, for me, it's about me having the opportunity and taking advantage of it and moving forward. That's what I'm doing right now. I'm looking through the front window and not the rearview mirror and I have to do the best job I can for this program. Q. Steve, Ohio State's football program legendarily gets the best players from Ohio and has the advantage of that talent there. What's it like from the hockey standpoint, not only the battle for the top players, but having to go outside your region to look for recruits as well? STEVE ROHLIK: Well, we want to do the best job we can in‑state, there is no question on that. You know, we're dealing with those kids, and I think the youth programs are improving as you know with the Triple‑A Blue Jackets and everything else. I think the amount of players that are going to get to the college level are growing. Certainly we have to continue to do a great job there. But the brand of Ohio State, you can go anywhere and people recognize who we are. I think that's to our advantage. We're going to go and cover every storm we can. That's what I know and how I've done it. We're going to do the best job we can. If that means we've got to go to Saskatchewan or Vancouver or Ontario or Ohio, we'll try to get the best kids and the kids that want to be in our program. Q. You mentioned earlier that you thought the Big Ten Network and Big Ten program would affect your program more than any other. Is that because of the television network's reach? Because casual sports fans know about the football team and basketball team, and they may not know that Ohio State even has a hockey team. STEVE ROHLIK: Well, we do have a hockey team down there in Columbus, and I think people are going to realize that. We do have a tradition. We do have All‑Americans. We have played in six national tournaments. I think that we're going to go out there and continue to spread that message. I think that's what this Big Ten Network is going to do is put us on a stage with five other Big Ten universities, and people are going to understand that Ohio State has a tremendous opportunity to grow to be a student‑athlete and play college hockey. I think that's why I say the Big Ten Network could affect us more than any other. Q. Probably too many names to mention, but who helped mold you as a coach, and do you feel completely prepared for this opportunity? STEVE ROHLIK: Well, if I said I was completely prepared for this, if any coach said that, I think they'd be lying. I'm going to fall down and scrape my knees, but I'm going to get back up. That's just my personality. Right in the backyard here, this is where I was molded from Steve "Moose" Younghans to Terry Skyrpek to Herb Brooks to Jeff Sauer who is from here. I've been around some tremendous people. If I can take a little bit of all of that and put it towards my coaching philosophy, I'm going to be in good shape. You know, Mike Kemp, Scott Sandelin. These guys have given me my opportunity and I've been around those kinds of people. Like I said, for me moving forward, I look at the legendary coaches that are in this league and the wins and 700‑plus, 600‑plus, 200‑plus; I'm at zero. That doesn't mean I'm not going to go out there and pick from the people I've learned from and do the best job I can. But, prepared, I'm going to continue to work on that every day, and I think every coach will say the same thing. Q. Take us through the analysis that you have regarding how this league is going to unfold. Is there a big gap between the team that everybody picked to win it versus yourselves, versus Penn State? If so, what is that gap? STEVE ROHLIK: You know what, I don't think there is a gap in college hockey to be honest with you. I think college hockey, the parity in college hockey today is more than any other in the past. I think I say that even in our league. I think Wisconsin, it's been a long time since they've had a lot of guys return as seniors, and certainly they've proven themselves last year. So I think it's a safe bet that they are the favorites in our league, and Minnesotas are right there. But if you're going to tell me that Wisconsin going into Michigan and you're saying Wisconsin should go in there and take care of them two games, two nights in a row, I think it's awfully tough. So I think between the Ohio States or Penn States or Michigans or Wisconsin, I think it's going to be very competitive. Q. You talked about how much the Big Ten Conference means to the city of Columbus, and you've been in the recruiting trenches for quite a while. Did Big Ten mean anything in the last couple years when you were recruiting kids? STEVE ROHLIK: Certainly as soon as the announcement was made there was no question what we were talking about. The opportunity to play in the elite league in college hockey, the opportunity to play with five other programs on a big stage. And that message was certainly getting across to the student‑athletes, to the people and the recruits that we've been talking to. There is no question, as soon as that announcement was made, that's what we were talking about. Because, as you know, we're here today because of it. I think Canada, the U.S., Europe, you're going to see a lot of kids that know from A to Z what this conference is all about, and why we as coaches go out there and recruit this conference and spread the word of what the Big Ten is. Q. You've been a part of the conference as an assistant and you know it. Maybe not just this year, but in years to come, what do you think is going to be the signature of this conference, what type of brand of hockey will we see night in, and night out? STEVE ROHLIK: I think the brand is going to be a fantastic brand of hockey. I think you'll see teams that can one, race horse up‑and‑down the ice if they want, also, you will see teams if we need to shut a team down and win 2‑1, you're going to be able to see that. The coaches have proven with the jobs they've done with 23 National Championships within the programs here. I think moving forward here, again, people are going to go in and be excited. That is the biggest message that the fans are going to be able to watch and be able to talk about you've got to get down and watch that Big Ten hockey tonight. There are two games on Friday night because the entertainment is off the charts. I think you can see that in a variety of different ways, winning 5‑1 or 8‑6 or 2‑1, you're going to see all of that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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