The Monday Tipoff: McCaffery Likes The Recruiting Process, And The Wins And Losses
Fran McCaffery enjoys recruiting, even though it’s one of those win-some-lose-some parts of coaching college basketball.
Take the last week for the Iowa coach.
Xavier Foster, an in-state prospect who was ranked among the top 75 prospects in the nation, chose Iowa State over Iowa. Two days later, Josh Ogundele, a post player like Foster, chose the Hawkeyes.
“Recruiting can be frustrating at times when you work hard on someone and don’t get them,” McCaffery said on a Monday teleconference. “It can be incredibly rewarding when you work hard on somebody, and they come.”
On Saturday, a day after the Hawkeyes defeated Oral Roberts, McCaffery went to Massachusetts to visit Ogundele. Ogundele had signed his letter-of-intent — it was not official yet because his mother, living in England, had to sign it — but McCaffery went anyway.
“It’s one of those things that falls under the category, ‘That’s what you do,’” McCaffery said. “That’s part of recruiting. This kid went through a lot in the last few months. Recruiting heated up for him, he took five visits, he’s getting pounded every day, his mother’s getting pounded, his high school coach is getting pounded, his AAU coach is getting pounded. And he stepped up and said he wants to come to Iowa and play for the Hawkeyes. And so, I told him I was coming up there Saturday. Whether he committed or not, whether he signed or not, I was going to go up there Saturday. I didn’t cancel my trip because he committed and signed. You follow up, you go up there and watch him play, you talk to him. I’m his coach now, in many respects.
“It’s all about relationships, and it’s a relationship decision I made.”
McCaffery signed five players in this recruiting class — Ogundele, guards Ahron Ulis and Tony Perkins, and twins Kris and Keegan Murray, forwards who are the sons of former Hawkeye Kenyon Murray.
It’s a big class, one for every position, even if McCaffery didn’t plan it that way.
But the coach knows he may not be done for this recruiting class, even if all of the scholarships are filled. In a college basketball world where rosters can constantly change, anything is possible.
“It’s just completely different,” McCaffery said. “You don’t know, in any given year, if guys are going to go pro, guys are going to put their names in the transfer portal. It’s becoming easier and easier to get a (transfer) waiver, guys want to play, guys want to play right away. So you just try to get character guys who buy into what we do and love this institution and want to be here. I think if you treat them the way they’re supposed to be treated, they’ll stay. Occasionally guys will leave — we have guys leave who want to play more. We help that process along. We don’t encourage it, we don’t encourage them to leave, but we respect their decision.”
Ogundele will benefit from getting to play against experienced players next season. Luka Garza, Jack Nunge and Cordell Pemsl are expected to be back, and they can teach.
“I think it was important to bring a guy in we thought was capable of playing right away, but also have an opportunity to go against some really good players,” McCaffery said. “These are veteran guys who can help him develop, and be ready to take over.”
The Murrays, who are both 6-8, were an easy recruiting choice, McCaffery said. They played last season at Cedar Rapids Prairie High School, but are playing a prep school season at DME Sports Academy in Florida.
Kris Murray averaged 19.5 points and 6.4 rebounds last season. Keegan Murray averaged 20.5 points and 7.3 rebounds.
“They kept getting better,” McCaffery said. “They just kept getting bigger and stronger. They kept working on their game. I think if you saw them play last year, it was pretty easy to come to that conclusion. And I thought as soon as they decided to go to prep school, it was pretty much inevitable that they we were going to offer.
“They’re both going to come in ready — a year older, a year bigger and stronger. They’re just complete players.”
Ulis’ brother, Tyler, was heavily recruited by McCaffery, but chose Kentucky.
That sort of relationship with the family helped, McCaffery said.
“I knew his mom and dad really well, I knew the coach really well, the program, the AAU program,” McCaffery said. “He did this on his own.”
Ulis averaged 18 points per game last season at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Ill.
Perkins, from Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, averaged 15.9 points and three assists last season.
“We watched him, and always really liked him,” McCaffery said.
The 2020 class, it would appear, is complete, but anything is possible.
Such is the recruiting life, McCaffery said.
“There are parts of it that can be frustrating at times,” McCaffery said. “But you have to understand that that’s recruiting. The player that you’re recruiting is only going to go through this once. They’re going go through it however they go through it. Every recruiting situation is a snowflake. Some will have more people involved, some will have less people involved. Some will make a quicker decision than others. Some will drag it out. Some want the publicity, some don’t. But you can’t rush it. You can’t force it. You have to let it happen, and do the job that you do.”
