#List May 8

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When you are a college coach your world revolves around recruiting. There are a lot of ways to recruit but it is important to have a LIST of who to recruit.

A good friend and fantastic basketball coach passed away in April 2020. His name was Robert “Bob” Burke and he coached at the high school, college, and NBA level. Early in my coaching career he gave me some advice that became the basis of all the recruiting I ever did. His advice was simple as he provided it to me in his brusque Irish Staten Island New York accent “Kenney you need a LIST”. He further added that the best LIST always was adding names thru the power of circumstances.

Bob coached at a lot of places but his most memorable years were spent at then Chowan College where Burke compiled a 419-217 coaching record and led the then Braves to three NJCAA tournaments, two sweet 16 appearance and one Final Four appearance along with 12 consecutive 20-plus win seasons and nine Coach of the Year awards.

After enjoying 22 years of great success at then Chowan College, he went on to serve as an assistant coach at the University of Hawaii and with NBA’s Portland Trailblazers. 

Most of his career at Chowan they were a Junior College Coach. Time as a JUCO Coach taught him a lot of lessons including how to recruit. Bob realized that for a team to be successful at any level it required talent. He also knew that most coaches all looked at the same potential recruits to add to their targeted LIST. Bob’s unique twist on how to build a recruiting LIST was to use relationships or as he called it “Circumstantial Recruiting”. What he meant was he was always telling people what he was looking for. He listened to the stories and names people gave him and followed up. Many leads were dead ends but his list always seemed to produce a name that many had never heard of before.

Bob’s Life Lesson served me well also. The LIST I had at the beginning of any recruiting cycle very seldom included names on my opening day roster. Just like Bob my LIST always improved when I told people what I was looking for.

Just this week Chowan hired Bob’s son; Rob Burke as Head Basketball Coach. I am excited that he will be carrying on his dad’s legacy.

We all miss Bob but the “life lessons” he was always teaching others are still with us including today. Including how to build a recruiting LIST.