Trent Bray And His Staff Know How To Sell Oregon State
By 750 THE GAME STAFF
Who better to trust than your friends?
In business, working with your friends can be a disaster, but it can also be a smashing success. Oregon State football hopes it is the latter as Trent Bray has organized his coaching staff with a lot of former OSU players.
John Canzano (Afternoons 3-6 p.m.) talked about the coaching staff for Oregon State’s football team and relates it a lot to another program in Corvallis, a program that has won numerous national championships.
“I see what Trent Bray’s doing with Keith Heyward, Ryan Gunderson, Kyle DeVan, and others,” Canzano said. “You don’t have to look far to see the formula. The baseball program at Oregon State has done the same thing. Hire former Oregon State players who understand what it is to be at Oregon State. They understand the challenges. They understand the upside. They don’t need a map to walk around campus. They know what to sell when recruiting. They know an Oregon State kid when they see an Oregon State kid.”
Why does a strategy like that work? Canzano thinks the family atmosphere along with the small town of Corvallis makes for a place that all the coaches understand.
“It looks like a family,” said Canzano. “We love this place so much that we’re still here and we came back. Part of it is just understanding what the limitations are and the struggle is. If Trent Bray doesn’t get it, Kyle DeVan does, and Ryan Gunderson does, and Keith Hayward does. In baseball it’s the same thing with Mitch Canham’s staff. You look around and you see a bunch of guys who played at Oregon State.”
Oregon State’s staff has to turn their chemistry into recruits. Canzano says because a lot of the coaches played at Oregon State, the staff knows what type of players fit in Corvallis.
“I just know anybody who knows anybody in sales, and recruiting is sales — if you use the product, if you’ve been with the company, if you love the company and love the product, it’s just easier to sell. I think Oregon State guys who played at Oregon State and came back to Oregon State know what they are selling.”
The football program is hoping that they can be as successful as the baseball program has been with this strategy. It remains to be seen, but the Oregon State football coaching staff have a great chemistry so far.
Listen to the full Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano by clicking the podcast below. Catch the Bald Faced Truth weekdays 3-6 p.m. in Portland exclusively of 750 The Game.
