Published Apr 3, 2020
Q&A: In Part II Anderson talks creativity and sustainability
circle avatar
Brad Franklin  •  CavsCorner
Publisher
Twitter
@Cavs_Corner


Editor’s Note: This is the second half of a conversation with Justin Anderson, UVa’s director of player personnel, conducted via a phone interview on Tuesday afternoon. In this portion of the Q&A, Anderson discusses the way the recruiting shop has to be creative in its response to the coronavirus pandemic, why he has so much faith in the organization, and much more. You can check out the first part of the Q&A by clicking here. Of note, this Interview was conducted before the NCAA extended the dead period to at least May 31st.


Advertisement

So earlier you mentioned being "creative." What’s the most creative you guys have gotten in terms of replacing the standard on-campus visit? I’ve heard stories in the recruiting world about players and coaches playing video games together, for example. What’s the most creative you guys have gotten so far? And I ask that fully realizing you might not want to say it publicly and give up the store, so to speak.


We’ve got some things coming up that I’d rather not say just yet. It’s been interesting to see what other people are doing. I do think it leads you to a place where you see something and think ‘Oh that’s a really creative idea.’ There are some thoughts that we have that I think can really help us so it’s a matter of putting those things together. I do think we have some really good things that we’re doing that are helping us stay engaged with recruits and our coaches have done some really creative things I think.


I was about to make a joke about who on the coaching staff would be the best gamer.


That’s a great question. I’m trying to think about who that could be and I would say that Coach (Shane) Hunter seems like he’s pretty adept at doing things like that. Then again, everyone on my staff is much younger and therefore can probably all do really well, some of our GAs too.


With the situation being what it is, there’s some worry out there that the NCAA can’t police everything right now and I think Bronco mentioned this in his availability the other day, too, that a lot of it now is just trusting people to do things fairly. For lack of a better description, it’s almost a gentlemen’s agreement of sorts. For example, what’s the NCAA rule on playing video games with recruits? Is a coach allowed to challenge a recruit to a game of Madden? I’m not real sure. But in terms of your staff, how tough is the playing field you're seeing right now? Is that a headache at all to make sure you’re abiding by rules that feel like they’re changing on the fly? 


I would say once again that one of the things I really appreciate about working for Coach is that he’s a man of integrity and he’d never ask us to do something that’s not right. If there’s a question for us, we go to compliance and we ask. They may say no and you might even see others doing that. But that’s not who we are. To us, there’s no recruit that’s worth giving up your integrity. So I would say for us it’s on the up and up and we’re doing what we’re allowed to do and we’ll do it the best of our ability. And if there are those who want to do it another way, and I guess there are some things that you can do to not be tracked in some regards, and this is an unprecedented time and the NCAA is trying to figure out in a lot of ways what they can and can’t govern. I think there has to be a gentlemen’s agreement but I think it’s each person and their integrity is at stake. I love that about Coach. My integrity is never at stake because he’s never going to ask me to do something I shouldn’t.


Last question for you: Coming off an Orange Bowl season and given how good the past two years have been, how nice is it to be able to recruit given the forward momentum you guys have right now?


It’s nice for sure. I think it just goes to show who Coach is, that what he promised at the beginning is happening, that he’d build a program from the ground up and that he’d do it the right way. We’re showing that we’re able to do that and now it’s just a continuation of that. Each year we’ve improved. Bryce Perkins came in and took over for Kurt Benkert and now it’s Brennan (Armstrong) or whoever it may be, it’s their job to continue that. I think Brennan has been tutored by a really good man in Bryce and so now it’s his job to take the keys. I know people probably have some questions because he’s a guy that hasn’t played a whole lot yet but I think what Coach has shown is that if you give him time and give him the right people, he’ll build a program. So, yeah, it’s been fun and it’s been exciting and it’s an exciting time at Virginia. I think there’s always those who question ‘How long can this happen?’ I guess you just have to look at Coach’s history. How long does it happen? Pretty much every year. I think Coach (Robert) Anae and Coach (Jason) Beck have proven over time to do pretty well at molding and building quarterbacks. So I’m excited about it and excited for what the future holds and I think it’s promising.



JOIN CAVSCORNER TODAY!

If you are not already a member of CavsCorner, come join us and see what all of the buzz is about.

Click HERE to subscribe and get all of the latest news and join hundreds of other UVa fans in talking about Cavalier football, basketball, and recruiting. You won't be disappointed!