Wright State University Continues To Strengthen Its Recruiting Presence In The Chicago Area And Illinois

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

July 6, 2010

7:00 P.M. CST

We knew from the moment that he was hired as the new head coach at Wright State University that one recruiting hotbed that Billy Donlon would zoom in on would be Chicago.  After all, Donlon grew up in the Windy City's north suburbs and played his high school basketball at Glenbrook North in Northbrook, IL, in which he led his team to the elite eight of the Class AA state finals in Champaign his senior season.

There is no question that Donlon has assembled a coaching staff that has strong connections throughout the state of Illinois and the Chicago area in particular, which could very well prove to be a huge asset from a recruiting standpoint.  It began with his hiring of Clayton Bates as an assistant coach, and Donlon has followed that up by naming Brendan Mullins as his director of basketball operations.

Prior to being hired at Wright State, Mullins served as the director of basketball operations at Wisconsin-Green Bay.  He was also an assistant coach at Mercyhurst College, a D2 school located in Pennsylvania.  Mullins also played college basketball at the D2 level at St. Michael's College in Vermont.

What is even more significant about the hiring of Mullins is that could enable Donlon and Wright State to make huge recruiting inroads with one of the elite traveling team programs in Illinois.  That is because Brendan's father is Mike Mullins, who is the CEO and head coach of the Illinois Wolves.  Therefore, one can best believe that a top priority for the entire Raiders coaching staff will be identifying players from the Wolves who are viable recruiting targets.     

In addition to establishing a stronger foothold in Chicago, Donlon and the Raiders are also recruiting a number of other prospects from throughout the state of Illinois.  Among them are a pair of class of 2011 prospects from central Illinois--6'7 power forward Max Bielfeldt from Notre Dame High School in Peoria, IL and 6'2 shooting guard Hayden Hoerdemann from Central Catholic High School in Bloomington, IL, who have both received scholarship offers from Wright State.  Bielfeldt competes on the traveling team circuit for the SYF Players while Hoerdemann plays for the Peoria Irish.   

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