Drexel basketball coach Zach Spiker talks about navigating the new college basketball landscape.
Drexel’s Zach Spiker embraces the challenge of building from the bottom: ‘Find ways to reinvent yourself’Drexel coach Zach Spiker, 47, who has been a basketball coach for 24 years, will be tasked with rebuilding his roster once again this season.Spiker, 47, has been a basketball coach for 24 years and a head coach for the last 15. Over that time he has tried to pull elements from every resource he possibly can. Among his recent inspirations are a pair of books.
Spiker has for years specialized in finding under-the-radar talent. Even before the NIL and transfer portal hoopla, Spiker had seen players come to Drexel and then go off to places like, Boston College , Wichita State , and elsewhere. Last year’s group seemed like the culmination of building a program and finding the right mix. Williams was a lightly recruited player out of the United Kingdom. Moore was a talented Catholic League guard, but wasn’t being pursued by any high-majors.
In some ways, maintaining a winning culture at low-to-mid-major college basketball right now is sort of like trying to recruit at Army and Cornell. There’s no bidding wars. Instead of tens of thousands of dollars, Spiker is mostly promising a place where a basketball player will be treated right at a good school in a major U.S. city where the basketball team continues to improve its year-over-year win total. It’s certainly not nothing.
He knows things are different now, though. That’s why he’s continuing to build his network. Spiker, this past season’s, spent some time earlier this year in Jacksonville watching the Jaguars go through a portion of their NFL offseason. He spent some time last week talking to Kyle Taylor, now an assistant coach at Coastal Carolina, about how Taylor found so much success in five seasons leading the program at Salt Lake Community College.
“You can spend money the wrong way,” Spiker said. “You cannot skip the step of building a cohesive team just because you have a big payroll.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Broncos observations from OTAs: Zach Wilson struggles to find consistencyWhen Denver agreed to acquire Zach Wilson from the Jets in April, head coach Sean Payton saw a player that the team would “love to work with.” “We felt the investment was worth it relative to his s…
Read more »
How to find your lost AirPods case with Apple’s Find My featureHave you lost your AirPods or AirPods Pro case? There are steps you can take to find it using the Apple Find My app on iPhone or iPad. Let's take a look.
Read more »
How to find your lost AirPods using the Find My appHave you lost one of your AirPods again? No worries. You can use the Find My app to locate them. Here’s how.
Read more »
Zach Edey Proud of His 'Growth as a Leader' During Purdue CareerZach Edey improved in so many ways as a basketball player during his time at Purdue. But the 7-foot-4 center said he's proudest of his growth as a leader during his four-year career with the Boilermakers.
Read more »
Packers’ Zach Tom Ranks Among NFL’s Best Right TacklesPro Football Focus’ list of the top 32 offensive tackles in the NFL includes Zach Tom. He’s so good at right tackle, why even consider moving him to center?
Read more »
Jimmy Butler, Zach LaVine Among 76ers’ Reported Trade TargetsThe Philadelhia 76ers have a ton of options this offseason.
Read more »