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Friday, July 10, 1998
Summer recruiting pays off for women's basketball
coaches
By CHUCK SCHOFFNER
Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa - Leaning back in one of the arena's theater-type
seats, Marsha Sharp considered all the other things she could
be doing on a warm summer day.
Sitting at the ocean perhaps. Or just relaxing on the deck.
Or maybe running a camp back in Texas.
Instead, the Texas Tech women's basketball coach was nearly
700 miles from home, watching two AAU teams of 13- and 14-year-old
players at Drake University's Knapp Center.
It's the summer recruiting season, a five-week period when
coaches live out of suitcases as they fly from city to city watching
high school players in AAU tournaments and all-star camps.
There has been discussion on the men's side about ending summer
recruiting, in part to remove athletes from the influence of summertime
coaches, some of whom act more like agents.
Sharp doesn't think such action is needed in her sport, despite
all the travel and expense involved.
"In women's basketball, it's invaluable," she said.
"We need to see as many players as we can in the summer.
Especially for head coaches, this is the best opportunity we have
because you're dealing with so many things during the year. You
don't have time to go out and see many players at all.
"I think it would really hurt our recruiting to take the
summers completely out of it," Sharp said.
The drill is the same everywhere. Coaches, many wearing golf
shirts bearing their school's name or insignia, sit in scattered
spots throughout the stands, watching players they're interested
in to see how they stack up against top-caliber competition and
at the same time, keeping an eye out for undiscovered talent.
But these also are events to be seen at as much as they are
to see. College coaches can't talk to the players in person, but
they want those prospects to know that they are there. And interested.
"I'll tell them on the phone, I'll be wearing a Maryland
shirt," said Jeanette Armentano, who recently joined coach
Chris Weller's staff at Maryland after four seasons as an assistant
at Cal-Northridge.
"When I was at Northridge, they already knew me,"
she said. "I didn't need the shirt. Chris Weller doesn't
have to go around with a Maryland shirt on. They know who Chris
Weller is."
Sharp wasn't wearing a Texas Tech shirt, but she did sit where
she was easy to spot.
"You want to be visible and let the kids know you're interested
in them at this point," she said. "Even though these
are young players, there are kids here that we've been recruiting
for two or three years."
As valuable as Sharp finds summer recruiting, she'd like to
see the evaluation period condensed. It now runs from July 8 through
July 31. But AAU tournaments are exempt from that period on the
women's side, so coaches head out in late June.
Sharp favors putting AAU play within the July 8-31 time frame.
"I think it would keep kids from having to play quite
as long," she said. "The last week of July is really
a difficult time to recruit because they're tired. They've played
so hard since the last week of June. I think they'd be better
off playing over a shorter time.
"Second, there are so many people who have started so
many different events around the country that they're somewhat
watered down," she said. "You might have to go sit for
four days somewhere just to see two or three players that you
think would fit into your program."
Drake coach Lisa Bluder would like to go even farther. She
favors a two-week evaluation period in the summer and allowing
all four coaches on a staff to attend camps. Now, only the head
coach and two of the three assistants are allowed to recruit off-campus.
"Giving that third assistant two weeks of recruiting experience
enables them to develop that skill," Bluder said. "If
we really want to help them in the profession, we need to give
them that recruiting experience."
For the time being, though, coaches will have to be content
racking up frequent-flier miles in return for giving up much of
their summer. Armentano, for instance, went to an AAU tournament
in Indianapolis earlier and will go to Oregon, Las Vegas and North
Carolina before heading back to Maryland.
"This a great way to see a lot of players," Armentano
said before excusing herself to watch another game. "During
the year, we just can't see the number of players we can here
and try to build some kind of base with the younger players over
the number of days we're allowed to do it. This is something we
need."
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