While taking classes to pursue a career as a sports agent, Ognjen Stranjina realized it wasn’t what he wanted to do.
“You have honest agents,” he said. “But most of (the) agents are not honest with people … I just can’t lie to people … I do not want to be involved in that stuff.”
When he and his friend Ivan Mitrović, a scout for the NBA’s Washington Wizards, created a basketball scouting database called Balkan Prospects, Stranjina’s obsession became his profession.
Surrounded by and watching basketball from a young age, he knew, “scouting and recruiting, in general, was something I always wanted to do.”
Stranjina, known by players and staff as “OG,” is now the director of recruiting for Wichita State’s men’s basketball team.
“I love this job right here and the title,” Stranjina said. “I want to keep the same title but … I want to be a top-five team and someday … maybe win the national championship.”
Head coach Paul Mills said, “OG’s been terrific” in his role.
“Simply because … he lives, eats, breathes recruits,” Mills said. “I mean, there’s not a day that goes by where (I have to ask) ‘have you checked on so-and-so? Have we checked on so-and-so?’”
Recruiting responsibilities
Stranjina’s main responsibility is to scout and recruit players, but plenty of work goes into it.
“I have a list of players and I monitor (them) … I watch a lot of film on players overseas and in the States,” Stranjina said. “And (I) just make sure that we don’t miss out on events (and) recruits.”
When scouting players, Stranjina said he uses a combination of statistics and film.
“I mean, (a) player can average 40 points a game in some high school in Texas,” he said. “But he plays against awful competition. So it doesn’t mean anything … he can be a great player, but he doesn’t fit the style that coach Mills likes.”
Stranjina said another factor that goes into scouting is the player’s personality and “what kind of mentality” they have.
“There are coaches that will compromise talent for knuckleheads,” Stranjina said. “But any other day, I think those knuckleheads are not getting you anywhere.”
His ability to speak eight languages — English, French, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, Slovakian and Macedonian — also heightens his ability to connect with and recruit international students.
Upbringing and basketball in Belgrade
Stranjina said growing up in Belgrade, Serbia, “was the best childhood you could ask for.”
“We didn’t have much … material-wise, money-wise,” Stranjina said. “But we were just out there playing as kids (and we didn’t have to) think about the real world stuff. You just come out there every day and you know your friends will be there.”
Around the first grade, Stranjina began playing all kinds of sports. It wasn’t until fourth grade when he and his friends “were hooping all day, every day,” that he said he fell in love with basketball the most.
“I was lucky enough that some of my friends were really, really talented,” Stranjina said. “They would get recognition. They would play for the national team (at a) young age. So they were getting into basketball early, and my best friend was playing for Red Star, which is a big, big deal where I come from.”
Despite the time difference between Serbia and the United States, Stranjina stayed up late so he could catch his favorite players in the NBA.
“But it was worth it, you know,” Stranjina said. “I just love that thing. I don’t think I would be able to do it now, though. If I’m in Serbia, I (would) have to watch (a) 2 a.m. game.”
Coming to America
Stranjina graduated from the University of Belgrade with a bachelor’s degree in faculty of sports and physical education and served as Balkan Prospects’ Director of Scouting.
While continuing his work, Stranjina got a call from Sam Patterson, an assistant coach at Oral Roberts University at the time. Patterson expressed the team’s need for a graduate assistant. That’s where Stranjina met Mills.
Stranjina said his first encounter with Mills was “actually a funny story.”
Rick Pitino was coaching the Greek national team and was interested in hiring Stranjina at Iona University. Pitino explained during a dinner with Stranjina that while he was a graduate assistant at the University of Massachusetts, his job was “bringing coffee every day for four years.”
When Mills asked Stranjina what he thought the job description would be, Stranjina said he would “bring coffee, bring food and stuff.”
“Mills started laughing, like, ‘You’re not going to do that here,’” Stranjina said. “So that was our first call and we talked about basketball, talked about (the) job description. And then coach Mills called me a couple of days later (and) he said, ‘Do you want the job?’”
After much debate about what to do, Stranjina said he ultimately came to the United States because “if you want to work in basketball, there’s no better place to work than America.”
“Obviously, it’s college basketball and NBA (basketball),” Stranjina said. “(It’s) just too good of an opportunity to miss out, for sure, especially if you want to extend your connections.”
At Oral Roberts, Stranjina served as a graduate assistant, assisting Mills with recruiting and scouting players as well as helping organize and set up practices among other duties. He eventually graduated with a master’s degree in sports management.
When Mills was hired at the helm of Wichita State, Stranjina said, “I knew I was coming here with him.”
Why he loves his job
Stranjina said he’s grateful to be on staff with someone like Mills because “he is really open-minded.”
“He loves the European game, he understands European basketball,” Stranjina said. “That’s the second most important thing to me, that he’s open-minded to recruit international kids.”
Stranjina also said he loves the job because of “the coaching staff (and) the environment” of Wichita State.
“You know, walking into the office every day and you are happy to see your guys,” Stranjina said. “You’re not like, ‘Oh man, I have to see this dude again. I don’t mess with this guy.’ So obviously, (it’s) the people.”
