Zoom, Instagram (but not Twitter): It’s been a ‘revelation’ for Davidson’s Bob McKillop

Davidson basketball coach Bob McKillop was recently preparing to be interviewed online by Derek Rucker, a former Wildcats star now living and working in Australia.

Already well-versed in the Zoom video conferencing that has become so vital during the coronavirus pandemic, McKillop thought he was all set to chat with Rucker, who graduated from Davidson in 1988, a year before McKillop arrived to take over the program.

Oops.

“I thought it was going to be on Zoom, which at least I’d gotten my fingers wet with,” McKillop said. “But it turns out it was supposed to be on Instragram! I had no idea what to do.”

McKillop got on the phone and called director of operations Josh Heyliger, who hurried to the coach’s house and got him set up with Rucker on Instagram.

“Poor Josh,” McKillop said. “He had to babysit me. He sat with me there for an hour.”

It was but a brief moment of frustration for McKillop, who has — like most coaches at every level — quickly adapted to new technology to help his program run as smoothly as possible during the pandemic.

“I’m seeing this as an opportunity rather than a challenge, and that forces more creative thinking about how we’re all interacting,” McKillop said. “Right now, our interactions with players would primarily be on the basketball court. Instead, the interaction’s still there on things like Zoom or texting, and almost as frequent. It’s just more on an emotional and mental level.

“How are our guys staying in rhythm, physically, mentally and emotionally? Are they adjusting on a daily basis of not having a clock set to what their day is all about. It requires a tremendous amount of encouragement from each of them toward another.”

He has also challenged the Wildcats’ three rising seniors — guards Kellan Grady and Carter Collins and forward Bates Jones — to use this time to develop and sharpen their leadership skills.

“It’s a magnificent chance for them to step forward and take this team on as leaders,” McKillop said. “They need to be sharing information with their teammates, making sure nobody is being left out.”

At age 69, McKillop is still old school. He prefers to read the morning newspaper in print rather than online. But he also can be spotted working out in Davidson’s Vance Athletic Center, ear buds connected to his cell phone.

One social media platform on which McKillop won’t be found is Twitter. McKillop said Wildcats athletics director Chris Clunie has asked him to create an account, but he would do so only if it “would help Davidson College, Davidson basketball, our players, our staff, our alums.”

McKillop remains off Twitter.

“Our world and country are filled with too many opinions,” McKillop said. “Support or oppose. You should have done this or that. I’m right, you’re wrong. I just don’t think that what I view as supporting or opposing anything is very important. I would just like to avoid that kind of perception of me at Davidson.”

Still, he stays in touch with the outside world however he can.

“I’ve been on a number of other podcasts,” McKillop said. “I’m on Zoom, the phone or Skype or Instagram. It’s all a revelation to me.”