Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Five Questions With … MEN'S BASKETBALL ASSISTANT COACH ANTHONY SOLOMON Anthony Solomon has worked as an assistant coach at Notre Dame in two stints, from 2000-03 and 2008-present. He also previously served as coordinator of recruiting and player development at Virginia (1994-98), and as both assistant athletic director for basketball operations and assistant coach at Clemson (1998-2000), among other stops. BGI: What does your average day consist of? Solomon: "Early fall is one of the more hectic times. Student-athletes are back in town; you've got preseason conditioning programs and fresh- men in their first semester. "There's also a live recruiting period where we do off-campus evalua- tions and contacts, which is a lot of traveling. Those are good 12-14 hour days, but it's fun — it's what we sign up for." BGI: The month of July is also a busy one for recruiting. Do you approve of the setup of that recruiting period (15 evaluation days over a 19-day span)? Solomon: "Where it is right now, it's fine — it certainly is a steady flow each and every day. We get off the road Sunday night, Monday-Tuesday you prep for the start of the next segment, which starts Wednesday. "We also have two hours a week with the student-athletes for skill and development sessions, which is a great thing to get a little skill work in the summer." BGI: Have you noticed an uptick in recruiting since the Elite Eight run last year? Solomon: "There's been a lot of positive momentum, but in the recruiting game, there's only one win- ner. You either get them, or you're finishing second and beyond. "We'll see at the end of the recruiting cycle how it all pans out. We're going to continue to be Notre Dame and do it in the way we do it, which has been very successful for us." BGI: What's your specific coaching role with the program? Solomon: "With any assistant coach, it's extremely important that you involve yourself in recruiting, and it's important you do that on a daily basis. Then I always say, unlike other sports that have position coaches, this is my 28th year — I consider myself a basketball coach. "I help our guys with all phases of the game of basketball, I've had a chance to see a lot, and I've expe- rienced a lot of coaching in my career." BGI: What do you want your players to remember most about playing for you at Notre Dame? Solomon: "That every day, I had their best interest at heart. I wanted to help assist them to reach all their goals while they were a student-athlete at Notre Dame." — Jordan Wells Solomon works with the Irish guards in addition to overseeing Notre Dame's national recruiting efforts. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS