The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
State coaches adjust to new recruiting reality
In a perfect world, if the coronavirus had not spread across the globe like wildfire and forced the sports world into an indefinite hiatus, coaches would’ve converged in New Orleans this weekend for the Women’s Final Four. Sometime late Sunday, a champion would’ve been crowned.
Joe Frager planned to be there. He and his staff would’ve spent most of their time in the Big Easy scouting, networking and attending coaching clinics.
Instead, Frager, who just completed his 13th season at Fairfield, is stuck at home practicing social distancing. He still, of course, has work to do, but is still struggling to adjust to new his normal. The COVID-19 pandemic has upended many aspects of his job, including recruiting.
The NCAA had originally banned all in-person recruiting, whether on or off campus, through at least April 15, forcing coaches to limit their contact with prospects to phone calls, texts messages and written correspondence. But the NCAA announced this week that it would be extending its recruiting “dead” period to May 31.
“We normally have evaluation periods coming up soon where we can get out on the road and watch AAU tournaments live,” Frager said. “That’s where we do the bulk of our recruiting off of, through AAU. Now we can’t.”
Given the fluid and uncertain nature of the coronavirus, the deadline could get pushed back even further. In Connecticut alone, COVID-19 had infected 5,675 and killed 189 as of Sunday.
For the time being, coaches are relying on less conventional means to gather intel on prospects. In lieu of in-person evaluations, Frager and his staff are now watching more film and making additional phone calls. Normally, April is a popular time for unofficial visits, but those too
have been halted.
“We almost have to treat it like we’re recruiting a kid from overseas, initially,” Frager said. “It’s a challenge.
“There’s also the NCAA transfer portal, they all want to get out and they want to visit schools,” he added. “They just really can’t do that right now. You have to do the best
you can to sell your school, to get kids acclimated with it using your laptops. You try to do as much face-toface stuff remotely as you can.”
With no telling what the next several weeks — or months — will bring, many coaches are beginning to wonder if all this uncertainty will push more uncommitted prospects to hop on a pre-existing offer. Do they dare wait?
“The kids that don’t have a lot of offers but have a
few may feel pressure to grab one of those because they don’t know what the summer’s going to look like,” UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey said. “For the others, maybe they have a number of offers, they pretty much know where they want to go and maybe this pushes them to make a commitment now instead of waiting. It’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out.”
This past week, UConn landed a commitment from
Massachusetts guard Caroline Ducharme. While Ducharme, ranked 41st overall by ESPN in the Class of 2021, had been offered by several other top programs, she decided there was no use in dragging out her search in this unpredictable climate.
“When the virus hit, it was kind of time to just really sit down and think about it,” Ducharme said. “I had those hard conversations and I heard what I needed to hear.
Nothing was going to change from now until May, so I might as well (commit).”
Despite all these unknowns, some coaches say it would be counter-productive to rush a high schooler into a decision.
“Now it almost feels like the 90-minute setup, your marriage in 90 days,” Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri said. “I actually feel like people are like, ‘You better say yes, you better trust it more.’ …
Maybe slowing this down isn’t a bad thing as opposed to ‘You better say yes, or it’s not going to be there.’ If that kid knows that’s truly where she wants to go, well then it’s the right time. If they don’t, well they don’t. If you’re pressuring them to say yes, chances are in two years they’re not going to be really happy, and neither are you as the coach.”
dbonjour@ctpost.com; @DougBonjour