David First Discusses Torin Francis

It was one of the big battles in the class of 2002. The Torin Francis (below) situation did end during the summer. And it ended on a surprising note -- with Francis choosing the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

It was surprising because many of us "experts" got it wrong. Many of us "experts" thought Notre Dame was the last school Francis would land at. But head coach Mike Brey and his assistant coaches are going to fool many more "experts" down the road. Brey and his staff know how to recruit.

During this recruiting process, there seemed to be many twists and turns. But were there really many bumps in the road? "No, there weren't," said Francis' advisor and head coach at Tabor Academy, David First. "We tried to keep it as sane as possible. I think we did."

During the process, First headed to South America to do some skiing too. "It was fun to do that but I was concerned for Torin because of the amount of attention on the process," First said. "I think Torin and his mom did a great job."

They did. But the process also had taken away an air of innocence for First. "It's not what you see on television and the game of basketball," First said. "There are some elements to it that were disappointing."

The disappointing part is others/outsiders tried to get involved in the recruiting process. "Too many people tried to get their say," First said. "It should be left up to Torin and his mother. And it was."

First summed up the bad part of the process: "It was like finding out there was no Santa Claus."

First was quick to praise the coaches in the process. "There were many classy coaches involved in the process," First said. "Coach Brey, coach Hewitt, coach Doherty ... coach Gillen ... coach Skinner. These are guys who I have spoken to after Torin has made his decision."

First said he has heard of other recruiting situations too that have not gone smoothly. "Torin's situation was fine but I have heard of others that have gone pretty bad," First said. "It wasn't as clean as it should have been. I am not talking about cars being given but street agents trying to get involved. I think Torin was fortunate he had his mom by his side."

First has some more talent on the way. His team will play Oak Hill Academy this Saturday at the University of Maryland for the DeMatha Invitational. Rivalshoops.com will cover the event.