Speed is the name of the game for Sabins and his staff during recruiting
While stealing bases on the field has been crucial for West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins in recent years, their speed off the field this offseason has been the difference maker in recruiting.
For Sabins, he is well adjusted to this era of college athletics and the transfer portal. Previously serving as WVU’s Director of Recruiting, Sabins has seen it all, and now as the head coach of the Mountaineers, he knows being quick is the most important thing for him and his staff.
“You have to be aware of what’s going on around the country with the talent. You have to be prepared. So it’s just like anything. You don’t know what these players are going to do individually. You don’t know if someone’s going to enter the transfer portal or not. But when they do, the team that contacts them first, the team that sets up visits first, the team that puts an offer out on the table first, they have some sort of advantage,” Sabins said on 3 Guys Before the Game.
Sabins has built an impressive transfer portal class this offseason, building a class that ranks top-20 in the nation according to 64Analytics, while they also have WVU with four of the top-200 recruits out of the transfer portal this offseason.
“You talk to a lot of these players, they get contacted by hundreds of schools, but there’s always these initial conversations. There’s always excitement of, hey, I’m with [West Virginia] and just wanted to see your interest level, why’d you enter the portal, what are you thinking, how are things going — awesome, we’ll be in touch with you. The only problem is, we’ll be in touch with you, it starts to lose a little bit of that power over the course of 10 days when 15, 20 other schools call,” Sabins said.
Recognizing the nature of the beast is what has helped Sabins understand that sometimes in this part of recruiting it is about getting in touch with a player and then maintaining that relationship.
“We try to do a good job of identifying, knowing who’s out there when they go into the portal. Sometimes we’ll have an initial call, but it’s basically followed up by me, or I’m calling originally quickly with an offer. So I think that’s the biggest difference,” Sabins said.
Sabins knows it’s a lot to do, but it has been successful for him this offseason, as out of their 14 commitments from the transfer portal, 13 are likely to make it to campus this fall.
“It might not be sustainable for the next 30 years if this system stays that way, but essentially, on the phone with the head coach with an offer in hand. So there’s no, I think they like me, I don’t know if they like me. It’s like Sabins called me, offered me, is pushing me to get on a plane tomorrow, right? And so it’s just, we’re trying to move quickly. By the time some other schools made an offer, oftentimes they’ve already had a stake on my deck. And so there’s just some sort of relationship that had been created,” Sabins said.
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