Coach's Q&A: Chris Lowery

The hottest young coach has Southern Illinois reaching new heights

June 20, 2007

By Steve Brauntuch

Special to CSTV.com


	Steve Brauntuch Steve Brauntuch is a researcher for CSTV and contributor to CSTV.com. E-mail here!

He has won three Missouri Valley Conference titles. He is a two-time MVC Coach of the Year. He led Southern Illinois to a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament (the highest in school history) and took them to the Sweet 16. And he turns just 35 next month.

It didn't take long for Chris Lowery to make an impact on the college basketball landscape. After three seasons on the bench in Carbondale, Lowery is the hottest young coach in the country. He was just rewarded with a seven year contract extension that tripled his salary to $750,000 per season.

It's a dream come true for Lowery, whose 391 assists in four seasons as a Saluki rank him fourth on the school's all-time list. He was an assistant at SIU for two seasons under Bruce Weber before following him to Illinois. But after just one season in Champaign, his alma mater came calling in 2004, and Lowery got his first head coaching job at age 31. It certainly hasn't taken long for him to make his mark on the national stage.

SB: You've talked about how important it is for Southern Illinois to act like a "high-major program." What does that involve?

CL: The number one thing it means is that we can't be afraid to go and play people. We don't do "one and dones." We don't do bye games. But we are willing to go play anybody who's willing to come back to our place, and that's kind of what we did this year, being able to say we got Indiana on our home slate - Indiana, Western Kentucky, Butler, St. Mary's, Northern Illinois, and then we're at Charlotte and at St. Louis. And then we're going to Anaheim for a tournament with USC and then Mississippi State. So we're going to play a difficult schedule against teams who could potentially win their league.

SB: Now that your program has really hit it big, have you found it more difficult to schedule these games?

CL: It's very, very difficult. We're 79-3 at home in the last six years. So that kind of tells you how hard it is to win in our place. People who know that aren't willing to come and lose to us. But we're hoping that we've become a "good loss" if it does happen.

SB: The cat is kind of out of the bag on Southern Illinois now. You won't be able to sneak up on people anymore. Are you concerned that expectations are higher, so opponents might rise to the occasion and play to a higher level against you?

CL: We've won our league six straight years, so no. We understand. We've been to the NCAA Tournament six straight years, and what that means is we can't fool anybody in our league anymore. It's always going to be a big game when we play them, and that's the key. Now, nationally the cat's out of the bag. People are like, yeah, I knew they went to the tournament six straight years, but wow, we didn't know they were this good. And I think that's where our program is now, and that's where we want to be. We want to be at a point where nationally, people expect things of us, instead of just our league always expecting us to be good.

SB: You certainly were there last year, getting a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. What do you think was the biggest key to your successful run last year and over the last few years?

CL: I think the key is that we take four-year kids and we've developed them. We've redshirted those kids, and we've got good high school kids. And we haven't always gone with the quick fix of taking transfers and JUCO guys. We've been committed to the long haul stuff. And as you know, it's easier to run somebody for four years as opposed to two. When you really get them where you want them to be, you're gone, or you get a transfer for one year and they're gone. Now you get four or a possible five years to be with somebody, to coach him and really get a chance to have him embody everything you do.

SB: But in today's game, a lot of players are coming in looking to put up gaudy numbers and impress the pro scouts. How do you impose four-year team basketball on guys who might see this as a chance to put up big numbers against mid-major opponents every night?

CL: The number one thing in how we get them to do that at this point is, three out of the last four years, we've had the player of the year in our conference. So there's an individual honor. Four of the last six years, we've had the defensive player of the year in our conference. So one of the big things we tell them is, you want to have all of the individual accolades? The number one thing you have to do is say, let's win as a team. And then all the individual stuff will come.

SB: So let's say I'm a top high school player in Illinois. Make your pitch for me. Why should I come play for you instead of going to play for the University of Illinois and have all of my Big Ten games televised across the country?

CL: Because first of all, we're going to play TV games. We have a package with Fox Sports. We're going to play at least four games on ESPN2 and four on ESPNU and at least six on Fox Sports. It's true, if you don't have the TV package with ESPN whatever-it-is, like most of the local big teams have, you can watch us play without having to order a package. And that's the number one thing. And what we sell them on is winning. You want to win, come here. And as we continue to develop players, you know, we've got to develop some NBA guys. That's part of it, too. So as we continue to develop kids, that'll make it a better sell for us.

SB: Seth Greenberg said last year during the NCAA Tournament that your players "invade your personal space" on defense. What is it that your team does that separates it from others on defense?

CL: I think the number one thing we do is that we make it hard on every catch. We make it hard on every single catch. We make it hard on every pass. There's no free ins on anything, whether it's sideline out-of-bounds, whether it's under out-of-bounds, whether it's taking it out and having to go full court. We're going to always be on top of you.

SB: You were an assistant for Bruce Weber before getting the Southern Illinois job. What did you learn from him that has made you a better coach?

CL: I think the number one thing is that I learned how to be a professional. Coach [Weber] is the ultimate professional person. He goes to work every day, no matter whether you're winning big or losing. I mean, he is the same in the day to day approach to his program and how to act as a successful program.

SB: You are one of the youngest coaches in college basketball, so every time there's a major opening, your name comes up. But in many ways, this job is something of a natural fit for you. You played at Southern Illinois and were an assistant coach there before becoming the head coach. Have you been tempted yet to leave to coach in a larger conference? And do you see yourself five or ten years from now coaching in the Big Ten or a conference of that size?

CL: I want to be the most successful I can possibly be, and that's the key to anything you do. You always want to put yourself in the best situation possible. So if we get back to this level and then there's another opportunity for me, something that I'd really, really like as a challenge, then yeah. Everybody wants to get better. Everybody wants to be able to look at things that will help set them up to take care of their families, and I'm no different than anybody else. But I think we can do it at this program, even take it further than where it's at.

SB: You and I share the same birthday (July 7^th). Of the following people who also share our birthday, which person would you rather spend your birthday with and why: Lisa Leslie, Satchel Paige or Ringo Starr?

CL: Probably Satchel Paige, because obviously, he's a person who paved the way in America in the sport of baseball. I'd love to learn some of the things he went through and compare it to the things I see on a daily basis. I think it would help me be more respectful of the position that I'm in now at such a young age.