MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[oldknight]

methinks one of my worst fears is coming to pass-- I am becoming (an) oldknight.

A few weeks ago my son made a comment, and as the words came out of his mouth he paused, realizing he was starting to sound exactly like the old man. My wife raised an eyebrow, my daughters were greatly amused, and my son was aghast. Maybe I can console you with the same thing I said to my son: "You could do worse than turning into Dad." Welcome to the club.

[oldknight]

In my era, the knocks on area coaches went something like this: Vroon didn't really recruit at all (though some received typewritten letters); GVW made outlandish promises that each and every recruit was going to be the building block of the Hope program;  Larry Randall (Aquinas) was just plain ornery; Tom Villemure (GVSU) was goofy (I swear he smoked about two packs of cigarettes during a 90 minute campus tour), and Douma didn't recruit (much less even communicate) with the traditional Christian feeder schools.  And this was during a time when the vast majority of kids, parents, and high school coaches didn't have an outlandish sense of self-importance and need to be told how special they were--not to mention that college was much more affordable.

Insert your own example here (my most recent favorite is the parent of a new MIAA freshman player who is reportedly blaming/badmouthing  the high school coach for his failure to promote their child and help them secure a scholarship), but the reality for nearly all college coaches today is that they (and their entire staff) must devote far more time recruiting than ever before.  Most will tell you that they have to start when players are younger, they have to speak Facebook, Twitter, and other foreign languages, and that they text recruits far more than they would care to.  Some embrace it, some tolerate it, some avoid it.  Like it or not, it seems that there is ever increasing pressure for all coaches to be able to sell themselves, their program, and their school, and that is probably magnified for coaches at non-scholarship schools with the aforementioned escalation of college costs.

The strategies and focus of recruiting for MN, KVS, and any other MIAA coach is something that I'm sure requires nearly constant adjustments based on the strength/depth of "local" recruiting classes, the overlap of kids being recruited by competing schools, etc., etc., ad infinitum.  I have no reason to question the report that Hudsonville's staff isn't enthusiastically endorsing MN--but in general I think kids/parents today are far more likely to make a college decision independent of what their high school coach thinks about a particular coach or school.  Personal connection with the coach and current players, style of play and the opportunity to play, and the ever elusive "feel" they get from the school, coaches and players in my opinion play a far more significant role for kids today.  As such, I for one am less inclined to interpret Mr. Van Loo's decision to transfer to Calvin as indicative of the start of a trend.  I guess time will tell....

If I were in the business of defending MN, I'd point to his success in recruiting Benson (IL) and Gardener (IN), both of whom were significant contributors last year and look to be the type of players you can build upon.  Are ardent Hope fans concerned about MN's recruiting?  Seems like he feels he may have more success out of state, and if in fact that is the plan, one would be hard-pressed to argue with the results at this point. 

Is it basketball season yet??!!

There's no question that recruiting strategies are more challenging today and that even the best coach will whiff now and then. Ed Douma had no interest in Dave Meulenberg and Joel Holstege and we know how well that worked out for Hope. I'm also told Eddie wasn't all that impressed with his final recruit, future D3 POY, Aaron Winkle. I have no inside knowledge about how well Matt Neil is working with West Michigan coaches but if he is burning bridges, that would be a mistake. There's already one local NAIA coach doing that and he is paying the price. You have to be a player for the best talent in your own backyard in order to be consistently credible. The Brian Ellerbe years at UM are instructive. He blew off Michigan talent and Michigan high school coaches during his tenure and the Wolverines paid the price for a decade. Tom Izzo whispered "Thank you" from East Lansing for that foolishness.

[SBell]

Ellerbe didn't blow off Michigan talent. He just couldn't get it.

[oldknight]

Ellerbe didn't blow off Michigan talent. He just couldn't get it.

It's tough to recruit Michigan talent when you don't develop any relationship with the state's high school coaches. Many high school coaches complained that Ellerbe wasn't interested in building bridges with them or recruiting their players. Tommy Amaker wasn't able to fully revive the program but at least he tried to rebuild some trust. One of the first things Amaker did on his hiring was to write 600 letters to Michigan high school coaches to introduce himself and to announce that he was going to recruit the state. He also took the time to meet with Detroit PSL coaches to answer questions. Ellerbe never did anything like that.

[13xchamp]

In Ellerbe's defense, it was probably a little tough to recruit the local talent without the "help" of Ed Martin.

[sac]

There's no question that recruiting strategies are more challenging today and that even the best coach will whiff now and then. Ed Douma had no interest in Dave Meulenberg and Joel Holstege and we know how well that worked out for Hope. I'm also told Eddie wasn't all that impressed with his final recruit, future D3 POY, Aaron Winkle. I have no inside knowledge about how well Matt Neil is working with West Michigan coaches but if he is burning bridges, that would be a mistake. There's already one local NAIA coach doing that and he is paying the price. You have to be a player for the best talent in your own backyard in order to be consistently credible. The Brian Ellerbe years at UM are instructive. He blew off Michigan talent and Michigan high school coaches during his tenure and the Wolverines paid the price for a decade. Tom Izzo whispered "Thank you" from East Lansing for that foolishness.

Ellerbe's recruits

2001 class
Dommanic Ingerson (Santa Barbara High CA)
Charles Bailey (Detroit Martin Luther King MI)
Marcus Bennett (Detroit Renaissance MI)

2000 class
Bernard Robinson (New Hampton Prep NH; hometown HS: Dunbar, Washington DC)
Avery Queen (Redemption Christian Academy NY; hometown: Moreno Valley CA)
Maurice Searight (Orchard Lake St. Mary's MI)
Josh Moore (St. Thomas More Prep CT; hometown: Newark, NJ)
Jermaine Gonzales (Orchard Lake St. Mary's MI; football scholarship)

1999 class
Kevin Gaines (Clark HS, Las Vegas NV)
Gavin Groninger (Plainfield High IN)
Leland Anderson (Attleboro High MA)
Jamal Crawford (Rainier Beach High, Seattle WA)
LaVell Blanchard (Ann Arbor Pioneer High MI)

1998 class
Leon Jones (Winchendon Prep, MA; hometown: Battle Creek MI)
Chris Young (Detroit Catholic Central, Plymouth MI)


Out of those 7, Gonzalez was a football scholarship player and Blanchard went to high school basically across the street from Crisler Arena.   The rest I don't think were highly regarded, but it was a long time ago so I don't really remember.


John Beilein has landed exactly FOUR State of Michigan players in his tenure.

Morgan, Horford, the departed Carlton Brundridge(Oakland) and incoming Fr. PG Derrick Walton

[wiz]

Ellerbe didn't blow off Michigan talent. He just couldn't get it.

It's tough to recruit Michigan talent when you don't develop any relationship with the state's high school coaches. Many high school coaches complained that Ellerbe wasn't interested in building bridges with them or recruiting their players. Tommy Amaker wasn't able to fully revive the program but at least he tried to rebuild some trust. One of the first things Amaker did on his hiring was to write 600 letters to Michigan high school coaches to introduce himself and to announce that he was going to recruit the state. He also took the time to meet with Detroit PSL coaches to answer questions. Ellerbe never did anything like that.

At least Amaker was able to recruit the highly coveted Mike Gotfredson.

[almcguirejr]

Did I miss a memo on the +/- karma deal?

[arena]

interesgig

[Pat Coleman]

There wasn't a memo. I just checked a box -- thought I'd see if it changed the way it's used at all.

One thing I see if you certainly see better who the lightning rods are, people with lots of pluses and minuses. And people who think they are getting serially smited but can't tell for sure because all the see is the total now have a little more info.

[wiz]

A nice sports day at Calvin College.

[ziggy]

A nice sports day at Calvin College.

Men's soccer, oh my.

[sac]

interesgig

or pathetic.

[almcguirejr]

There wasn't a memo. I just checked a box -- thought I'd see if it changed the way it's used at all.

One thing I see if you certainly see better who the lightning rods are, people with lots of pluses and minuses. And people who think they are getting serially smited but can't tell for sure because all the see is the total now have a little more info.

It would also be interesting to see the +/- karma that each poster gives out.

[Knightmare]

A nice sports day at Calvin College.

Men's soccer, oh my.

Calvin really needed that win too after a rough start to the year.  Here's hoping it sparks a turnaround.