Greg Clink explains the summer tasks and more for Chico State basketball

So what happens in college basketball come June, July and August? Is it a kick-back vacation-palooza for the various coaching staffs?

Hardly.

Here's Chico State University Coach Greg Clink on the summer itinerary for he and his staff:

One of the questions that I get a lot of the time is about our recruiting and how it all works, and what we do at different times of the year. Here is how we go about it in a nut shell. From mid-June to July 31 there are a multitude of high school summer leagues, team camps, exposure camps, and AAU tournaments throughout the country. The major areas that our coaching staff covers during this time are Sacramento, the Bay Area, the Los Angeles area  and Las Vegas. We are at the events trying to find the next crop of seniors (we are also identifying up-and-coming juniors and sophomores) to recruit for the following year.

For example, of the four incoming freshman that we signed this past fall and spring, Jordan Barton, Jordan Semple, Mike Rosaroso, and Nate Appel were all guys that we saw play last summer 2010.

We then take this massive list of names that we have identified as having the potential to play for us, and in August we sort out the mess. We get transcripts, talk to their coaches, talk to the players and their parents, etc. August is the time when we do our "background checks" and see who has the intangibles and who are the types of students that we want in our program. When we have that list shortened, we start arranging campus visits and try to get at least one (last fall two) guys to sign a National Letter of Intent in November.

Then, we spend the regular basketball season following and evaluating the rest of the guys on our list, and adding more names along the way, until it is signing time again in April.

Throughout the year we are in constant contact with our recruits by phone, through mail and email and watching them play. We try hard to build great relationships with them and educate them about all of the great things that our program and our university has to offer. It is also a time to learn about them and see if they have all of the qualities and characteristics that we are looking for in a student-athlete. This is vital to our success, because what we do here in our basketball program and the type of commitment was ask of our student-athletes, is not for everyone. It takes a special type of person to do what we do and that is why recruiting is the life blood of our program.

The summer is my favorite time of the "recruiting year." It is a time when our job is to sit in a gym for 12-16 hours a day watching basketball. It is a time when you watch hundreds of talented young men, who are dreaming of playing college basketball, play the game they love and that we love.

I hope that gives you a glimpse into what we have going on this summer.