TicketsA few weeks ago, I sat down with assistant coach LaRita Wilcher to talk about her past, her perspective as a coach, and some really interesting insight into recruiting when trying to build a program from the foundation up. She brings a lot of energy and excitement to the team, as some of you who have been out to Fifth Third Arena already have probably noticed! Here goes:
Reggie Philpott: You've mentioned to me before that you're going to be coordinating a lot of the recruiting for the team. What are your responsibilities as far as recruitment goes?
LaRita Wilcher: My biggest job is to make sure that we identify especially people in our state, but we also try to recruit nationally, as well. My biggest job right now is to make sure that our next class is a sound group for 2010, and then also pushing forward, making sure that we identify those underclassmen that we need to push hard at for 2011 and 2012. The biggest thing right now is to build a foundation here, and then build on that as we go forward. I'm really emphasizing our state, Ohio, because there's a lot of talent here. We're trying to keep some of those potential superstars home. Again, from the east coast to the west coast, we're recruiting, and anything in between.
RP: Ohio in particular, but also Cincinnati, has a reputation as a place with a lot of really good high school basketball talent. What value do you see in trying to get those athletes to stay at home?
LW: I think it's huge for them. We have a great product here at Cincinnati, and getting them on campus to see what we have to offer them from an academic standpoint, as well as athletically. We're in what we feel is one of the best conferences in women's basketball, so we can offer them the best of both worlds. Getting them on campus and talking to our coaching staff, and meeting our players, and seeing our facilities is going to be huge for us. Once people figure out what Cincinnati has, then I think it's going to be an easy task to keep people interested in what we have and getting them to want to stay at home. But the big thing is to identify those people and then get them here on campus to see it.
RP: Jumping off that point, the team over the last couple years hasn't performed very well. What's the challenge of trying to get someone to buy into the Cincinnati product right now, this year?
LW: Whenever you haven't met with success, your mindset is that you have a loser's mentality. So, I guess right now it's letting the kids know that we're building with them, that they are going to be a part of the foundation that we're building to get better. It's letting them know that we care about them and we want the best out of them. Especially with women, they want to know that you care about them, and that you're working as hard as you possibly can for them, that we have all the resources for them to go as far as they want to go. We're not counting them out, now. We feel that we're going to be able to compete with some people this year, with the talent that we have. So, just letting them know, we've got what you need as far as resources are concerned. We're working for you, we care about you, and we want to see you succeed. The biggest hurdle that we have is that we have to lose the loser's mentality, and push forward. Again, it's going to be huge to get a foundation in here for the next class, to continue to build on that.
RP: Is head coach Jamelle Elliott helping to turn that mentality around, even by simply being here?
LW: Absolutely. Absolutely. She comes with a tremendous amount of success. She's been at a program where she helped build it from the ground up, so she understands those pieces you have to have in place in order to become a nationally renowned institution. I think her being here is tremendous. I think the players look at her and go, 'wow, I want to be a part of what she's about to build,' because she's met with a lot of success. Six national championships, I mean you're normally not going to be a part of a program with a head coach that has met with that type of success. Also, she's a very down to earth person, she can easily relate to a lot of different people, so she's going to be great for our program.
RP: How does recruitment build on itself from one year to the next? How do you go from where we are now with the talent level that we have, and eventually reach the talent level of a top-tier program like UConn or Tennessee?
LW: That's a challenge for every program in America. I think what you have to do is that you have to get one [laughs]. First, you start off with a foundation of people that are going to work hard for you and get you a few more wins, and then you go after those people and say, 'hey, look what we've done, and this is where we're trying to reach, and I think you are the key to that puzzle.' So, if you get one to buy in, now you've got one, and she can help recruit another, and now you're winning a couple more games. And unfortunately, it is all about winning, and people want to be a part of programs that are winning, and be a part of something that they know is building. It depends, some people look for a program that already has the pieces to it, and they just want to be a part of it. But when you're building a program, a lot of people want to be a part of firsts. You know, 'I want to be here and make my mark.' And so that's what we're selling to the people that we're going after. 'Look, you can be that person, that key, that piece of our foundation that's going to help us go where we want to go.' That's the big vision we try to paint for them, being that first.
RP: What's your impression of the city of Cincinnati so far?
LW: I love it! I was down in the south region for seven years, but I'm originally from Chicago, and Cincinnati feels like a little bit of both to me. You can have your southern hospitality, as well as a city where you can get out and do some things. I'm enjoying the fact that I've got professional teams right in the city! There's a lot for me and my family to do, whenever I do have an opportunity to get out and do some things [laughs]. We've got great sports here, so I'm loving it! The food is good, I've been to Montgomery Inn a couple times and that's been very good. I'm from Chicago, and it's got that same kind of feel to it a little bit, just on a smaller scale, so it's been good.
RP: Your seniors have played under three different coaching staffs now going into their final season. Where is your mindset as a coach at the beginning of your tenure?
LW: Right now we're implementing our system, and we're showing the girls our vision, our philosophy for this year of hard work and effort. One thing that [head coach Jamelle Elliott] has been harping on, her motto is 'play hard, play smart, and have fun.' She feels that if we can manage to do those things on a day to day basis, it's going to help take us to where we're trying to go. It may not be realistic that we're going to win a Big East championship, but we're definitely going to continue to grow and build each year ... those kids are working extremely hard for Jamelle. Keeping them on that page where they know if they just do the small things that we're telling them to do, they're going to get better. And I think they've seen themselves improve. All last year, they played nothing but zone, and now we're implementing a man to man defensive philosophy. They understand that these are the things we're going to have to be able to do in order to compete in our league.
RP: What's the most rewarding part about being a coach for you?
LW: It's a sacrifice, it's a challenge, it's a grind, day in and day out. In anything that you do, you have to find out why you have a passion for it. I have a passion for it because it motivates me each day when I know that I can give back to a young lady, to help her further her career in basketball, her career academically and her career in life, seriously. As a basketball coach, we wear so many different hats. One minute I feel like I'm teaching them the game of basketball, the next minute I'm mentoring them in the game of life. That's the biggest thing: it's a different challenge every day. It allows me to build on a relationship. Three, four years from now, when they can look back on their life and their career and say, 'hey, look, I remember what Coach Wilcher told me, and it helped me be a better person, or it helped me academically. Whatever it is in life they're trying to get to, if I helped in that process, that's truly rewarding for me.
You can read assistant coach LaRita Wilcher's short bio here.
In case you missed it last month, you can read my Q & A with assistant coach Mark Ehlen here.
Stay tuned next month for my Q & A with assistant coach Todd Moore!
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