College athletics & recruiting British talent after a successful pro career – with Chris Haslam – Ep. 64

In Episode 64 of the Hoopsfix podcast, we sit down with former GB and England international and current assistant coach at Montana State University, Chris Haslam.

Originally out of Southport, Haslam recorded 58 caps for England and GB, representing England from 1997-2004 before being involved with the first two years of the re-start of the GB programme in 2006 and 2007.

He had a 13 year professional career, playing not only in the BBL, but Greece, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic, before transitioning into coaching where he is now an assistant at NCAA Division 1 school MSU.

At MSU he has recruited multiple British players, most recently having duo Amin Adamu and Jubrile Belo on his roster, and prior to that, Joe Junior Mvuezolo.

Note that since this was recorded, there have been a number of updates to the COVID-19 situation regarding British student-athletes, where players are now beginning to be able to return to the US.

Additionally, there were some technical issues and we lost the first 35 minutes we began recording, so the start of the podcast is essentially a re-recording.

In this 1 hour and 40 minutes episode, hear from Chris on:

• COVID-19 and its impact on British student-athletes in the US
• The wide-ranging impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on college athletics
• Whether there could be further amendments to NCAA rules due to COVID
• If a generation of players could miss out on a crucial year of development
• How he first started playing basketball
• Growing up in Southport and the local basketball scene coming up
• Playing for Chester Jets U23 side with Mike Burton and Joe Forber
• The three main talents from his generation – Delme Herriman, Steve Hansell, Danny Craven
• Moving to the US for his Senior year of High School still being relatively new to the game
• Winning a state championship and being named Player of the Year
• The college recruitment process, getting recruited by the likes of Vanderbilt and Florida State
• Choosing Wyoming and how he felt his teams did during his time there
• How his own experiences have impacted how he recruits at Montana State
• The difference between recruiting British players compared to Americans
• The impact of him being British makes in being able to recruit British players
• Playing his first two years in college with NBA lottery pick and Defensive Player of the Year Theo Ratliff
• His own game’s development and how it would translate to today
• What he looks for when developing big men
• Beating a nationally ranked Utah squad with 3 future NBA players in college
• The increasing prevalence of transfers in college basketball
• Players needing to learn to embrace their role
• Whether or not he’s seen an increase in the talent level of British players over the years
• General weaknesses that are more prevalent in British players
• Whether or not players are better served to stay in the UK now and going straight to college instead of High School first
• Signing his rookie deal in the BBL with Birmingham instead of opting to go to Austria
• The Bosman ruling happening just as he was turning pro and its impact on the BBL
• The difference in what he could earn in the BBL compared to Europe at the time
• His home debut for England in front of 7,000 fans in Manchester
• Standout memories from representing the England Seniors
• Being involved with the new GB programme in its first two years from 2006
• His memories of a young Luol Deng in his first year with GB
• Crazy stories from his time in Greece
• Comparing the BBL in 2006 with London United to the late 90s with Birmingham
• Finishing his career at home with the Everton Tigers and winning a Play-Offs title
• Making the transition into coaching
• Starting his coaching career at NJCAA school Lamar Community College before joining MSU
• His desire to coach within the GB set up
• His memories of a 17 year old Ryan Richards in Belgium
• Matching up with Tim Duncan at the World Student Games
• And much, much more!

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