Forget field goal and rebounding statistics – when it comes to making recruiting decisions, Troy basketball coach Scott Cross said he uses Waffle House.

“We offhand ask them, do you like Waffle House? If the answer is yes, we sign them. If it’s no, we never get them.”

Cross shared his unorthodox recruiting strategy in an interview with Kentucky Sports Radio ahead of Troy taking on Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA tournament. 

“The first two recruits we brought on campus, we’re driving down the main street, I point out Waffle House, and ask them if they want to eat there for breakfast,” Cross said. 

“They were like ‘Waffle House? Hell nah, I don’t want to go to Waffle House.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, my bad. We’ll try to eat somewhere else.’ Long story short, we signed neither one of those guys.”

Conversely, when former Troy standout Nick Stampley came to town and saw Waffle House he got excited and asked, “Oh Coach, y’all got a Waffle House here? Can we go there tomorrow?,” Cross remembers. 

“He was our first signee and he was one of the toughest guys we ever coached,” Cross said. 

Stampley now plays professional basketball in Germany.

Cross said he’s instructed his coaching staff to find out in one of the first phone conversations whether or not a recruit likes Waffle House. 

“Y’all could save [the program] a lot of time and money,” Cross said.  

There are two Waffle Houses in Troy, Alabama currently, and another one is coming soon, Cross said – one for every 5000 people in the small town. The team celebrates wins and birthdays at Waffle House, making it a part of the Trojan experience.    

“The people at Waffle House, they’re my kind of people. I absolutely love them,” Cross said.