NCAA Basketball: Coaches navigating the new world of college basketball

Over the last decade, the game of NCAA Basketball has evolved both on and off the floor. But it has been the evolution that has taken place after a team cuts down the nets that have become more prevalent and a huge focus of the sport overall. We are in the midst of a time for the sport that is the most sport-defining era that the sport has seen in decades.

After the first week of April, as a coach, there is very little downtime as there are rosters to construct, schedules to build, and players to recruit. Even though these were always aspects of a program’s offseason, the microscope on the offseason has been amplified to the nth degree with the age of social media and the 24-hour news cycle.

With the use of the transfer portal growing every year and resembling a growing crowd trying to bust through the doors of Macy’s on Black Friday and the newly approved Name, Image and Likeness and NIL Collectives that now allow student-athletes to be compensated, there are new additions to a coach’s plate when it comes to running a program that wasn’t on that plate 15-20 years ago.

With all of these things adding to an already busy offseason, the sudden retirement of Villanova’s Jay Wright, and some speculation that some of these new things led to his choice, I wondered how coaches were handling this new world of college basketball we find ourselves in. I wanted to talk to as many coaches at all levels as possible to answer some of these questions and if they have different opinions on these issues depending on what level they are coaching at.

I would like to thank the following coaches for participating and giving me their candid insight on these new-age issues:

Bruce Pearl-Auburn @coachbrucepearl            Bruce Pearl interview

Jared Grasso-Bryant @Coach_Grasso11          Jared Grasso interview

Josh Pastner-Georgia Tech @GTJoshPastner   Josh Pastner interview

Bill Herrion-New Hampshire @UNHMBB         Bill Herrion  interview

Grant McCasland-North Texas @UNTCoachGMac    Grant McCasland interview

Todd Simon-Southern Utah @CoachTsimon      Todd Simon interview

Andy Kennedy-UAB @CoachAK13                       Andy Kennedy interview