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

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