Diary Series: Eric Konkol, Asst. Coach - Miami

I thought I would use this month's entry to let the College Chalktalk readers in on some of the other responsibilities our staff has been working on in addition to preparing for ACC play. During this time of year, we practice or play six days a week and spend most of our time preparing our team.  Outside of practice, individual workouts, team meetings, individual player meetings, and staff meetings to prepare and improve our team, what else are we doing?

1.       Recruiting - This is always the lifeblood of the program.  It's vitally important to be in constant contact with our recruits and their circle of influence. Traveling to our prospects games is difficult in-season and we always try to be out recruiting on our off day from games and practice.  As assistants, we try to minimize the practices we miss, and schedule Coach Larranaga's time on the road so he never misses.  This requires constant communication and organization among our staff.  Phone calls, emails, letters, and other correspondence won't miss a beat during the season as we want everyone to continuing learning about all the great things about The U.

2.       Academics - Even though most of our players do not have class during the holiday break, we are in communication with our Academic Coordinator to make sure our players' spring semester schedule is organized, our seniors have every class they need for graduation, and make sure we are aware of any practice time conflicts. At the University of Miami, we have a 10-day intersession period where our student-athletes can earn three credits.  We had three players take advantage of that opportunity this year.

3.       Scheduling - We spend time during the season working on our schedule for the next few seasons.  Scheduling a high level exempt event is always a priority and we work several years in advance.  In 2012-13, we will be in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii.  We are also working on finding dates for return games, new series, and home games for the future.  Scheduling properly is very important.

4.       Program improvements - We believe in the saying, "You don't stay the same.  You either get better or you get worse."  Our staff is always looking for ways to improve our program.  This could be something tangible for our locker room, office, training room, weight room, practice facility, and so on.  This could also be something intangible such as ideas to improve something organizationally with our recruiting, community and alumni outreach, camps, fall league, and summer development plans.  We always want to be thinking of ways to improve.

5.       Camp - Summer camp has always been important to our program.  It's a great way to reach out and get to know the community.  During our season, we are working on dates to have camp and making sure we get promotional materials out to the public.

6.       "Sharpen the Saw" - This is Dr. Stephen Covey's 7th Habit of Highly Effective People.  This is the hardest one to stay on top of during the season, but important when trying to give our team our very best effort.  It's important to find time for family, eat well, exercise, and stay fresh during the rigors of a long season.

Best wishes to everyone this month and GO CANES!