Lucas at Large: Authenticity is Badgers’ best sales pitch
February 04, 2016 | Football, Mike Lucas
‘You’ve got to be real’ on the recruiting trail, Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst says
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. - He has never climbed a tree in his khakis trousers to curry favor with a football recruit. He has never staged a sleepover at a prospect's house, either.
Whether or not he's ever heard of the Nature Boy, he would be more inclined to invite his mom to signing day instead of a professional wrestler, even a legend like Ric Flair.
"But I will get outside the box on different things," claimed Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst.
Prodded for proof, he referenced a home visit with 332-pound nose tackle Olive Sagapolu, who's from Huntington Beach, California, and very proud of his Samoan heritage.
"When I went to visit Olive last year," Chryst recalled, "I ate stuff there that I had never eaten before. I was with Nokes (defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield) and he said, 'You're good. Go with it.'
"And it was neat because you're gaining an appreciation for him (Sagapolu) and his mom, who's tremendous. There's always stuff that comes up in recruiting that is eventful.
"But I don't go out of the way to try and do something to be noticed."
In 2015, Sagapolu lettered as a true freshman; a reminder that there is still some substance to signing days beyond the theatrics and Hollywood showmanship that some schools prefer.
Wednesday, the Badgers officially unveiled their 2016 recruiting class and they were very understated in their presentation, a reflection of Chryst's personality.
"I'm proud of what we have here at Wisconsin," he said. "I'm proud of who I am. I'm not saying that I've arrived or I'm done growing (as a head coach).
"But I think the biggest thing in recruiting now -- more than ever before -- is that you've got to be real. And the guys that appreciate that (approach) fit this place.
"We are straight-forward in recruiting and, at times, it sets us apart."
One of the things that Chryst enjoys most is getting to know the players during the process.
"That's why we're honest in recruiting," he said. "You're starting this relationship and at the end of it, some of them are going to play for you and be a part of your team.
"If you base that (recruitment) on half-truths, if you base it on anything other than what is real and truthful, then you already have a crack in the foundation.
"I've always told kids, 'I'd much rather undersell and over-deliver.' I don't want the happiest days in their life to be the day they sign.
"You want their happiest days to be part of their career and growth during that time. Our job is to make sure that they're ready for the next chapter in their life.
"If that happens to be the NFL," said Chryst, a former assistant coach with the San Diego Chargers, "they'll be ready for it and we have a track record of that here.
"But they know they're going to enter a stage of life at some point where there's no longer football and we want them to not only do well but we want them to win at that, too.
"It might be old-fashioned, but I do believe in all of that."
Like most coaches, old school or new, Chryst knows there are positive offseason ramifications from winning a bowl game, especially like the Badgers did against a brand opponent, Southern Cal.
"Guys were excited about it. They watched it, their families watched, so I think they felt good about what they were joining, maybe it reinforces some things.
"People want to be a part of something with energy. And I think they feel that and sense that with this program and with the support we get from the athletic department and our fans."
Chryst and his assistants are still focusing efforts on the state of Wisconsin after the previous coaching staff concentrated their recruiting efforts in other locations.
"We've tried to get back into the state and we've made some strides," Chryst said. "But we're still not where we want to be yet. There's still work to be done. You can never rest in the state."
Connections are critical when recruiting far from home.
The Badgers had an inside link to Scottsdale (Arizona) Saguaro quarterback Kare' Lyles through offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph, who was a teammate of Lyles' dad, Kevin, in the mid-'90s here.
Ohio is Rudolph's principle recruiting turf.
Wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore, meanwhile, has ties to the state of Kansas and Kansas City, and that led the Badgers to defensive lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk and wideout A.J. Taylor.
Loudermilk has a distinctive bio in that he's a product of eight-man football. Moreover, Chryst said, "That opened up what traditionally hasn't been one (recruiting area) that we were looking at."
Getting a player out of the Chicago metro area -- wide receiver Kendric Pryor from Homewood-Flossmoor High School -- was another positive development, according to Chryst.
"Chicago, at times, can be over-recruited," he said. "But if you can pick and choose and find those players who are the right fit, that can be an area that can give us some help.
"Getting a player out of Minnesota (offensive lineman Patrick Kasl from Forest Lake High School) was important because that's kind of Wisconsin extended.
"We also wanted to make an effort to get into Georgia. You can get direct flights from here to Atlanta and it's good football down there.
"We tried to be selective and not spread ourselves too thin. We tried to blend it (the recruiting areas) with what's traditional for Wisconsin but also playing to the strengths of our coaches."
Before offering a scholarship, what's the one question Chryst needs answered?
"It's not one thing, there are a number of things," he said. "We won't offer a guy until we know they can be successful here on and off the field.
"We won't offer a guy until we know that they like putting in all the necessary time and work to be the best that they can be.
"Once you determine that football-wise, they're good enough, talented enough, big enough, fast enough, whatever it is, then the football part is done and you take that off the table.
"Then we spent a lot of time on, 'Who is this person? Do they spent a lot of time talking about the team? Is the team important?' And when you know that, you extend the offer."
Contrary to popular belief, Chryst says there is an "i" in team. The i standing for the individual.
"You know the old saying -- 'There's no i in team' -- I don't agree with that," he said. "The i is the neatest part of the team because it's a group of individuals coming together to do one thing.
"We're in this thing to help individuals grow. And, yet, you have to get individuals who want to be a part of something bigger and won't put themselves ahead of the team."
Asked how he would best characterize the makeup of his 2016 class, he said, "They all have their own personality. You have some quiet ones. You have some that are really outgoing.
"We've got five or six who at Christmas time will be wearing the ugly Christmas sweater. We've got throwbacks. We've got a group with a sense of humor.
"We've got a group that works and a group that loves playing the game and competing."
How do you find out if someone loves playing football?
"You can watch the game tape," Chryst said. "Are they playing every down? Do they celebrate with their teammates? Or do they celebrate on their own and point at themselves?
"If you have a chance to see how they practice; how do they approach that? A lot of it is from talking to other people and you can get a sense of it."
In sum, he added, "I really like who they are as much as what they are."
Every recruiting season produces some good stories. This one was no different.
"They were all good," Chryst suggested. "But I don't know if I'm a good storyteller."
So he will leave that up to the players who became Badgers on Wednesday.
"That's the beauty of this all," he said. "This class will have an opportunity to write their story and our job is to help them."
