Guns Up!
07-24-2003, 09:09 AM
Goodenough wraps up extensive recruiting trip
By Jared Janes Daily O'Collegian
(U-WIRE ) STILLWATER, Okla. -- Back in Stillwater, Okla., after a long two-and-a-half week recruiting trip, Oklahoma State women's basketball coach Julie Goodenough paused for a moment to reflect on the trip of the past few weeks. She had just finished an extensive recruiting trip and was getting ready to mold together a team next year that will include six junior college players to go along with her returning core.
But the one thing that Goodenough was interested in knowing about was how her team was doing in the gym.
NCAA rules forbid coaches from being in the gym during the summer when the team is playing pick-up games, so Goodenough instead turned to her older players to find out about the week's activities. The majority of her recruiting class, with the exception of Elizangela Gomes, a 6-4 junior college transfer, joined the returning players in the gym for pick-up games this summer. Goodenough quizzed her players on how well everything was going and found that her players had found a new attitude -- a winning attitude.
"We had all of our players with the exception of Elise (Gomes) this summer working out and taking classes," Goodenough said. "The returning players have totally different attitudes. They're excited and are anxious to get on the court officially and start playing with their new teammates. The attitude is so different already with our new players and our returning players."
A winning attitude was a prerequisite for recruiting players that Goodenough established for her coaches before they went on their recruiting trips. To Goodenough, it was an attribute that was crucial to the success of a program and couldn't be taught.
"One of our rules for recruiting this past year, which I think our coaches did a great job of following, was that we were only going to recruit players from winning programs," Goodenough said. "Sure enough, that's what we were able to do. All of the kids that we signed come from very successful programs.
"Just having a winning attitude is an intangible that's really hard to teach kids by the time they get to this level. It seems like you'd recruit kids from winning programs, but a lot of really good players from across the country are not on very good teams. When you bring them into a program at this level, playing in the Big 12, and they don't really understand teamwork or they don't really understand the work ethic and the intensity needed in order to have a successful team, they don't bring as much to the table as kids from winning programs do."
Success is scattered among the backgrounds of her recruits. Two entering freshman were on state championship teams in Texas last year, and one player was the MVP of the state tournament.
Three of Goodenough's entering junior college players were All-Americans in junior college. Gomes was a second team All-American from Eastern Oklahoma State College along with first team All-Americans Nina Stone from Wabash Valley College.
Goodenough felt that the signed players will make an immediate impact on the team.
"We've got a good group," Goodenough said. "We just really felt like we needed some experienced players to help elevate our level of play. I'm really excited about our entire team, but definitely the junior college players will bring in some immediate help.
"They come from very successful programs, but as individuals they were recognized in the country as being some of the best junior college players," Goodenough said. "We're counting on them (to help)."
One aspect that the entering players bring to the squad is a depth that Goodenough said the team lacked last season. With the addition of solid shooters and more height to the team, Goodenough said it will give her and the rest of the coaching staff an ability to tinker with the lineup.
"One area that killed us last year was our depth," Goodenough said. "We'll have incredible depth this year. We're going to have a lot of different players that have strengths to give to our team. There's going to be games when you see certain players playing the whole game, and other games -- depending on style of play -- you may see some different players out on the court."
Another aspect of the group that has Goodenough ready to kick off the season was the addition of talented post players. Last season, the offense for the Cowgirls mostly went through the team's outstanding post player, Trisha Skibbe. Opposing defenses began to focus on Skibbe alone, which contributed to the team's 10-19 record.
"We have some skilled post players to help Trisha Skibbe out a little bit," Goodenough said. "People didn't have to play very honestly defensively against us last year; they just covered Skibbe up and let everybody jack 3s up. That was not something that we did very well; we needed every possession to go through Trisha Skibbe. People made it pretty hard to do that. This year we've got some skilled post players that will really complement Skibbe."
This class was the first for Goodenough at Oklahoma State. While it will probably be one of the largest that the second-year coach will see come to OSU, with nine players, it won't be the last for Goodenough. Already, she is contemplating the next wave of recruiting, as she will need to replace the seniors that will be lost after this season.
"It's really strange that this month we were out on the road recruiting. It's just funny now to me to be recruiting for the next year. We're so excited about this coming season, all the new players we have. But it's really funny trying to recruit players to start replacing Trisha Skibbe and Deidre Johnson. (The season is) going to be exciting, we're ready to kick it all off."
But it can wait until right after Goodenough has time to catch her breath and put the long trip behind her.
© 2002 Daily O'Collegian via U-WIRE
Updated on Wednesday, Jul 23, 2003 6:52 pm EDT
By Jared Janes Daily O'Collegian
(U-WIRE ) STILLWATER, Okla. -- Back in Stillwater, Okla., after a long two-and-a-half week recruiting trip, Oklahoma State women's basketball coach Julie Goodenough paused for a moment to reflect on the trip of the past few weeks. She had just finished an extensive recruiting trip and was getting ready to mold together a team next year that will include six junior college players to go along with her returning core.
But the one thing that Goodenough was interested in knowing about was how her team was doing in the gym.
NCAA rules forbid coaches from being in the gym during the summer when the team is playing pick-up games, so Goodenough instead turned to her older players to find out about the week's activities. The majority of her recruiting class, with the exception of Elizangela Gomes, a 6-4 junior college transfer, joined the returning players in the gym for pick-up games this summer. Goodenough quizzed her players on how well everything was going and found that her players had found a new attitude -- a winning attitude.
"We had all of our players with the exception of Elise (Gomes) this summer working out and taking classes," Goodenough said. "The returning players have totally different attitudes. They're excited and are anxious to get on the court officially and start playing with their new teammates. The attitude is so different already with our new players and our returning players."
A winning attitude was a prerequisite for recruiting players that Goodenough established for her coaches before they went on their recruiting trips. To Goodenough, it was an attribute that was crucial to the success of a program and couldn't be taught.
"One of our rules for recruiting this past year, which I think our coaches did a great job of following, was that we were only going to recruit players from winning programs," Goodenough said. "Sure enough, that's what we were able to do. All of the kids that we signed come from very successful programs.
"Just having a winning attitude is an intangible that's really hard to teach kids by the time they get to this level. It seems like you'd recruit kids from winning programs, but a lot of really good players from across the country are not on very good teams. When you bring them into a program at this level, playing in the Big 12, and they don't really understand teamwork or they don't really understand the work ethic and the intensity needed in order to have a successful team, they don't bring as much to the table as kids from winning programs do."
Success is scattered among the backgrounds of her recruits. Two entering freshman were on state championship teams in Texas last year, and one player was the MVP of the state tournament.
Three of Goodenough's entering junior college players were All-Americans in junior college. Gomes was a second team All-American from Eastern Oklahoma State College along with first team All-Americans Nina Stone from Wabash Valley College.
Goodenough felt that the signed players will make an immediate impact on the team.
"We've got a good group," Goodenough said. "We just really felt like we needed some experienced players to help elevate our level of play. I'm really excited about our entire team, but definitely the junior college players will bring in some immediate help.
"They come from very successful programs, but as individuals they were recognized in the country as being some of the best junior college players," Goodenough said. "We're counting on them (to help)."
One aspect that the entering players bring to the squad is a depth that Goodenough said the team lacked last season. With the addition of solid shooters and more height to the team, Goodenough said it will give her and the rest of the coaching staff an ability to tinker with the lineup.
"One area that killed us last year was our depth," Goodenough said. "We'll have incredible depth this year. We're going to have a lot of different players that have strengths to give to our team. There's going to be games when you see certain players playing the whole game, and other games -- depending on style of play -- you may see some different players out on the court."
Another aspect of the group that has Goodenough ready to kick off the season was the addition of talented post players. Last season, the offense for the Cowgirls mostly went through the team's outstanding post player, Trisha Skibbe. Opposing defenses began to focus on Skibbe alone, which contributed to the team's 10-19 record.
"We have some skilled post players to help Trisha Skibbe out a little bit," Goodenough said. "People didn't have to play very honestly defensively against us last year; they just covered Skibbe up and let everybody jack 3s up. That was not something that we did very well; we needed every possession to go through Trisha Skibbe. People made it pretty hard to do that. This year we've got some skilled post players that will really complement Skibbe."
This class was the first for Goodenough at Oklahoma State. While it will probably be one of the largest that the second-year coach will see come to OSU, with nine players, it won't be the last for Goodenough. Already, she is contemplating the next wave of recruiting, as she will need to replace the seniors that will be lost after this season.
"It's really strange that this month we were out on the road recruiting. It's just funny now to me to be recruiting for the next year. We're so excited about this coming season, all the new players we have. But it's really funny trying to recruit players to start replacing Trisha Skibbe and Deidre Johnson. (The season is) going to be exciting, we're ready to kick it all off."
But it can wait until right after Goodenough has time to catch her breath and put the long trip behind her.
© 2002 Daily O'Collegian via U-WIRE
Updated on Wednesday, Jul 23, 2003 6:52 pm EDT