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.

 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.

I just watched the video from Brian Davidson’s post below. If you haven’t seen it yet, read the post and watch the video here.

As funny and outlandish some of the things these coaches say are, there’s definitely some truth to take away. If you play the sports college recruiting “game” wisely, college coaches should be fighting over you and will go to great lengths to get you to come to their college.

But here’s the thing. Once you lace up those sneakers, put on the practice jersey and step out onto the field/court/etc., in most cases, you’ll quickly find out that you’re not the program’s savior afterall. An article about Blaine Gabbert, who was a five star recruit in high school, is a perfect example of this. From the University of Missouri’s student newspaper, The Maneater:

As a tall and sturdy 6-foot-5-inch, 225-pound freshman, Gabbert’s high school performance was nothing less than extraordinary.

His All-American status and five-star recruit ranking earned him a spot on the Missouri roster, but playing time is hard to come by on this team.

“He’s the most physically gifted quarterback to come out of high school that I’ve seen in six years as far as size, speed, arm strength and release,” said David Yost, quarterback coach and recruitment coordinator. “If you were to build a quarterback, you would build a guy like Blaine Gabbert.”

For this season, Gabbert waits behind senior quarterbacks Chase Daniel and Chase Patton. With the publicity of his high school football days gone, Gabbert must wait his turn on the bench. …

The same story holds true to Jimmy Clausen last year on Notre Dame. Clausen, who was considered by many as the No. 1 prospect for the class of 2007, wasn’t announced as the starter once the season began. And even when he took over that role, he struggled, only passing for 1,254 yards, with 7 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.

It’s a whole different game in college. You might have been a dominant high school player, but if you’re playing in college, chances are that your entire team is made up of former dominant high school players.

So when you step on to the playing surface for the first time, check your ego at the door, realize you have a lot of learning to do and eventually, you can become a dominant college player!

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.

That someone is Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian. After losing to the eventual gold medal winner Andrea Minguzzi of Italy in the semi-finals of the 84 kilogram Greco-Roman wrestling, Abrahamian threw a hissy-fit, shouting at the referee and officials, and stormed off. From Douglas Hamilton’s article on Yahoo! Sports:

Swedish fans booed loudly as the judges filed out of the arena. Abrahamian said nothing to waiting reporters but whacked an aluminium barricade with his fist as he left the hall.

The Swedes were more than likely booing the judges, but those boos probably should’ve been for their own contryman for reacting like he did. To make matters worse, Abrahamian had to be persuaded by friends to wrestle for the bronze (which he won), and at the medal ceremony, he received the bronze medal, shook the presenter’s hand, shook Minguzzi’s hand, stepped off the podium, walked to the center of the mat, dropped his bronze medal and left the building.

And then he quit the sport.

“This will be my last match. I wanted to take gold, so I consider this Olympics a failure,” he said.

Kids, don’t try this at home.

Sometimes, things don’t go your way. You can’t win every bout, every set, every match, every game. Rather than pout that things didn’t go your way, you need to grow from those setbacks and become not just better at your sport, but a better person.

Michael Jordan for example. He didn’t make his high school’s varsity team when he first tried out. But look what happened to him.

Your mistakes only make you stronger.

“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions, I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot… and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why… I succeed. ” - Michael Jordan

 Character matters in recruiting.  When I ask a coach in any sport what they look for in a recruit the words high character always come up in their top three.  Taking a chance on a “risky” recruit can often come back to bite a coach in the butt.

In 2007 Texas threw former high profile recruit Robert Joseph off the team for getting caught breaking into cars at a hotel parking lot.  The incident drew a ton of heat for the school, administration and football staff.  To make matters even worse it came to light that Joseph had a felony record when he came to Texas, but it went undetected by the coaching staff since his juvenile record was sealed.  This was simply a case of the details slipping through the cracks. 

Today’s Austin American Statesman discusses with Texas Head Coach Mack Brown the steps he uses to make sure that no other details fall through the cracks.

“First, we look at the kid,” Brown said. “If they’ve got good values in their family and they tell you the truth, they call you when they’re supposed to, they show up when they’re supposed to, they e-mail back when you e-mail them and they’ve done things for the school and leadership with the community - they’re responsible. Those are no-brainers, but that makes sense.”

Then it’s on to the next phase: talking to a recruit’s parents.

“We prefer kids from two-parent families because they tend to be more stable,” Brown said. “More recently, we’ve accepted kids from one-parent families because half the kids come from those homes. Now our rule is that there has to be one strong parent as a role model.

“If we have trouble with the parents, we don’t recruit the kid.”

The Longhorns also look at grade-point averages, preferring players with a 3.0 or better, depending on the school. And they look at test scores to make sure the scores are in line with the recruit’s grades.

“If he’s got a high test score and low grades, it means he hasn’t really been working as hard and isn’t putting as much effort into school,” Brown said. “That’s a red flag.”

They look at confidence. “A confident kid is going to have success and isn’t as prone to falling into something because of peer pressure,” Brown said.

They look to see if a player has transferred schools.

Next, it’s on to coaches.

“It’s not just about the head coach,” Texas A&M recruiting coordinator Tim Cassidy said. “You’ve got to talk to the assistant coaches, coaches of their opponents. The coaches of the opponent might not know as much about character, but they’re good to talk to. The more people you talk to, the more you know the kid you’re recruiting.”

If you want to make it to the highest level of your recruiting potential it is of the upmost importance that you make the right choices to ensure that your character is judged to be of the highest quality.

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.