Mike Grimm: Go Gophers Podcast with Keegan Cook

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Home Cooking

Episode #54 features one of the first in-depth interviews with brand new Golden Gopher volleyball coach Keegan Cook, as he takes us inside the program and tells us about taking the job, his coachin…

talknorth.com

Excellent interview by Grimm

 

[Gopher68]

Home Cooking

Episode #54 features one of the first in-depth interviews with brand new Golden Gopher volleyball coach Keegan Cook, as he takes us inside the program and tells us about taking the job, his coachin…

talknorth.com

Excellent interview by Grimm

Working the portal. Visits scheduled for this weekend. Transfers won't join the team until June.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

And I think the transfers he's recruiting are grad transfers.

 

[GopherVB23]

Alright who's on campus this week to snoop and see who are the grad transfers visiting on Friday?

I'm guessing one is Murr, but not sure about the other(s).

 

[Gophers_4life]

I think this is the best strategy. Use 1 year players to fill glaring holes, but center the roster on high school recruits who will put 4/5 years into the program.

... but that's the whole thing.

Who says the high school players won't just transfer out, if they don't like the playing time situation that they're getting?

 

[Gophers_4life]

Disappointing that transfers won't join until the summer.


Spring is going to be difficult, with only two middles and one defensive player.

Do you try to recruit practice players? You could even recruit guys to play, so you can hold 6-on-6 scrimmage.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Then you use grad transfers to fill the glaring holes and reset once again with high school recruits. With the college sports landscape in flux it's important to wear "your brand" on your sleeve.

High turnover isn't good for any organization, no matter how good the rental talent is that you're bringing in.

So you want high school recruits and you're good with 1-year transfers.

What are you actually against? I'm not getting it.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

... but that's the whole thing.

Who says the high school players won't just transfer out, if they don't like the playing time situation that they're getting?

I take it you haven't listened to the podcast. Cook was clear about how he'd like things to work. Whether they will...

 

[Gophers_4life]

What coach ever says "you know, I know that players are going to be transferring out of here left and right, and that doesn't bother me at all, because I'll just raid the transfer portal every year".

Duh. Of course he's going to say he wants to do it from recruiting high school players. That's what you have to say.


There are at most usually 8 starting spots in college women's volleyball, but there are usually quite a bit more than that on rosters.


Kids don't want to wait any more. And in some cases (like the classless Booth), we even see starters jumping ship.

 

[Ski U Mah Gopher]

Disappointing that transfers won't join until the summer.


Spring is going to be difficult, with only two middles and one defensive player.

Do you try to recruit practice players? You could even recruit guys to play, so you can hold 6-on-6 scrimmage.

I wouldn't be surprised if he used the Men's Club team for practice players.

 

[4EverAGopher]

I have not listened to the podcast, but am going to assume with the abvoe posts we will be mighty thin on the Spring Roster.

I am also not following or accessing the portal so I would love to know the GRAD TRANSFERS KCook is referring to for this Friday campus visit.....like everybody else I am hoping Murr for sure is one of them. It still wouldn't mean she would commit to the Gophers, after the visit.

Heck, has Gomillion visited yet? She isn't a Grad Transfer, but I haven't heard a thing, if she has or has not.

KCook could pull a Hugh like move by moving Schnichels to MB if necessary. Like when Hugh had to move Miyabe to that position....that would be leaving Crowl at the RS or Hanson.

Hanson, McGhie and/or Gray playing the backcourt.

 

[Gophers_4life]

VT poster summarized the interview as follows:

A few notable info from the interview:
- Cook has certainly been having a lot of conversations with (grad) transfers. There will be a few potential transfers visiting campus this Friday but that they won’t be able to start until June.
- All of his assistant coaches are his first choices (that’s awesome), crediting Kristen for the local/Midwest connection and Eric and Ky will bring in the energy needed for this team
- We should expect more aggressive servings from this coaching staff and similarly fast tempo offense. The pins, especially the younger OHs, are getting extra reps/training on serve receive in the Spring. He expects this team to be one of the best blocking teams in the nation this season.
- Cook loves maths and was gonna be a math high school teacher
- We will see similar tough preseason scheduling. He mentioned that the first two that he is working on are gonna be very tough.

- What is a coach going to say???? Come on. "Yeah you know, I tried my best ... but gosh, these assistants I hired, they really were low on my list! It's a bummer!"

- stupid to continue the fast tempo, unless he's doing that because that's what the players have been trained under from Hugh and he either feels it would be bad to reverse course and make them go back to a standard system, used by every good team in college volleyball, and/or because the players want to continue that.

 

[All Gophs]

Portal Shmortal. High tempo haters and Pedro lovers give the guy a chance!!!

I absolutely loved the interview and believe Keegan is the right coach for the team!! Yes, I am the eternal optimist and bleed Maroon and Gold, but I think if you listen to the interview carefully, you too, will agree that he understand what the most important.

Recruiting, Xs and Os, and player development are key ingredients in a high quality team, but I would argue that culture is the most important, especially in volleyball. Unlike basketball and many other sports, volleyball requires a different level of connectedness because the ball needs to remain in the air for a team to be successful. You can’t dribble the ball to give your teammates time to set up or take a game over during the last minutes by yourself. There has to be complete trust and 100 % commitment to the team’s direction. Keegan’s track record of not losing players to the portal and seniors staying their entire career is unbelievable and speaks to the culture he had built before and can build at the U.

I am buying what he is selling and I think transfers, high school recruits, and current players will also!

P.S. Interesting article on the The 7 Speeds of Volleyball, if you are interested.

Ski U Mah