Coppin Is Back!
utes played, scoring and three point
baskets, rebounds and steals, He is
averaging 16.6 points and 6.8
rebounds a game.
Sidney Goodman, a sophomore
FroTn Camden, N.J. , directs the oPTense
this vear. He averages 1 1 .8 points per
game and 2.9 rebounds.
Goodman likes the family atmos
phere at Coppin, and hopes to help his
team make it to the NCAA tournament
this year.
"When I recruit a young man, 1
look for someone who is a good per
son, someone who will listen/' says
Mitchell.
"Playing basketball is part of it.
You must be a student- athlete."
Even though Mitchell has a repu
tation as a tough taskmaster, he does
have a softer side.
Kenyatta Massey of Washington,
D.C. was recruited to play power for
ward. Massey hails from nationally
ranked D.C. Dunbar high school in
Washington, D.C., coached by
Michael McLeese.
However, upon enrolling at Cop
pin, it was found that Massey has a
degenerate hip, the same condition that
afflicts former baseball star Bo Jack
son. The hip, if snapped by physical
force, can render a person unable to
use it for life.
Mitchell convinced the administra
tion to allow Massey to continue his
studies on an athletic scholarship .for
three years (Massey is a junior) or
until Massey completes his degree.
Another situation involved Sher
man Stewart; the younger brother of
Coppin alumnus and present Washing
ton Bullet Larry Stewart. Stewart had
?s> academic problems in high school and
was not looked at by many schools.
Mitchell, nevertheless, recruited
him and persuaded him that it was in
his best interest to attend Coppin.
Stewart was ME AC Rookie of the year
candidate and is averaging nine points
a
i. When / recruit a young
? man, I look for some
one who is a good per
son, someone who will
listen
iy
? Coach Mitchell.
a game with lour rebounds, lie is also
on lime academically will) his liberal
arts curriculum.
Mitchell's record stands at 112-82
and he believes the future is bright lor
his young learn.
"It isn't one |>erson who makes a
*
program ii is ;ill who arc iiwolveil:
administrators. coachcs. lans and fac
ulty." says Mitchell. "Thai is why wc
arc on lop anil hope lo win the
MI{A(\" As staled above, C'oppin is
hack!
? James Wright, Jr.
Top Recruits Still Ra
rity At Black Schools
During Coach Jake Gaither's hey
day at Florida A&M, recruiting play
ers never was a problem. Gaither, now
retired, stockpiled so many good foot
ball player that the Rattlers had three
units called "Blood, Sweat and Tears."
Chances are any of the three could
have beaten the Tampa Bay Bucca
neers. Today, colleges spend as much
as $5(X),(XX) a year on football recruit
ing. Gaither was so powerful that al I
he needed was pocket money for tele
phone calls. Near the end of the sea
son, Gaither would call a dozen or so
of the top high school coaches in
Florida and use^his booming voice to
say: "What have you got down there,
baby?""
Usually, that's all it took. A few
~momtrs-4a4efv 4uwie_QJLLhe J>i?gest ,
toughest, high school players in the"
country would show up at the FAMU
campus, ready to give their all for
Gaither and the Rattlers. ?
If only black college recruiting
could be so easy today.
The Rattlers still have immense
pride, but no one in black colleges can
recruit the way Gaither and Gram
bling's Eddie Robinson use to.
During the 1950s and 1960s,
before integration, Florida A&M and
Grambling ? along with Jackson
State, Tennessee State and a few other
schools ? ^ were to young black ath
letes what Notre Dame, Southern Cali
fornia and Alabama are the most
bright-eyed recruits today.
If you were a black kid growing
up in the segregated South, you
thought about playing for Gaither,
Robinson, or one of the other lop black
college coaches. Robinson once joketl
that Grambling didn't rebuild. "We
just reload," he said. And Gaither used
to tell booster clubs that he recruited
only three types of players: "Agile,
hostile and mobile."
Today's black college coaches are
singing a different tune. They're hav
ing to take whatever players they can
get, says Bill Buchalter, one of the
country's leading experts on college
recruiting.
, "It's not impossible lor the black
schools to recruit some of the lop play
ers, but it has been a long time since
integration," he said. "What we're see
ing now is that the lop kids will con
sider the black colleges only as a sec
The end of the segregation^
brought about much needed changes
for the good except for black college
athletic programs. Once Alabama
coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and other
white coaches in the Soulh began
recruiting black players, it was if
floodgates had been opened. Now,
some black players would rather risk
being at the end of the bench at Notre
Dame than starting at Howard.
"You can't lake a person's dream
away from him," Buchalter said. "At
one time black kids had to go to black
colleges because the other schools
wouldn't recruit them. Now, ihe top
kids generally won't show up on a
black college campus unless their fam
ilies have strong ties to a black col
lege, or one of Ihe bigger schools
hacks off for Ihe same reason."
Today's black college coaches
have found (hey have lo be visionaries.
I'hey have lo be able lo spol a player
who may be undersized Unlay, bill has
Ihe abilily lo build another .">0 pounds
of muscles. They have lo lake a chance
on a kill who is academically lacking
bill seems lo have potential. The black
Another player from Mississippi
also was considered loo small. Mis
name: Waller I'aylon. lie played at
Jackson Stale, and went on lo become
an NI L Mali of l ame running back.
Il won't be easy, but black col
leges will have lo find more prospecls
like I hat . There arc some encouraging
signs. The NCAA has passed a rule
allowing players from Division I A
"What we're seeing now is that the top kids will
consider the black colleges only as a second
choice."
? line halter
college coaches are lorever looking lor
a diamond in the rough.
lint! was the biggesi
frustration I had," saul Tori
He was fired at B-CX" a year ago, part
ly because of his inability to land
much of the top talent in the state.
"You do your best to develop play
ers, but in the end, you're only as good
as the talent you have to work with,"
Little said.
Sometimes, black colleges are
able to find that diamond in the rough.
One player in Mississippi was consid
ered loo slow and too skinny to be
recruited by the larger schools. His
name: Jerry Rice.
Today, Rice, who played at Mis
sissippi Valley, ranks as one of the
greatest receivers in NFL history.
programs in transfer !<? ' A A schools
without penalty.
Now, a talented athlete who finds
-h i mse 1 1 -uLiiicj; n< j of the IxmicIi at say.
Michigan, can I ran*. I -i rrpjirci soih
State and possibly he v? tiling lor the
I igers I he next (all. There no longer is
a one-year wailing period.
I here is also a resunvnee ol black
pride among high sch . >1 students.
More and more black "Tuclcnts are
enrolling al black colleges. The lop
black colleges, such ;h ! 'orida A&M.
Howard, and Morclu fiiicl they
have far more applicant ^ than they can
accept.
Perhaps one day. n e ol the lop
black athletes will he anu?ng the stu
dents applying to C'la r: Mbany Slate,
S athem and Norfolk
? Bsrry Cooper