March Madness Coach Says He Only Recruits Players Who Like Waffle House

Kristen Wong | Mar 18, 2025

Head coach Scott Cross of the Troy Trojans looks on during a college basketball game against the James Madison Dukes at Atlantic Union Bank Arena on February 5, 2025 in Harrisonburg, Virginia. / Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

One team’s March Madness run this year will include a feisty first-round matchup—with a serving of waffles on the side.

The No. 14-seeded Troy Trojans are competing in their third NCAA tournament in program history and will take on No. 3 Kentucky in Milwaukee on Friday hoping to topple the heavily favored Wildcats. Their underdog story this spring has a tasty wrinkle: Apparently, Trojans coach Scott Cross has adopted a rather unorthodox recruiting approach for his team.

All his recruits have to like Waffle House.

Cross, who’s a big fan of the breakfast-food restaurant chain himself, spoke to Kentucky Sports Radio ahead of Troy’s first-round game and explained his reasoning:

“Started off, the first two recruits we brought on campus, we’re driving down the main street, I point out Waffle House, and ask them if they want to eat there for breakfast,” Cross said. “They were like ‘Waffle House? Hell nah, I don’t want to go to Waffle House.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, my bad. We’ll try to eat somewhere else.’ Long story short, we signed neither one of those guys.”

The school then brought in another recruit, Nick Stampley from Eastern Florida State, for an official visit.

“We’re driving by and we don’t even say anything about Waffle House,” continued Cross. “He sees it and is like, ‘Oh Coach, y’all got a Waffle House here? Can we go there tomorrow?’ He was our first signee and he was one of the toughest guys we ever coached.

“From that point forward, we offhand ask them, do you like Waffle House? If the answer is yes, we sign them. If it’s no, we never get them.”

NEW: Troy head coach Scott Cross explains to KSR+ why he only recruits players that like Waffle House.

"We offhand ask them, do you like Waffle House? If the answer is yes, we sign them. If it's no, we never get them."

STORY: https://t.co/zWIMALgpaB pic.twitter.com/kCs6YcfuYP

— Jacob Polacheck (@PolacheckKSR) March 18, 2025

Led by senior guard Tayton Conerway, the Trojans (23-10) will be looking to stun Kentucky at Fiserv Forum this week after earning an automatic bid in the big dance thanks to their Sun Belt championship win.

If they pull off the upset, there’s a very good chance you can find Cross's team at a nearby Waffle House.

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