30 DAYS TO A CHAMPIONS: WELCOMING PLAYERS AND FAMILIES AND SEARCHING FOR QUALITY ASSISTANT COACHES

Jim Boone: It's been a great and hectic weekend!  We had the opportunity to meet and greet our players and their families as they arrived to our campus for the fall semester.  Obviously, there were a lot of things to do but they all hit the back burner when a new family arrived.  Many probably think it is important for me to make myself available to welcome the players and their families since this is my first year as their coach and therefore my first chance to have a face-to-face with them.  However, this has always been an annual tradition for our staff.  We will always be here with open arms each fall -- it's part of extending our family!

Another great sign is that on their first day on campus -- on a Saturday night -- they decided to play pick up in the gym.  It's a strong indicator that this team wants to excel.  Another good sign is that our 6' 7" post player shattered a backboard dunking over a teammate in transition!

Today, among other things, I will continue to work on my staff.  There can be very few things more important than putting together an excellent staff. I will work just as hard in choosing and then developing my staff as I will in any other phase of our program because the staff will affect every other phase of our program.  Please note that I said "develop."  It is not enough to pick good people to be on our staff, it is up to me to help guide them in areas to make sure that we have a shared vision of where we want to go and how we want to get there.

Here are a few things that I always look for in a staff:

1. Loyalty -- To me this is the most important of all traits.  As Alan Stein says, "We must have each other's back."  They must believe in what we doing as program, how we go about our work,and believe in West Virginia Wesleyan as an institution and our team!

2. Work Ethic -- We are a "Hard Work Basketball Program." This blue-collar approach has been a major part of our longevity and success -- thus we need assistant coaches that reflect this important tenant of our program. If you want your dreams to come true, don't sleep.

3. Ability to Teach -- We are a teaching program, therefore we must have coaches that can teach. I love to hire guys that are high school teachers or that I have seen them teach in their own practice or in our camps.  The ability to effectively teach is one of utmost importance.

4. Passion -- I want to hire coaches who have a passion for the game, for teaching, and the ambition to become head coaches.

5. Interpersonal Skills -- Our assistant coaches must be able to relate to our players, to our recruits and their families, and on our campus with our administration, staff and faculty. I find it very important to have people skills.

6. Appearance & Professionalism -- These traits our very important as our coaches represent West Virginia Wesleyan, our program and myself as the head coach 24-7.

On with the search!!!