Coach Golden prepares Tarleton's women’s basketball future with overseas scouting

BY JAXON HANSARD / Sports Editor

Coming off an exciting season, the goal in the off-season is to always get better. There are multiple ways to improve your team. 

You can sign new players. You can work the transfer portal. But none of these aren't as intriguing as how Assistant Head Coach Geoff Golden spent time overseas recruiting future Tarleton Texans. 

Women's basketball is returning this fall after a successful season where in Coach Bill Brock's first year they clinched a WAC Tournament spot days before the season ended. The Texans went on to win their first-round matchup against Abilene Christian University.

Golden spent his June at the FIBA U18 EuroBasket recruiting and scouting prospects for future iterations of Tarleton Women’s basketball. The U18 EuroBasket events were hosted in Ploiesti, Romania and Porto, Portugal. In all. 34 countries were represented over the 10-day tournament.

The next month Golden also attended AAU events in Dallas, Louisville and Chicago  to evaluate and recruit top players in the U.S.

“I came back to Texas, with a spreadsheet full of evaluations on potential recruiting targets for our basketball program in the 2025, 2026 and 2027 classes,” Golden said. 

These trips are very important for Tarleton to not only recruit top overseas talent, but they provide a chance to grow its brand internationally while building relationships through recruiting. 

According to Golden, scouting at the tournaments is time-consuming with a typical day ranging from 12-14 hours long. There are hundreds of teams playing from 8 a.m. to about 10 p.m. so being organized and having a set schedule is very important to catch the players and teams that they want to see. 

“A typical day would be watching 8-10 games and taking detailed notes on players we have already identified as prospects or new players that catch our eye,” Golden said. “Filling your backpack with elite snacks is the ultimate key to surviving the day.” 

Convincing someone from across the pond to come to Stephenville, Texas doesn’t sound like the easiest sell, but the coaching staff has pinpointed four specific things to recruit their prospects. 

The ability to compete at the highest level through Tarleton’s NCAA Division I program, Stephenville being a college town close to the DFW Metroplex to allow more opportunities for the athletes, the wide range of studies and degrees for the athletes to pursue a career outside of sports and the culture that Tarleton has to offer.

“Tremendous school spirit and unique traditions give our university an A+ on the overall student experience,” Golden said. 

Golden had to do his due diligence to line up some future Texans this offseason and prepare for the eventual departure of the eight seniors that will play for the purple and white this 24-25 season. 

Positionally, Golden was looking for point guards and post players but the muscles between the head and chest are important to find as well in a player that will fit the Texan culture that is built on the court under Coach Brock. 

“Selfless, disciplined, resilient and a strong work ethic. We value a healthy culture and family atmosphere in our basketball program. Talent is important but finding players that also exhibit these characteristics is a key component of building and maintaining a championship team culture,” Golden said. 

While we won’t get to see any players that Golden met with this summer until next season and on, we can all be excited knowing that they are sold on Tarleton.