Rodney Terry raves over how Texas' staff banded together, details plans for next year

The situation Rodney Terry dealt with as the interim head coach at Texas has been well documented throughout the season. But he wasn’t the only coach who dealt with the challenges very well to help get the team to where they needed to be.

At his introductory press conference as the full-time head coach of the Longhorns, Terry said the coaches and staff he worked with this past year are “elite.”

“Our team was incredible this year,” Terry said. “Those guys, their leadership, but our staff, I’m telling you from from day one that we faced adversity and the challenge that we did, we already had great great chemistry. But from that point on, we banded together like no other in terms of a band of brothers in really wanting to try to help these guys be as successful as they can be this this season. They did an incredible, incredible job. I don’t think we thank those guys enough in terms of the time that they put in away from their families and the commitment level that they made to really invest in our guys having the kind of season we had this year.”

The assistant coaches were Brandon Chappell, Bob Donewald Jr. and Chris Ogden. The special assistant to the head coach was Steve McClain. Plus, there were plenty of other people in and around the team helping them throughout the season.

Terry may not have been the one to hire them but he wants to have everyone back next year.

“I’m hoping that our whole staff’s back and then we go on another run and we go do this again,” Terry said. “We have such such great chemistry among ourselves and brotherhood and respect for one another. We’ll sit down and we’ll have a great talk about that moving forward. But what an incredible staff to work with and did an outstanding job this season.”

Rodney Terry address roster management

Texas had its best season in over a decade this campaign with a 29-9, a Big 12 tournament championship and a memorable run to the Elite Eight.

But six of his key rotation players were graduate students or seniors, meaning Rodney Terry is going to have to deal with some roster turnover heading into the next season.

“In terms of our roster, every year I think in college athletics — not just in college basketball, but in every sport — you’re going to have to have roster management where you have to go in and really work your roster,” Terry said. “You start by trying to work with the players that are currently in the program. To your point, at times you’re gonna have to re-recruit guys to come back and want to be a part of what you’re doing and hopefully continue to make them feel like they have a great opportunity to continue to get where they want to get to in their careers moving forward. You start with those guys there and you sit down and you evaluate where you are and you re-recruit them to come back and want to be a part of what you’re doing.”

The Longhorns might also deal with some players declaring for the NBA Draft, including freshman forward and former top-five recruit Dillon Mitchell.

Tyrese Hunter, the one non-upperclassman starter, could declare for the NBA Draft. But if he returns for another season, it would be a major boost to Texas.

And either way, this is where the transfer portal will come into play, Terry said, to help fill in the gaps and edges of your current roster.

“Then from that point, you start trying to see what you need to add around those guys because they’re the nucleus,” Terry said. “They’re going to be the continuity of your program moving forward and they’re going to really defend your culture in terms of what you what you establish and your standards that you’re going to have for your program.”