NCSA Blog

 Any relationship/friendship if it is to be beneficial to both parties must be based upon trust and loyalty. This quality definitely applies to your relationship with the coach that is recruiting you. Even as a young person you need to “get a feel” for the coach who is attempting to attract you to his or her school. Basically this is an initial instinct as to how comfortable you are with this individual.

Recruiters are as diverse and different as all people are different from each other. Initially parents or guardians need to interact with the recruiting coach.  When they are comfortable with the recruiter and the young person is ready, they can turn the brunt of the relationship over to the recruit and watch from basically role as a moderator.

Being comfortable with the relationship, it can mean that the conversations with the recruiter are not just based upon a hard sell for their school, but are actual conversations concerning academics, friends, life goals and other topics. The constant hard sell can become annoying, and indicative of a recruiter who is inexperienced, or who is “not doing their homework.” The best recruiters that I had the pleasure of working with knew their respective recruits almost as life long friends. Again, “the best” recruiters I worked with. It really sent up a red flag for me when on our recruiting call evening I would go down the hall and hear one of our coaches begins the conversation with, “So how is it going big guy, who do you guys have this weekend,? Great, I will call you next week!” I could only think about what the young person on the other end of that call thought of such an impersonal call.

Permit me to digress a bit. When I say recruiting coach, I am referring to the coach who is the primary contact with the recruit. Initially it is usually a coach who is assigned to a geographical region of the prospective student athlete. The recruit may also hear from the coach of a particular position on the team assigned to that recruit, the recruiting coordinator or even the head coach as the process continues.

The coach assigned geographically to the area is usually the initial contact and usually the main conduit to the athletic program for the recruit and the family. This is usually the relationship that becomes the strongest and most lasting. And this is usually the coach that will “have the recruits back” as the young person moves from prospect to recruit to signee, to team member to college graduate. And in all candor, this is the coach who if he or she leave the school for another position at another school will have the biggest affect on the athlete.

And, if this individual should move on during the recruiting process it is critical for the family to immediately call the head coach to determine the status of the recruit in the process with the main contact in the program no longer in the picture. It is an honor to be recruited, it is indicative of hard work and dedication, but remember this is a two way street. It is also an honor to be called ‘coach.” And as you are moving through the process remember that you have a lot to bring to the table, and that as you are being evaluated, you are also evaluating the coaches and schools that are recruiting you. It is critical that once again you “get a feel” for these individuals.

Can you live with these people during the next four years of your life that will determine the next forty years of your life? And when I say “live with” it is just what I mean. A commitment to a school is huge undertaking. Hours, days, weeks, months, years of practice, being coached, competing, and every athletic moment along the way you will be in the charge of the coaches who have recruited you. It sounds like a long road and it is, but it can be just so rewarding, and the ride of a lifetime. Make sure that the coaches who will accompany you on that ride are people,” that you can live with.” Go for it! And always remember that you will be going through this process only once. At NCSA you will be dealing with people who have gone through it so many, many, times. And remember that we are here to assist you. No question is too unimportant; it is about you and about your future. Use us to make that future as bright and as profitable as possible.

Coach C.

Character matters in recruiting.  Virtually every college coach you talk to will tell you that he tries his best to do a thorough background check on every incoming recruit.  Athletes need to understand that the search doesn’t just end with talking to your parents, coaches, and teachers.  These days that search extends to the Internet on site likes Facebook and MySpace.  Want proof?  Both the University of Nebraska and Creighton University recently released Interent Ethics Codes.

Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne told the press that the athletic department will be monitoring more than 500 Nebraska athletes this fall. 

Osborne bluntly stated, “We wont turn our heads if we see something inappropriate.”

Creighton athletic director Bruce Rasmussen echoed the statement. 

“If, in my opinion, I see anything that affects them, the team, the athletic department or the university in negative ways, I’ll handle it any way I see fit.”

College coaches have limited scholarships available and their jobs are on the line if they can’t produce results.  Losing players to suspension is a major blow to any program.  Coaches will continue to monitor their athletes with any tool possible.  Recruits need to realize that the same type of scrutiny will fall on them.  Don’t throw away a potential scholarship by posting a “funny” picture on the Internet that can come back to haunt you.

This picture was taken in late August. That’s my son Jack competing in a cross country event. Lo and behold, that’s me in the background. The picture prompted me to write about the role of parenting in recruiting. It’s something I will write on from time to time here. My wife Nancy and I have six children. All of them have the potential to be college student-athletes. Jack, a 10th grader, is the oldest. Five girls, his sisters, follow him including five year old Gracie who is projected to be 6′4″ (excuse me, there are a bunch of D1 coaches knocking at our door - hey, you can’t offer kindergartners, Coaches!”)

As a local TV News sportscaster for 23 years, I saw plenty of overbearing parents who hurt their kid’s college sports chances. I also saw plenty of level headed ones too. As my kids grow up I am determined to put into practice what I saw from the level headed parents.

The role of parents is obviously very important in recruiting. First of all, it is important you help guide your kids to find THEIR passion when it comes to sports. You can’t live through them. When Jack was younger I had him throwing left handed. I thought it would be great for him to be the next Jamie Moyer. He could pitch until he was 45 and send me retirement money (just kidding!) Turns out, Jack wasn’t crazy about baseball. As a parent, I understood that and helped him find his passion. It was running. He loves to run. As a parent, I want what’s best for Jack and what HE wants to do. Here is a sign your child has found THEIR passion — this past summer I never once had to tell him to go run. He went on his on every day because he loves it.

As an 8th and 9th grader, Jack was a decent runner. As a 10th grader he has really improved and told me he is now thinking of running in college. He likes the idea of being on a D3 team because he treasures the friendships he has now in cross country. He is warming up to the idea of going to a small college and majoring in his beloved history. College sports are not all about D1. There are great opportunities out there at all levels.

As a parent, my role is to encourage, support and hold him accountable in all of this.

His times are not college caliber yet, but he knows where he has to be. Some of us have kids that are bonafide college athletic prospects in 9th grades. For others, it takes longer. The key is to encourage your child to steadily get better. That’s what Jack is doing. His high school coach says his attitude, work ethic, and team spirit are outstanding. She says his times are steadily getting better too.

I am holding him accountable by making sure he is writing academic and athletic goals to posting them on his bedroom walls. His best cross country time is 18:50 which is not going to cut it in college. He knows that and has a goal of 18:40 this week in a meet. His eventual goal is to get down into the 17:00’s with terrific grades. As a parent I want to encourage, support and hold him accountable in getting there.

As parents, make sure your kids have their goals written down. A person without written goals is like a game bird hunter who goes into a field, shoots a shotgun blast, and hopes a game bird flies into the shot pattern.

Academically, kids have to understand they are “on the academic clock” starting in 9th grade. I had a cross country college freshman runner tell me recently that he left academic money on the table because he wasn’t as focused as he should have been in the 9th grade. When I deliver the NCSA message I think it’s good for middle schoolers to be in the audience specifically to hear the message about having your academics ready from Day One of 9th grade.

When he was an 8th grader, I realized Jack could possibly be a college runner. That’s why I made sure he was on the ball academically from Day One in 9th grade. Jack is smart enough to make all A’s. I told him I expected all A’s this semester. Any ‘B’ means a day a week without video games or TV. As a parent, I want to guide him to have the best GPA, class rank and test scores as possible as well as quality cross country times so he can realize his dream of running for a small college and majoring in History. I’d love for him to be in a small college setting with a classroom setting of 17 students to every teacher.

As a parent it’s important you help your child be properly evaluated. I talked to a college tennis coach recently who signed a kid through NCSA. He said, “Charlie, the player was properly evaluated. That’s huge for us as college coaches!”

Also, when those questionnaires and letters come from the Ohio Northern’s and SUNY - New Paltz’s, don’t toss them. Study them. Coaches at Ohio Northern told me a kid with a pharmacy degree from there can expect to start out making $125,000 a year.

There is so much to share about parenting. I will share more on the subject as well as other topics in the near future.

NCSA Educational Speaker

Charlie Adams

 Creating mismatches is what good X and O coaching is all about.  At NCSA we try to help potential recruits to create their own mismatches.  What is a mismatch in recruiting?  It’s an athlete with options.  The more offers from different schools the more likely that scholarship dollars will increase and the athlete will find the right school fit.  Why?  Because schools don’t want to lose out to their rivals.

I am always stunned when I talk to athletes that draw a 2 state buffer around their hometown and refuse to consider any further schools.  Talk about decreasing your options!

Only a few years ago coaches usually took the majority of their recruits from inside their state borders.  That has drastically changed.  Right now the Wisconsin Badger 2009 recruiting class has only 4 in state commits as opposed to 12 out-of-staters.

If coaches are willing to look further out, then recruits should take advantage and do the same.  By using technology like NCSA’s Scouting Report athletes can easily promote themselves across the country.  If you want to maximize your options, I suggest getting started today.

                                                                                                                                                                                          The landscape of college recruiting has changed in recent years. There is no denying this fact. Most parents and former players remember a time when the senior year would determine the opportunities they had at the collegiate level after the fall seasons were complete. As seniors all over the country are finding out, scholarship offers have been made, some rosters are full and in many cases, doors have been closed. This can be a devastating realization for families that have not realized just how much the recruiting process has evolved over the years and thus accelerating its timeline. In most cases parents are left wondering, “Have we started to late?”I’m here to tell you there is still time. In the famous words of Douglas Adams, “Don’t Panic!” If you have a sincere desire to find a home to continue your athletic and academic career, there is a place for you to play. But I am going to be honest with you; the recruiting process is a game, plain and simple, and you have to know how to play it.

The first thing you have to realize the game has already started and you have to make up ground. Second, if you don’t know the rules of the game, or how it works, you can guess that you aren’t going to have much success in attempting to win the game. Now apply that analogy to the recruiting process and you can easily guess that your first step should be to get educated on exactly how the recruiting process works. Don’t go into this process blind, get educated and start making up ground.

First, you should read the NCAA Guide for the College Bound Student-Athlete. This will give you a ton of great info concerning the rules and regulations surrounding the recruiting process. You should use the information in this booklet to guide you on what sort of events should be happening to you throughout the year. You should quickly notice that there is a calendar of events or time periods that allow coaches to contact recruits through letters, calls and in person visits. This should allow you to construct a rough timeline for the recruiting process. Understanding this timeline is a great first step to becoming educated on how the process works and should really allow you to get off on the right foot with playing the game.

Now that you’re ready to play the game I want to pass along some very helpful advice on how you can make up ground. Recruiting is about relationship building. If you think of it in those terms it is easy to guess your next step. Whenever attempting to start any sort of relationship with someone, the first thing you would want to do is introduce yourself. Send out video, make phone calls, send emails, and get proactive! The more personal touches you can have with a coach and his staff, the more likely it will be that they will become comfortable enough with you as a player and a person to extend an offer. Use any means available to you to get in front of the coaching staffs that you want a chance to play for.

Be persistent and don’t take and don’t be afraid to hear the word no. Odds are there are going to be more schools that aren’t interested in having you play for you then there will be schools that are interested in playing for you. This is simply a numbers game. It’s ok to hear “no”, and “I’m not interested in players at your position,” you can hear one thousand “no’s,” but you only have to hear one “yes.” Odds are in your favor.

Again, keep in mind that you want to build a relationship with these coaches, so after you’re introduced don’t stop there, make sure to ask them questions, make visits and get to know the coaches that you want a chance to play for. A great way to build upon your relationship is to set up an unofficial visit to a local school. This way you can have an opportunity to ask questions about recruiting needs and opportunities at the various schools surrounding your home. Once you start to get introduced to these programs you should really start to see some momentum build for yourself, and hopefully those local contacts will turn into national contacts.

Building a strong relationship with each and every coaching staff that you are working with will ease some of the pressure of the recruiting process. It will make it easier to truly find out where you stand with them, and whether or not they plan to offer you a roster spot. If you’ve built a strong relationship, whatever the outcome concerning a scholarship, that coach will be an advocate for you in the future.

Remember there is still time left if you want to get involved with college athletics, but you have to start making up ground.  If you feel like you need assistance there are avenues you can explore to become more educated on how this process works. You only get one shot at the recruiting process, do not leave any stone unturned, and make sure to put in as much effort as possible and you will find success.

Among the many reasons to enter the college sports recruiting process earning an athletic scholarship to pay for college is always at the top of the list. Playing in college offsets the burden of paying for college. After all, who wants to be paying for college 10 years after they graduate because of student loans? In May 2007, testimony before US congress revealed that a quarter of all students graduate with too much debt to pay back on a starting teachers salary. That is way too high.

If that’s the case, shouldn’t you be knowledgeable in the ways of Financial Aid?

I earned my MBA from one of the top business schools in the country and traded sophisticated financial instruments for over 20 years. I thought I could figure this financial aid thing out. I couldn’t. I needed help. I’m very glad I invested in professional advice that helped maximize the grants and scholarships my daughter received. One of the great things about NCSA is that their advice on how to maximize scholarship dollars actually works. And it continues to work. Except for the less than 1% of college athletes who have “full rides” (tuition, books, room & board, fees, transportation), most families must negotiate their financial aid package on an annual basis. Paying for that expert advice helped - a lot! As she enters her junior year, my daughter has received over $135,000 in financial aid. Not one penny of that is a student loan. It’s all grants that don’t have to be paid back. Do you think I’m happy with the professional advice I received? My return on that investment was over 6700.00 per cent!

 In 23 years as a sportscaster at TV stations across the country, I covered hundreds and hundreds of recruiting stories. I was able to have the access to college coaches to learn all the things they look for in a prospective student-athlete.

I once sat down with a highly successful college basketball coach at the NAIA level and asked him what he looks for when he is in the stands at a prospect’s games. I was interested in learning what he looks for besides athleticism.

He said he closely watches how the athlete reacts when he is substituted for in the game. Does he appear miffed about being taken out? Does he actively cheer for the team on the floor or does he just sit there. While in the game, the coach looks for how the athlete reacts when he makes a bad play. Does he hang his head or immediately put the play behind him and give his best to make a positive play. The college coach said he makes notes on all those things and anything else that would possibly impact the chemistry on the college program. The successful college coach had built his program on chemistry and character. Though he needed good athletes, he was very careful about who he let into his program.

Another time I was talking to a college coach about what he does while watching from the stands. The coach said he stays in the bleachers long after the game. He waits until the athlete is showered. He wants to see how the athlete interacts with the parents. He said one time he had checked out a recruit who was fine academically, athletically and seemed to be fine character-wise. The coach watched from the top of the bleachers as the athlete left the locker room. The proud parents were beaming and couldn’t wait to hug and congratulate their child. The athlete brushed right by his parents. Whether he thought it wasn’t cool to hug his parents or whatever, he glided right past them. The college coach told me he terminated recruitment of that kid right away. That may seem a little harsh, but some college coaches mean business when it comes to character. Part of character is honoring your parents. It is one of the Ten Commandments. That college coach was very serious about signing kids that showed respect at all times to elders and especially their own parents.

I hope these examples help remind you that college coaches are looking at a lot more things than how well you kick a soccer ball, dive into a pool, or chase down an elusive tailback. They’re watching your character because they are watching out for their own team chemistry.

Do you think the college athletic recruiting process should provide you with the highest number of opportunities? Do you think understanding college athletics recruiting can reveal the perfect college fit for you? How do you go about increasing your opportunities? What system should you employ to make sure you are selecting the right opportunity for you?

College coaches begin by initially contacting 1,000 or 2,000 or even 10,000 (depending on the sport) student athletes by sending them camp brochures, emails, questionnaires, etc. Those same college coaches are clearly not recruiting all of those student-athletes. Why do they start with such a large pool? They are following the advice of Marketing 101: the more kids who they find out about, the better chance they’ll find the really quality student-athlete who will help their program. If that’s a good strategy for college coaches, shouldn’t a student-athlete use the same strategy? Doing so will increase your number of opportunities.

A savvy student-athlete will learn as early as freshman year that they need to develop trust-based relationships with college coaches. This can only happen through communication. Since the NCAA restricts the amount and timing of contacts initiated by college coaches, the student-athlete must be proactive. Unfortunately, the 14 or 15 year old student-athlete doesn’t have the life experiences or the maturity to begin building relationships with adults. The good news is they can be trained in that skill set. It’s like interviewing for a job. 

College recruiting boils down to trust-based relationships between college coaches and student-athletes. What college coach is going to make a significant investment in a student-athlete unless they know a lot more about that student-athlete than her/his performance on the playing field?

If you agree with playing the numbers game and building trust-based relationships with college coaches, have you thought about how you would do that? If you’re a student-athlete reading this, do you think your parents can do this for you? If so, you better forget about playing sports in college. Do you think your coach can do this for you? Again, if so, you better forget about finding the perfect college fit for you. You are the one that needs to take charge. You can only do that if you develop the skill set to do so. Who will teach you that?

Finally, if you do all of the above correctly, how do you determine the right fit? There are many different factors including: academic quality of the school, size of school, location of school, financial aid package, level of competition, opportunity to play early, getting along with the coaching staff and players, receiving tutoring help (if necessary), etc. There is a way to logically sort out all of those factors. If you need help, go here.

 I often hear from Student Athletes that lead off our conversation with the tired line, “I don’t play a lot because my coach doesn’t like me.”  What every student athlete needs to understand is that coaches want to win just as bad as anyone.  If they don’t “like you,” you have given them a reason to believe that you won’t perform for the team.

Many times it seems as though these problems develop from a lack of attention in the classroom and community.  These problems cause a coach to doubt if the team can really count on you.  I would advise all student athletes to work as hard as possible so you never give a coach a reason to believe that you might let the team down.

If you take care of business and are the best player at your position you will have a place on the team.  Why?  Because a coach wants to win and needs his team to believe in that same mission.

Maryland Coach Ralph Friedgen recently had to decide on his starting quarterback for the upcoming season.  He ended up going with 5^th year senior Jordan Steffy over Chris Turner a junior who started the last 8 games of last season and led the team to victories over two top 10 teams.

Friedgen’s rationale was simple:

“I evaluate what I see, and I have to have some credibility with my players. If you don’t reward people who practice well, you are in danger of losing the whole team.”

If you have a problem with your coach I urge to sit down and work things out. Don’t allow your sporting career to pass you by.

Are you a student-athlete who is on a mission to play college sports? Are you a student-athlete who has played your sport for years? Imagine your first sport season after high school and you’re not playing. What would that feel like?

Most student athletes and their families are unaware of how early college recruiting begins. Or the reasons it begins so early. The problem is that 93% of high school students who go on to college are applying through the academic door. They begin researching colleges late in their junior year or early in their senior year. They listen to the high school guidance counselor who advises them to apply to several schools. They place these schools into 3 categories: 1) Reach schools (if I’m lucky, I’ll get in.) 2) Stretch schools (I’m pretty sure I’d get accepted to half of these I apply to.) and 3) safe schools (I’ll get in no matter what.) Make sure you have all of your applications in before Christmas break.

Unfortunately, student-athletes and their families think that college athletic recruiting operates along the same time-line. It doesn’t!  If you wish to apply through the athletic door, you need to understand the different calendars and timelines.

Different sports have different recruiting calendars and time-lines. However, all sports have the following in common:

1. College coaches would love to find out about you early. In some sports that’s as early as 7^th and 8^th grade, other sports it’s by 10^th grade. Waiting until the beginning of junior year begins to reduce your opportunities.
2. A college student athlete has a certain athletic profile. For example, in baseball, a student athlete needs to have a certain 60-yard dash time, a certain overhand throwing velocity, a certain bat-speed, etc. For very competitive schools, those metrics need to be achieved by the end of junior year. If not, many college coaches will refuse to evaluate a student-athlete. It takes time to develop physically and student-athletes need to train to that level early to ensure they reach that level on time.
3. College coaches only give scholarship money to student-athletes they know, like, and trust. Those trust-based relationships take time to build. Because of the recruiting restrictions placed on college coaches, it’s important that a student-athlete begin to build those relationships as a freshman. Most don’t know how to go about that.

If you’re serious about being a college student-athlete, you need to implement that game plan that will get you there. Knowing what to do is as important as doing it. If you don’t know what to do, you should contact an expert for an evaluation. You can do that at NCSA.