For our first in-person Rotary meeting of October, a positive, fast-paced, exciting presentation by Ryun Williams, CSU Women’s Basketball head coach, introduced us to the current status and some of the history of coaching and recruiting for the women’s basketball program at CSU.
Coach Williams started with a focus on current activities. The players practice every day from 7:00 AM to around 10:30 AM, then off to class. Seven of the current players, ranging from freshmen to 5th year seniors (who are eligible because they lost a year to Covid), accompanied him to our meeting. Each one introduced herself, including where she came from – ranging from Northern Colorado University (transfer) to Latvia and Sweden. All through his presentation, Coach Williams returned to his emphasis on recruiting young women who are not only good players (one of the freshmen scored 2000 points in high school; the young woman from Latvia is the number one player in 3-on-3 in Latvia) but also young women of high character. And he returned to this emphasis on character with respect to a number of aspects of being a member of the team.
This year’s schedule is still somewhat up in the air since the Mountain West Conference schedule has not yet been released. However, the non-conference schedule includes top teams like Gonzaga and Oregon State here in Moby Arena, BYU in Provo and Georgia at a holiday tournament in San Diego. The coach and the players want challenges so they are looking forward to playing Las Vegas, recently the top team in the conference, for the next two years before CSU moves to the PAC (now really the PAC-8 but ultimately the PAC-12, once they get at least one more school with a competitive football program). Playing against top teams gives the players the opportunity to play against the best players from around the country.
He emphasized that these young women are student athletes first where there is an expectation that they will develop both on and off the floor and in the community. And they are all looking forward to competing for another championship.
Questions:
With eight new players on the team, some freshmen, some transfers, how do they develop a team culture necessary for a successful year? Coach Williams started by returning to his emphasis on recruiting women of high character. They have a number of team bonding exercises, maybe as simple as a barbecue at his house. The coaches have a non-negotiable vision of what the team stands for but the players establish the culture. The players identify what they want to be about and hold each other accountable – what they stand for and what they will not stand for.
What is their mechanism for successful recruiting? Recruiting for a first-class institution in a first-class location is a great starting point, even for potential players from other parts of Colorado. Although they recruit heavily in our area, they also travel the world, especially visiting sponsored big summer tournaments around the world, to see the best players. They are looking for good players who are also good students of high character and with parents who will support their kids but won’t let them get off easy, in spite of the really hard challenges of demanding coaches, difficult classes, and periodic bouts of homesickness. The coaches and the players who are already here represent Colorado, Fort Collins, CSU, the club, and their parents and the combination is a real draw.
How has the transfer portal impacted his job? First, the transfer portal can be a good thing, especially for a player who is not getting the playing time that she wants. Initially the portal led him to soften up his coaching so as to not drive away some good players. However, he quickly returned to a focus on making each player better as a player, a team member, and a member of the community with the realization that this might lead to some players transferring out.
Is there any relationship with Becky Harmon, arguably the most successful of the CSU women’s basketball alums? She is a big part of the CSU women’s basketball history and reputation and has come to speak with the team in the past. She is a real positive example of where the CSU program can set you up to go.
What impact has NIL (name, image, and likeness) had on his job? He will not recruit a player who is all about that. Although NIL is obviously now part of the life of major university sports programs, what he is selling (if that is the right word) is a great education, a great environment in Fort Collins and the surrounding area, and great support from the school and the community (including three sellouts at games last year).
What does a fifth-year player do with her non-basketball time? Those young women are not here just to play basketball. They are commonly in graduate school; two of the young women who accompanied him to the meeting are currently working toward master’s degrees in Sports Management.
In closing, Coach Williams encouraged us to have a Rotary fellowship event at the Oregon State game on November 8.