Nikita Johnson

Credit T. Scott Boatright of the Monroe News Star for a good look at one of the primary reasons Louisiana Tech has been getting into the living rooms of players who normally wouldn't be giving LT the time of day.

Courting ballers: Tech's Johnson spearheads recruiting effort
T. Scott Boatright
Monroe News Star
October 30, 2007

RUSTON — Even for college basketball recruiters, it's not what you know as much as who you know.

When Kerry Rupp took over as Lousiana Tech's men's basketball coach last spring, he concentrated on putting together a staff capable of bringing in high caliber caliber to help bring the Bulldogs to their highest level of success ever. And he believes bringing in Nikita Johnson as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator was a major factor toward obtaining that desired future success.

"We both spent a lot of time at all-day recruiting events over the years, and we got to know each other from that," Rupp said after Monday's Bulldogs practice. "Everytime I saw Nikita he was working — talking to someone or pouring over information on players. You'd see some recruiters check out a player or two and take the rest of the day off. Not Nikita — that work ethic was the thing that first caught my attention. That, and he has that knack for finding great players."

Johnson said the secret behind finding those kinds of players is knowing who to talk to.

"You have to do your homework and get to know the player and those around him," Johnson said. "You work on building relationships with that player, so you find out his likes and dislikes. But you do that with his coaches, parents and teachers too. Everyone who might play a part in making that kind of decision."

Rupp put it more directly.

"Nikita has a great ability of finding out who really has influence with a given player and working with that person and the player to figure out what would be best for them and if our programwould be a good fit. Recruiting takes a lot of hard work, patience and time. You spend a lot of time on the road and more time on the phone — it's not a 9-to-5 job by any means. But Nikita is willing to do whatever it takes to help us reach out goal of making this one of the best basketball programs around.

Go here for the remainder.