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We are still about 4 weeks away from the tip-off of a new college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with San Francisco coach Chris Gerlufsen, who talked about the importance of analytics and his expectations for this season.
You were captain of the basketball team at Randolph-Macon where you made a pair of D-3 tourneys: how good a player were you back in the day, and what is the secret to being a good leader? In my own mind I was a much better player than I was, which is why I had some level of success. I was extremely confident/competitive and never backed down from a challenge. I like to think that I became a coach due to how I was as a player/leader. It is about being around the right kind of people when I was growing up.
Your father Ron was head coach at UMass: what impact did he have on your own decision to become a coach? I do not think that I ever had a choice to do anything else because it was in my blood: I was in the gym since before I could walk. Basketball was always my driving force: the coaches I had were great mentors/father-figures who taught me the game. Philadelphia is a special city for that: there is something in the water and it is a great place to grow up.
1 of your previous stops as an assistant coach was at Hartford: what was your reaction when the University’s Board of Regents voted to drop its athletic department down to D-3 back in 2021? That was really disappointing to see. I spent 8-9 years there and learned a lot from Dan Leibovitz (Note: Penn Class of 1996!)/John Gallagher. To see all the work that was put in to eventually make the 2021 NCAA tourney…and then drop down was sad to see, but it was a decision the administration thought was best for the school.
In the 2024 NIT Simas Lukosius made the game-winning 3-PT shot with 4 seconds left in a 1-PT OT win by Cincinnati: what did you team learn from that painful postseason loss that you think will help them this season? I have been reliving the last few minutes of that ever since our season ended. San Francisco has had a pretty good level of success over the past 7 years. It is a building block to where we want to go but we aspire to something greater. You must experience those hard times to learn what it takes to get it done.
You won 20+ games during each of your 1st 2 years at San Francisco: how have you been able to come in and be so successful right from the start? #1: we have really good players, which is a good starting point. We also have a solid/experienced staff: I am really thankful for the guys I come to work with every day. Winning is important to San Francisco, and after spending 24 years as an assistant coach I would not want to have changed my path. I was around some successful coaches, which prepared me for the opportunity to be a head coach when it presented itself.
You are known for having an analytically driven offensive system: how do you make it work so effectively? “Analytics” is 1 of the hottest words in the sport over the past several years. We spend a lot of time diving into stats to figure out what shots we want to take and who we want to take them. In year #1 we had 1 of the highest 3-PT rates in the country, but we scaled it back in year #2 based on our personnel. We adjust year to year, but the analytics dictate some of what we do on offense.
While you have many players from California your roster also includes guys from 6 foreign countries (Australia/China/England/Estonia/Georgia/Greece): what sort of recruiting philosophy do you have? We do not care where we must go to find players: we want to find the best players who fit what we do. Everyone on our staff has had a good experience recruiting internationally, and this is a great city for that. Kids from abroad feel comfortable here and our style of play fits well with Europeans. We also have players from all over the country, such as Marcus Williams from Texas.
You had a birthday last month: what did you do for the big day? Not much: we had a team workout. As you get older you want birthdays to fly under the radar, so I think I just tuned into the Falcons-Eagles game on Monday Night Football.
The WCC has been in the news a lot this year: any thoughts on conference realignment? It is kind of the world we are living in now. It was driven by football but is now trickling down to basketball…and we are right in the middle of it. Gonzaga just announced they are leaving the WCC, and I would anticipate some more movement before things settle in as schools jockey for position.
What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? The expectation is to continue to move the program forward, which we have done a solid job of during the past 2 years. After making the NIT last year we will chase an NCAA tourney appearance this year. We are excited for the challenge/journey…but it is a long season.
