Hope Driscoll admits her recruitment process was a lot to take in. As Aberdeen’s star forward played her senior year and the summer began, she began hearing from several schools: Ones in Washington, others in Wyoming, still others in Oregon.
“It was kind of overwhelming,” Driscoll said.
As she began gauging those schools’ interest, though, she couldn’t get over one thing: Yakima Valley College coach Robin Andrea wanted her. Like, really wanted her. Where other schools made Driscoll feel like she should be doing the legwork, Andrea did it all for her, letting her know that she was his top priority in recruiting.
So in the middle of June, she took a visit to the school. She toured the campus. She worked out with Andrea. Afterward, he took her to his office, where he had a letter of intent on his desk. If that sounds forward, it’s because it was. “He was aggressive,” said Lincoln Driscoll, Hope’s father and coach at Aberdeen.
Hope Driscoll told Andrea she needed a couple more days to decide, but in the end, she signed the letter of intent, making a pledge to join Yakima Valley College’s women’s basketball team. When Driscoll called to let him know she had made her decision, Driscoll was ecstatic. “He was super excited. He was like, you don’t even know,” Driscoll said, laughing.
That put an end to Driscoll’s recruitment. She liked a lot about Yakima Valley: Andrea was aggressive in his pursuit, and he also likened his players to his daughters, which reassured Driscoll that she was going somewhere where she would be taken care of. Yakima Valley was also the school that offered the most scholarship money, which made a difference.
Aberdeen’s Hope Driscoll (center) signs with Yakima Valley College in June.
Courtesy photo
The interesting part is how Driscoll’s recruitment came together in the first place. Lincoln made her a profile on an app called Field Level. That showed coaches everything they needed to know about Driscoll: Her school, position, height, clips, stats, honors, awards, everything. “It’s kinda like Facebook for basketball, in a sense,” Lincoln said.
In fact, that’s how Andrea became aware of Driscoll in the first place. He sent Lincoln a message, letting him know he was interested in Hope as a prospect, and he wanted to chat. Andrea was looking for a two-guard, he said, and in March, he logged on to NFHS to watch Driscoll play in Aberdeen’s 2A state tournament games.
“He straight up said, I’ve seen enough,” Lincoln said of Andrea. “He goes, ‘I’ve seen enough. I want her.’”
There was a lot to like about Driscoll on tape. She made the all-state second team, leading the Tigers to a second-place finish at the 2A state tournament, which is quite the accomplishment for a team that unseated longtime District 5 power Soda Springs for the district tournament crown. In her senior season, she averaged around nine points, providing reliable scoring and consistent rebounding during Aberdeen’s postseason run.
In one way, that all came together last summer, when Driscoll and the Tigers played in a series of tournaments. They lost just two games. “So that was pretty fun,” Driscoll said. “I think that’s when me and my team were kinda like, oh, this is serious. Like, we’re actually like this good and can play. We can get into that state title game.”
That they did. But the truth is this: Driscoll chose Yakima Valley because of how badly Andrea wanted her. At one point in the recruiting process, Andrea told Driscoll he would drive from Yakima — nearly a nine-hour drive to Aberdeen — to deliver the message to Driscoll in person: He wanted her on his team.
Andrea never actually did it, but sometimes, it’s the thought that counts.
“I really liked that,” Driscoll said.
Greg Woods is a sports reporter at the Idaho State Journal. Follow him on Twitter at GregWWoods.
