Sargent, who was promoted in March and kept nearly all of Nagy’s former assistants, unveiled a four-player class on early-signing day Wednesday.
One is Alter High School standout Brady Conner, and the other three seniors hail from Indiana.
“It was critical in a million different ways,” Sargent said of being able to assure recruits that the culture in the program wouldn’t change.
“Outsiders looking in see the retention of the staff and their commitment to Wright State and to our current locker room and their parents. That gives you a glimpse behind the curtain of the relational piece. If the relational pieces aren’t healthy, typically, everybody’s out of here.”
Brady Conner, a 6-foot-6 guard, averaged 7.1 points and 3.6 assists while helping Alter to a Division-II state title last season. He had 13 points in the state finals.
His brother, Jacob Conner, is a 6-10 role player at Dayton. He was a starter at Marshall before transferring to UD this year.
Michael Cooper and PJ Douglas are Jeffersonville (Ind.) teammates. Cooper, a 6-3 guard, averaged 16.4 points while shooting 54% overall and 41% from 3 last season, and Douglas, a 6-4 guard, averaged 13.8 points while shooting 59% overall and 53% from 3.
They both were all-state selections and led Jeffersonville to a deep run in the Indiana 4A high school tourney.
Their coach, Sherron Wilkerson, played at Indiana in the mid-1990s and averaged 4.8 points over 45 games.
Kellen Pickett, a 6-9 forward, averaged 20.5 points, 11.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists for Blackhawk Christian last season. The Fort Wayne school reached the Indiana 2A semi-state last year and won a state title in 2023.
About Conner, Sargent said: “He’s similar to Kellen in terms of his development and what will happen here. He’s not even scratching the surface of what he’ll be. Cerebral, smart kid. Very good passer.”
On Cooper and Douglas: “They’re teammates who grew up together. They have a lot of what we want, just in terms of a family bond. They want this to be bigger than just the transactional piece of college athletics. Both have very bright futures.”
On Pickett: “Versatile ‘big’ who fits our system perfectly. Still raw enough where, what he is now versus what he’ll be in college, are completely different. He can go so many directions with his versatility and play multiple positions.”
Sargent lauded the families of all four players. He believes having quality parents is an important box to check before zeroing in on players — not only in raising character sons, but also understanding the time it often takes for recruits to become contributors.
“They all have great parents who kind of get what we’re trying to do here,” he said.
“As you can see in our current roster, when you can retain kids, it helps build relationships. It speaks to development. All the parents and young men understand what they’re getting into here and what we value. We had a lot of alignment there.”
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