East Mississippi Community College athletic director and women’s basketball coach Sharon Thompson said virtual recruiting during the coronavirus pandemic has gone well considering the circumstances.
On Monday night, Thompson talked to an out-of-state point guard and the player’s high school coach, a productive conversation the Lions’ coach hopes will yield results down the line.
Thompson said that, unsurprisingly, her world has been a lot of talking, texting and FaceTime as she navigates the recruiting waters with junior college coaches around the country all in the same boat.
That dynamic might change later this week for other programs in the wake of Monday evening’s announcement by the National Junior College Athletic Association that the ban on in-person recruiting will be lifted at 11:59 p.m. local time Friday. But Thompson stressed Tuesday that EMCC’s current recruiting practices won’t be undergoing any upheaval soon. In accordance with Mississippi Association of Community & Junior Colleges policy, in-person recruiting will be prohibited through May 31, and the ban could be extended. A meeting with the conference’s athletic directors and school presidents — including Thompson — led to the restriction.
Thompson told The Dispatch on Tuesday worried about the safety of bringing recruits onto campus or visiting players’ homes, said she’s fine with that and has directed her fellow coaches not to recruit in person until at least the end of the month.
“How much are we really about the lives of the people, or are we just about getting out and recruiting?” she said. “I know me personally, I’m not gonna do it. I’m not gonna do it, and we’re not gonna allow coaches to do it.”
The Lions will lose at least two more weeks of in-person recruiting due to the MACJC’s policy, but Thompson said that’s a trade-off she’d be willing to make every single time.
“I don’t see where 16 more days is gonna make that big of a difference when we are just trying to make sure that we’re not rushing back into this,” Thompson said.
With the wearing of protective face masks encouraged, social distancing measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in place and bans on gatherings of more than 10 people inside and 20 people outside, Thompson and the Lions are in no hurry to resume normal operations too soon. She said neither she nor her fellow coaches have scheduled any in-person visits in June or beyond.
“As long as those CDC guidelines are in place, we’re gonna kind of stick to that,” she said.
EMCC has canceled recruiting camps scheduled for June and told players and their high schools that plans for camps in late July or early August are tentative at best, subject to the whims of the pandemic.
For now, it’ll be more phone calls, texts and FaceTime as Thompson and the Lions navigate the virus and exercise caution. She said athletic directors and school presidents — including Dr. Scott Alsobrooks at EMCC — will get together toward the end of the month and revisit the situation.
Until then, Thompson is encouraging everyone to exercise caution when traveling, wear masks and generally try to help out to ensure a faster return to normal life.
“I challenge everybody to make sure we’re doing our part,” Thompson said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.