https://setonhall.rivals.com/
By Tyler Calvaruso
Recruiting changes and UConn’s return to Big East are challenges Tony Bozzella has welcomed
If you asked Seton Hall women’s basketball coach Tony Bozzella to hop on a Zoom video call five months ago he would have had no clue what you were talking about.
Now, he is a veteran in the domain.
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced college basketball to shut down in March, traditional recruiting methods went along with it. Gone were the days of meeting with recruits in person and walking them around campus to show off facilities and hit the film room to discuss offensive and defensive schemes. Coaches had to figure out on the fly how they were going to secure commitments from elite prep prospects without being able to recruit the way they had for their entire careers.
In the age of technology, recruiting naturally shifted to an online setting. Zoom and FaceTime calls took the place of locker room chats. Physical tours were provided by pre-recorded videos and, in some cases, live walk-throughs of campus and team facilities. Like every program, Seton Hall was forced to endure never seen before circumstances on the recruiting trail. Thanks to his younger staff members and an overall team effort, Bozzella and company's transition to the virtual realm has been a relatively smooth one.
“To say [the transition from in-person to online recruiting] was awkward would be an understatement,” Bozzella told PirateCrew.com. “I didn’t even know what Zoom was. It was hard. I give my staff credit. Lauren [DeFalco] and Marissa [Flagg], they really helped Jose [Rebimbas] and I through this Zoom thing. They got us to be comfortable. We practiced and it was great. It got to the point where I was doing three or four Zoom calls a day.”
Seton Hall has not just gotten comfortable doing Zoom calls with recruits. It has thrived in its newfound environment, taking advantage of the creativity of its coaching staff to make calls fun, engaging and informative for prospects.
“Our staff has put together a tremendous recruiting video that we use,” Bozzella said. “We use three different ones, so we’re able to have three separate Zoom calls with these recruits that are totally different each time. Lauren has organized all that and then Marissa has come up with a unique fourth Zoom call with different games and fun ideas to get to know the kid better. Jose has also done a great job explaining our offense. We’ve done a great job in our presentation to have four tremendously special Zoom calls with these kids.”
Despite the challenges presented by the NCAA dead period, which remains in place until at least Sept. 30, and virtual recruiting, Bozzella believes Seton Hall has ironically benefited from in-person visits being shut down for the foreseeable future. Visits are essentially double-edged swords. As beneficial as one could be for a program, it could also greatly reduce a school’s chances with a recruit if she visits a bigger campus with better athletic facilities. Recruiting online allows the emphasis to be placed on familiarity and relationship building, which played a major role in the Pirates landing Curtessia Dean out of Trinity Valley Community College.
“The one player we got, the junior college kid Curtessia Dean, was a high-level recruit,” Bozzella said. “She was clearly being pursued by, like, 15 BCS schools. She ended up choosing our school because one of her close friends, Jasmine Smith, is on our team and really helped sell our program. She couldn’t visit anywhere, so in the end, she chose us because of familiarity.
So, I think [the shutdown] helped us. I think if she had gone in and was able to visit the Michigan’s of the world and Texas Tech, who was really high on her as was Texas A&M, it would have been hard for us. Through Jasmine and through the staff getting to know her well, we were able to get her, so I think we haven’t been hurt as much as other people have.”
As if virtual recruiting, the dead period and a shortened off-season have not provided Seton Hall with enough of a challenge to overcome in its pursuit of a Big East championship, another obstacle has been thrown its way with UConn’s return to the conference. The Huskies have captured three National Championships since 2013, all of which came consecutively from 2013-16. They have also made six Final Four appearance while accumulating a 252-9 record over that span. In its seven years playing in the American Athletic Conference, UConn did not lose a single conference game, going 118-0.
Now back in the conference it called home from 1985-2013, UConn’s road to excellence will be a bit bumpier with programs like DePaul and Marquette at the top of the league. The Pirates also gave the Huskies a serious run for their money when they came to a sold-out Walsh Gymnasium in 2019 and are not going to back down from the challenge of playing a blueblood program twice a year.
Playing a program like UConn is never easy, but if the way Seton Hall challenged the Huskies for four quarters a year ago is a sign of things to come, UConn’s reign of terror over the AAC is going to be tough to replicate in the Big East with a bunch of hungry and willing programs throwing its best punch on a nightly basis.
“I think it’s great,” Bozzella said of UConn coming back to the Big East. “I think anytime you bring in the best program in women’s college basketball history into your league, a team that is still successful. A coach and a staff that promotes the Big East as vigorously as they do...Geno Auriemma and his staff don’t just talk about UConn; they talk about the Big East. They are a great ambassador for the league and it’s going to help us.
I think it’ll open up a few more doors for us in the recruiting process. I think it’s great overall. To be able to have the Big East Tournament in Connecticut...it’s great for our fans. We’ve never had it this close and now our fans will be able to go support us there. I think those things are all real positives.”
In short the future is bright for Seton Hall's distaff basketball team as seen by its head coach Tony Bozzella. Music to the ears of all its loyal followers.
By Tyler Calvaruso
Recruiting changes and UConn’s return to Big East are challenges Tony Bozzella has welcomed
If you asked Seton Hall women’s basketball coach Tony Bozzella to hop on a Zoom video call five months ago he would have had no clue what you were talking about.
Now, he is a veteran in the domain.
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced college basketball to shut down in March, traditional recruiting methods went along with it. Gone were the days of meeting with recruits in person and walking them around campus to show off facilities and hit the film room to discuss offensive and defensive schemes. Coaches had to figure out on the fly how they were going to secure commitments from elite prep prospects without being able to recruit the way they had for their entire careers.
In the age of technology, recruiting naturally shifted to an online setting. Zoom and FaceTime calls took the place of locker room chats. Physical tours were provided by pre-recorded videos and, in some cases, live walk-throughs of campus and team facilities. Like every program, Seton Hall was forced to endure never seen before circumstances on the recruiting trail. Thanks to his younger staff members and an overall team effort, Bozzella and company's transition to the virtual realm has been a relatively smooth one.
“To say [the transition from in-person to online recruiting] was awkward would be an understatement,” Bozzella told PirateCrew.com. “I didn’t even know what Zoom was. It was hard. I give my staff credit. Lauren [DeFalco] and Marissa [Flagg], they really helped Jose [Rebimbas] and I through this Zoom thing. They got us to be comfortable. We practiced and it was great. It got to the point where I was doing three or four Zoom calls a day.”
Seton Hall has not just gotten comfortable doing Zoom calls with recruits. It has thrived in its newfound environment, taking advantage of the creativity of its coaching staff to make calls fun, engaging and informative for prospects.
“Our staff has put together a tremendous recruiting video that we use,” Bozzella said. “We use three different ones, so we’re able to have three separate Zoom calls with these recruits that are totally different each time. Lauren has organized all that and then Marissa has come up with a unique fourth Zoom call with different games and fun ideas to get to know the kid better. Jose has also done a great job explaining our offense. We’ve done a great job in our presentation to have four tremendously special Zoom calls with these kids.”
Despite the challenges presented by the NCAA dead period, which remains in place until at least Sept. 30, and virtual recruiting, Bozzella believes Seton Hall has ironically benefited from in-person visits being shut down for the foreseeable future. Visits are essentially double-edged swords. As beneficial as one could be for a program, it could also greatly reduce a school’s chances with a recruit if she visits a bigger campus with better athletic facilities. Recruiting online allows the emphasis to be placed on familiarity and relationship building, which played a major role in the Pirates landing Curtessia Dean out of Trinity Valley Community College.
“The one player we got, the junior college kid Curtessia Dean, was a high-level recruit,” Bozzella said. “She was clearly being pursued by, like, 15 BCS schools. She ended up choosing our school because one of her close friends, Jasmine Smith, is on our team and really helped sell our program. She couldn’t visit anywhere, so in the end, she chose us because of familiarity.
So, I think [the shutdown] helped us. I think if she had gone in and was able to visit the Michigan’s of the world and Texas Tech, who was really high on her as was Texas A&M, it would have been hard for us. Through Jasmine and through the staff getting to know her well, we were able to get her, so I think we haven’t been hurt as much as other people have.”
As if virtual recruiting, the dead period and a shortened off-season have not provided Seton Hall with enough of a challenge to overcome in its pursuit of a Big East championship, another obstacle has been thrown its way with UConn’s return to the conference. The Huskies have captured three National Championships since 2013, all of which came consecutively from 2013-16. They have also made six Final Four appearance while accumulating a 252-9 record over that span. In its seven years playing in the American Athletic Conference, UConn did not lose a single conference game, going 118-0.
Now back in the conference it called home from 1985-2013, UConn’s road to excellence will be a bit bumpier with programs like DePaul and Marquette at the top of the league. The Pirates also gave the Huskies a serious run for their money when they came to a sold-out Walsh Gymnasium in 2019 and are not going to back down from the challenge of playing a blueblood program twice a year.
Playing a program like UConn is never easy, but if the way Seton Hall challenged the Huskies for four quarters a year ago is a sign of things to come, UConn’s reign of terror over the AAC is going to be tough to replicate in the Big East with a bunch of hungry and willing programs throwing its best punch on a nightly basis.
“I think it’s great,” Bozzella said of UConn coming back to the Big East. “I think anytime you bring in the best program in women’s college basketball history into your league, a team that is still successful. A coach and a staff that promotes the Big East as vigorously as they do...Geno Auriemma and his staff don’t just talk about UConn; they talk about the Big East. They are a great ambassador for the league and it’s going to help us.
I think it’ll open up a few more doors for us in the recruiting process. I think it’s great overall. To be able to have the Big East Tournament in Connecticut...it’s great for our fans. We’ve never had it this close and now our fans will be able to go support us there. I think those things are all real positives.”
In short the future is bright for Seton Hall's distaff basketball team as seen by its head coach Tony Bozzella. Music to the ears of all its loyal followers.
