As usual, he had his 'coach's best friend' fully engaged. No, not Bear Grylls survival tips or a seven figure recruiting budget but a global positioning system. Playing off a certain commercial, coaches don't leave the car rental company parking lot without it.
Our conversation covered a myriad of subjects.
"Most freshman would benefit from redshirting" (this honesty coming from someone who enjoyed Dylan Garrity toss 193 assists last season, sixth in the nation, in addition to 8.1 points per game as the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year for the Hornets so he certainly sees both sides).
"Think about it," Laird offered. "You're trading a freshman year at age 18 or 19, where you can become overwhelmed trying to match the physical stature of upperclassmen and the adjustment of transitioning into college, for a senior year at age 22 or 23, where you are more fully developed physically, mentally, and emotionally. It can be a great chance to learn and develop. However, it's hard to see the big picture out of high school. You go home where you were a high school star, the best player on a team or in a city and you're now on the bench sitting out. I believe that, ultimately, it is a case-by-case basis, We've looked at guys as potential redshirt candidates who turned out to be so good ready to play, that there was no need to do red-shirt them. But ultimately, coaches don't determine who plays, players do. If a student-athlete earns a spot and the team is better when he is on the court, a coach is going to play him, regardless of what year he is."
As to a suggestion about the NCAA instituting mandatory freshman redshirting, he chuckled and added, "Good luck getting the Kentuckys, North Carolinas and UCLAs to agree with that."
I recalled five or six years ago that former Ripon High backcourter Justin Graham attended San Jose State University with the proviso that he be allowed to redshirt as a freshman. Part of the reason was his age coming out of high school but also the opportunity to possibly earn a Master's degree before completing his athletic eligibility.
Another topic that came up was defending.
Laird said,"75% of incoming freshman really struggle on the defensive end and have to be taught how to defend. It's not a reflection on anyone, but speaks more to the advanced level of the game because at the college level as you can have upwards of seven different ways to guard a pick-and-roll or five ways to cover the low post. Because the players in college are so much better, there's a demand to play defense every possession, every game. You can't be late on a closeout or not be in stance. The margin of error is very small."
He added, "There's an adjustment to the speed of the game. The ball moves much faster and players are more skilled, more athletic. Plus, you may have to switch on to a 6-foot-10, 260-pound opponent or face a point guard who is lightning quick, which creates mismatch problems. You will typically have a half court man-to-man defense to play and a half court zone plus a full court press and you'll have to learn to guard specific sets. All this takes concentration, maturity and experience."
Asked about how to measure the heart of a player, Laird responded anatomically. "The hardest thing to do at any level is evaluating the neck up. We know how to measure athletic ability but the mental, the intelligence and the drive, is difficult."
The sporting world is full of talents who ate themselves out of opportunity, were 24/7 regarding mind altering substances or non-verbally screamed 'me, me, me' on every possession.
But as Laird pointed out, "guys will mature and change and everyone knows a good second-chance player story. We're judged by productivity, by wins, and if a guy can win two or three extra games for you -- we all may have a different ability to absorb that. At the end of the day we are all guided by a moral compass and have to decide what behaviors are acceptable in our programs."
Then we turned to my personal pet peeve: the disappearance of the jump stop in lieu of the floater or the taking of the ball all the way to the hoop -- this often unfortunately demonstrated by a earthbound 5-foot-8 backcourter challenging those seemingly twice that size in the paint or throwing an off-balance pass to an open teammate but a toss that requires movement up or down or to one side or the other in order to catch it, thus eliminating shooting balance.
Laird offered, "we literally spend 10 minutes a day on jump stopping, on not leaving your feet. But the game has changed -- it's dribble oriented, not pass-oriented. There's more aggressive approach to get to the basket. It's the nature of sports, like football now using more of a spread offense than a smashmouth approach. I think there is less fundamental teaching at the lower levels and a difference in the way the game is taught. That goes for other aspects of the game, too."
Social media was the final subject.
"As coaches, we have to recognize the culture -- it's here to stay -- and we want our players to have the freedom to have relationships," Laird explained. "Our job is to teach them how to do it appropriately and properly. Some athletic departments have hired monitors and use software to catch buzzwords that shouldn't be used."
Regarding recruiting prospects utilizing Twitter, Instagram and the like, coaches certainly do take a look.
"We want to learn as much about the student-athletes we're thinking about bringing into our family." Laird offered. "We want to understand who they are and how they communicate can be part of that. Even voicemail greetings are important and are evaluated."
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