When Bowling Green women’s basketball coach Curt Miller came to Bowling Green after the 2000-2001 season, the program wasn’t in the best of shape.

Okay, it was in bad shape.

The team was coming off an 11-18 season and that came on the heels of an 11-17 season.

Miller didn’t get a dream job to say the least.

And for his first couple years as the coach at BG, things were just as rocky.

His first year as coach, BG struggled throughout the season and finished the year off 9-19. His second year, the Falcons made some improvements and early and by their 15th game of the season, they had equaled their win total from the prior season.

But the Falcons struggled through the Mid-American Conference season and were eliminated in their opening game of the MAC tournament.

But at the time, Miller saw his team’s early struggles coming. When he came into the job, he set a five-year plan for the team to come into their own in his fifth season as coach. So really, the turnaround isn’t supposed to be completed until next season.

But thanks to some solid recruiting from Miller and his staff, the turnaround has come much earlier than expected.

“I’ve assembled a staff that works hard, and works long hours,” Miller said. “I’ve surrounded myself with three assistants that love to recruit.”

That love for recruiting paid off for BG in a big way last season.

The Falcons had solid senior play from point guard Lindsay Austin and off guard Stefanie Wenzel, but the two were helped out greatly by Miller’s second recruiting class.

Forwards Ali Mann and Liz Honegger both averaged double digits in scoring in their first year at BG. Meanwhile, Carin Horne and Megan Thorburn contributed greatly as they started a combined 31 games between them.

For Mann, coming in and being part of the success was a dream.

“We wanted to come in and have an immediate impact,” she said.

But for Miller and company, it’s not as easy as bringing in recruits and watching them succeed. It is a year long process.

On September 1 of a recruit’s junior year of high school, college teams can begin contacting them. This would include weekly mailing — sometimes twice weekly if it is a big time recruit — as well as sending e-mails.

And it goes beyond that as Miller says sometimes assistant Jennifer Roos sends them words of encouragement from time to time.

“Jen faxes our top recruits on game day,” Miller said.

This type of recruiting goes on throughout the season. On weekends the Falcons don’t play, Miller normally is on a recruiting trip.

And there is no vacation.

During the offseason, the coaches fill their summers with trips to watch tournaments.

“July is a big traveling time going to AAU summer tournaments,” Miller said. “We leave on the road July 7 and don’t return until July 31.”

This persistence with the staff has led the Falcons to land the recruits they’re looking for.

Honegger saw the team’s future as reason enough to come to BG, despite their losing record in Miller’s first two seasons.

“I believed in him,” she said. “I believed in what he could do here. The losses didn’t matter to me; I just saw the tradition of Bowling Green basketball.”

Mann also saw the team’s bright future and rich tradition and passed up on attending and Ivy League school in order to take part in rebuilding the program.

“I took a visit to Dartmouth,” she said. “It was a nice place, a nice campus, I just didn’t fit in. But then I came here and loved the coaches and saw this was a great team.”

The numbers haven’t lied for the Falcons. In the past two seasons, they have a 38-17 record and at this point are leading the MAC West division.

A large part of that has been the coaching staff bringing in the talent it takes to win basketball games.

“We spend a part of every day, all four of us, talking about recruiting,” Miller said.

It looks like the hard work is paying off.