Friar Basketball

Cooley, PC With Great Options

Jeff Battle

How close was Jeff Battle to joining the Providence staff in April 2011? The long-time Wake Forest assistant was on campus at Providence a month after dear friend Ed Cooley was hired, but Battle, a single father who lost his wife to cancer in 2008, decided to remain in North Carolina because he was hesitant to uproot his high school aged son.

An opportunity has opened on the PC staff with the departure of Bob Simon this week, leading to the question of if this is the right time for Battle four years later. ESPN’s Jeff Goodman tweeted that he would not be surprised to see Cooley pursue his long-time friend.

Battle is no longer with Wake Forest, his son is in college, and Cooley could greatly bolster his staff by going this route. When Battle was first mentioned with Providence in 2011 I directed readers to an ESPN article on the top assistant coaches in the college game. The article explained how Battle had successfully developed future NBA players at both Xavier and Wake Forest.

Here are the highlights:

In eight years at Wake Forest and seven more before that at Xavier, Jeff Battle has earned cred for the way he cultivates raw athletes. Battle is a talent identifier, a man who can find and unleash hidden strengths in underrecruited kids while maximizing the abilities of blue chips. Here are four guys who have benefited the most from his particular skill set and what he did to get them where they are today.

Josh Howard (Dallas Mavericks, 2007 NBA All-Star)

“We pushed Josh to dedicate himself. I told him, ‘You want to be a pro? Be a 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. guy, not a 3-to-6er.’ We worked him hard. At first he felt it was punishment, but over time he saw results. And after I told him a jumper would make him unguardable, he would come to me after practice—already wringing in sweat—and say, ‘Let’s shoot some more threes.’ ”

James Posey (New Orleans Hornets; NBA champion, 2006 and ’08)

“People always ask me if I’m surprised that James is a three-point shooter in the NBA. Well, we actually worked with him on that a lot at Xavier. Even though he played inside for us, he always had the shot. For some reason, though, he was just reluctant. We practically had to beg him to take it, but he finally did. I don’t see him hesitating anymore.”

Jeff Teague (Wake Forest sophomore, 2009 All-ACC Second Team)

“With 10 seconds on the clock, Jeff will make a play. But he’s still a work in progress. He’s got long arms and solid lateral movement, so he should be a great defensive player. But when Jeff doesn’t have the ball, he isn’t always focused. My job is to get him tuned in on D. With him, it’s going to be mental, making him want to be the best defender in the ACC.”

Chris Paul (New Orleans Hornets, 2006 NBA Rookie of the Year, 2008 and ’09 All-Star)

“His skill level was high, but we kept pushing him, getting him to be more aggressive. The biggest thing for him at the college level was his midrange game. In high school he got to the rim a lot, but I kept telling him that, in the ACC, players step in and take charges. Those midrange shots are what made him one of the best.”

* * *

Battle’s ability to develop guards would be a tremendous selling point, especially if Cooley can somehow manage to find a way to keep God Shammgod on staff. Shammgod has been crucial in the development of both Bryce Cotton (a one-time spot up shooter turned NBA point guard) and Kris Dunn (a future lottery pick) and few staffs in the Big East could boast a pair of coaches with such a track record of guard development. Not a bad selling point on the recruiting trailing.

Whether or not Providence would have room for both is a different question. Providence’s players have raved about Shammgod and his ability to both improve their skill set and relate to them personally, and the feeling is that Providence would love to find a permanent spot for him.

Somehow maintaining Shammgod, while adding Battle is the absolute home run.

Twitter: @Kevin_Farrahar

Email: kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

One Comment

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