As the calendar turns to October, the days get shorter, and the chilly autumn air starts to blow in, another yearly rite of passage is close at hand – the official start of practice for college basketball teams across the country. We are less than two weeks away from that day, and in the meantime things have remained busy for CNU basketball players and coaches.
As it is with a lot of other aspects of this profession, many of my family and friends can never seem to grasp what it is I've been doing for the past several weeks. “What do you do until practice starts?” is a popular question I get. “Take three-hour lunches and play Ultimate Frisbee all day on the quad” is my usual reply, and then I sigh and bang my head on my desk a few times.
In reality, September and October are like most months for college basketball coaches – busy. Besides the ongoing preparation for the season, this is a very critical period for recruiting. At this point in the year many recruits are starting to really narrow down their list of potential schools. It is essential that coaches are getting out to watch high school workouts, open gyms, and fall league games. This is done to help solidify your standing with recruits whom you've been recruiting since the summer, while it also enables you to make some headway with possible new prospects. Consequently, the last few weeks have involved the rest of the staff and myself traveling throughout Virginia and its neighboring states evaluating and continuing to build relationships with the recruits on our board.
These autumn months are also an ideal time to have recruits make campus visits. There are home football games on the weekends, and a lot of other events and activities are taking place on campus. These campus visits are like a big game day – you've been preparing and putting in the work, now it's time to get the job done and have the recruit leave at the end of the day feeling impressed and comfortable with the entire CNU experience. It is one of the most important parts of the entire process.
Obviously, the amazing campus we have here is going to make a strong impression on most people. However, that is only one aspect of the visit. It is equally important that the recruit builds a level of comfort with the coaching staff, the current players, and the overall school environment. We've had a number of recruits visit campus over the past month and a half, and I think we are extremely fortunate at CNU that everyone involved – from our players and coaches' interactions, to President Trible's warm greetings, to the staff and students we run into walking campus, to Miss Linda and her one-of-a-kind passion at Regatta's – does a phenomenal job as ambassadors of the university.
As you can imagine, having this tremendous campus and these great people, getting recruits and their families on campus is one of our highest priorities during the recruiting process. With this in mind we kept very busy last weekend, hosting a high school team camp on Saturday followed by a high school individual skills camp on Sunday. Both of these events afforded us the opportunity to bring a number of high school players on campus and expose them to what CNU has to offer. Our guys and the other coaches did a tremendous job, and the weekend went off very well.
Now comes the hardest part – getting the commitments. No one wants to be the guy who is always talking to and hanging out with the beautiful girl, only to have her marry the hotshot preppy guy from across the street. That's definitely not a desirable outcome. A good recruiter is able to clear that final hurdle by tapping into what a prospect is truly looking for and convince the recruit that his school will provide him with it. Will I be Brad Pitt, or Charlie Brown? Stay tuned.
(And yes, I realize I just wrote an entire paragraph comparing recruiting seventeen-year-old males to dating women…tough to figure out why I'm single huh?)
The next two weeks will be spent putting the final touches on all the preseason preparations. A lot of work has been done so far, and it will be a welcome change to start seeing some of that work bear results out on the court. This upcoming weekend is another big one for CNU athletics, and the basketball squad will certainly be out there supporting our fellow Captains. I look forward to seeing some of you at the games. Until next time…Go Yankees!
