Southeastern Conference Best Practices: Tennessee's Recruits Get a View of Coach Pearl

This blog is all about inspiration. Today we start with 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the SEC. You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Cool?

Let's go...

Hit the Tennessee Men's Basketball page, and click on "Sports Links" (you'll note that on the right hand tab of that orange box below.

Clicking in, you'll see this outlined below, in a beautiful way: For Recruits all we offer are: Camps, CoachPearl.com, and Coach Pearl on Twitter or Facebook. I loved this step, as it isn't throwing a lot off the jump at a recruit. It is a narrow filter to get them the inspiration and content they need.

Clicking into the Coach Pearl home page, here, takes us to the image below. Now we're ready to get to today's inspiration. Within the Coach Pearl Tab is a section called "Quotables." That's where we are headed...



This takes you here, to a complete view of Coach Pearl from Players, Coaches, and Experts. It's kind of like those 360 degree performance reviews many corporations have, where you see how you are doing as a product of the opinions of those who you work for, next to, and that you manage. Except in this case, those reviews come from the likes of:

• Players BJ Armstrong, Kevin Gamble, Brad Lohaus, Acie Earl, Chris Lofton, CJ Watson
• Coaches Lute Olson, Steve Lavin, Pat Summitt, and Tom Davis
• Analysts Clark Kellogg and Jay Bilas

But it isn't just the depth of the lineup that got me. It was the passion and frankly the emotion within those statements. There's so much packed into these quotes. You'll feel authenticity and compassion. You will feel that as a recruit you will be valued as an individual. And you will make a lifelong friend. Powerful stuff.

I'm trying to enlarge this below, but (just in case you can't see this on your browser and don't want to just click here, I'll give you a taste.

"From the time I met him he was able to get the most out of me as a player. He understood my personality and knew how to motivate me. He believed in me when others did not. He stays in touch, offering his friendship and advice." -- Brad Lohaus, former Milwaukee Buck.

How could this be better? Talk to current players. We have a great view of those who are now on in their lives. But as a recruit, you want to know what the current guys think of their leader. Deliver that combination and you will have something that is both incredibly important and incredibly relevant.

That's it.

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the SEC! And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy