How Duke University Landed Future NBA Coach Quin Snyder in 1984
Coach K beat out top programs to win the services of the the highly-touted guard from Mercer Island, Washington
The following is an excerpt from the book “TRADITION: The Quest for a Championship” available for purchase on Amazon.
By November of 1984, national recruiting interest in senior guard Quin Snyder and senior forward Brian Schwabe had reached an all-time high.
“They’re singing the blues elsewhere, but in Durham, N.C., today the Blue Devils are happy,” wrote Seattle Times staff reporter Ranny Green in the Monday, November 5 edition of the paper. “That’s because one of the nation’s most highly recruited prep-basketball players, Quin Snyder, a 6-foot-2 guard from Mercer Island High School, announced he will attend Duke University.”
As it turns out, Snyder had turned more than a few heads the previous summer at the Athletes for Better Education (AFBE) camp and the Basketball Congress International tournament in Tempe, Arizona, becoming the object of interest for 100 schools nationwide.
Snyder eventually trimmed his list down to Washington, Virginia, Stanford, Arizona, and Kansas before selecting Duke. “This was one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Snyder told the Times. “I chose Duke because I felt most comfortable there. Coach K and his staff made me feel like a part of the family. I felt that I fit right in with the players, too.”
Snyder’s father, Gary, the athletic director at Mercer Island High School, was interviewed for the piece on Coach Ed Pepple’s involvement in his son’s recruiting process. “I can’t say enough about Ed’s assistance,” he told the Times. “Earlier this year, Tonette (Quin’s mom), Ed and I had dinner together to map out some recruiting guidelines. From that point on, he has been available whenever Quin or the family needed him.”
The younger Snyder talked about how all the notoriety was impacting him. “Things became so hectic in late August early September before school started that I moved out for a while, staying overnight with friends for about a week or 10 days,” Snyder said.
“I got pretty uptight at times,” he continued. “I tried my darndest to keep cool, but I couldn’t get the college selection matter off my mind.”
The Times also covered the ongoing recruiting of Snyder’s teammate, Brian Schwabe. “Seldom does one high school have two highly coveted basketball players at the same time but the Islanders do this year,” Ranny Green wrote. “Although the long-time teammates — they’ve played together since the fourth grade — compare notes, Snyder said his decision was made totally independent of what Schwabe may decide.”
The story went on to quote legendary Duke basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski, who was instrumental in recruiting Snyder to his school.
“It made my weekend,” he told the Times. “Quin’s a great student and an outstanding young man. When he visited Duke last month, he left a lasting impression on the players. To a man, they felt he was as well-rounded a player as has visited here in three years. Almost everyone on the team has asked me right along if Quin is committed anywhere. Quin struck up a rapport with our players right away.”
In the story, Snyder made clear his long-term ambition to pursue a career in the National Basketball Association, something he has since achieved as the head coach of the Utah Jazz.
Pepple acknowledged the media focus on Snyder and Schwabe specifically. “Having all the attention lavished on two kids can be upsetting to others,” he said. “But they have all accepted it in stride. From another standpoint, it can be inspiring to the young player seeing something like this firsthand.”
The article highlighted Snyder’s teammate and friend, guard Jeff Thompson, who had volunteered as Snyder’s unofficial librarian, helping to organize all the college literature he’d received which had been piled up in his room. “I think he enjoyed it, however,” Snyder said. “It gave him a chance to scan material from a lot of the schools.”
Lastly, the story quoted Snyder’s mother, Tonette. “It’s nice to get it over so things can get back to normal.” she said. “More important, I have my son back again.”
On Monday, November 12, an item appeared in the sports section of the Seattle Times under the headline, “Islander’s first work out a yawner”.
In the story, Times staff reporter Eldridge McCready described the scene outside the Mercer Island High School gym that morning: “Dressed in a tail tuxedo at 12:08 this morning, Bob Burmeister glanced at a nearby door where a dozen teenage girls and short skirts waited patiently. The girls cheer when the doors open. No rock stars appeared, but 32 high school basketball players did.
“Turnouts had begun at Mercer Island High School.”
Burmeister, the girls track coach at MI and basketball game announcer, was there along with 12 cheerleaders, parents and friends to watch Coach Pepple and Assistant Coach Bill Woolley put the players through a strenuous workout.
“I can’t remember,” Pepple said when asked how the early morning turnout tradition started. “I imagine I stole the idea from somebody.”
After the two-hour workout, the team, ranked #2 in the nation by Street and Smith’s magazine, went to breakfast together.
