One-on-one with the men’s basketball coach

By Alex Conover
Sports Editor

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Todd Landrum, the new head coach of the men’s basketball program.
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Landrum has an impressive resumé, having compiled a 123-95 head coaching record at University of Wisconsin-Platteville and the University of Charleston. He also spent 10 years as an assistant in the Big 10 Conference, first at Wisconsin and then at Ohio State. I am a big fan of Coach Landrum, both as a person and as a coach, and I am looking for him to bring vast improvements to our program.

Q: Coach Landrum, it says on the Saint Mary’s University website that you were an assistant under the Univerity of Wisconsin-Madison coach Bo Ryan when he coached at UW-Platteville, and that you were also an assistant to Ohio State coach Eldon Miller. What were the most important things you learned under these two coaches?

A: As far as Bo Ryan, he is as good of a practice coach as I’ve ever seen. He is incredibly organized, and has had great success at several schools. I’ve known Bo for a long time, and I plan to adapt several of his ideas on offense, including the swing.

Q: SMU basketball has struggled the last few years. What are your plans to improve our program, both short and long term?

A: In the short term, we will try to prepare the team to improve every day. The expectations are to be ready to compete and succeed in every game. Our long-term goal is to add to the talent we have through recruiting. My assistant coach (and son) Kevin and I have been working incredibly hard to bring in high school students that we think fit our criteria.

Q: How would you describe your recruiting philosophy?

A: We are aiming to recruit talented players that are good people and good students. You don’t want talented players who aren’t good people; that will take away from team chemistry and get us in trouble. We are heavily recruiting in the local area, Chicago and the Twin Cities.

Q: What are your team goals for this year?

A: Get better every day, and play hard. We want the guys to enjoy being part of this team.