It's a new era for @tulsambasketball when they tip off the season with a home opener on Saturday, Nov. 12, versus Jackson State. After a successful seven-year run as the head coach at Louisiana Tech, where he compiled a record of 153-75, Eric Konkol was hired as the new head coach for the University of Tulsa men’s basketball team on March 21. That heralded a sort of homecoming for Konkol, who spent one season at TU as a student assistant coach in 2000-01. While he is thrilled to be back, it won’t be easy. The Golden Hurricane are coming off an 11-20 season and returning a lone senior on a roster that is half comprised of freshmen and sophomores. But with a new court design and an exciting blend of returning players like junior Sam Griffin, who averaged 14.6 points per game last season, and up-and-comers like local Webster High School grad Anthony Pritchard, Konkol believes the squad can lure back the fan support. Besides feeling like he is back home, Konkol is surrounded by even more familiarity after bringing along assistant coaches Duffy Conroy (his old college teammate), Desmond Haymon and Yaphett King who worked with him at Louisiana Tech. An excerpt from his Q&A that can be read at TulsaPeople.com: What is your mindset heading into the new season? We’ve inherited and recruited a good number of players; this is new for them. Our staff has a lot of familiarity with one another, so that’s a great thing. We’re just trying to build the core values of our program, and hold our guys accountable to that every day, and then we’re just trying to get a little better every day — stronger, faster, more skilled, the mental aspect. (Pro Football Hall of Fame coach) Bill Walsh wrote a great book, saying, ‘the score takes care of itself,’ and that’s how we want to be focused, just be very process-oriented and the performance in the games will take care of itself, if we just work every day to get a little bit better. Pictured are sophomore Anthony Pritchard, Konkol and junior Sam Griffin