Episode #32: Dominic Parker

Dominic Parker begins his first season as the Head Men's Basketball Coach at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Eastern New York state after 10 years as an assistant coach at the NCAA Division I, II, III and NJCAA levels, including a run to the NCAA Division III Tournament Quarterfinals last winter at Christopher Newport (Va.) and a National Championship at NJCAA Richard Brand College in 2015. 

We had a great conversation about program building, recruiting and the hustle that is necessary to be a great assistant and head coach.  Enjoy!

Learn more about Dominic Parker here:  https://ritathletics.com/staff-directory/dominic-parker/503

Transcript

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Welcome back to the significant coaching podcast. I'm coach Matt Rogers. This week's guest is Dominic Parker. The new head basketball coach at Rochester Institute of technology. I R I T is a member of the Liberty league. Up in the Northeast, one of the best academic conferences in the country. Coach Parker was one of the top assistant coaches and recruiters in the country. The past 11 years. At powerhouse Christopher Newport and Guilford. D one Maryland Eastern shore and junior college Richard bland college, where he helped them win a national championship in 2015. Coach is bright, passionate, and joyful as any coach you'll meet. And I'm confident he's going to build RIT into a national power very quickly. I'm excited to watch all that he will do next. And I'm proud to call him a friend. Without further ado. Here's my conversation with coach Dominick park. Coach Parker, so great to see you. Congratulations on the new gig. Thank you. Thank you, man. It's a blessing. I'm excited. I remember, I've coached a couple of teams at that level and coached a couple of high school teams. And because I, my brain is so crazy. I go into every new job with the idea of, I get myself like a hundred day window. That's I want to get these things done in the first hundred days. Is, do you have anything like that? That you were just like, these are the things I got to get done. Yeah, I did. I had a 60 day plan. I sat down with my A. D. And we mapped it out. Number one on that list was actually really reaching out to the guys. So what I did is all my guys is all over and out at the time I was in Virginia. So I scheduled zoom calls with each individual person. And pretty much, had a hour discussion. They got to know me. I got to learn them and it was so beneficial because I really got to understand some of these guys. What makes them go and what they thought about their experience at RIT so far and, things that could have made it a little better. So it was guided that with the returners and also did that with the incoming freshmen. Yeah, I don't think people that have never coached at that level understand they think you're coming in and you're doing X's and O's those first couple of weeks and months. You got to recruit your team. You got to find out who's coming back, get to know their character. What do you got to do with them? So I know the toil that goes into that. So I really appreciate that's what you did for your guys and I hope they appreciate that. What have you learned in the first 60 days. Cause you got this job late. You didn't have a whole lot of time. Yeah. This and just to give you a little background information. My, my daughter was born May 1st. I had an on campus interview on May 5th. So yeah, it was a bit emotional whirlwind, man. It was tough, man. Luckily, I got the best wife in the world. She has three sisters. So one of her sisters came up, I flew up and I did the interview and probably about a week later, they offered me the job. But ever since then, that point it's been a whirlwind, just being a new dad and then also to trying to take an over a new program. And this place, one thing I've learned about this place is a sleeping giant. I think we're fourth in the country in terms of enrollment. We got 20, 000 kids on campus. Wow. We have, people just think that this is just a computer school, engineering school. But we have over 120 majors, anywhere from criminal justice to engineering. This place is, it's unreal. You got 25 places to eat on campus. It's a little, it's like a little world. It's like a whole little world. That's fantastic. I'm so excited for you. Congratulations on the little girl to you and your wife. What's her name? Her name's Aubrey. Aubrey. Beautiful. This is your first child. First one. And your first head coaching job at this level, right? Yeah. Talk about throwing yourself into the world real quickly. Congratulations. You're going to do really well. Thank you. What have you learned about yourself in these first couple of months? Man, one thing about it is, and I always knew this about myself is I'm a grinder, man, like I'm, I'm willing to come early stay late, go meet whoever I have to meet with, it don't matter what time of day, and what really helped me when I got the job, we was living in Virginia. Me and my wife, we moved up here and basically what happened was my wife stayed with her folks in North Carolina just because of transition. She was a school teacher, so she had time off and they could help with the baby. So I hit the ground running. When I got the job and got up here, I was up here, I got here at seven and some nights I wouldn't leave to 10, just trying to just get everything in order and just making sure everything was right. And that has been. I'm so thankful that she was able to let me do that because it really got me, I'm still behind on some things, but like I can get myself up to speed. Yeah it's amazing what family can do or not do to make your career successful. Cause when you're a college coach, if you're going to have kids and you don't have the support of family and your spouse. And it's impossible. Everything is everything because and I'll go even deeper man you were from North Carolina, all right, he's 12 hours from away. My wife is North Carolina never been out to state, so basically, I got the job in Virginia, at Christopher Newport, which is three hours from home, and then now taking her, 12 hours, to upstate New York. But she was on board. I've heard stories of guys where, you know their wives, didn't want to go, so they didn't take a job because of that. But my wife was on board and the beautiful thing about my wife as well, she was a coach too, last year. She was a junior college coach. Nice. So she, she gets the lay of the land. Does get it, yeah. that's, it's really hard on spouses when you're a coach because the hours are crazy. There's so many nights where you're rolling in the door at 1 2 o'clock in the morning and it's not because you were messing around. It's because that's when the bus got back or that's when you got your put away, that's when you got the laundry done, so I really appreciate all you're doing. Talk a little bit about, you talk about family and the support you have on that side. Talk a little bit about the RIT support. You talked about the 60 day plan sitting down with your AD. What's that been like to come into that? basketball family and the sport you're getting there. It is. It's been world class. One thing about this place and when I did my research, I saw a bunch of coaches that they've been here for 25 plus years and I was just like, dad, why is everybody there so long? And once I got on board and I got to really meet them and I'm like, wow, this place is unreal. It's not just an athletics, it's the whole school. You got academic advisors who've been here for 40 plus years. The baseball coach has been here 30 plus years soccer, men's soccer 28 years, women's soccer, 15 plus years. And one thing I've learned about this place is they want everybody to be successful, not just the student athletes, but they want the athletic teams. They want each, Academic department, they want to be successful and they've been very helpful. My door, people have been coming in my door, since school started and introducing themselves and asking that, Hey, look, if you got a kid that wants to major in engineering, take them by my office. I'm willing to help. So it's, that's been awesome. Like it's a lot of places aren't like that, having a lot of different hands that want to see this program do well has been very, it's been a blessing. Good for you, man. It sounds like you've got a great place. It's funny because I was doing my research on RIT the same time you were because you've got one of my young guys on your roster coming in. And I've known about RIT. I've played, I've coached against that league. I know how tough of a conference it is, but it was really, it really made me feel good. to see one of my guys going to that school just because you could just get the sense and everybody I talked to and everything I looked at. This was a place that didn't just want to get you a degree or didn't want you just to come in and play hoops. They were looking at your next 20 years. They were looking to set you up for success. So I'm really excited for you guys. No, definitely. This place is, we have these co op programs and I'm not sure if you're familiar with them, but it's on the job, it's not like an internship when you're like a office guy. You're in the field of your choice trying to, learn. So a lot of these guys and women here, they, I think 60 percent before they graduate already have a job lined up. That's a lot of places can't say that. Yeah. Yeah, that's fantastic. And when universities make that decision where that's going to be a priority, the sky's the limit because you're always going to have kids that want that. They always want that hands on experience because everybody tells them how hard it is to get a job. And if you've got internships, your sophomore, junior, senior year, and you've 22, Getting a job is so much easier. It's so much easier. Then also to you, you get on the job training. So you go into the work field knowing, okay I want to work for a small firm because the big firms are, they're not for me. So it, there's something that you never really think about until you, since I got, when I got here. Yeah. Coach, I want to dive into your career. You've, you talk about being a grinder. You have the resume of a grinder that you've everywhere. You've gone, you guys, you've won. And it's a true sign of your assistant coaches when. Guys come in and all of a sudden the winning starts or the winning continues because of having great assistance and great leaders underneath the head coach. Talk a little bit about that path you took coming out of college. Cause you really. What I've read about you is that was your plan for the beginning, man. I'm going to get in here and learn. I'm going to grind from the beginning. I'm gonna start at the bottom, whatever locker I need to clean, whatever uniform I need to wash, whatever floor I need to mop, I'm going to do it to get where I need to go. Is that your mindset at 18, 22? I'm going to be honest with you. So I played at Virginia state and I really wanted to be a physical therapist. I did all the prerequisites. I really wanted to go to Virginia Commonwealth VCU for PT school. I got put on the waiting list. I'm just like, okay, I'm on a waiting list. So my coach at the time Daryl Jacobs, he said, man what are you going to do? And I didn't really have a backup plan. He said, man, you gotta, you got a good mind for the game, guys listen to you, which is, it's a good trait to have in any sport. So he said, why don't you do this, man, come be my grad assistant. And if you get taken off the wait list, So be it, you go to VCU, you do what you was, wanting to do. So I did the grad assistant thing and. It really opened my eyes to the game of basketball because I was a player like I played and I was solid like, I had a decent career, but what it really showed me was the ins and outs of it, just, the athletic training and the body care that you got to have with the guys and, the team travel and, just everything. And he really let me have my hand and all that. And and it was probably one of the toughest times because I went from being a player on a team. to coaching a bunch of guys that, was still my age and was my old teammates. But like he said, I had a way with guys and I could get him in the gym. And I had a good, I had a good teacher. My high school coach, Kevin Billman put a lot of confidence in me. So that's what I try to do with all the guys I coach is I really try to Really make them feel like they're the best player ever, and when you have elite confidence like that in yourself, man, you can do some special things. So that was really the first start of it. And actually after that There was a job opening at Richard Bland College, which was literally 5 to 10 minutes down the road. My old coach at the time, he said, Hey, look, man, what are you going to do with this coaching thing? I said, I don't know. I don't know what's next. I'm gonna get my master's and, I'm still trying to go to PT school. He said, Hey, look if you get your master's, I may have this junior college job here that you need your master's because you can teach and you can do all these other things, I said, okay. So I went to the, my provost and I said, Hey, look, if I can get my masters quicker, like I maybe could have a job. So I was her teaching assistant. So she allowed me to do it, got my masters in a year. And I got on at Richard Bland and it was so powerful. Chuck Moore was the AD and head man's basketball coach. He's now the AD at Tallahassee community college, but he gave me my start. And one thing that he did to me is he was very honest and upfront. He told me, he said, look, man you're my second choice. He said, the guy really want, he's working in the school system, has a great job. So right there, that kind of feel me to be like, okay, you know what? I'm gonna, I'm gonna show you, that I should have been your top choice, so that's that grinder mentality, man is, and I had that as a player, even as a player, I wasn't the biggest, wasn't the strongest, but I just always had a chip on my shoulder and I wanted to show people that I belonged, and that's just something my parents instilled in me at a young age. So I took that into the coaching world. And the Juco game was it was different. It was different than what I ever seen because, some of these kids academically that wasn't, they wasn't as sound as others, but it was really good players. And we had a really good team. This was a first year program that we over that we took over. I think the first season we was 24. In four, we got it ranked as high as number one in the country, but we lost in the conference semifinals in the way junior college is set up is, you have a national tournament, but you have to win your conference tournament to get to there. So we lost. And what we did there is we brought everybody back and we had a talented group. These guys was, division one, division two caliber guys. And we brought them to summer school and we practice. And it was such a close knit group, man. It taught me so much. And the first little thing that I learned about coaching was these guys had an undeniable confidence in themselves. Like we would in practice and they would be like, coach, man, we could be in the NEC. He said, I think we could finish top three in the NEC. I'm like, man, we can't, y'all can't do that. But they really believe that they really believe that they could compete with the division ones and beat them. So we was fortunate enough. We won the conference that year. We went to the national tournament and we was playing our best basketball. And then we ultimately, we won the whole thing, won a national championship. So my second year coaching. I won a national championship. Man, I was on a high horse. I'm thinking like, man, like I'm, I done made it, like this is, I'm the best coach ever. When you win, other situations come about. So Shenandoah open the assistant spot open. And when I was at Richard Bland, I was the intramural director. I taught classes and I was basketball coach and just evaluating the whole piece, I just felt like it was time for me to go because we won a national championship. The only thing we could have done is just win it again, right? And which that team could have done. But so that ultimately led to me going to Shenandoah University, which is a division three school in the old act. The old act is probably the best conference in division three, in my opinion, and it's, it was a. It was a rebuild program. Shenandoah, not a great program. I got hired by Rob prior, who's still a dear friend of mine. And so when I keep in contact with, and and honestly, man that next year, my third year coaching, we won six games. And to be totally honest with you, just looking on my, career, it was probably the best thing for me in terms of just learning the ins and outs when you're winning, you don't really look at stuff that goes wrong. But when you lose, it's okay, we're losing because of this and this. That first year we won six games. It was tough. I went from winning the national championship to winning six games. And so we were, I recruited super hard. I was going all over Maryland and Virginia. And we brought in a really good class. And then that, that following year, we we doubled it. We won 12. It's great. 112. But coach prior at the time was, I think it was year six they had to evaluate some things and, they, they wanted to go in another direction. He ultimately, he got let go. So what did that do that, that I got let go too. So I went from going on this high horse of being like a national champion, all this stuff to, to now having to figure it out and what's next. But I was fortunate enough that. That grinder mentality at hard work. It propelled me to get get on it at Christopher Newport. Christopher Newport is a premier division three school. I think it's the top five schools in the country on that level. I was fortunate enough to get there to work with with John Kikorian, we call him coach K. I got on at Christopher Newport and coach Kikorian, he's a hall of famer in my eyes. He is, he's really good. My first year at Christopher Newport, we went to the N. C. W. A. Tournament. We won a game and it was awesome. I made at the end of that season, they had a list. I don't think they do it anymore, but they had the top coaches under 30. I made that list. So I'm like, I'm like, wow I'm in the right situation. So that summer we, me and the other assistant his name is Jeremy Brown. He's the Ops guy Central Connecticut. Now we made a pack. We like, man, like we got a lot of these guys coming back, man. Let's try to win the whole thing. I'm like, you think we could do it? He said, man let's go for it. So that year, man we locked in, we stayed in the office. We got there early. We left late and ultimately it led to us going to we went to the final four that year. season. I remember that s the final four end u in the final four and the it was awesome, a went to Fort Wayne. I 29 and four. I think it m best finish in school his like that. Had a real some really good players. when you win, you get inv my goal at the time. Met with coach K was basi what did I want from this At some point I want to be a head coach, I want to go division one. I didn't make division one as a player. So I wanted to coach in that level to show that I belong. We had a good season and a job opened up at at Maryland Eastern shore. Mary Shore, HBCU in the mec. So I got on there and it was great. I learned, totally different than the Division three game. Division one. It's night and day in terms of You are in the gym with'em all the time, right? Summertime and we was in summer school for eight weeks. It was a grind, but for me it was fine because, at the time it was, I was by myself and, I could go wherever and do whatever. And I learned the ins and outs of division one. And it was fun. It was fun. And even then that was, that was taking over a total rebuild. Maryland Eastern Shore. It's a tough, it's a tough job. So I think that year we ended up winning, want to say six games, but it was year one, it was year one and it was COVID. So COVID happened, COVID that, that was a whole nother issue with that. At Maryland Eastern Shore, what happened was the athletic people there and the AD said, no matter what happens next season, we're not going to have a season. And I told myself, I said, Hey, I don't want to be in in Princeton, San Maryland. If, if I'm not coaching basketball. So I was fortunate enough, one of my good friends, Ronnie Thomas who's at Guilford college, he was an assistant there. He called me and said, Hey man, I'm, I think I'm going to take a division one job. Would you refer anybody to replace me? And I was like, man, me, sign me up. He started laughing. He said, Come on, I said, No, I'm serious. I said, we're not going to have a season here next year. And I'm from North Carolina. So it was a chance for me to go home and coach. In my home state, which at the time was, not knowing the lay of the land with COVID and not knowing what was going to happen. My mom passed away several years ago. So it's my dad and my sister there. So it was a chance to be closer to home. Guilford college is an hour, 20 minutes from where I'm from. So I got a chance to work with with Tom Palumbo, who's another one over 600 games, hall of famer defensive. Defensive mastermind. He's a whiz on the defensive side. And we ran the mover blocker. I never, I've never dealt with the mover blocker. I've scouted against it, but we ran it. And it's a good offense if, depending on your personnel. Learning from Coach Palumbo and I was there. It was awesome. I was there for the longest I've ever been. I was there for three seasons. And the cool thing too is, and then that's in that stint there, I've ultimately met my wife. That was another reason, one thing I'm a big guy with my faith. God brought me back home to find my wife. Yeah. Reason for everything, man. Came to Guilford and it was awesome, man. I think that first year at Guilford, It was covid, so we only played five games. I think we went four in one, so that was a wash that second year we went 18 and seven. Made it to the semi-finals of the ODAC tournament. And then that next year we brought back a lot. We brought back some really good players and we was 22 and six. We was ranked man, we was ranked in the top, top 15 the whole season. Pretty much. We made it to the ODAC championship game and we lost to Randolph Macon who ended up winning the whole thing that year. And We didn't get in the N. C. W. A. Tournament. Like it was heartbreaking. Like we're watching, the selection show and we're 13th in the country. Like we're like, all right we're a lot, we're going to get in and they didn't call us. And we had guys who, who did fifth years, who came back for this and they didn't make it. And was tough. It was tough because that group was, we worked so hard at that group was, we were old had great leaders and it was great. It was great. Just learning from them. But, like I said, when you win situations happen. Coach K at Christopher Newport, he called me and one of my good friends was the assistant at the time and he was taking a new job. So he say, look, would you come back? To seeing you and I was like, I was just, I was about to get married. My wife was, like I said, my wife has always been in North Carolina has never left the state. I said, coach, I would love to come back. I got to talk it over with my soon to be wife. And he said how about this? Why don't you bring her up? And so she can see it. So we, we go up there. And she loves it. Newport News Hampton area is really nice close to the beach. Last year we went back or I went back to seeing you and we had a really good season. I forgot what we finished, but we ended up making it all the way to the elite eight. And the crazy thing about it is we played Guilford in the elite eight at Guilford. And, as a coach, man, you get, you have moments when you get nervous. And I've never gotten get nervous before a game because I'm well prepared. But this was the first time in my coaching career that I was just like, Whoa, like I didn't know what to do there. That's some craziness right there. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like I just got Guilford team. We was playing in the elite. I recruited that whole team, every kid I recruited. And so we played them in the elite eight at Guilford. So all the people's coming up to me and, say how much they miss me and like guys, before the game, you shake hands, they come over, they're shaking my hand and say, man, you should be over here with us, coach. I said, man, I started laughing. But it was to me, it was a lose to me because I wanted to win and I coached to win and I gave all the secrets I could about Guilford. But they won on a buzzer beater and there was a kid who was an all American Tyler Dearman. He was a heck of a player. and it was all american this year. I pretty much convinced him to come back and do a fifth year and I wasn't even there. But the kid hits a layup to win the game. We lost by two. But to me it was a lose because I wanted to win because I wanted to go back to the final four. One thing about it, if I had to lose to anybody, I was fine losing to them because like I said, I recruited that team in the year before Them not making it, they had a why and why, why they played like they, they wanted to show people that they belong on that level because we didn't make it to NCAAs and it was, I'm glad, I was glad to see them go to the final four and they ultimately lost to Hampton Sydney, but it was a good season. It was a good season all the way around. And and here we are now, so this summer comes and I'm about to have a kid, RIT opens. And, I interview, I get the job and now I'm the head coach. It's pretty unique how this stuff happens and just another little story too. So when I was at Guilford College, one of the players here at RIT, his name is Brock Bowen. He'll probably be team captain. This kid could be president. He's awesome. So I was recruiting him at Guilford. And a good player, state champion from Charlotte, North Carolina, great family. And the kid calls me and say, hey, coach, hey, I'm going to, I'm going to commit somewhere else. I'm like, where are you going? He's I'm going to RIT. I'm like, at the time, I didn't know what it was, to be honest with you. I didn't know. So I'm like, RIT. I've heard of MIT. He said, no, I'm going to RIT, some upstate New York, Rochester Institute of Technology. So when a kid commits somewhere. I go look it up. So I looked up to school and that was my first kind of interaction with the school. Like I looked it up, I'm like, that school got a lot of students, and Brock wanted to major in engineering, which was one of our top majors. And it was a great fit for him, but that was my first insight on R. I. T. And it's funny now because Brock was on the search committee for for the hiring the coach and they wanted a player. So like I said, this kid could be president. So he's on the committee and he's what's up, man? I'm like, so Brock, but it's funny. It's funny how small the world is that a kid that I recruited in the state I'm from and I'm coaching them now. And this is awesome. It's just awesome. He's it was meant to be. Coach, you've obviously coached for some great coaches and I know you've learned a lot as you start building your R. T. Program. What are some of the things that you're gonna bring with you? And what are some of the things you've had in your mind last 15 years that you've always wanted to do? And yeah, what do you? How do you take the old and the new and your thoughts and meld them into a program? Yeah. One thing about it, I I'm real big on defense. And that's just, being with coach K at seeing you and coach Palumbo at Guilford. I think if one thing about this, about defense on this level, sometimes your best defense, your best office is your defense. My plan here, man, is I want to hold teams to under 60 points and I want to be one of the best rebounding teams in the country. Like a lot of people say And one thing that I'm always I'm a believer of. If you can control the glass, you can control the game. And I feel like that's something that everywhere I've been and has some success. We was either top 20 or top 10 or something in the country and rebounding and we really made it tough on teams. And I think that's something I'm definitely going to bring. I tell these guys all the time, say, Hey, look, if you're not, if you're not willing to defend and rebound, this isn't a place for you. And a lot of these guys are on board and one thing about it is. I think you gotta have an identity. And a lot of teams find that identity later in the season. But for us, we're going from day one. Our first practice is gonna be september 18th. From day one, we're gonna know what we're gonna do. And I gotta find some guys that can do it. And that's the fun part about it because I do think these guys that I have coming back. They want to have an identity. When I met with him over the summer, a lot of them said we didn't really have an identity coach. We were just out there sometimes. But giving him an identity and giving him, something to back up and, what I'm going to do at works. Just getting these guys to buy into it, which a lot of them already have. That's great. That's exciting. Talk to me about offense. What do you're obviously going to shut teams down. You're going to dominate the glass. What's it like offensively? I think offensively, especially now with this generation is I'm a big believer in creating space and letting guys play to their strengths. So like I'm telling guys, I think we're going to, we're going to have some sort of spacing for around one five hour stuff. But if you're a guy that shoots, I want you to shoot the ball. If you're a guy that can break guys down and get downhill, that's what you're going to do. And I'm a firm believer in having a system. That's going to be conducive to the team that I have. I have an idea of what I want to do. But also to I want to play to my guy's strengths. I feel like the best coaches in the country they change it. Either it's two things. It's either you're going to recruit to a style of play and recruit that type of kid, or you're going to get the best player you can. And you're going to create a system that's going to be best suited for that team. So that's pretty much the mindset that I'm having is I watched a ton of film. I'm up late watching film when these guys seeing what they can do. But yeah, I'm a big believer in space and giving guys freedom to make plays. And I think that's a fun, that's a fun way to play. I think that's a way that kids can look at it and you can use that as a recruiting tool as well. But just having space and opportunity to just play to your strengths. And I, I think it's something that we're going to do here. Yeah, positionless basketball is the hot thing right now, where you just, you put five guys on the floor and give them that space, give them a little bit of direction and give them some kind of some bookmarks, some guidelines to fall into and you let them play. So that's exciting. Really cool. Talk about recruiting. That's been your niche for the last 15 years. Where do you start? How do you build a recruiting strategy? I think the first thing, one thing about the unique thing here at RIT is we can recruit nationally. And that's what we're doing. Because we have, our business school is 70th in the country. Our engineering program I think is 40th in the country. Our game and design is fifth in the country. So people from around the world want to come to a place that has, the top major. So what I've done is The places that I've recruited, pretty hard I've leaned it on those connections and and really recruited hard, like the Virginia area, I think is a great area because, those kids are willing to go up north, they're down south. So we've been recruiting Virginia hard. We've been recruiting the New England area really hard. And one thing about that New England area that I really love is those kids are a lot of those kids go to boarding schools. Yeah. So those boarding schools is just like college. And a lot of those guys, they already come to college like, all right, I know how to move, I know how to. I can live on my own. My mom's not having to wake me up and make me breakfast. I can go get breakfast. We've been recruiting the East coast really hard. If you look at my list, man, we got kids from North Carolina, Georgia, Florida here in upstate New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, DC. And we also got some kids in Texas. So I think really just putting it out there social media has been a real big proponent for us as well, just because a lot of people don't know that it's 20, 000 kids on. that go to the school. A lot of people don't know that RIT is the fourth largest school with enrollment in the country in terms of division three. So when I talk to everybody, they're like, really? Like they don't know. So just really getting that out there. And like I keep saying that this place is a sleeping giant and people need to know about it. So just really selling that and getting it out there. And we've, since I've got the job and my official start date was June 1st. I've probably had. 13 kids on campus so far. That's a great, that's a great summer to get 13 already. That's great. What, how do you find the kids coach? When I'm, I talk about this all the time with parents and high school coaches. How do you find the kid in Texas? How do you find a kid in Vermont? Obviously you got your connections down in Virginia and North Carolina. How do you go about finding a great kid? I think honestly what I've done this summer was I've worked every high academic camp that I could like I went up to Babson and worked the academic I think it's like all academic showcase. Yeah, it was 500 kids there from across the country. And, and the way they break it down is it shows you what these kids GPA is and what they want to major in for what I did is every kid that wanted to major in engineering, I took a look at him, and if I liked him, I reached out to him and some guys said they won, but they was all about it. Some guys said it was too far. So I think really just going to those high academic type camps and really just making a presence, the crazy thing about it when I was out there, a lot of coaches in my league was there. It's wow, you're going to come up here to recruit. I'm like, you're up here. Yeah, I'm coming up here to, so just really being everywhere. And. I'm in the process of hiring us. I've hired some guys and it should be official next week. But, just getting this RIT name out here, cause like I said, this place is unreal and people need to know about it, you keep a board, an old school board, or do you have a spreadsheet, I have a. And how do you build it? Are you looking one year at a time? Are you looking to four? How do you long term? So how I recruit is basically, when I go to an event I try to watch as many teams I can. And then if it's a kid that's like a younger kid, I'll mark them. And then I'll add them to my list how it is in coaching it's 2025 now, next thing it's gonna be 2026. So you're not working from behind. What I do is I'm a big proponent and seeing everybody I can and also to leaning on my connections, I got a database and a lot of people said, man, I should sell it, but I have a database. I have pretty much every high school coaching, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, DC. I'm working on New York now, but I have a database where, it's an Excel sheet and I have it broke down in each tab has, I have New England, I have the prep schools, I have Texas. Basically, I have a database that I have the coaches name. the cell phone number and their email so I can blast stuff out. It's been great. I got the job. I blasted out to several different States and just to get my name out there. And it's, that's one thing about it is it's just word of mouth, Especially you just got to take advantage of technology now like it's so good. I remember when I first started coaching, I would have to burn a DVD and to send that out to get film but now you have Synergy and Huddle and all these different things so you can be a lot of different places and not actually have to be there. Yeah. Which I think is really good. And honestly, it's just, for me, it's just really recruiting the right kid, somebody that and I tell people this all the time. I want high character guys. Let me start off. First and foremost is you got to want the high academics, if you just want to come here and just play basketball, this isn't a place because academics is too rigorous. I want high character guys. And I want guys, especially now that want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. I want somebody that's after four years, say, Hey coach, look what we did at RIT, we put them on the map, and I want guys that want to be a part of that. And that's the way we've been doing, and it's helped the engineering piece has helped, a lot of kids want engineering. And, but also too, is just really selling myself and letting them know that. My vision, a lot of guys that we're recruiting, they're on board, we're going to recruit them. And I think it's going to be some special teams to come through this place. I have no doubt about that, man, with your energy and your passion for this and your high character and the love you have for these kids, you're going to, you're going to do really well. I'm going to, I'm going to test you though. I want to understand this better because I was like you. I wanted a kid that wanted to be a part of a team, wanted to be a part of that, something bigger than themselves. How do you figure that out? How do you know a 17 or 18 year old's got that? And what I think. I think honestly is what I do is I try to get kids so comfortable with me that they can talk to me as if I'm like their uncle or a family member. And then once you get them to that point and that you can really understand. Okay, what makes this kid tick, because it's a lot of kids that tell you what you want to hear because they, they like the attention they like the phone calls and text but there's been several kids that I've been recruiting all summer long and I've had some real conversations with them. They would just say, coach, I think you guys are too far. And you know how it is and recruit him as sometimes a kid telling, is better than you wasting time trying to get them to campus and all that type of stuff. One thing about it, especially now I've learned this from my past head coaches. I work for is you don't want to waste time. There's always something that needs to be done. So if you're wasting time, you're messing stuff up on the game scout that you may have later that week. Or so honestly, I'm actually happy that some of these guys has told me, coach, I want to go in another direction because now we can spend time on the kids that we need to. And I think that's key is just really just getting to know these kids. And also too, on this level, we got to get to know the family. Cause it's not like I can just throw a, a full scholarship, and this is an investment, this is an investment for, on a family for their child. And I think it's an investment that's more than worth it. Just from, from what I'm trying to do here, from a basketball standpoint to what you're going to get from a career wise here It's, it's one of the best in the country. Just really, I got phone calls and zoom meetings with families, the kids not even there, cause it's, they're in school now. So I'm talking to everybody, just getting to see is this a good fit for everybody? Yeah. And sometimes, you figure out like, you know what, This kid, you know what he probably needs to get a scholarship to go to college just because his family situation is so tougher than some guys. I'm a big proponent and what's right. I'm a salesman to a degree, but I'm also I'm a people person. Yeah, I feel like we're in a generation now. That is very transactional. And I'm relationship driven. I got guys who I recruited who didn't come to me who invited me to their weddings. It's crazy, man. But I think I've could build that rapport with people. And I think it's a gift that I got from God that's, just being able to, To see the good in people and being able to help them as best as I can to get invited to somebody's wedding is so special. And this is one kid I recruited and I've kept in contact with him since his whole college career. The kid invited me to his wedding in September, this is powerful stuff to see the interaction I've had with him for him to do that. Because, someone's wedding is a sacred thing. Yeah. Yeah, it's some of my greatest relationships, kids that I recruited. That had a better offer, chose to go for another reason somewhere else. And they've maintained that relationship with me and there's nothing better when you've met an impact on a kid, whether they play for you or not. It's great stuff. I think the best story, and it actually happened to me probably about a couple of months ago. It's the first kid I've ever recruited. His name is Brian Atkins. I recruited him to Richard Blank from Maryland. He's a prep school kid. He called me. And he said, coach, just want to let you know, man, I had my son. I'm like me at the time, I'm not really understanding, I'm like, yeah, man, good. But I, I was having a kid as well. So he just was like, man, I had to call somebody. So you're the third person I call. So I'm like, wow. A lot of all the people that you could have called. I'm the third one. You got your mom, your dad, aunts, uncles, so for me, it was like, wow, I made an impact on that kid's life that, he has something that's so precious as your first child being born and giving me a call, man. I was, I was almost in tears. I'm like, dang, man, I appreciate you B man. How's he doing? And, we talk, but that was some powerful stuff for me. It's extremely powerful. That's why we do what we do. And to know that you're having an impact on that guy, that he had something remarkable in his life changing event, and you were one of the first people that you wanted to call. It says a lot about you. It says a lot about your character. That's great coach. I know how busy you are. I got a couple of questions for you that I ask every hit coach. Cause I, I work so much with kids and high school coaches and club coaches on recruiting. And I think there's oftentimes this complete misperception on what we do as college coaches and how we recruit and what we're looking for. So I think it's really good when a head coach like you can give some true advice, some honest advice. What advice would you give to a young guy or a young gal that wants to go to RIT or wants to play college sports? What advice would you give them? The best advice that that I could give them and I would give them. I'm a big motivational speaker in terms of just listening to them. And Eric Thomas, and I don't even know if he was the one that actually said this first, but he mentioned in one of his seminars, go where you're celebrated and not tolerated. And to me, it hit home because a lot of these kids are trying to be recruited by people and they're just going to be a number when there's a coach that's really blowing them up that really wants them to be a part of what, and there may be an integral piece to what they're what he's trying to do what she's trying to do. And I think that gets overlooked. And a lot of kids who, I think if you go where you're celebrated. I think you can have a good career because at the end of the day. You want to play, I've yet to meet a kid to say, coach, I just want to sit the bench for four years. I've yet to meet a kid to say that the kids want to play. Go to a place where you're celebrated and, they got a plan for you, And if that coach is saying, Hey, look, you're a big piece of what we're trying to do. You should take a serious look at it. And I noticed there's other factors, the financial piece and ever and all that stuff. But at the end of the day, you want to have a good experience. The best experience And sports is playing a sport. So go somewhere where you're going to play, and, and get a great education. And I think here at RIT, we, you got best of both worlds here. So that's what we're selling here. So same question to the parents out there. They've got a. 16, 17 year old trying to figure out this path, trying to make good decisions for their kid. What advice would you give them? The biggest advice I would tell parents and what I tell parents is, look at the schools that like, okay if my kid had a season or career ending injury, They will still go to this school. You should take a serious look at it. I think that's something that gets overlooked and you just know how to coach and carousel is. Coaches, they come and go. So I tell parents don't go to a school because of a coach, especially if he's a young coach and he's a good coach. Cause he, somebody may, snatch him up, but I just, I would, I tell families all the time, just, really take a look at those situations and Sometimes it may be a little pricey, but at the same time, if your kids going to have a great experience and in four years, it gives them something that they'll never forget. That's worth it. Because at the end of the day, that's what I want to do for my daughter. If I got it, if she wants to go to Harvard. And that's what she wants to do. And that's the best situation for it. I find a way we'll figure it out. I love it. Coach. It's been a true joy getting to meet you and talk to you. I'm so excited. You got one of my guys, Brighton long, long and anger, and. I know without a doubt, he's going to get challenged by you and he's going to have somebody that's going to make him better every day. And I hope he steps up to the challenge. I know he will, but I'm just so excited to watch you guys and watch games this year. And if there's anything I can ever do for you or the program, don't be afraid to ask. No, for sure. I'm excited about Brighton. He's, I met his family for the first time the other day. Great family. He's going to have a, he's going to have a great career, so I'm excited. Yeah. And he's one of those kids that, you talk about kids that want something bigger than themselves. He's the epitome of that. He's, he'll run through a wall for you. So it sounds like you've got a whole team of those kids. So I'm excited for RIT. But coach, good luck, best wishes. And I know we'll be in touch. I know you and I've got some of your buddies to talk to, and we're going to get on the podcast. So I'm looking forward to keeping up with you. Oh, definitely. Thank you. Thanks for having me. This is awesome. I listened to some of your things last night and what you're doing is awesome. And if I can ever help in any way, let me know. I will for sure, coach. It's a joy and good luck with that little girl. She's lucky to have a mommy and daddy like you guys are going to have. Thank you. Thank you. I gotta go pick her up soon. So yeah, so that's awesome. Yeah. Awesome. We'll talk soon. And that's a wrap for this episode of the significant coaching podcast. I'd like to thank the fabulous Dominic Parker, the new head basketball coach at RIT for sharing his passion for coaching and recruiting in life with me, he's going to be a great head college coach. And an even better daddy with the spirit and joy for life that he has. If you're enjoying these conversations, please click that subscribe button. It helps us out a lot. If you're interested in working with me. Or scheduling me to speak at your school organization. You can schedule a free strategy session. At coach Matt rogers.com. Thanks again for listening. Have a significant week. Goodbye until next time.