Reclamation recruiting

Fred Hoiberg made a pretty good living at Iowa State the past few years by taking in transfers from other programs - players who sometimes did not leave their last post under the best of circumstances. Evidently he was a pretty good judge of future returns. A lot of coaches have done that, and quite a few have had spectacular successes, because when they do click, sometimes they click big-time. The problem is that the downside risk is considerably higher than it is with normal recruits, especially if the reason for the move was related to behavior.

Young men sometimes learn their lessons and turn over a new leaf, and anyone would be glad to give them as second chance if they truly do that. The problem is that some of them just rustled that leaf and did not get it turned all the way over. Then they can become real cancers in the locker room and totally destroy the chemistry of a team. The upside on these players may be high, but they have a downside that generally is far past that of normal recruits. Coaches are well advised to make sure their risks in such cases are carefully calculated ones.

Sometimes the reclamation projects are related to health, and those are less of a problem. All they usually cost the team is a wasted scholarship. In other words, they might be a zero, but at least they are not a negative.

Fans are all about themselves. They want their team to win so they can feel good about themselves. Generally speaking. So, they are quick to forget the disasters as long as there are occasionally spectacular successes. They cheer the one 3-pointer a shooter makes to win the game and forget the six he just missed that had made the game close in the first place. So, coaches have some leeway to work with projects, but they need to remember that when the team starts making the front page of the paper instead of the sports page, the administration's patience with them will become shorter, and the required win total to keep their jobs gets that much higher. As we said, there is a risk involved. Of course, a coach takes some risk with every recruit, and in each case he has to estimate how much risk he is willing to endure.