Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
COLUMN: Phone calls from the Murphy Center entryways
5/12/2024 6:49:00 PM | General, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball
The foundation of the Blue Raiders’ future is set just a few paces away from the floor they’ll play on.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — If you've ever spent much time on the first floor of the Murphy Center, I know at least one thing about your time there: you're almost certainly not taking a phone call.
Maybe it's the infrastructure of a building that opened 51 years ago, well before cell phones were commonplace. Maybe it's just the fact that the Glass House was built into the ground itself. Regardless, the first floor of the Murphy Center has just about the worst cell reception anywhere I've worked. Luckily for me, it doesn't affect my day-to-day work too often. Between iMessages and the fact that most of my interviews are on location, I might have to make a phone call during the work day once a month, maybe once every other month sometimes.
But during the month of April and May in the transfer portal era, the Middle Tennessee coaching staffs don't have that luxury. So, most mornings when I walk into work, most afternoons when I walk out for lunch and even some evenings as I'm heading home for the day, I'm usually catching one of our coaches with a nod as I walk past them on the phone with a future Blue Raider.
When I first started following college sports, I guess I always understood the market for following recruiting closely. Fans and supporters are always interested in who would be playing for their team next. In college, that took the form of talking to recruits, rather than reviewing impending free agents or the draft class in the pros. But it certainly wasn't something that appealed to me at the time.
Sports, compared to many other beats I could've pursued in college, ultimately appealed to me because of its true objectivity. Every game, every meet, every match had a winner or loser that was not in dispute. The nuance and work were found in the how and why those winners came to be. Recruiting, as far off as it seemed from the day-to-day world of those games, certainly fits into the how and why. The other bits, the strategy, the work put in the practice gym, the individual stories of those already on campus, loomed so much greater for me.
But once I was inside college athletics, first as a student reporter and now as a staff writer here at MTSU, I understood the obsession so many of us have for recruiting news. And these past two months following Men's and Women's Basketball as they filled out their 2024-25 rosters has kept all of us fed.
The transfer portal has changed so much of how fans follow the recruiting day-to-day. Not so much in not following as much high school recruiting (all programs still build their foundation off of strong prep classes), but in that exhilarating period from the end of the season until the transfer portal closes on May 1, when so much of a team's future for the next season can be changed.
Middle Tennessee men's basketball has signed five transfers since the season ended in Huntsville, not counting the player that hopped into the portal and came back. And they all have interesting stories, from a local kid returning home (Jarred Hall) to an elite forward at MTSU's level looking for one last chance to play (Essam Mostafa) to former Top-100 recruit looking for his breakout chance (Kamari Lands). There are veterans with NCAA Tournament experience (Alec Oglesby) and veterans looking for a chance to win (Jlynn Counter).
Women's Basketball has been less active in comparison, but equally as interesting in who they've brought in, from a former CUSA star looking to show her all-league talent is still as effective as it was in El Paso (Elina Arike) to a hometown player trying to breakthrough at the collegiate level (Emily Monson).
Getting word of these players from the coaches has made the past few months exciting as any I've felt in the Glass House since I've been here. And while there's much work to be done (including finalizing the rosters, as I expect both programs to do this week), it's hard not to be hopeful about where both basketball teams are going after this spring.
And this summer heading into the fall? I'll have the time to dive deeper into the new faces the @MT_FB account is sharing on social media. The names on the other end of those phone calls dialed in the entryways of the Glass House.
Maybe it's the infrastructure of a building that opened 51 years ago, well before cell phones were commonplace. Maybe it's just the fact that the Glass House was built into the ground itself. Regardless, the first floor of the Murphy Center has just about the worst cell reception anywhere I've worked. Luckily for me, it doesn't affect my day-to-day work too often. Between iMessages and the fact that most of my interviews are on location, I might have to make a phone call during the work day once a month, maybe once every other month sometimes.
But during the month of April and May in the transfer portal era, the Middle Tennessee coaching staffs don't have that luxury. So, most mornings when I walk into work, most afternoons when I walk out for lunch and even some evenings as I'm heading home for the day, I'm usually catching one of our coaches with a nod as I walk past them on the phone with a future Blue Raider.
When I first started following college sports, I guess I always understood the market for following recruiting closely. Fans and supporters are always interested in who would be playing for their team next. In college, that took the form of talking to recruits, rather than reviewing impending free agents or the draft class in the pros. But it certainly wasn't something that appealed to me at the time.
Sports, compared to many other beats I could've pursued in college, ultimately appealed to me because of its true objectivity. Every game, every meet, every match had a winner or loser that was not in dispute. The nuance and work were found in the how and why those winners came to be. Recruiting, as far off as it seemed from the day-to-day world of those games, certainly fits into the how and why. The other bits, the strategy, the work put in the practice gym, the individual stories of those already on campus, loomed so much greater for me.
But once I was inside college athletics, first as a student reporter and now as a staff writer here at MTSU, I understood the obsession so many of us have for recruiting news. And these past two months following Men's and Women's Basketball as they filled out their 2024-25 rosters has kept all of us fed.
The transfer portal has changed so much of how fans follow the recruiting day-to-day. Not so much in not following as much high school recruiting (all programs still build their foundation off of strong prep classes), but in that exhilarating period from the end of the season until the transfer portal closes on May 1, when so much of a team's future for the next season can be changed.
Middle Tennessee men's basketball has signed five transfers since the season ended in Huntsville, not counting the player that hopped into the portal and came back. And they all have interesting stories, from a local kid returning home (Jarred Hall) to an elite forward at MTSU's level looking for one last chance to play (Essam Mostafa) to former Top-100 recruit looking for his breakout chance (Kamari Lands). There are veterans with NCAA Tournament experience (Alec Oglesby) and veterans looking for a chance to win (Jlynn Counter).
Women's Basketball has been less active in comparison, but equally as interesting in who they've brought in, from a former CUSA star looking to show her all-league talent is still as effective as it was in El Paso (Elina Arike) to a hometown player trying to breakthrough at the collegiate level (Emily Monson).
Getting word of these players from the coaches has made the past few months exciting as any I've felt in the Glass House since I've been here. And while there's much work to be done (including finalizing the rosters, as I expect both programs to do this week), it's hard not to be hopeful about where both basketball teams are going after this spring.
And this summer heading into the fall? I'll have the time to dive deeper into the new faces the @MT_FB account is sharing on social media. The names on the other end of those phone calls dialed in the entryways of the Glass House.
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