Gottfried Glad For A Return To The Grind

The July evaluation period is a grind for college basketball coaches, but Mark Gottfried isn't that bummed about it:

"To be truthful, I'm more excited about July coming than I ever remember being," he said. "Who knows? Come mid-July I may start thinking back to being on that boat with my feet up and a cold one in my hand. And I may have moments of wondering 'What did I do?' But in all sincerity, I can't tell you how eager I am to put my eyes on certain guys and to get this recruiting thing going full speed."

There's the LeBron James Camp, the Summer Jam, the Peach Jam, and assorted other Jams which showcase the best prep talent in the country. If you follow Gottfried on Twitter, you get a pretty good sense of how hectic it is. Most of the time it ain't much fun--Tim Miles offered a good example of that today--but judging by his heavy exclamation point usage, Gottfried seems happy to be doing coaching things again. He and his staff aren't messing around, either; they've been all over the place to show support for Tyler Lewis and targets like Rodney Purvis, Amile Jefferson, and TJ Warren. All of those targets are big time prospects sought by the best programs in the country.

I don't know if this staff can deliver the class of our dreams, but it's been fun so far.