During playing season, a few parts of a coach’s job includes game day preparation, planning practices, enhancing the player’s athletic performance, budgeting, and being a motivator. However, one part of their job that happens all year long is recruiting.
At Blackburn College, Head Coach of men’s basketball Coach Kollar, said that “recruiting happens all year and is on a rotation cycle”. Kollar is already recruiting high school students that are in their junior year as well as with high school seniors for next year’s roster. He is hoping to bring in a mix of 8 to 10 freshmen and transfer students to have an ideal roster of 20-22 players. Similarly, women’s basketball Head Coach Fonseca has also been recruiting year round at high school games and tournaments across the nation. Fonseca stated that is important to know, “there are rules of contact and seeing them on days of completion and tournaments. You are supposed to wait until the days game is over or the entire tournament is over”.
Coach Fonseca has traveled all over, Illinois, California, Missouri, Indiana and Arizona to watch prospective Blackburn players. Fonseca looks for a student-athlete that is “a tough kid who want to win and are competitive. I want them to have a high basketball IQ. I need them to be able to have more than a basic fundamentals of basketball. They need to want to be a part of something special”. If Coach Fonseca cannot make it to the game, she watches game clips and highlight films that are sent in by the student-athlete or has her assistants Coach Tena Krause and junior sports management student Chris O’Conner help her.
Similarily Kollar has traveled to Florida, Missouri, Michigan, Iowa and Chicago this year. Kollar stated, “it is not uncommon for me and my assistant to travel four hours away after practice and come back that same night”. Assistant Coach Zack Jadzack helps Kollar with recruiting and they both look for players that will “fit the team, have character and respond in a good way after a wrong play”. Kollar also uses a recruiting website called National Collegiate Scouting Association that matches student-athletes to a college using a free profile page. Coach Kollar can scout students by looking at their profile online. He also receives phone calls from high school and traveling coaches who have player recommendations.
Blackburn College helps pay for the traveling expenses of both basketball coaches. Kollar stated that it “comes from his recruiting budget but when I traveled to Florida I paid for the plane ticket.” Coach Fonseca said “I do have to put the wear and tear on my car which is not the best. I also get reimbursed for my meals. I have to shell out the money first which sometime hurts my budget”.
Fonseca noted ultimately, “It is all about making a connection with the player that you are recruiting and making them feel important. I am only recruiting players that I feel can make an impact on our team next year”.
If you are interested in playing for either the men’s basketball team or women’s basketball team, Coach Kollar and Coach Fonseca both accept walk-ons as well. If interested, please email them at steve.kollar@blackburn.edu or katie.fonseca@blackburn.edu.