"A Day in the Life..." is a recurring series in The NCAA News that celebrates the many people who strive for the betterment of intercollegiate athletics and examines the variety of ways those people do their jobs on a daily basis.

By Greg Johnson
The NCAA News

FORT COLLINS, Colorado -- At this time of year Division I women's basketball coaches' lives are filled with practice plans for individual workouts on the court, phone calls, e-mails and text messages to recruits, setting up campus and home visits with prospects, meeting with their staffs and athletics administrators, and scheduling dinners with booster club members.

For Colorado State University women's basketball coach Jen Warden, throw in a stop at a pre-kindergarten school where she drops off her sons Brice, 4, and Brock, 2, and developing relationships with a whole new group of student-athletes as she enters her first season with the team, and you have some full days before full practices are allowed October 14.

On this day, August 24, Warden begins with a morning run, then she and husband Larry get the two boys ready for pre-school. It's a little before 8 a.m. when Warden enters her office at the McGraw Athletic Center.

Director of basketball operations Chyrisse Domenico already is in the office organizing the mass mailing the women's basketball staff is sending to high-school coaches in the Western states. About 700 letters must be prepared, each with a handwritten signature by the new Colorado State women's basketball coach.

Many current and former professional athletes are paid handsomely to sign their name so many times in one day, but Warden's payoff simply is to establish a line of communication that may one day convince a prospect that Colorado State is the right choice.

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who knows Warden that she would actually sign the letters herself rather than stamp a signature at the end of the correspondence. After all, recruiting is communication, and after 10 years as an assistant coach at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and three years as the head coach at Boise State University, Warden's energetic personality is evident when it comes to dealing with prospective student-athletes.

"It is always the biggest thing you do," Warden said. "It doesn't matter if it's the best kid in the state of Idaho or the best kid in the country. If you don't recruit well, there's not a whole lot more that you're going to be able to do well."

Both Warden and assistant coach Heath Alexander, previously an assistant at Oregon State University (2001-05), have solid connections throughout the Western part of the country, and Shane Brown, formally an assistant at Rice University (1998-2000) and head coach at Houston Baptist University the last five years, has strong ties in Texas. Because they comprise a new staff, each must prove to prospects that there is now a stable program at Colorado State.

"There is always that sense of competitiveness," Brown said. "You're going to compete against schools on and off the court. You want to go out and get players. I'm excited about it, because there are a lot of great recruiters in this conference (the Mountain West). I know a lot of them. To be able to go out and mix it up with them, I'm going to enjoy that."

Staff at work

At 8:45 a.m., Warden meets in her office with the entire staff of Domenico, Brown, Alexander and assistant coach Randie Wirt. She is going over the day's practice plan, which she put together the previous night on her laptop while Brice kept her company and watched cartoons.

Normally, a Wednesday meeting begins at 8:30 a.m., but a concession must be made this day because Brown is taking his 9-year-old daughter Rachel to her first day at a new school in a new city.

Brown, who also has a 4-year-old son, tells the others a tradition has been established in his household that calls for a special breakfast on the first day of school.

"I would've gotten my tail kicked up to my shoulder blades if I didn't have those blueberry pancakes ready this morning," he said.

Alexander, whose first time in Fort Collins was his initial day of work, also has children under the age of 5, so Warden and her staff are familiar with the family atmosphere and the accompanying need for flexibility in scheduling.

The conversation turns back to practice.

Once classes begin, coaches can conduct on-court individual drills up to four hours per week. The staff discusses points of emphasis to stress when they put the student-athletes through the fundamental workouts later that afternoon.

"For me, it's different because I've never started school at this time of year," Alexander said. "At Oregon State, we started around September 28, which is really late. This time of year for me is strictly recruiting, normally. But this is fun, because we need to get in the gym with those kids. That's the best part of the day."

The meeting lasts almost an hour, after which the staff puts the finishing touches on the mass-mailing project. In the middle of taking and making telephone calls, Warden signs letters.

At midmorning, she has separate meetings with Senior Associate Athletics Directors Marsha Smeltzer and Christine Susemihl. Her conversation with Susemihl involves the eligibility rules for male practice players that Warden plans to use throughout the season. They also review NCAA rules, such as the fact that Warden isn't allowed to do any sort of PowerPoint presentation when making a home visit to a prospect.

When she arrives back in her office, Warden, as she said, "drowns out the outside" with musical compositions from George Frideric Handel.

"I usually have classical music going in my office," Warden said. "It's just calming."

At one point, Brown enters the office with a stack of letters for Warden to sign and says, "Pretty soon, you'll hear Metallica."

Creating an energetic atmosphere

As the staff grows accustomed to working together, Warden would like for each member to have some personal time between 10 a.m. and noon. She said that's the part of the day when staff members can make important recruiting calls or complete scouting tasks.

But for now there are more meetings.

Warden and Brown have a 15-minute discussion centering on official campus visits from prospects and the home visits Warden will make.

Alexander joins the conversation as the three brainstorm on ways to make the best impression.

Shelley Turner, a Colorado State athletic trainer, enters the office at 11:15 a.m. and talks with Warden about the injury status of specific players and how they should deal with some bumps and bruises.

At lunchtime, Warden warms a couple of Tupperware bowls of leftover dinner and eats at her desk. All the while, she's responding to phone calls and e-mails and going over the budget for her program.

Being new, she has to decide on matters such as what to do with the refrigerator that she's decided takes up too much room in the Rams' locker room.

During her days as an assistant at Colorado, she attended a seminar on how to organize her work.

"Even after getting a (molecular, cellular and developmental) biology degree, you would think you would have to be somewhat organized," said Warden, who was a basketball student-athlete at Colorado. "But I wasn't any where near being able to multitask to the point where you have to multitask for this job. It's a lot of different stuff. That's just a part of it."

While Warden multitasks, a few players enter the women's basketball office and chat with the assistant coaches.

Wirt, whom Warden recruited to Colorado six years ago from a high school in New Prague, Minnesota, shoots the breeze with players Jacque Machesney, Molly Nohr and Casie Shepherd.

Warden likes the interaction. She said those are the types of moments during which trust can be built between a new staff and the student-athletes. Plus, she said, Wirt can give the team some insights on their new head coach since she's developed a strong friendship with Warden. Last season, Wirt played professionally in Finland and the two frequently e-mailed each other.

She also can help convince high-school players to come to Colorado State.

"If they have any questions, I can tell them that what they are hearing is really the truth because I've been in their spot," said Wirt, who has a psychology degree from Colorado.

The first of the individual workouts are scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Warden, who has completed three marathons, has a routine of going for a run before practice. Much like a prize fighter wants to warm-up before entering the ring, Warden wants to be full of enthusiasm when the players take the court. On this day, she runs 20 minutes toward the Rocky Mountains and 20 minutes back to Moby Arena.

"I don't like to come in cold," Warden said. "It gives me the opportunity to be alone and prepare. I'm coming down from my runner's high and bringing energy onto the court. I think players feed off that. It's like, 'Coach is ready so we have to be ready.' If you're on your cell phone, they may think, 'Is she thinking about us?' "

During the first workout, the guards and forwards go through ballhandling and shooting drills. The centers go through their workout next. Since everyone is new to one another, Warden is cautioning her staff not to jump to conclusions when making evaluations. She knows the players most likely are trying to impress the new staff.

Team/staff chemistry

For the seniors, Warden is their third coach. They were recruited by Tom Collen, who left the position before they started class their freshmen year.

The last three years, they were coached by Chris Denker, who resigned after a tumultuous 15-13 season in 2004-05. Warden was hired in May, and the chemistry between the student-athletes and staff is evident.

"I really enjoy this coaching staff, and they are good at getting information across and teaching you," said senor forward Lindsay Thomas. "At the same time, they are very personable on and off the court. They work you hard, but they let you know when you've done a good job."

Warden and her staff inherited seven summer basketball camps that were already planned before she took the job. Alexander and Wirt did the bulk of the planning to allow Warden to take care of pressing matters, such us developing a recruiting base.

Warden would make her camp appearances around that planning.

"On some days, we were spending 14 hours together," Thomas said. "Getting to know each other in that way really helped us for what we're trying to do now."

After the second practice ends, Warden takes a seat and takes a deep breath.

"I'm a little brain dead," she says. "I would have a hard time going back into my office and planning the next practice. Everything peaks to the practice."

But the day is not over. Warden, her staff and their families will have dinner with the president of the "Slam Dunk Booster Club" ...

... When she arrives home, she puts Brock to bed. Brice stays up to watch cartoons while Mom plans the next day's practice.