Scott Cross Details His Recruiting Pitch For Players to Choose Georgia Tech

A key piece in how Georgia Tech will reshape and rebuild its program will be the recruiting piece of it all. Head coach Scott Cross has already come out and said the team will be a blue-collar program. Athletic Director Ryan Alpert also backed that notion in the introductory press conference. Let’s take a look at what head coach Scott Cross's recruiting style and motto will be.

Motto

Coach Cross wants OKGs, which is a very specific recruiting style compared to other coaches. Essentially, he wants hungry players who play with an edge and are willing to put it on the line every single day. Here is a clearer definition of an OKG.

“We'll recruit OKGs, our kind of guys. These are tough, hard-nosed, high-character guys that compete, that have a chip on their shoulder, that are low ego, selfless individuals, that want to compete at the highest level and want to win championships and have a burning desire to be successful,” said Cross.

What I take from that is tough guys and those who are coachable. You can probably expect him to recruit underrated guys who are flying under the radar but can play at a high level. It feels like that will be more of the focus in his recruiting. He didn’t mention too much about the highly talented players who boast a lot of skills. He recounted a story on a player he recruited that fits the moniker of OKGs.

“But, yeah, tough, hard-nosed guys. I mean, I'll tell you a little story. Khalil Waters was part of that as well. When I first started out in Troy, many of y'all have probably read how the first guys that we brought by, we were driving by Waffle House, and they turned up their nose to it. My next group of guys, Khalil being one of those guys, we drive by, and they're like, Coach, can we go to Waffle House tomorrow? That's the embodiment of our kind of guys. Thank you. Guys that are low ego, that are selfless, that are team first, that are coachable. I think that's very, very important because if you're a great coach and you don't have coachable guys, it means nothing.

So finding those guys that are coachable, and when you have that, I think that's when the magic starts to happen,” said Cross.

The biggest question

I think the biggest question is whether Coach Cross would take a chance on a player who is highly talented but has character issues and flaws. He is known as a player developer and a builder for teams and rosters. Surely, he has run into a few issues, but will he waste his time on that or continue to look for guys who are OKGs? It feels like to be successful in this era of college basketball, you have to have at least one of two uber-talented players who are high-level that can contribute instantly. It may come with a little ego and arrogance, but is that too much to send them away and not deal with them at all? Or will we see some risks from Coach Cross?. It is too early to know for sure, but it will be something to watch throughout his tenure.