Virtual reality: How the Illini have adapted their recruiting during a pandemic – Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

CHAMPAIGN The Goode family huddled together in their living room in early April for their first Zoom call with the Illinois mens basketball coaching staff.

The entire family was involved. Four-star Class of 2021 guard Luke joined his parents, Susan and Craig, on the couch, mirroring his laptop to their TV to utilize the big screen.

Murphy took up residence on the ottoman. Teddy found a comfortable spot on the floor. Maybe too comfortable. He snored on and off throughout the call.

We couldnt tell if they could hear or not, Susan Goode said with a laugh.

Teddy, of course, is the Goodes goldendoodle. Murphy is their pound puppy mutt.

It was definitely the family affair with the dogs involved, who are now wearing Illinois collars, both of them, Susan Goode said. Theyre the newest Illini.

That Zoom with the Illinois coaching staff precipitated the end of Luke Goodes recruitment.

The door closed on in-person recruiting when the rest of the sports world came to an abrupt halt in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The NCAA has kept that door closed since March with repeated extensions of the recruiting dead period that now extends through Aug. 31.

College basketball programs had to get creative on the recruiting trail. Or, more correctly, off it. Recruiting has gone 100 percent digital. Zoom calls are the new in-home visit.

Luke Goode experienced both sides of the recruiting coin. The four-star Class of 2021 guard took several official and unofficial visits in the last year. When the pandemic hit, he realized he wanted to make his college choice.

I knew I didnt want to try and wait out this coronavirus pandemic because we still dont even know a set date for when theyll be able to recruit, Goode said.

So Goode was in early on virtual recruiting. He conducted Zoom calls with Michigan State and Marquette in addition to Illinois. By April 17, he was ready to commit. The Illini were the choice, his recruitment sealed with the presentation executed by coach Brad Underwoods staff.

Illinois showed Goode clips from the its bounceback 2019-20 season. Clips of Goode playing for Indy Heat on the Nike EYBL circuit were integrated into videos of the Illinis playing style showing just how he would fit on the court.

A PowerPoint presentation highlighted other aspects of the program and university.

The way they present everything to you on the Zoom is pretty cool, Goode said. The coaches would expand on those bullet points and give the deeper explanation of what those meant. They described campus and the teams play style and the basketball culture and the weightlifting program. Most of the stuff you would get on a visit to campus.

Courtesy University of Illinois

A graphic touting the success the Illinois men's basketball program has had in its history is part of the virtual recruiting pitch the Illini staff have engaged in because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Getting to the point where the Illinois staff would be Zoom-ready for virtual recruiting started with video coordinator Zach Hamer and director of creative media Kelsea Ansfield.

They joined forces to create the visual components of the recruiting pitch. Something that might have been ancillary to the heart of the recruiting process pre-pandemic became the primary way to sell the program.

Typically, well use the graphics and all the digital material I make to supplement everything else were trying to do from a recruiting standpoint, Ansfield said. Right now, its all we have.

Illinois at least wasnt starting from scratch. Ansfield develops graphics for the team to use throughout the season. Hamer does the same with video, cataloguing clips on a regular basis for future use in game preparation or recruiting.

It makes it easy to create videos and some of that content we need to get to our recruits, he said. That was really helpful to us, and we were able to turn around our first virtual in-home visit. We were able to make that transition pretty seamlessly. Kelseas done an amazing job with creating these presentations. Between she and I, we keep most things organized and try to make these experiences as similar as they can be to kids actually being on campus.

Recreating all that can happen on a visit in a purely virtual landscape took some planning. Ansfield borrowed a 3D camera from local realtor Ryan Dallas so she could produce virtual tours of both State Farm Center and Ubben Basketball Complex.

The recruiting presentations can also detail other popular spots on campus and in the community.

I think were kind of fortunate at Illinois to be a university that has a lot of brag points, Ansfield said. We go through, I would say, all the high level 30,000-feet touchpoints. Then we digress into their recruiting process. Zach Hamer does a really good job with player development from a video standpoint.

We may have a third presentation that includes a lot of really personal details about them and their family and what their major is going to be and how theyre going to develop as a person as well as a student-athlete. We try to break it down into multiple presentations and really touch everything we need to, but also make sure were giving them what they need to make the best decision for them.

Illinois virtual in-home visit with the Goodes helped fill in some of the gaps from his unofficial visits. Some of the recruiting pitch by the coaches was saved for what was going to be his official visit. The Illini staff used the Zoom to provide more details on the Gies College of Business and dove into how Goode would develop on the court in his time in the program.

We had no expectations, Susan Goode said. I liked their PowerPoint presentation. They were all tailored to Luke. Really, thats what youre looking for at that time is information about the business school, about a plan. Not everyone is so deliberate about a plan for development.

They answered questions about development that were realistic. It wasnt them promising things we know may not come true. It filled in some holes, but you definitely miss being able to really see the campus. Hell take an official hopefully at some point in the fall.

A Zoom call, of course, simply isnt the same as an in-person visit. On an official visit, for example, a recruit and his family are on campus for a 36-hour period. Distilling that experience into an hourlong Zoom thats the length the Illini staff shoots for at least was the first challenge.

It makes you decide whats the most important, Hamer said. Again, thats different for each kid. If youre recruiting a kid thats more a fifth-year transfer type kid, then some of the player development isnt as important as for a kid whos in high school. Whats most important is different in each presentation. We try to parse it down.

That the Illinois coaching staff had fine-tuned its recruiting approach since Underwood got the job in March 2017 has helped. More and stronger relationships have been built. Recruiting now is coming off success stories like landing Ayo Dosunmu. Then Kofi Cockburn. Then Andre Curbelo. Then Adam Miller.

I think weve always been pretty laser-like in what we sell about our program, Illinois assistant coach Stephen Gentry said. Its always based along the relationships and the family atmosphere and player development and winning. We know what the bedrock of our program is. Maybe its sharpened the focus a little bit, but to me, what your pitch is and what our value is hasnt necessarily changed.

From its history to its coaching staff to its upcoming renovations to the Ubben Basketball Complex to even its uniform combination, the Illinois mens basketball program has devised different ways to reach recruits virtually since the coronavirus pandemic has halted coaches from hitting the road. You want them to see that its a family, Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. Weve worked really hard at that.

What has changed is how Illinois recruits. Out of necessity, of course, with what would have been multiple evaluation periods this spring and summer flipped to dead periods instead.

Ill be very honest, Underwood said. I hadnt heard of Zoom until all of this happened. Learning to communicate and share screens have become a prominent way to recruit. Its become really our only way to pass information along and be seen so you have face-to-face contact. Thats really important.

What Underwood feels most strongly about the program hes rebuilding at Illinois, though, is also difficult to express via Zoom. The Illini coach has stressed the importance of developing a strong team culture since the day he arrived in Champaign.

Thats probably the hardest thing to duplicate in a virtual presentation is, OK, how do I make this feel passionate? How do you I get them to feel our work ethic and how were all on board? Underwood said. I think early on I had a tendency of probably talking too much and not letting Chin (Coleman) and (Orlando Antigua) and Gentry be involved as much. Weve made that change. You want them to see that its a family. You want them to get to know the coaches. Weve worked really hard at that.

Virtual recruiting, then, has taken on an all-in approach from the Illinois coaching staff. As in, the entire staff convenes on Zoom for a virtual visit.

Its not just Underwood and his three assistants in Antigua, Coleman and Gentry, either. Strength and conditioning coach Adam Fletcher is involved. So is assistant to the head coach/offensive coordinator Geoff Alexander in addition to both Hamer and Ansfield.

I think as much as these are unfortunate times, its added something special to a lot of these virtual visits, Ansfield said. The potential recruits are getting an opportunity to hear from all of our staff members. They get to know everyone, which I think wouldnt be possible otherwise.

Gentry considers Illinois all-in approach to virtual recruiting the staffs biggest strength. It can and has made a difference.

Obviously, theres typically a lead assistant thats going to do most of the leg work or phone calls, but when you see the full staff on there, it really shows how committed we are to that particular recruit and how all in we are, Gentry said. We really back it up when we say we group recruit. Its not just one or two coaches doing all the talking and everyone else is just sitting there. Were each chiming in and have a section of the presentation. That makes the recruit and parents feel at home like, Im getting to know everyone thats a part of the staff.

It made a difference for Luke Goode. Gentry was the lead recruiter for the 6-foot-5 guard out of Fort Wayne, Ind., but Goode was able to further develop his relationship with the staff as a whole via Zoom.

When a full coaching staff can take time out of their day that they have with their family to talk to me specifically, it means a lot, Goode said. When you get recruited by a school, you usually only talk to the head coach and the assistant that recruits you. You dont really talk much to the rest of the coaching staff unless youre on campus. Being able to talk to those guys on a Zoom definitely helps my relationship with them.

Courtesy University of Illinois

A graphic showing the different uniform combinations the Illinois men's basketball team had for the 2019-2020 season is part of the virtual recruiting pitch the Illini staff have engaged in because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Luke Goode picking Illinois gave Underwood and Co. a leg up in Class of 2021 recruiting. His earlier visits to campus certainly helped the Illini secure his commitment. Hes also not the only 2021 or even 2022 prospect Illinois had on campus during the 2019-20 season.

Virtual recruiting and Zoom visits become easier when prospective recruits already have a frame of reference for the program and campus.

Youre showing them again, Gentry said. Theyve seen State Farm Center packed. Theyve seen how weve played and maybe theyve even seen a shootaround or a practice.

The visual presentations constructed by Ansfield and Hamer reinforce that time already spent with the Illinois coaching staff and team. Gentry said their innovation put the Illini ahead of the curve.

They really got out in front of how recruiting was going to change during the coronavirus, he said. We needed to incorporate technology, but keep that personal touch to it, too. At the end of the day, its about relationships.

Illinois virtual recruiting isnt static either. Ansfield didnt want to give away any trade secrets a recruiting edge might be even more important in a purely virtual world but said the Illinois staff is continuing to innovate. Thats happening while an emphasis is still placed on what Underwood finds important: trying to get across the programs culture, character and passion.

Theres definitely some trial and error, Hamer said about Illinois virtual visits. Theres certain lines we know Coach Underwood is going to say in every single visit, and you get a little chuckle when that comes across. We havent done anything too outlandish, I dont think. Were pretty confident in what were selling and what we have to offer as a program. I think weve stayed away from getting overly gimmicky in these visits.

Theyve certainly evolved a little bit. We know what were trying to sell and what our program and university have to offer. The nuts and bolts dont necessarily change, but you certainly tweak it.

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Virtual reality: How the Illini have adapted their recruiting during a pandemic - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette