Should Kentucky Basketball hire a recruiting coordinator?

A recruiting coordinator is a newer trend happening in college basketball.

Because of the rule change this past year allowing high school players to take official visits their junior year, rather than their senior year, the entire recruiting ‘game plan’ for schools has to change.

In order to be on top of the game, you must shift everything back a year since students can visit a year earlier than they used to. If you don’t, these players will think you’re not interested and move on.

So, that begs the question, should Kentucky look into hiring a recruiting coordinator?

It’s no secret that John Calipari’s recruiting ability has been in question over the past two seasons. While he’s still in the top two each year, he’s missing out on nearly every top recruit to none other than Coach K and Duke.

Calipari has even lost big-time recruits like Mo Bamba to Texas, Bol Bol to Oregon and James Wiseman to Memphis. That’s led to Kentucky not signing a top-five recruit since Skal Labissiere in the 2015 class.

After Cal took a big hit last year in missing out on Zion Williamson, fans have been speculating his ‘pitch’ of having the top tier talent year-in and year-out.

Now, it looks like in order for John and Co. to not get left behind, they need to hire a recruiting coordinator. According to Michigan Live, Tom Izzo and Michigan State have begun to lead the charge for this position in college basketball.

The team hired their first recruiting coordinator, Doug Wojcik, this summer and it’s helped them better evaluate recruits, and even start the recruiting process earlier while the players are in 9th grade.

“We’re trying to recruit like a pyramid,” Wojcik said. “A wider base with those freshmen and sophomores. By the time coach gets to them and they’re juniors, we have a pretty good feel as to who they are and what they are.”

It seems like this is going to be the new wave in college basketball as it will help coaches and their staff have a better grasp of players that will fit into their program right away.

The article goes on to explain that when Wojcik isn’t out looking at prospects, he’s in the coaches room, watching the players in practice, and getting a better overall feel for what Michigan State wants to represent.

Wojcik has a voice that carries within the program and without. He also helps ease some of the recruiting workload that was previously on the assistant coaches, allowing them to focus more on what’s happening on the court with current players. This is something that Kentucky could greatly benefit from.

Yes, Calipari has been widely regarded as the “king of recruiting,” but that title is slipping away from him year after year. What does he need to do to reclaim it?

A recruiting coordinator might be the answer.