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Winning a basketball championship is sweet. And everyone knows that a lot goes into that win to make it possible—blood, sweat, and tears embodied.

Aside from the players, the success of a college basketball team goes to its coach or coaching staff. Besides developing and running a great basketball program, a coach is given the task of keeping their team together. The coach also needs the right tools in their toolkit to train and develop their players further. Practicing with basketball backboards, balls, and other basketball equipment helps bring everyone’s A-game. 

You probably have a rough view of what it’s like to be a basketball coach for a collegiate team. We are digging further as we identify challenges that they usually face in building their team and leading them to victory. We’ll also look into what has been done to resolve or overcome those hurdles. 

Recruiting Calendar

Basketball coaches follow a recruitment timeline depending on the division of their college in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). This recruiting calendar is part of a uniform process that seeks to make an “equitable recruiting environment that promotes a student-athlete’s well-being.”

On paper, this timeframe looks doable. In reality, the recruiting process seems to go on endlessly to the exhaustion of coaches. The recruiting calendar also poses a problem to those recruiting high school students due to the limited times coaches can see their prospects play in in-person events. 

As of this writing, the NCAA is set to vote on changes that will overhaul the recruiting calendar, according to CBS Sports. The vote is set for January 2024. Under the new 2024 calendar, April will be set for coaches reestablishing their rosters, May for a longer dead period or when coaches don’t have to talk to their prospects or families in person, and another two-week-long dead period in August.

Transfer Portal Window

The NCAA has a database that contains the names and other information of student-athletes who want to transfer to other schools that are members of the organization. Coaching staff can contact athletes who have entered the portal. 

There is a window when a student-athlete must enter their name into the portal via their school’s compliance officer. For men’s and women’s basketball, the window is 45 days from the previous 60 days. The smaller window will take effect in the spring of next year.

The transfer portal, which was introduced in 2018, is beneficial for coaches looking for prospects to fill their rosters. The portal has created a transfer season where everyone is on the lookout for who has entered the portal.

Coaches and their staff members are expectedly busy during the transfer season as some of their players may also want to transfer to other schools. The longer transfer window meant more time and work for the coaching staff. 

The shorter window allows basketball athletes 45 days after the regular season ends, or until May 1, to enter the portal.

Vetting

One in every 23 students in a Division 1 school is a student-athlete. According to this NCAA factsheet, about 3% of student-athletes moved from playing men’s basketball in high school to the NCAA.

Vetting prospects for a competitive collegiate sport like basketball is understandably intense. While challenging, vetting, including doing due diligence on the players, is indispensable in landing the right people to join the team.

Finding the right fit goes both ways for the school and the student-athlete who likely has their own goals. Here are key criteria of basketball coaches/coaching staff look for in their prospects:

• Academics: Students depend on academics to get through life after college, and only a few go pro. 1% of student-athletes playing in the NCAA for basketball move on to the pro route.

• Character or attitude: Character, mindset, and attitude can significantly impact performance and team dynamics. Coaches often prioritize these psychological traits during recruitment.

• Physical performance: The sport demands certain physiological attributes. Agility, power, speed, and endurance are just a few of the essential components that define a basketball player’s skill set.

   

Budget Constraints 

The amount of money and resources at one’s disposal also influences the recruiting process and the outcomes. Coaches on a budget have to be creative with their budget and save money whenever they can, as these coaches shared. 

Name, image, and likeness (NIL) also complicate things as it can put some schools at a recruitment disadvantage. NIL allows college athletes to accept sponsorship deals and make money out of their participation in their sports.

Coaches will have to work hard to ensure their recruits stick long enough while looking at potential valuable additions to the team, usually transfers. Schools with the best offers get the best recruits or transfers. This way, recruiting never stops.

Pressures from Their Roles

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The NCAA conducted an online survey looking into the mental well-being of coaches and staff from March 2 to April 17, 2022. Respondents included coaching staff in basketball, tennis, baseball, and lacrosse.

The NCAA coach well-being survey found that “Coaches have felt substantial and unique pressures in their jobs over the past several years, manifesting in high levels of stress and mental exhaustion.”

About 40% of head coaches and 36% of assistant or associate coaches responded to feeling mentally exhausted constantly or every day. When asked about factors that have negatively affected their mental health in the last 12 months before the survey was conducted, about 60% of head coaches and 49% of assistant coaches chose work-related worries. 

Per the survey, recruiting high school athletes and preventing athletes from leaving are among the top concerns of head coaches. Coaches were also concerned about the mental health of student-athletes and how they can provide support to them. 

For its part, the NCAA has mental health educational resources for its student-athletes, coaches, and other stakeholders. The organization also has a Mental Health Advisory Group.

College Basketball Coaching Going Forward

The survey results reflect some of the top concerns and challenges in basketball coaching. Recruiting athletes is a mainstay, and it is ever-evolving due to recent changes like the portal and NIL.

As such, the overhaul to the recruiting calendar and portal might bring positive impacts on coaches who might see a more manageable workload and work-life balance.

A federal regulation on NIL may level the playing field for schools vying for top talents whose resources and state laws may hinder their recruiting prospects.