Orlando Sentinel

Coaches try to forge bonds with prospects via videoconfe­rences

- By Matt Murschel

New UCF co-offensive coordinato­r Alex Golesh spends much of his afternoons tethered to his computer or smartphone.

With his morning spent focusing on a variety of online team meetings, Golesh likes to spend the second half of his days on the recruiting trail.

“There’s been a mix of virtually recruiting the high school coaches in our area or getting on the phone and calling the high school coaches or the junior college coaches and going through their guys one more time to make sure you didn’t miss anything in January,” he said.

Golesh also spends part of the afternoon and early evenings online with recruits and their families, hosting virtual visits. Travel is difficult and social distancing has been emphasized during the coronaviru­s pandemic, leading the NCAA to extend a dead period that precludes faceto-face contact between recruits.

“I’ve done more FaceTimes with parents than I ever have before,” Golesh added. “And there are certain parents that are still working, actually real jobs in terms of in an office or at a workplace and certain ones that are still working from home.”

UCF has adapted to not being able to have conversati­ons in person or give recruits and their families tours of campus.

“We’re using technology in that regard to try and get in front of them,” said Golesh. “To present yourself, present what you have in terms of the football side, the support side, trying to bring it all together, but I think that’s been a challenge.”

May and June are typically when college football coaches hit the road for inperson evaluation­s of recruits at football

coaches and

 ?? MATT MURSCHEL/ORLANDO SENTINEL ?? New UCF co-offensive coordinato­r Alex Golesh has tried to make the most of videoconfe­rence tools to help build relationsh­ips with recruits.
MATT MURSCHEL/ORLANDO SENTINEL New UCF co-offensive coordinato­r Alex Golesh has tried to make the most of videoconfe­rence tools to help build relationsh­ips with recruits.

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