Bryan Hodgson’s first few days as the new USF men’s basketball coach was a whirlwind.
He began assembling a staff, brought in two key players from his Arkansas State team, and received three commitments from the highly regarded incoming prep class he assembled before coming to USF.
Since then, it’s been pretty quiet, but that’s probably about to change. The NCAA-mandated “dead period” on recruiting ends today – Friday, April 11 and extends to April 30.
In the dead period, coaches are not permitted to have any face-to-face contact with recruits, although they can call, text, or interact on social media.
Now, it’s go time, and the Bulls wasted no time. On3.com reported USF picked up shooting guard. Xavier Brown in the portal from James Madison.
“He’ll be able to attack through the transfer portal and maybe a few more high school students,” USF Vice President for Athletics Michael Kelly said on his Bull Speed Ahead podcast.
Kelly also offered additional insights on the process that led to Hodgson’s hiring.
Kelly said he began with a preliminary list of about 80 coaches and had preliminary conversations with about half of those. He conducted the search himself instead of using an outside firm.
“Searches are a big part of my responsibilities and job. That was the eleventh head coaching search I've led in my time here. It's been something that I continue to learn and try to improve each time in terms of the process,” he said.
“It starts with really being able to sell and explain the situation and the opportunity. And I think that's what we've got so much more to sell as a university with the (Association of American Universities), the way that we're aggressively attacking the new frontier of college sports, with NIL and scholarships and all that sort of thing.”
Hodgson was preparing his Arkansas State squad for their appearance in the NIT while talks with USF continued.
“As you get refined and get down to fewer and fewer candidates, then you can get really specific. Timing is so important,," Kelly said.
"The day we hired Bryan was the day that the portal opened. How would you attack our roster? How do you evaluate our current roster? How would you evaluate your current roster? Where are their blending opportunities? At the end of the day, I just became very impressed with the way that he answered that question.”
The fact that Hodgson’s Arkansas State handily beat Memphis on the road and swept a home-and-home against UAB was huge in Kelly’s mind.
“That shows that he certainly understands what the American (Athletic Conference) offers. By beating the best teams in our league, and then to be able to look at his recruiting prowess and his general upbringing,” Kelly said.
“He'd been a coach at the JUCO level, that he'd been a successful assistant coach with Coach (Nate) Oats at Buffalo when they had become a prominent program in that league, then having similar success at Alabama, and then being able to see two years of him running his own show with great success were all things that gave me comfort.”