{"id":71829,"date":"2018-08-10T07:46:09","date_gmt":"2018-08-10T12:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=71829"},"modified":"2018-08-10T07:46:09","modified_gmt":"2018-08-10T12:46:09","slug":"chicago-state-athletic-director-diligent-basketball-coaching-search-worth-the-wait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-state-athletic-director-diligent-basketball-coaching-search-worth-the-wait\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago State athletic director; diligent basketball coaching search worth the wait"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Patrick Engel<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/i><\/p>\n

Chris Zorich knows the narrative that surrounded his three-month coaching search. He heard the criticism of his long hiring process and Chicago State\u2019s lack of a men\u2019s and women\u2019s head basketball coach during the entire spring and summer evaluation periods. The first seven words he spoke while standing behind a podium Wednesday acknowledged it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a long time coming,\u201d Zorich said, grinning.<\/p>\n

And he doesn\u2019t care one bit about the criticism, because he says he’s found his ideal coaches.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Zorich introduced new men\u2019s head coach Lance Irvin and women\u2019s head coach Misty Opat at a press conference in the lobby of the Jones Convocation Center on campus Wednesday afternoon. These are Zorich\u2019s first major hires since he took over as Chicago State’s athletic director in early May. He dismissed any concerns about filling the men\u2019s job two weeks after the second-to-last Division I vacancy (Delaware State) found a head coach. He simply took the time he thought was needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that somebody is going to criticize me because I\u2019m not doing something right and they\u2019re not sitting in my shoes, it\u2019s not a big deal to me,\u201d Zorich said.<\/p>\n

Zorich\u2019s confidence aside, it\u2019s rare for a college basketball team to go five months without a head coach. Chicago State\u2019s men\u2019s and women\u2019s head coaching jobs had been vacant since mid-March, when the school fired Tracy Dildy and Angela Jackson. That was nearly two months before Zorich assumed his post.<\/p>\n

Hiring a basketball coach in early August brings a wealth of challenges, the primary obstacle being the lost time in recruiting. Zorich insisted recruiting was never a concern for him while making the hires. It remains Irvin\u2019s immediate challenge, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know it\u2019s going to be tough, because we missed some major recruiting periods,\u201d Irvin said. \u201cBut with my relationships, I hope to overcome them. But I\u2019m not going to tell you it\u2019s not going to be tough. That\u2019s the reality of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The April and July live periods have passed. The fall signing period for 2019 recruits is only three months away. And getting a strong first full recruiting class is important when undertaking a gargantuan turnaround effort of a team that has won just 13 games since the start of the 2015-16 season. Fall semester classes at Chicago State start on August 20, leaving Irvin with only about two weeks to get players for this season enrolled in time. Chicago State\u2019s roster is still unfinished, since five players who saw major minutes last year either exhausted eligibility or pursued professional opportunities.<\/p>\n

Irvin\u2019s connections as a member of Chicago basketball\u2019s unofficial royal family can help make up for that time. He\u2019s more prepared for a time crunch because of his relationships in the Chicago area, where Chicago State has previously based its recruiting operations. He spent the last six years as an assistant coach to his brother, Nick, at Morgan Park High School, which won four state titles. Before that, he was a Division I assistant for nearly 20 years. He has deep connections in the Chicago area, in Illinois and beyond. He said after his introduction that he had a player from California call him to express interest in Chicago State.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be easy for him to have some conversations and try to get some kids from these AAU programs and high schools,\u201d Nick Irvin said.<\/p>\n

While important, Zorich\u2019s primary focus wasn\u2019t finding a connected recruiter. He believes he found the same caring mentor in Lance Irvin that he had in his own former coaches. Nailing that part of the hire was worth extreme diligence and any amount of time for him. Wednesday, the former Notre Dame and Chicago Bears defensive tackle stood behind a podium and gushed about Irvin\u2019s devotion to his players\u2019 lives beyond the court. He shared a Tuesday impromptu encounter with Irvin while setting up the podium, dais and chairs for the press conference. Irvin strolled into the Jones Center lobby and told Zorich he had just chatted with a couple of the players and watched part of their shootaround.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked him, \u2018What are you doing here? You know this is tomorrow right?\u2019\u201d Zorich said. \u201cHe hadn\u2019t officially stepped in that role yet, but there he is caring for these players.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was a non-negotiable quality of Zorich\u2019s ideal candidate, because similar support in athletics helped him escape a rough childhood and become a college football legend and an NFL starter. Still, Zorich needs to find coaches who he thinks can produce on the court. He knows that\u2019s the core of his job and wouldn\u2019t have hired Irvin if he thought Irvin was incapable of winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we have to win or we\u2019re all going to get fired,\u201d Zorich said, half-joking.<\/p>\n

So why, then, would Zorich task his new hire with speeding up the recruiting process for two cycles in addition to the pre-existing difficulties and budge constraints Chicago State coaches face? It\u2019s his job to put coaches in the best position to win, and on the surface, giving a new coach an abbreviated recruiting window isn\u2019t doing that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been around success. But athletics doesn\u2019t mean anything if it doesn\u2019t come from someone who cares,\u201d Zorich said. \u201cI want our players to remember Lance when they\u2019re 40 or 50 years old, just like I remember the coaches that made a difference in my life. And I truly believe that our student-athletes will have that same experience with coach Irvin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at Top: Chicago State athletic director Chris Zorich (left) introduces new Cougars’ head basketball coaches Misty Opat and Lance Irvin on Wednesday, August 8 (Patrick Engel\/MEDILL).<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patrick Engel Medill Reports Chris Zorich knows the narrative that surrounded his three-month coaching search. He heard the criticism of his long hiring process and Chicago State\u2019s lack of a men\u2019s and women\u2019s head basketball coach during the entire spring and summer evaluation periods. The first seven words he spoke while standing behind a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":71830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,4390],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-summer-2018"],"yoast_head":"\nChicago State athletic director; diligent basketball coaching search worth the wait - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-state-athletic-director-diligent-basketball-coaching-search-worth-the-wait\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago State athletic director; diligent basketball coaching search worth the wait - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Patrick Engel Medill Reports Chris Zorich knows the narrative that surrounded his three-month coaching search. He heard the criticism of his long hiring process and Chicago State\u2019s lack of a men\u2019s and women\u2019s head basketball coach during the entire spring and summer evaluation periods. 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