SE: Furlong Ready to Continue K-State MBB Success as Director of Student-Athlete Development
Sep 18, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
During the first recruiting visit Mike Furlong ever helped with for K-State men's basketball, he went to a place on campus completely foreign to his college basketball experience: The library.
Well, not the library exactly.
It was a specific part of Hale Library that Furlong, then a graduate assistant for K-State, went to with the recruit that caught him off guard. He had walked into the Academic Learning Center, where K-State Athletics used to house three full-time employees and countless tutors during the day.
"I was, like, 'What do these people do? I don't even know what happens here. Oh my gosh, there's five people here strictly for the 12 basketball players we have,' where when I went to college, I had no one and had to just figure it out," Furlong, who played at Division II Hillsdale College in his home state of Michigan, said. "That was the first time I was, like, 'Wow, this is a much higher level of college athletics.'"
As the new Director of Student-Athlete Development for K-State men's basketball, Furlong's message to the student-athletes he works with follows that story.
"I'm trying to help them realize how much support they have around them," Furlong said, listing names like academic counselor Maryclare Wheeler and athletic trainer Luke Sauber, along with K-State's entire coaching staff. "They have so much support around them, so take advantage, use it fully and understand that not everyone has that, but we're lucky enough here to have it and have people who really care about them."
Furlong ended up at K-State because of a head coach who cared about him.
His coach at Hillsdale College, John Tharp, has known K-State head coach Bruce Weber for years from their shared Wisconsin upbringings. Tharp introduced Furlong to Weber at the 2015 Final Four in Indianapolis, Indiana. Furlong took care of the rest.
"I kind of just texted Coach Weber every chance I got until he said I could move out here to be GA," Furlong said, adding: "I bugged him."
More than four years later, he's happy he did.
At K-State, Furlong went from graduate assistant from 2015-17 to full-time video coordinator after he finished his master's degree in academic counseling. His first four years with the Wildcats, he said, brought plenty of similarities to light between his first college basketball experience.
"Here at K-State, it's a huge family. Hillsdale basketball is a similar family," Furlong said. "(Weber and Tharp) coach their players hard, but their players know that they would do anything for them. The same way Coach Weber will fight for his players, Coach Tharp would fight for his players. The players know that and when they know their coaches will do anything, they'll play their hearts out for their coach."
In his new role on Weber's staff, Furlong said he hopes to bring an "extension of what our culture already is, which is hard work and effort." Now, that will mean more focus on academics, community service and off-the-court objectives. If done correctly, Furlong said they can carry over to the court, however.
"I think if you're working hard off the court, it just naturally translates to on the court. The whole student-athlete experience where you're good on both sides of it, I think it correlates," he said. "If you have a bad day at school or with Maryclare, you're probably having a bad day (on the court)."
K-State, coming off its second Big 12 Championship in Weber's seven years as head coach, recorded a Big 12-best Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the latest NCAA data released November of 2018.
Furlong looks to continue that success.
He said his adjustment to doing so has been accelerated by some help from assistant coach Jermaine Henderson, who held the director of student-athlete development position last season. Furlong said his time in the program has also been an advantage in hitting the ground running.
"It helps that the players and I already have a relationship. We're super tight. I've been here with them since all of them got here since this is my (fifth year), so there's relationships already with the players," Furlong said. "They already trust me. I can already trust them. We already can talk and figure things out if we need to. The staff is the same thing. I've been here. I know how we work. I know what we want as a staff and what our coaches want as a staff. I think the transition is easier just from being here and knowing what we do."
During the first recruiting visit Mike Furlong ever helped with for K-State men's basketball, he went to a place on campus completely foreign to his college basketball experience: The library.
Well, not the library exactly.
It was a specific part of Hale Library that Furlong, then a graduate assistant for K-State, went to with the recruit that caught him off guard. He had walked into the Academic Learning Center, where K-State Athletics used to house three full-time employees and countless tutors during the day.
"I was, like, 'What do these people do? I don't even know what happens here. Oh my gosh, there's five people here strictly for the 12 basketball players we have,' where when I went to college, I had no one and had to just figure it out," Furlong, who played at Division II Hillsdale College in his home state of Michigan, said. "That was the first time I was, like, 'Wow, this is a much higher level of college athletics.'"
As the new Director of Student-Athlete Development for K-State men's basketball, Furlong's message to the student-athletes he works with follows that story.
"I'm trying to help them realize how much support they have around them," Furlong said, listing names like academic counselor Maryclare Wheeler and athletic trainer Luke Sauber, along with K-State's entire coaching staff. "They have so much support around them, so take advantage, use it fully and understand that not everyone has that, but we're lucky enough here to have it and have people who really care about them."
Furlong ended up at K-State because of a head coach who cared about him.
His coach at Hillsdale College, John Tharp, has known K-State head coach Bruce Weber for years from their shared Wisconsin upbringings. Tharp introduced Furlong to Weber at the 2015 Final Four in Indianapolis, Indiana. Furlong took care of the rest.
"I kind of just texted Coach Weber every chance I got until he said I could move out here to be GA," Furlong said, adding: "I bugged him."
More than four years later, he's happy he did.
At K-State, Furlong went from graduate assistant from 2015-17 to full-time video coordinator after he finished his master's degree in academic counseling. His first four years with the Wildcats, he said, brought plenty of similarities to light between his first college basketball experience.
"Here at K-State, it's a huge family. Hillsdale basketball is a similar family," Furlong said. "(Weber and Tharp) coach their players hard, but their players know that they would do anything for them. The same way Coach Weber will fight for his players, Coach Tharp would fight for his players. The players know that and when they know their coaches will do anything, they'll play their hearts out for their coach."
In his new role on Weber's staff, Furlong said he hopes to bring an "extension of what our culture already is, which is hard work and effort." Now, that will mean more focus on academics, community service and off-the-court objectives. If done correctly, Furlong said they can carry over to the court, however.
"I think if you're working hard off the court, it just naturally translates to on the court. The whole student-athlete experience where you're good on both sides of it, I think it correlates," he said. "If you have a bad day at school or with Maryclare, you're probably having a bad day (on the court)."
K-State, coming off its second Big 12 Championship in Weber's seven years as head coach, recorded a Big 12-best Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the latest NCAA data released November of 2018.
Furlong looks to continue that success.
He said his adjustment to doing so has been accelerated by some help from assistant coach Jermaine Henderson, who held the director of student-athlete development position last season. Furlong said his time in the program has also been an advantage in hitting the ground running.
"It helps that the players and I already have a relationship. We're super tight. I've been here with them since all of them got here since this is my (fifth year), so there's relationships already with the players," Furlong said. "They already trust me. I can already trust them. We already can talk and figure things out if we need to. The staff is the same thing. I've been here. I know how we work. I know what we want as a staff and what our coaches want as a staff. I think the transition is easier just from being here and knowing what we do."
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