Stan Gouard, men’s basketball head coach, has been one of the more interesting ones this past season. Finishing with a ninth-best 5-13 record, this was a noticeable decline from last year’s 9-9. Despite this, Gouard is committed to building this program into one of the true powerhouses in Indiana, the Mecca of college basketball.

This past week, I sat down with Gouard to discuss the season and the team’s plans going forward. First and foremost, Gouard said building a good culture is the key to success. He wants to bring in guys who “bleed the red, white and blue.” Guys who want this to be their first-choice university and really want to build something at Screaming Eagles Arena.

To do so, Gouard and the coaching staff have recruiting to do, as there are currently eight open slots on the team for players in the transfer portal. Like any sporting professional, Gouard has a big board with potential targets to follow over the summer.

Currently, with official visits underway, the plan going forward is simple: “Recruit, recruit, recruit.”

Gouard was candid about the potential challenges USI faces with the uncharted waters that make up the transfer portal. First is the lack of ability to participate in National Collegiate Athletic Association postseason competitions. No matter how anyone feels about this rule, it’s certainly a limiting factor in recruiting, as NCAA competitions have the most significant spotlight in collegiate sports. The second challenge is monetary-related and how much name, image and likeness funds can be offered to players in the transfer portal. However, this challenge can be circumvented to a point. When I sat down with Gouard March 11, he said there are about 1,446 players in the DI Portal. Of those, 337 were seniors, 449 were juniors, 529 were sophomores and 131 were freshmen.

Of that 1,446, Gouard said only 138 committed. This leaves a large pool of available players across the country.

With the number of players entering the portal, Gouard also said, “It’s hard to build relationships with guys that have one foot in, one foot out. So we have to keep our nose to the ground and stay on top of the portal.”

Without question, recruiting is never easy. It’s a 24/7 365-day job. It’s late nights and early mornings, meetings, watching tapes and talking to families. Through this extremely exhausting and taxing job, all coaches need methods and time to cool off and get away from recruiting. Gouard is no different. For him, it’s going for walks at night, driving without music and watching games and practice tapes alone in the office. The goal is to eliminate distractions. Once a coach has done that, Gouard said they can then “translate that to the players.”

One key concern Gouard had this season was the stagnancy of the offense. The team was over-reliant on Jeremiah Hernandez, junior guard, which made the offense too predictable and led to long scoring droughts in many games. One way this can be addressed is by changing the offense. Gouard said a spread offense could be the key to fixing this issue. For those who aren’t into the X’s and O’s of basketball, the spread offense relies heavily on off-ball movement, off-ball screens and misdirection to get good looks on offense. This can be seen prominently with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, who utilize Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson’s ability to move off the ball and their unbelievable shooting. As a result of their threatening ability to shoot the ball, they get good looks and open up the floor to get quality looks for their teammates. Three players for USI who could really benefit from this change are Jack Campion, sophomore guard, Ryan Hall, junior guard, and Jack Mielke, junior forward. These three can shoot the ball well from beyond the arc, acting as off-ball scorers. Gouard also pressed the notion of using fewer sets and drawn-up plays and allowing the players to think on their own, which takes lots of time and work but is possible.

Gouard also said his family supports him on and off the court. As stated earlier, coaching is a demanding job, and in many cases, the family is the one who faces the effects of that.

Gouard told a story about when he took his family to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where they spent time at the beach, playing volleyball and taking golf carts to the vast number of restaurants in the area. They also caught a Golden State Warriors basketball game in Miami against the Miami Heat, something Gouard had on his bucket list.

For Gouard, this time with family was important because although he’s a basketball coach, he’s first and foremost a husband of 20 years and a father. He knows basketball takes time away from his family, and despite the long road trips and days of basketball activities, he will always be a family man.