Glory Days: The rise and fall of Slippery Rock men's basketball
By Josh Rizzo
Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: Sports Extra
"When I came to SRU, the players were told to go to SRU if they didn't want to win," Barlett said. "We had to change that mindset because SRU didn't have a good reputation in Western Pennsylvania. So we decided to start recruiting players from outside the region."
The Rock also had a limited budget to recruit players. Barlett said that in the 1980's, SRU had the least amount of scholarship money in the conference.
"We only had three full scholarships to give out," Barlett said. "We had to recruit a lot of players using smoke and mirrors. Our financial support was poor."
The best player they found was at Sto-Rox High School. Barlett was immediately interested in Myron Brown and sent Posey to take a look at him. After sitting through the game, Posey came back to Barlett with an ultimatum.
"I told Barlett to sell his wife, his kids, his car and everything he had," Posey said. "We need this kid."
"Is he that good?" Barlett asked.
"He's going to be," Posey responded.
The Rock continued to pursue Brown, attending every one of his games during his senior year of high school.
Sto-Rox had him playing at a forward position and other schools in the area didn't seem interested.
"Posey and I couldn't believe we were going to get this kid," Barlett said. "Pitt left at halftime, Duquesne left before the half even ended. He was still raw, he didn't have an intermediate game or handle the ball as well as he should, but he developed that later on."
Barlett was battling California University of Pennsylvania for Brown, but a point guard from Virginia would swing Brown's decision.
The college visit
When Barlett and Posey went down to Virginia to take a look at another player, he stumbled on to C. Russell.
"We went down to look at Daryl Whitmore, who would end up playing Major League Baseball," Posey said. "And I saw this little rocket of a point guard that I loved."
Russell was a point guard Posey wanted to run the offense. Russell said that the trip he made to SRU before he committed was what swung his decision.
The Rock also had a limited budget to recruit players. Barlett said that in the 1980's, SRU had the least amount of scholarship money in the conference.
"We only had three full scholarships to give out," Barlett said. "We had to recruit a lot of players using smoke and mirrors. Our financial support was poor."
The best player they found was at Sto-Rox High School. Barlett was immediately interested in Myron Brown and sent Posey to take a look at him. After sitting through the game, Posey came back to Barlett with an ultimatum.
"I told Barlett to sell his wife, his kids, his car and everything he had," Posey said. "We need this kid."
"Is he that good?" Barlett asked.
"He's going to be," Posey responded.
The Rock continued to pursue Brown, attending every one of his games during his senior year of high school.
Sto-Rox had him playing at a forward position and other schools in the area didn't seem interested.
"Posey and I couldn't believe we were going to get this kid," Barlett said. "Pitt left at halftime, Duquesne left before the half even ended. He was still raw, he didn't have an intermediate game or handle the ball as well as he should, but he developed that later on."
Barlett was battling California University of Pennsylvania for Brown, but a point guard from Virginia would swing Brown's decision.
The college visit
When Barlett and Posey went down to Virginia to take a look at another player, he stumbled on to C. Russell.
"We went down to look at Daryl Whitmore, who would end up playing Major League Baseball," Posey said. "And I saw this little rocket of a point guard that I loved."
Russell was a point guard Posey wanted to run the offense. Russell said that the trip he made to SRU before he committed was what swung his decision.
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