COVID-19 is forcing UM coaches to recruit virtually. Here’s how they’re doing it
By the third week of a normal June, University of Miami basketball coaches Jim Larranaga and Katie Meier and track and field coach Amy Deem would have already crisscrossed the nation to see recruits compete in AAU and national championship events.
They would have visited prospects and families in their homes and led recruits on tours through the palm-tree lined UM campus and along Miami’s waterfront.
But this is no normal June.
As the sports world wrestles with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, college coaches have been forced to evaluate and recruit high school athletes without seeing them in person.
March, April, May, and most of June have come and gone, and athletes in the Class of 2021 recruiting class have been robbed of the chance to improve their stock heading into their senior seasons. They’ve been relegated to shooting hoops with their relatives in driveways and running laps around their neighborhoods with no audience.
Instead of taking college campus visits, they have settled for virtual tours from their living rooms.
In many sports, such as basketball and track and field, the spring and summer are critical as the AAU basketball circuit and national track meets are held during those months. Hundreds of college coaches typically pack gyms at the basketball summer tournaments sponsored by Nike, adidas and Under Armour.
Coaches often stumble upon lesser-known athletes while watching the more highly touted prospects at those events. Larranaga found star point guard Shane Larkin that way. He was at an AAU tournament in Orlando to see one of Larkin’s teammates, but it was the smaller Larkin that caught his attention. Those under-the-radar athletes are staying under the radar thus far this recruiting season.
“That’s just a shame, because those are your best stories in college,” Meier said. “You don’t have to worry about the blue-chippers right now. You don’t have to worry about them missing an opportunity. They’ve been known since they were 12. But there are always those great stories, and I’ve had quite a few of them. That’s how we broke through at Miami.”
Meier and Larranaga said they rely on their staff evaluation of players and pay far less attention to recruiting services and second-hand scouts, so that face-to-face time is crucial. Both said they are fortunate that their assistant coaches were more than a year ahead in recruiting, so they targeted players last summer and got a chance to see them before 2020.
The SEC, ACC, Big Ten, and Big 12 were among the first leagues to stop recruiting in March. The NCAA initially imposed a recruiting moratorium through April 15. That was extended to the end of May, then the end of June and now the end of July.
“We are normally on the road in April, seeing guys play with their AAU teams, seeing them in their environment, with their families, really getting to know them on and off the court, and then July is big with the summer leagues,” Larranaga said. “This spring, we’ve been flying by the seat of our pants, using the phone, getting video and evaluations from other people, high school coaches, AAU coaches. We’ve had lots of Zoom visits with the athletes, which are good, but nothing replaces seeing them in person.”
Meier was in Spain recruiting after the ACC tournament in March when the pandemic hit. She had to race home and self-quarantine.
“It’s been so different, you can’t even imagine,” Meier said. “Just the amount of time we would have spent traveling and going to events and going to homes. That contact period is the busiest time. We usually spend every free minute visiting players. And then the cancellation of the July events is unheard of.”
Track coaches are facing similar dilemmas.
One by one, all spring and early summer meets were canceled as the nation shut down for COVID-19.
The NCAA Division I Track & Field Championships, scheduled for June 10-13, were canceled in March when the NCAA canceled all spring sports. Also canceled in June was the USA U20 Championships, a prestigious meet which was scheduled for June 12-14 at the Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar. The USA Olympic Trials, originally scheduled for June 19-28, were pushed to 2021 with the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics.
“The junior year for track and field is a huge year in track and field for evaluation,” said Deem, who coaches the UM men’s and women’s teams. “Most top high school kids were on their way to the national New Balance indoor meet in New York when things got shut down.
“We have a group we’ve been recruiting, and doing Zoom calls, but it’s unfortunate for that [2021] class because a lot of them get their scholarship offers from that junior year. They had no outdoor season. The national Under-20 meet was supposed to be in Miramar. They haven’t been able to showcase their talents and put themselves on the map to get those offers.”
Deem said she will likely wait and do more evaluating of high school seniors once college sports get going again.
One positive of virtual recruiting, Deem said, is that many family members have been able to be involved in the conversations at the same time, which often doesn’t happen.
UM women’s tennis coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said she got a hint from her players in February that the coronavirus crisis was perhaps more serious than originally thought.
“Because so many of my players are international, I think they were a little ahead of the curve on this,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “I remember the last trip we took in February, three of my players came to the airport with masks on. They knew what was going on.”
Once the season was canceled, the tennis players were unable to practice because courts were all closed. Public courts opened last month, so they have begun training again on their own. Estela Perez-Somarriba, the reigning NCAA champion, had hoped to defend her title as a senior. Instead, her final season ended abruptly due to COVID-19. The NCAA granted spring athletes an extra year of eligibility, so the Spaniard will be back next season to work on her master’s degree and aim for a second title.
Recruiting has not been disrupted too much in college tennis because spring is when they are usually still in season and recruiting doesn’t pick up until summer, fall and winter. Yaroshuk-Tews said the players she has targeted are already familiar with UM, as many of them have played Jr. Orange Bowl tournaments there.
“Right now, I’m just in a holding pattern with recruiting,” she said. “We’ve told them as soon as we can bring them in, we will. But all schools are in the same boat. So, it’s not like our competition can bring them in and we can’t.”
The NCAA Council last Wednesday deferred a decision on changes to the recruiting calendar as members “needed more time to consider the recommendations and get input from others,” according to a statement from the NCAA. The Council plans to have a teleconference in the next few weeks to vote on the changes to the recruiting calendar.
In men’s basketball, the recruiting proposal called for tournaments and scouting events usually held in April, June and July to be held in August. Off-campus and in-person recruiting would begin in September.
In women’s basketball, the recruiting proposal includes an evaluation period from Aug. 15-Sept. 8.
“For us to seal the deal, the most important thing, of course UM is a great school, but when you ask our players what pushed the players our way, it is usually a personal connection,” Meier said. “That’s much harder to do via Zoom.”