As much as Merchant has grown to love the profession, the job does have its pitfalls. You're fortunate to have a job, but it can be gone tomorrow. If you don't win, you don't have a job. Then there's the constant battle with trying to get players. That can be difficult.
Kids are just so different nowadays.
Merchant pulled out all the stops to get Mason. Merchant changed the lyrics of a rap song, made a giant cutout of Mason and even brought in 250-pounds of sand and fake palm trees because Long Beach State was also trying to land Mason. At the last minute, Mason spurned Eastern for the University of Michigan. What all the pressures add up to is a year-round commitment to basketball. You don't have a social life.