July 5, 2007

By Charlene Curtis
TheACC.com

The July evaluation period has arrived. Reflecting back on the old days, I can remember packing 30 days worth of clothes into a suitcase large enough to hide a small point guard. With today's airport security and luggage requirements, I'd have to pay a hefty fee for the additional size and weight.

Fortunately, the NCAA rules have changed, and Division I coaches are only on the road for 10 very intense and long days at a time. ACC head and assistant coaches are in gymnasiums all over the country from July 6th through July 15th and then again from July 22nd through July 31st. That period of time, the Evaluation Period, is critical to the recruiting process. It is during those 20 days that ACC coaches get the opportunity to see hundreds and sometimes thousands of prospects playing with and against the best players in their age groups.

True, most of the attention is given to next year's senior class - the Class of 2008. But college coaches are also evaluating and starting to make decisions about future classes - 2009, 2010, and 2011. Even younger players in classes beyond 2011 may get the attention of the college coaches during the month of July.

STRATEGIC PLANNING A MUST

According to a recently updated list of NCAA Certified Events, there are 37 different events that start on July 6 with a total of 84 events that start between July 6 and July 11. The events are located in 17 different states. So, how does one coaching staff cover so many different events?

Obviously, one staff will not cover every event. But one staff will cover numerous events and will see every prospect they hope to recruit over the next two or three years. When asked how a staff selects which events to cover, one associate head coach in the ACC stated that "we go where our prospects are playing." She said that it is all about establishing relationships with prospects over a period of time through phone calls, e-mails, and unofficial visits and then finding out where those particular players will be in July. That's priority one.

Priority two is to cover the events that will have the highest number of teams with reputations of having quality players. The ACC associate head coach spoke of finding the "largest talent pool" of players in a wide range of graduating class years. As a result, ACC coaches will generally cover the same events. Through experience and proper planning, coaches know where to go to find the best players. Often times, ACC programs recruit players from specific geographic areas - areas where the program has had prior success in attracting prospects and areas that are rich in basketball talent.

For the most part, ACC coaches have a very narrow list of players in the classes of 2008 and 2009 that they will pay very close attention to during the July evaluation period. But when it comes to evaluating the younger players, coaches are always looking for players to add to their databases - prospects with which they hope to establish a relationship and start the process all over again for another year and another recruiting cycle.

MEASURING TALENT

People often ask, "What are coaches looking for when they are evaluating prospective student-athletes?" The obvious answer is a high level of skill and potential. Yet, before a program can truly make decisions about prospects, that program must first know its roster needs.

An ACC assistant coach said, "We first evaluate our own roster needs then we work hard to find prospects that have the skills needed to fill those roster spots." She added that the prospect's character traits, performance intensity, work ethic, personality, and receptiveness to coaching and instruction play a big role in whether or not a coaching staff will continue recruiting the prospect. That assistant coach also said, "We look for prospects that will fit our playing style, our coaching style, and our program philosophy... We even evaluate how well the prospect interacts with her teammates and coaches."

SIX DAYS OFF

After spending 10 days on the road carefully evaluating prospective student-athletes, coaches return to their respective campuses to meet, regroup, and strategize for the next evaluation period. For six days, coaches are not permitted to make face-to-face contacts with prospects nor are they allowed to go off-campus to evaluate those prospects.

As another associate head coach said, "For 10 days our staff was in and out of gyms all over the country. We would have had very little time to discuss in detail our evaluations. So, during the six days (called the Dead Period), we meet as a staff and review our notes from the first evaluation period. We then make decisions as to how we will proceed in the recruiting process."

Part of the recruiting process during the Dead Period includes making telephone calls to prospects and their coaches. So, six days off is not six days away from recruiting. It is six days that college coaches will spend hours in meetings and even more hours on the phone continuing or sometimes establishing relationships with prospective student-athletes. And when not on the phone speaking with recruits, coaches are sending e-mails and letters to recruits and their respective coaches.

Even with the demands of recruiting during the Dead Period, ACC coaches conduct camps for players not yet in the ninth grade and spend time with their current players who may be on campus attending summer school.

ADVICE FROM A FORMER COACH

There is no one formula for how coaches evaluate prospective student-athletes. But with certainty, ACC coaches will rack up frequent flyer miles and rental car points traveling from city to city and from gym to gym in search of the next best and greatest. From 8:00 in the morning to 10:00 at night, ACC coaches will carefully evaluate and make decisions about which prospects will best fill their roster needs. The success of the collegiate program starts on the recruiting trail.

My advice to the ACC coaches - when you leave your car at the airport on July 5th, take the parking ticket with you and write your car's location on the ticket. It would be awful for you to spend your six Dead Period days searching for your car in the massive airport parking lot. Guess what, you get to do it all over again on July 22nd.

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