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Home > Blogs > Flyer Connection: University of Dayton sports > Archives > 2008 > November > 14
Friday, November 14, 2008
Gregory finding ways to lock up local talent
With the signing of Centerville’s Matt Kavanaugh, Dayton can turn its attention to the 2010-11 (junior) class and with the hopes of keeping the talent pipeline flowing.
The Flyers already have one commitment in coveted point guard Juwan Staten of Thurgood Marshall and have four more scholarships to give.
One of those is reserved, of course, for Jefferson’s Adreian Payne, and insiders say UD has a good shot of landing the 6-9 center even though he’s being heavily recruited by the likes of Ohio State and Florida.
Anybody who’s ever coached for the Flyers has tried to lock up local talent like Brian Gregory is doing, but one of the reasons the sixth-year coach is having success is because he’s so engaging as a person and he’s gone out of his way to build relationships within the local basketball community.
Another key element — and this can’t possibly be overstated — was getting a commitment three years ago from Trotwood-Madison star Chris Wright, a top-50 national recruit. That made the Flyers a fashionable pick for other standouts.
“We had to lose a couple first. I recruited Derrick Brown really hard,” Gregory said of the former Chaminade-Julienne star who went to Xavier. “But what Chris did is now you can turn around and say, hey, obviously, they’ve got something going on pretty good there.
“Chris is a great ambassador for our program. Everyone obviously knows him as a player, but once you spend time with him, players want to be around him.”
