I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[CoachC]

June 27: I place a call to the #1 recruit in the nation, a small forward from NC, I am shocked when he not only agrees to speak with me, but accepts an invitation to visit campus. Our chance of landing him is pretty thin, but I'm excited just at the opportunity to have him look at us.

[CoachC]

Aug 1: Had a nice surprise today when former player Larry Williams stopped by my office. Larry was one of the most likeable young men you could ever want to meet.

"Larry! How good to see you! What brings you by?"
"Well, coach. You always said I had a gift for gab. And now I've been hired to talk. I've just signed a contract to be color commentator on the radio broadcasts this year. Part of my duties will be to interview you before every game this season for airing during our pre-game show."
"Well, I'll be damned! Finally a media guy I'll enjoy talking to! I'll be looking forward to it."

[PointGuard]

Pretty cool that the #1 rated recruit would visit you. Yes, it's a big challenge to land someone like him, but good luck with it. Hopefully one of his parents went to your school and he's susceptible to parental pressure.

[CoachC]

Aug 28: With school starting this past week, most of our kids are doing fine academically, but we arranged for some tutoring for a couple of guys we though might need it.

[CoachC]

Or possibly some barracuda-style pressure if all else fails. Gary Winston is his father's son after all! lol First recruit he's been able to talk to that was ever worth the risk. Still was shocked that he spoke to us and visited.. wouldn't have happened if he wasn't in North Carolina.

[CoachC]

Sep 4: Jeremy and I sit down and short-list our recruiting targets. As usual, it's tough to get kids to use one of their allotted campus visits on us, so we'll have to depend heavily on charming them with our home visits when the time comes. We've been on the phones constantly though, and we've spent the money to see some of the kids live during the summer leagues when we were allowed to do so, just to get the foot in the door.

[CoachC]

Sep 11: Very busy week, as I burn through much of our recruiting budget flying all over the country making pitches in person. Jeremy is busy on the home front as well as a couple kids come to campus for visits. Hopefully some good comes from it all. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[CoachC]

Sep 18: Feel like crying in our blanket as our top recruit when we are informed our top recruit has committed to Pitt. We always knew it was a long shot, but that we kept him interested for so long gave us false hopes I guess.

We did have some good news to report though in a press release:

We recieved verbal committment from:

6-6 243 lb HS Forward Bobby White out of Burke HS, in Charleston SC.

His parents attended universities within our conference and so in-conference interest was high, but in the end he chose us. Bobby is an athletic guy we look to more as a role player for us. There is concern that he may not be able to make academic eligibility, however.

[CoachC]

Sep 18: Schedule has also been finalized for the season. It'll be competetive. To help gain some fan interest and increase our recruiting potential within state, we've managed to schedule 3 North Carolina schools (no not Duke or any of the ACC schools, you think I'm crazy?). We have a home game with NC Central and away games with NC-AT&T and with a strong Charlotte program, probably the best NC school not associated with the ACC. It at least will cut down on some of our travel expenses, which our miserly Board of Directors should appreciate, but probably won't.

[CoachC]

Sep 25: We announce another verbal committment. from:

6'5 190 lb HS PG Angelo Madison out of Phil Campbell HS in Phil Campbell, AL

Athleteic and with a good stroke from outside. Has the size to shoot over most of the points in our conference, but will likely play more at the 2 here. Maybe even at the 3 if we aren't able to fill our needs there.

We lost another recruit to a big school, this time to Texas Tech. We'll save that scholarship til the spring and see what's available, because no one on our current short list fills our needs adequately.