Dec. 23, 2015
By David Dawson | Subscribe to Commodore Nation
Kim Rosamond plays a key role on head coach Melanie Balcomb’s staff, serving as the program’s recruiting coordinator. Hired at Vanderbilt before the 2007-08 season, Rosamond has consistently helped the Commodores land highly-rated signing classes and has enabled the Commodore to maintain their status as one of the most prominent and successful teams in the nation.
How has recruiting changed over the years, and how has social media impacted recruiting?
We live in a world today where social media is at the forefront, and it certainly plays a big role in recruiting. I think social media works both ways in terms of how the prospective players use it to connect and relate with us, and how we, as coaches, use it to relate and connect with them. They now have a lot more information about us, and in some ways, we now have a good bit more information about them as well. Unlike years ago, players today know who is recruiting who and they know what class they could be playing with (if they sign with a certain program). When I was coming out of high school years ago, if you didn’t meet your future teammates on your official visit in the fall of your senior year, then most of the time you didn’t even have a clue who they were until you got to campus in that August of your freshman year. Now all the kids are connecting via social media and getting to know each other over Snapchat and Instagram. I think there is no doubt that it is a different world than it was only a few years ago.
Do you appreciate and embrace these new aspects of recruiting?
I don’t think you have any choice but to embrace it. Either you’re going to embrace it or you’re going to be left behind. When you’re recruiting young people today, you have to dive into their world. Their world revolves around social media, and if you don’t understand that and you don’t take part in that then you aren’t going to be able to relate to young people today.
Your mom comes to Vanderbilt games whenever she can. Tell us about your relationship with her.
My mom was such a big influence on me. I was raised by a single mom, and I often talk about growing up and that having such an impact on my life. My mom was a single mom who worked her tail off from 6 am to 10 pm. I like to say that kids don’t always follow their parents’ advice, but they usually do follow their example. I think her example of hard work and her work ethic and dedication is what has helped me get to where I am.
So you are a self-described “country girl.” How deep does that go? Do you like to hunt and fish and those type things?
Yes, I am a proud country girl through and through. I lived in Mississippi the better part of my life, until I was 28 years old. I grew up on a horse farm, fishing with my grandparents, hunting every once in a while with family members, and riding horses and competing, which was a big part of my life until I got to college and had to give it up. It’s so neat to look back now because I see how it has shaped who I am as a person. I’m just really proud of where I came from and how I grew up. I grew up in a town of 7,000 people in Louisville, Mississippi. You know everybody and everybody knows you. We had 35 in my graduating class. I went to a small private school there. I look back now and those relationships were so strong, and those are life-long relationships that are still very strong now. The people I went to kindergarten with, I was in their weddings and have watched them have babies. They are still some of my best friends today. The relationship piece that is so important in recruiting is something I developed at such a young age because your friends are your family in a small town like that. Growing up in a town like that you did two things: you went to church on Sunday and you played ball. So it has really shaped who I am as a person. And now looking back at all of the coaches that have come out of my small community; Van Chancellor who I played for in college, Andy Kennedy who is the men’s basketball coach at Ole Miss, Matthew Mitchell, who was a great friend of mine all throughout high school, is the women’s coach at Kentucky, Mark Hudspeth is the head football coach at Louisiana-Lafayette, Chris Croft is on staff at Southern Miss men’s basketball. You look at that and you go “wow,” but it is because of the people and coaches in our community that spent mornings, afternoon, days after days in the gym with us, investing in us as young people.
If you had a week to yourself to get away from basketball, what would you do?
I don’t get to ride (horses) as much, but I think if I had a week off I would love to ride again. I actually went home in August, we had a week off and I went fishing. I won’t show my fishing pictures because I sent a couple of pictures to the girls, and we were all laughing because I said it looks like I was fishing in the nursery because the fish I caught weren’t too big. But I love the outdoors; I love living in Tennessee. One of my favorite places is the Smoky Mountains, there is nothing like waking up and having a cup of coffee with that view. I also do enjoy going to the beach and taking a little downtime there. Four years ago, I bought a ski boat so I love to spend time on the water and on the lake.
What type of music do you listen to?
I am a huge country music fan. I listen to all types of music, but country has my heart. When I moved here, I got to know a lot of people in the industry. Actually a lot of my friends were aspiring artists. There is nothing like going to Broadway, you can hear some of the best country music. There are people that will never get discovered, but are so unbelievable talented. Nashville has been a perfect world for me because it has a lot of things I love to do. I do like some of the outlaw country but I like George Strait. I got to go to his last concert in Dallas, so that was a lot of fun. And Alabama, I have gotten to know him through Allison who works with our team. But I do like a lot of the older country music, and that has to do with my mom who would have some type of country music playing on the record player every morning. I love the history part of it, like the Grand Ole Opry or the Ryman. But to be able to sit there and know all of the history that is in it.
You get to know these girls when they are 17, and see them leave at 22. What is it like seeing their transformation and maturation throughout the years?
It’s one of my favorite parts of the job. They invest so much in Vanderbilt, and as coaches you try and invest so much in them as young women. You are almost like a proud parent when you see how much they have grown, how much they have matured, and how confident they are now as young women. To see them walk across the stage and get that Vanderbilt diploma that they have worked so hard for and to know the opportunities that that is going to open for them, it is really special. What makes it so awesome too is when they come back. Just the other day I got a call from Gabby Smith because she was listening to Faith Hill’s song “Mississippi Girl” on the radio and thought of me, and left me a message. The wins are great and the wins are fun, but it is those little things and those relationships that mean the most to you as a coach, when they call you and ask you for advice, or when they call you and ask you to help them with a job. The trophies, they get dust on them, and the wins will fade, but those relationships are what last forever.
