Since being hired Sunday as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball coach and being formally introduced the next day, Matt McCall has had to recruit.
He will hit the recruiting trail this weekend, but the first few days have included a sort of internal recruiting of players within the program -- some of whom were unsure initially about McCall.
That sentiment has been echoed by a couple of players who had signed to play for Will Wade's coaching staff, which is no longer intact. Wade, assistants Wes Long and Casey Long and strength and conditioning coach Greg Goldin are now at Virginia Commonwealth.
Brooks Savage previously had moved to East Tennessee State to work with new head coach Steve Forbes, who was like a mentor to Savage while the two were at Tennessee together.
"I'm not worried (about the situation), but I definitely looked forward to playing for Coach Wade," signee Austin Donaldson said recently. "But everything happens for a reason, and God doesn't make mistakes."
McCall has spent the week trying to form relationships with current players. He'll spend parts of the weekend trying to do the same with the signees, as he plans to have face-to-face interaction with Donaldson, center Trey Kalina, guard/forward LaMarcus Lee and forward ZaQwaun Matthews.
"I think the biggest thing to get across to the players right now is that transition's never easy," McCall said Monday. "And obviously they had strong relationships and ties with a bunch of coaches. I spoke to them about David (Blackburn, the athletic director) and how during this whole process, he was concerned with them.
"And for me, that says a lot about the athletic department here and the things that they're trying to do, that his main focus was their concern. And I just told them that if he's going to trust me to come in here to coach them, that I don't expect for me to walk through the door and for them to trust me right away. But we need to continue to work on that and build that trust. My door is always open."
McCall said one of the biggest points he tried to make in the initial meeting with current players is that the job isn't about him. The Mocs won 22 games during the 2014-15 season, and all but three are currently projected to return. The percents of returning scoring (78) and rebounding (77) on the 2015-16 roster make UTC an immediate contender to be a favorite for the conference championship.
"My job coming through the door now is to continue to build upon that and develop relationships with these guys," McCall said. "When they leave here, that relationship is going to last forever, and I wanted to make sure they knew that."
Two of McCall's assistant spots have been filled by former VCU director of basketball operations Jesse Bopp and former Florida video coordinator Peter Gash, which leaves a third assistant, a director of basketball operations, a video coordinator and a strength and conditioning coach to be hired.
"I want to bring in a staff as quickly as possible," McCall said. "I think for me, (that means) surrounding myself not only with people who are familiar to me, people that I've worked with, but men that are men of character that are going to be in line with the visions that I have for this program as well as these players. I like having people on the bench with me that have sat in a seat as a head coach, but also younger guys that are going to get after it in recruiting and work long hours and late nights and work the phones."
Both Bopp and Gash have been described as "grinders," fitting McCall's professed vision.
The coaches in place all have a big job in front of them this weekend.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.