The Kee to Coaching: Your Current Players Are Your Best Recruiters
Good evening! It's officially the first day of Spring, and of course we have been greeted with heavy rain fall, and the chance of snow. The weather has been just as unpredictable as this year's NCAA tournament. Not only did we witness a number of upsets this year, several top-seeded teams were blown out! and beat convincingly. The parity in college basketball is at an all-time high. It seems teams' at all levels have more talented basketball players now, than ever before. I believe it is due, in part, to the expansion of AAU basketball. Young athletes are now growing up, playing against the best talent across the country, and are fearless once they get their chance to compete on the biggest stage. I can dive into this further in a future blog post.
Recruiting at The Apprentice School in year one has gone well. We have three prospects who have gone through the interview process, and have accepted offers of employment. Our next interview date is March 26th, and we currently have eight prospects coming in for interviews. One of my main objectives with this first recruiting class was to increase our level of competition at each position, and to have a deeper roster. We're hoping to bring in 6-8 guys who can help us do just that.
Admittance into The Apprentice School is extremely difficult, and we can only accept students who have excelled in math and science courses. My staff and I have done a tremendous job marketing this incredible opportunity that we have. We now get to be very selective about who we decide to interview and offer. The Apprentice School is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we want student-athletes who are fully committed to being here. We look for prospects who are mature, and know how to effectively communicate. We look for recruits who are proactive about getting their application materials to us and who accomplish this without having to be tracked down or repeatedly told the same things.
As a staff, we've done an outstanding job of connecting with our current players, and they have been some of our best recruiters. Our roster is primarily comprised of players from the Hampton Roads area, and we knew that the talent locally is good enough to recruit from and have a high level of success. One of our sophomore captains is local, and has assisted the coaching staff with retrieving transcripts, reaching out to prospects, and meeting with them before interviews. His younger brother is currently going through the application process, as well as a few of his close friends. This is a great sign of program buy-in. It shows that our players are on board with the opportunity offered here, and enjoy the basketball program enough, to want to bring in others.
Most coaches come into a new job, and immediately want to clear house and overhaul the roster. That isn't always the best approach. Forming relationships with your current players, and having them take full-ownership of the program, can be extremely helpful with maintaining and improving connections in recruiting. Word of mouth is one of the best forms of marketing, and who better to spread the word about the culture or direction of your program, better than your current players?
