Persistence Pays Off in Recruiting
November 14th, 2008 - byI had the opportunity to be on Regional Radio Sports Network (http://www.rrsn.com/) Thursday night to talk Recruiting with high school football coaches. Show host Paul Condry and co host Donnie Smith produced a show called “Coaches Box” that was soaked with insights on Recruiting.
The show was at an Applebee’s, so we all got to eat a great meal before air time. I sat in a booth and visited with Fairfield 
HS (Goshen, IN area) head football coach Bob Miller, who guided his team to a 10-1 record this year. He told me about a former Fairfield player named Derek Yoder who excelled in the classroom, SAT’s and community and was a darn good high school player. He said Derek is now playing at D-3 Wabash College, one of the top schools in the Midwest and the nation. He said a Wabash education is about $150,000 over four years. Derek is only paying about $2000. That is an example of what can happen when you nail your academics, test scores, and community involvement and are capable of playing at the college level.
Coach Miller had a story about persistence that about knocked me off the table. He is also the Track and Field coach. He said back in 1997 he had a very fast track kid named Matt Rush. He was a two time state qualifier. Matt was determined to get an engineering degree from either Notre Dame, Western Michigan, Purdue or Tennessee. He was also going to run track. His challenge was that since he was from a small school out in the corn fields no one had really heard of him, especially at places like Tennessee.
Coach Miller told me Matt called these schools about three times a day. “He would do it before Weight Lifting and after school,” coach Miller said. “They kept telling him ‘the Coach wasn’t in.’ He didn’t quit, though.” Now, for some kids that would be like beating your head against the wall, but Matt had blistering times. He knew he was capable of playing at that level. Eventually, he would get through to them. Finally, Tennessee listened and brought him down. They had never heard of him. He fell in love with the place. They liked him. He got partial athletics scholarship. His 3.9 GPA in high school really helped his overall package.
Coach Miller said Matt was part of four NCAA D 1 Outdoor Track and Field national championship teams. He got his engineering degree.
“You have to be persistent,” Coach Miller said. “I tell my kids at Fairfield High that you have to have a way to market yourself or be marketed. Colleges are not going to find every kid.”
Being persistent and playing college sports can lead to incredibly exciting lives. Matt is now in Norfolk, VA. He is a civilian contractor with the Navy and redesigns battleships and aircraft carriers. “He emailed me a picture of him flying to a carrier on an F-14,” Coach Miller said. “He said look at my life now! Not back for a kid from Indiana cornfields!”
The radio show also included legendary former Penn High football coach Chris Geesman. I could listen to his stories all day and night. He had a story that said a lot about how challenging D3 sports can be. He said he had a former player at Penn High that was at first courted by Purdue. The player got excited. Purdue dropped off and then Ball State got interested. That had him excited. Hey, it was still D1. They decided to sign a kid from Michigan instead. Then, Franklin College got interested in him. He took a trip down and came back and said, “Coach, our high school is bigger.” He didn’t think the D3 thing was his cup of tea, so he backed off. Then, he called Coach Geesman later and ask him to call the Franklin coaches to say he did want to play college football.
A few days into his first days of practice at Franklin College that August, he called up Coach Geesman. He said he was thinking of leaving and coming home. Geesman thought that the young man didn’t care for D3 football. That wasn’t the case at all.
“Coach, I am thinking about leaving because I am the worst player on the team!”
All of the coaches on the radio show shook their heads at the misconceptions that D3 football isn’t as tough as nails. I was a sportscaster across America for 23 years who covered college sports at all levels, and I can tell you they are intense! I loved covering D1, D2, D3, NAIA and Junior College because I found that coaches and athletes at all levels compete fiercely!
Charlie Adams
NCSA Educational Speaker
November 18th, 2008 at 11:03 am
This is what I came away with thanks to Charlie Adams story. “Young student athletes should look at different division colleges as tree branches. There are some that are very high (elite) and some not as high, but any of the branches will get you off the ground. Do your best at any level, and you’ll all look the same.”