Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Jim Hersh The Chore of Recruiting Recruiting is without a doubt one of the most important jobs for a college basketball coach. If a coach gets a super star like Bill Walton or David Thompson he can sit down and be reasonably sure of four winning seasons. However, if a coach finds that the great high school players ignore his college the coach can be confident he will have trouble winning, and may find himself out of a job in the near future. Consequently, recruiting is a high pressures business, a job which keeps the coach busier and more worried off the court than on the court. Carolina's Frank McGuire says, "People think the only thing a coach has to do is sit on the bench fot games during the season. But there is the recruiting and other things you need to do. Coaching is a 12-month a year job." Right now McGuire and his assistants Donny Walsh and Bill Loving are in the midst of their recruiting season. Carolina has already signed three players and there are certain to be more signees announced in the next few weeks. Although his past record and present contract remove even the remote chance McGuire will be fired if he does not get the players and has a few losing seasons, the Gamecocks' coach can still feel the pressure that goes with recruiting. Pressure is Worst on Player "The pressure is especially bad for the boy," McGuire said last week. "It distorts his mind. But too many people blame the college coaches. Actually some of the boys bring the pressure on themselves by waiting so long to sign. McGuire tries to make recruiting as painless as possible for the high school star. "We never knock another school when we are recruiting a player," McGuire said. "We don't even mention another school. We explain what our school and community have to offer and then we let him make up his own mind. Even if a boy decides to go to a school we know is not right for him, we don't interfere." McGuire thinks the high school star chooses his school on the basis of three criteria. He said players are concerned with how good a school is academically, how much spirit is evident in the student body and how good the basketball program is. Of course, McGuire thinks that USC offers the high schooler all three. Obviously it is impossible for a coach to be absolutely sure he has had a good recruiting year until he sees his recruits actually play against college competition. But Is McGuire is optimistic about this year's crop. Carolina Recruiting Labeled Good "I think we've had a pretty good year recruiting this year so far," McGuire said. "But we still need another big man." Carolina has signed Nate Davis, 6-5 from Columbia, Chuck Sherwood, 6-10 from Plantation, Fla., and Stu Klitenic, 6-5 from Washington, D.C. Two weeks ago when Sherwood was signed, McGuire called the Florid ian "the kind of big man we've been looking for." So when McGuire turned around the next week and said he needed another big man, one may get the idea he is not overly impressed with Sherwood. That, McGuire says, is not the case. "You just cannot hand a guy a job," McGuire said. "You have to have some competition for jobs. In practice you should have two big guys going at each other head-to-head day in and day out. It helps them both." Unquestionably there is a relationship between a team's record on the court and its coaches success in recruiting. While a few coaches may be able to get the highly touted players even though his team had a poor year, the best wedge a coach can use onl high school player is the coaches record. Teams like UCLA have no trouble getting high school superstars. "UCLA lures the great ones," McGulre said. "The great players want to go to UCLA because they want to be on a winner. When I looked down their bench at the NCAA finals all I saw were big guys who could be stars on almost every other team in the nation." McGuire dreams of having the players John Wooden is able to recruit for the Bruins. "If I had the players John Wooden has," McGuire said simply, "I would sit at my desk all day and write poetr." "pass tbebt sI l-k.. ------ - .-.. This summer, like last summer, more people are going to be . passing Coppertone* Tanrning Butter than any -other. Because Coppertone Is chock-full of cocoa' butter and coconut oil and other so buttery things that help you get a d4 rich, tropical-looking tan..So when ask for tanning bUfter, make sure til you the tanning butter-Coppertoni A product of P. ou. h. Inc. Offinial Sun c.. -- ---:4%-X :X--* 4* - * -' pep, you ey pass Products of Florida's Welt Disney World.