By Pete Pelegrin, FIUSports.com

MIAMI (April 23, 2018) – One of the most popular beverages in the new hometown of new FIU basketball head coach Jeremy Ballard is Cuban coffee.
 
During his introductory press conference Monday morning at Ocean Bank Convocation Center, Ballard produced more energy than a shot of Miami's caffeinated rocket fuel.

For complete press conference, please click here. 
For press conference recap, please click here.
 
More details in a moment, but here are some snippets from Ballard on Monday:
 
"It will be 94 feet of FIU player's grill in our opponent's grill."
 
"We want to play in space, attack the paint and either eat the rim and get a lay-up or dunk or kick it out for a three."
 
"The days of coming to FIU and it being a day at the beach to play us, those days are over."
 
"Every player that is a player, they will hear from FIU."
 
At 36 years old Ballard, the ninth head coach in FIU basketball history, is one of younger head coaches in the nation but he's had FIU on his radar since his alma mater, Colgate, played at FIU in 2004.
 
Ballard was an assistant coach for the Raiders 14 years ago when FIU handled Colgate, 72-56.  
 
"As a young assistant at Colgate University we played at FIU and it was one of FIU's better teams," Ballard recalled. "[Former FIU guard/forward] Ivan Almonte was an awesome player. He destroyed us. I always kept my eye on the program since then. I was impressed by how they played, their talent and I was blown away by the locale here. Seeing the type of talent that can be in this program I always knew this could be a sleeping giant."
 
Under Ballard, FIU is expected to play a relentless pressing style that will have the defense leading the offense. It's a style similar to what FIU played in 2013 under then-Panthers head coach Richard Pitino, who led FIU to the Sun Belt Conference Championship game that season.
 
It's also a style that worked to perfection at Ballard's last job at Virginia Commonwealth where the Rams led the nation in steals, turnovers forced and turnover margin for three straight years.
 
"We will be in attack mode from the opening tip to the final buzzer," Ballard said. "We will be relentless in our attack. Forty minutes for 94 feet. We will be pressing on every possession, every made basket, every dead ball. It will be 94 feet of FIU player's grill in our opponent's grill.
 
"Our guys are going to be able to play with an aggressive freedom but with unselfishness. We want to play in space, attack the paint and either eat the rim and get a lay-up or dunk or kick it out for a three."
 
Besides increasing the tempo with which the Panthers will play under Ballard, the first-year head coach wants to also change the mindset of any team that comes to play his new team.
 
"The days of coming to FIU and it being a day at the beach to play us, those days are over," Ballard said. "If you want to go to the beach, go down the road to South Beach and have a great time. We are going to make sure that every opponent that is matched up against FIU is going to play the way we want to play. The style of play is we will own that battle each and every time."
 
The state of Florida is known as a gold mine for football recruiting, but Ballard says there is plenty of talent for the hardwood in the Sunshine State. Talent that sometimes may be hidden.
 
"In my 14 years as an assistant coach, I have always mined the state of Florida for talent and now we will be putting a fence around this state," Ballard said. "Every player that is a player, they will hear from FIU. They will have to say yes or have to say no any time they make a decision. Our campus doors are open, our gym doors are open, our office doors are open. There are sleepers and diamonds in the rough every year in Florida. It's a fertile, fertile recruiting ground and we want to make sure our roster is littered with players from Florida."
 
Of course, regardless of the sport, a team is only as good as its players. Thus, Ballard wants to make sure that he and his coaching staff establish strong bonds with their players and help them reach beyond their goals.
 
"The one thing we know we have to be elite in is relationship building with our players," Ballard said. "They have to know that they can trust us, that we care about them. They have to know that we have their best interests in mind. When they know that, we can push them on the court and help them reach heights that they have never reached and that the FIU program has never reached."
 
And they won't need any Cuban coffee to get there under Ballard.
 
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