Mike Hopkins Recruiting

[cuseinseattle]

I listened to Mitch in the Morning (Syracuse grad) on the local Seattle sports radio station this morning. He had a 20-30 minute interview with Hop. One of the questions was about recruiting and what his strategy is. Mitch went to Syracuse in the mid 80's and said he remembers not just Hopkins but Thompson and then later Hart as well as Manning and some other kids coming from California. Is he comfortable recruiting this area. He talked about how he likes the Syracuse approach which he called "Homeland Security". He said, "Myself and Troy Weaver talked about how we were finishing 2 and 3 for kids when we were recruiting more nationally and came up with this idea of Homeland Security and how we should focus on our backyard of New York City as well as Baltimore, DC and Philly. I want to implement that here. We have some of the best players in the country in Seattle and we need to keep them home and we need to get kids from what I call 5 hours away and that included Oregon and California. That needs to be our focus and that is how we build this into something special like Syracuse."

I thought I would post this because I remember someone asking if Hop would be recruiting against us in the NE and east coast. It might of been on the recruiting board. This doesn't mean he wouldn't grab a kid or two from over on the east coast but it doesn't seem like it's part of his strategy.

 

[Cheriehoop]

What's funny is that there are people on the board who have criticized the staff for our emphasis on regional recruiting tactics, interesting that it was Troy Weaver who advocated for it.

 

[cuseinseattle]

What's funny is that there are people on the board who have blamed the staff for our emphasis on regional recruiting tactics, interesting that it was Troy Weaver who advocated for it.

Hopkins also said that he will be running zone, m2m and a soft and hard press. He said he believes in controlling the tempo of the game and speeding people up who want to play slow and slowing people down who want to play fast and the zone will be part of that but not played exclusively. Interesting to hear.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[cuseinseattle]

It will be interesting to see who he can keep. It's funny the different expectations. Yesterday on sports radio one of the guys for KJR said I don't even care the record in year 1. We can go 9-22 again for all I care. If I see something resembling defense and a team playing like they give a crap it is a success. I hate saying I don't care how many games we win but I don't. Can you imagine someone on Syracuse sports radio saying that.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

It will be interesting to see who he can keep. It's funny the different expectations. Yesterday on sports radio one of the guys for KJR said I don't even care the record in year 1. We can go 9-22 again for all I care. If I see something resembling defense and a team playing like they give a crap it is a success. I hate saying I don't care how many games we win but I don't. Can you imagine someone on Syracuse sports radio saying that.

There's always roster turnover after a coaching hire.

Look at how many guys are bouncing from Pitt after 1 year of Stallings.

 

[Alsacs]

What's funny is that there are people on the board who have blamed the staff for our emphasis on regional recruiting tactics, interesting that it was Troy Weaver who advocated for it.

Why limit yourself to the I-95 corridor. Making it the priority is a fine tactic. Not recruiting outside
of I-95 and Canada limits your options.
Francis has outlined our recent strategies.
Again people can have different opinions and it
Isn't personal.

ESPN exposure in the 1980s is what got us kids from California.

Syracuse should recruit nationally with an emphasis on the Northeast. The problem has been JB hasn't been going on the road as much as has delegated more. With him staying on that needs to change.
Francis already reported 2 kids we weren't pursuing we have started recruiting harder since Sunday.

 

[two3zone]

What's funny is that there are people on the board who have blamed the staff for our emphasis on regional recruiting tactics, interesting that it was Troy Weaver who advocated for it.

Well, when you pull in a Carmelo Anthony it doesn't matter where you recruit.

 

[HOFCeluck]

It will be interesting to see who he can keep. It's funny the different expectations. Yesterday on sports radio one of the guys for KJR said I don't even care the record in year 1. We can go 9-22 again for all I care. If I see something resembling defense and a team playing like they give a crap it is a success. I hate saying I don't care how many games we win but I don't. Can you imagine someone on Syracuse sports radio saying that.

Football

 

[rrlbees]

Hopkins also said that he will be running zone, m2m and a soft and hard press.

Exactly what he said to me a few years ago which I posted a couple times in threads wondering what a Hop SU team might do differently. Also mentioned the importance of glass cleaners to be able to get out and run more.

 

[cuseinseattle]

Why limit yourself to the I-95 corridor. Making it the priority is a fine tactic. Not recruiting outside
of I-95 and Canada limits your options.
Francis has outlined our recent strategies.
Again people can have different opinions and it
Isn't personal.

ESPN exposure in the 1980s is what got us kids from California.

Syracuse should recruit nationally with an emphasis on the Northeast. The problem has been JB hasn't been going on the road as much as has delegated more. With him staying on that needs to change.
Francis already reported 2 kids we weren't pursuing we have started recruiting harder since Sunday.

Just to be clear I was only stating what Hopkins said and not my opinion. I would like to expand recruiting more. I don't even agree we have been doing the homeland protection thing with they way we screwed up the Lonnie Walker recruitment.

 

[Oráiste]

It will be interesting to see who he can keep. It's funny the different expectations. Yesterday on sports radio one of the guys for KJR said I don't even care the record in year 1. We can go 9-22 again for all I care. If I see something resembling defense and a team playing like they give a crap it is a success. I hate saying I don't care how many games we win but I don't. Can you imagine someone on Syracuse sports radio saying that.

yes . . . I can imagine several of the anti-zone crowd saying of a new coach something like "I don't care if we go 9-22 the first season as long as I see a switch away from all zone all the time."

 

[Alsacs]

Just to be clear I was only stating what Hopkins said and not my opinion. I would like to expand recruiting more. I don't even agree we have been doing the homeland protection thing with they way we screwed up the Lonnie Walker recruitment.

I wasn't responding to your point. Your stuff was good reporting on what MH said.
Cherie was IMO questioning why people on this board have been critical of the I-95 corrridor strategy.
We have been strictly recruiting the I-95 corridor the last 5 years. As JB hasn't been as active traveling around recruiting.

We as a program should be doing what Hop said with Seattle but Syracuse is a national program we should recruit nationally as well. We didn't pursue Michael Porter early in his recruiting because he was out of I-95 I remember Francis post on it. We likely don't get the kid but we didn't recruit when he told GMac he wanted us to recruit him.

We need to focus on Northeast but expand beyond it
as well.

 

[721Comstock]

I wasn't responding to your point. Your stuff was good reporting on what MH said.
Cherie was IMO questioning why people on this board have been critical of the I-95 corrridor strategy.
We have been strictly recruiting the I-95 corridor the last 5 years. As JB hasn't been as active traveling around recruiting.

We as a program should be doing what Hop said with Seattle but Syracuse is a national program we should recruit nationally as well. We didn't pursue Michael Porter early in his recruiting because he was out of I-95 I remember Francis post on it. We likely don't get the kid but we didn't recruit when he told GMac he wanted us to recruit him.

We need to focus on Northeast but expand beyond it
as well.

Sigh. There was NO point recruiting Porter (even if he "asked us to") because it was pretty clear he'd end up wherever his Father ended up. Which is what happened. And will very likely happen again now.

Why waste the time and effort on that?
His geographical location was probably waaay down the list of "why should/shouldn't we recruit this guy?"

Even now, I'd put the odds at like 80% he goes with Dad, 5% each that he stays w/ Hop at U-Dub, or one of those other 2 he mentioned, and 5% for "other" - which could be yet another school, or whatever.

That said - I do totally agree that we can't and shouldn't ONLY focus on I-95 corridor (and only down to DC).
So your main point stands, and I'm sure 99% of us agree with it wholeheartedly.

 

[Superdeluxe]

I wish him well, he is a graduate, so he can play anywhere without penalty. He didn't do much for us tho, 2 pts, 2 boards.

 

[TinyManInside]

Hopkins also said that he will be running zone, m2m and a soft and hard press. He said he believes in controlling the tempo of the game and speeding people up who want to play slow and slowing people down who want to play fast and the zone will be part of that but not played exclusively. Interesting to hear.

Back in 2007-08 when I was still running orangenation.net, I talked with Mike about how he would approach defense as a head coach, and this is dead on consistent with what he said then. Glad to hear that he has a clearly developed sense of the system he wants to run.

 

[TinyManInside]

While I expect Hop to mine the Pacific Northwest and California for everything its worth, it would be foolish for him not to kick the tires on some NE kids, given the connections that he's developed in this area over the last 15-20 years.

 

[orangefog]

Sigh. There was NO point recruiting Porter (even if he "asked us to") because it was pretty clear he'd end up wherever his Father ended up. Which is what happened. And will very likely happen again now.

Why waste the time and effort on that?
His geographical location was probably waaay down the list of "why should/shouldn't we recruit this guy?"

Even now, I'd put the odds at like 80% he goes with Dad, 5% each that he stays w/ Hop at U-Dub, or one of those other 2 he mentioned, and 5% for "other" - which could be yet another school, or whatever.

That said - I do totally agree that we can't and shouldn't ONLY focus on I-95 corridor (and only down to DC).
So your main point stands, and I'm sure 99% of us agree with it wholeheartedly.

Am I wrong to want the staff to talk to Michael Porter Sr.? We have an opening, the guys IS a coach. And, it would land his kids. I know it has been mentioned, but what is wrong with it? We aren't firing someone to hire him.

 

[Townie72]

I wasn't responding to your point. Your stuff was good reporting on what MH said.
Cherie was IMO questioning why people on this board have been critical of the I-95 corrridor strategy.
We have been strictly recruiting the I-95 corridor the last 5 years. As JB hasn't been as active traveling around recruiting.

We as a program should be doing what Hop said with Seattle but Syracuse is a national program we should recruit nationally as well. We didn't pursue Michael Porter early in his recruiting because he was out of I-95 I remember Francis post on it. We likely don't get the kid but we didn't recruit when he told GMac he wanted us to recruit him.

We need to focus on Northeast but expand beyond it
as well.

The key to this --- and I don't know the answer --- is how much regional bias is there on the part of the recruits.

When I was a sales rep for IBM many years ago, the most valuable thing I learned was being able to separate the likely purchasers from the unlikely. I couldn't afford to waste time with those anxious for a free education or the alcohol-free lunches we bought them.

There are only so many hours that a coaching staff can expend recruiting. It's a finite amount.

Every hour they spend in Texas is one less hour they can spend in Philadelphia (without even factoring in travel and multiple prospects in the same area).

If you expand your recruiting area, you dilute the coverage you have in the current one. This really is a zero sum game.

 

[cuseinseattle]

Am I wrong to want the staff to talk to Michael Porter Sr.? We have an opening, the guys IS a coach. And, it would land his kids. I know it has been mentioned, but what is wrong with it? We aren't firing someone to hire him.

I wouldn't consider Porter Sr a coach. I was told at Missou for the women he ran the twitter account and delivered his kids. Porter Jr is a one and done and the younger kid is good but you can't have a 1/3 of your assistant staff be a joke in my opinion and build something. It would be short sighted of him and he doesn't have to be. He has a 6 year deal and no real short term expectations. People around here are saying Porter Sr got paid 300k to not even deliver his kids and will go to Missou and get 300k more. They basically are calling him a thief even though they want the kid. The fan base is also calling anyone that was for keeping Romar one more year to have Porter Jr a complete fool.

 

[orangefog]

I wouldn't consider Porter Sr a coach. I was told at Missou for the women he ran the twitter account and delivered his kids. Porter Jr is a one and done and the younger kid is good but you can't have a 1/3 of your assistant staff be a joke in my opinion and build something. It would be short sighted of him and he doesn't have to be. He has a 6 year deal and no real short term expectations. People around here are saying Porter Sr got paid 300k to not even deliver his kids and will go to Missou and get 300k more. They basically are calling him a thief even though they want the kid. The fan base is also calling anyone that was for keeping Romar one more year to have Porter Jr a complete fool.

Ah, I thought he was a legit coach. Yeah, sounds like a pretty rotten deal in Washington.

 

[cuseinseattle]

Ah, I thought he was a legit coach. Yeah, sounds like a pretty rotten deal in Washington.

To be honest I can't confirm that the twitter thing is true. He could have had real responsibilities there, I don't know. He has no background recruiting the state of Washington and California though or any long term division 1 coaching or recruiting experience. Conroy is really good in Seattle and he is keeping him which is smart. Hart has deep ties in Los Angeles and Tim has been an assistant for a long time and was in northern California where both teams suck now so he could go after kids from Fresno, San Fran and Sacramento for example. They make way more sense in my opinion.