A little update...

[gcdevil22]

as some of you know, I accepted a Graduate Assistant position at the University of Akron...well, I'm one month and some change down here in Akron and I'm loving every minute of it

the coaching staff couldn't be a nicer group, and are all just down-to-Earth great people...I loved my time with the basketball program at VT, but there were some within the staff that thought they pooped roses and it soured the experience a little...but literally every person I've come across involved with this program or University as a whole have been great genuine people

it is weird, however, walking around on Saturdays and not many people are tailgating and less than 4 or 5 thousand fill a stadium for a sub-par football game (the football team here is 0-4 or 0-5) if we didn't have to host recruits, I would probably not even attend the games at all

but some interesting tidbits you guys might be interested in...

LeBron still has a house in the Akron area and plans on keeping it...he actually has lived there since signing with Miami and has hung around the program up until about a week ago when he reported to training camp in FL...he played open gym with our guys 5 times while he was here, alternating games between Univ. of Akron and the St. Vincent/St. Mary's gym close to downtown Akron

I got to meet him and talk to him a couple times, and he talked about going out in Akron and the reactions of the people who were "fans"...he told a particularly funny story that went something likes this:

LeBron: I was out in the Valley the other night and a girl walks by fast and says "Fu** you LeBron!" as she passes by...so I turned around and grabbed her hand and said "excuse me, did you say something?"...almost ****ing her pants, she backs down quickly and says "oh LeBron, you know I be playin!"

then he laughed and just walked on

he had a bunch of other similar stories, some fans flipping him off in the clubs from a safe 20 or 30 feet away...he says he doesn't mind people being mad at him for leaving, he'd probably feel the same in their shoes

he says he's not as concerned with the "legend" of his persona, as much as he just hates losing (or rather not winning it all) and would like to win some titles in Miami and if they would welcome him back, he would like to come back to Cleveland and finish his career

he also talked about people saying Kobe was better than he is, or that he'll never be Jordan...he doesn't care about that either, he said he hopes he hasnt reached that level yet because it would be hard to motivate himself if he was already the greatest...he doesn't mind people saying others are better than him, but will take offense when people start talking about his mother like some have

which brings me to my final story of the day...I have a second job as a barback at a local bar that caters for the athletic department, and the owner told me a story about 2 years old of a time when LeBron's mother came to the bar to watch an away Cleveland game...

he prefaced the story by saying that when LeBron was growing up, his mother was heavily involved in drugs and would have to be escorted out of many St. V games because she would literally go nuts for no reason because she was cracked out

well she strolled into the bar a couple years ago with a posse of about 10 people...after halftime she stumbled into the bathroom and came out about 45 minutes later (a whole quarter had passed) and she smelled awful, and soon the whole bar smelled hideously awful...the manager got one of the female waitresses to go into the bathroom to see if the toilet had overflowed...she came out pale and ready to puke....LeBron's mother had shot up in the bathroom, left syringes in the floor and spread feces all over the wall, stalls and mirror...she and her posse were kicked out of the bar and were told to never come back...the bar had to close for the day

if I hear any more gems like that one I'll be sure and pass it along

oh, for any of you that follow the NBA, one of our assistants left and took a job as an assistant at the Univ. of Wisconsin, so the guy we got to fill his spot is former Detroit Piston guard, Charles Thomas, who is easily one of the most engaging people I've ever met

[pvfan]

Two questions:

1) How does Akron handle recruiting in comparison to VT, I'm referring to budget, travel, how they handle recruits when they visit, etc.

2) How are the athletes? Do athletes at that level behave differently than those at major D1? Obviously great guys and jerks exist at every level.

[pvfan]

A third question. Any truth to the rumor that some of Lebron's teammates engaged in sexual activity with his mother while he was at Cleveland?

[gcdevil22]

Akron's recruiting is more regional than Virginia Tech's...Coach Greenberg would be gone pretty regularly visiting with prospects or different schools at random places in the country, whereas Coach Dambrot (UoA's coach) only occasionally travels outside the state of Ohio during the school year...however, he can afford to do so with the Akron-Cleveland-Canton area filled with prospects

Akron has to be more innovative and efficient with their recruiting though, as you want to recruit the best prospects you can, but they can't be so good that Ohio State might want them...any kid Ohio that OSU wants, OSU gets...it's as simple as that

so you have to find prospects that are really good but that might have a deficiency that would chase away the big boys...the biggest example of this are kids that are tweeners as far as a position is concerned (6'6- posts, slower guards, a wing who can handle the ball but probably can't defend a guard, or vice versa)

or you can try to go after kids who has academic issues and see if you can take a gamble on getting them eligible

Akron has 2 kids this year who are Big East level athletically, but both had big academic issues and Akron (being an open university) was the only school willing to take a chance on them....so they are sitting this year out and if they get their grades up and become eligible next year, they will immediately be the 2 best players in the conference...they are both as athletically gifted as anyone I ever saw at Virginia Tech (including Deron Washington) and one of them has the ball skills and basketball savvy to go along with it

with that said, I think the answer to the first question also answers your second question...there are some athletes at this level but not necessarily as athletic as ACC players...I think the biggest difference is just depth really (and a little size, obviously)

the kids themselves are definitely not as prima donna as ACC level athletes are...these kids weren't on the elite level AAU teams, so they didn't have a million people blowing smoke up their butt since they were 13

that's not to say that the ACC athletes aren't good people, because they are...they just have been told one thing their whole life and it's a little foreign to them when just the opposite happens to be true

VT and Akron don't differ much when they host recruits...you want to show them everything you can to get them excited about your school...play up your strengths and spin your deficiencies

what Akron has, is LeBron's monetary support and his high school coach with a roll-ver contract so you know he'll be there for as long as you are, he will never be fired

with LeBron's money we get TONS of gear (shoes, sweats, t-shirts, shorts, bags, etc.) so we take one of every piece of clothing we have and hang it all up in the locker room, building a pyramid out of the shoes and shoe boxes in the middle of the locker room floor...if i knew how to post pictures on here i'd post a picture i took yesterday of our locker room while we hosted recruits

I've gotten twice as much clothes here as I ever did at VT, but that could be because I have a bigger role...but it's definitely not the norm for a mid-major

I have no definitive answer on your third question...I've heard the whispers here, but cannot confirm...one of our GAs is Willie McGee who went to St V. with LeBron and was actually rated higher than LeBron coming out of 7th and 8th grade but he decided to concentrate on football...for any of you who have seen the LeBron documentary, Willie is actually in that movie and he is absolutely a great guy...anyway, I'll try to ask him if he knows, but I'm not sure how I should bring up that topic

[pvfan]

The only reason I ask is because I'm curious to if that played into his leaving Cleveland any at all.

[gcdevil22]

none

[heneedsa]

Good luck on your journey, I spent two years at Marrieta College in SE Ohio and the people there were good people too, just don't get too rooted in the north. Remember once a devil always a devil.