NCSA Blog

 Today’s St. Petersburg Times details the popularity of transferring high schools in Florida for athletic purposes.  Does this place to much of an emphasis on sport?  Is it ethical?

Read some of the arguments and make your comments known!

“This will go on forever,” longtime Hillsborough coach Earl Garcia said. “In my opinion, absolutely there’s nothing different for a parent taking their kid to a performing arts magnet to play a musical instrument. If you’re the top student in engineering, you find an engineering magnet school.”

“Parents have become agents,” Middleton coach Harry Hubbard said. “They think if their kid’s not going to get a scholarship, they root up and go. Loyalty has gone out the door. Sometimes kids are listening to the wrong things from their parents and they end up transferring. My thing is if the kid can play, they’re going to find you.”

Hillsborough Countyathletic director Lanness Robinson said the county is gathering information on what other areas are doing to curtail transfers.

“It’s detrimental to high school sports,” Robinson said. “In the way that free agency has been to professional sports, high school sports have moved in the same direction. It deteriorates the concept of team.”

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.

 Squandered opportunities can haunt a recruit for years.  The Pittsburgh Post Gazette checked in with one of college football’s most notorious recruits, Willie Williams, to detail his last chance. You may remember Willie as the high profile recruit who went to Miami after being arrested a staggering 11 times in high school.  After the Hurricanes stuck their neck out for him, he rewarded the school by promptly transferring to Louisville after discipline issues arose.  Louisville was in turn rewarded with an embarrassing failed drug test.

So Willie is down to his last chance at small Division II Glenville State in West Virginia.  He will be senior on Scholarship in the fall and plans to graduate.

The former Parade All-American is taking his game to Division II Glenville State in West Virginia, a place known for giving second chances to tarnished athletes.

Miami and Louisville it’s not. The hilltop college is in a town of 1,500 people and in a county with only two grocery stores and four gas stations. The nearest big city, Pittsburgh, is 157 miles to the north.

“I’m using that to my advantage,” Williams said. “It’s best sometimes to fly under the radar. You’ll get more things accomplished.

Williams said there were no promises exchanged with Fiddler like those made — and later broken — with Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich.

“It was just like ‘Willie, you know what you’ve got to do,’” Williams said.

“I realize the mistakes I’ve made in the past. All I can do is change and grow from it. Coach talked to me like I was a grown man. I interpret that better than a promise or something because he came to me like it was man to man.”

Welcoming players who were rejected by other colleges for past indiscretions has been well documented in West Virginia.

The poster child is Rand native Randy Moss, who lost scholarships at Notre Dame and Florida State before starring at Marshall a decade ago. There’s also Ahmad Bradshaw, who was kicked off the Virginia football team and flourished at Marshall.

Now, there’s Williams, who knows this is the end of the line.

Behave and perform.

NFL teams might be watching, and even then, they’ll have reservations about his character.

I’m all for second chances, but I want everyone out there to realize that 3^rd chances are rare.  Willie has been given one last get of jail free card, but is the exception due to his NFL talent.  Athletes need to remember to not waste their first chance because they probably won’t be as lucky as Willie Williams.

 I was recently reading a few posts from blogs that I frequent and the topic that athletic scholarships are not guaranteed for four years but rather a renewable contract that is signed each year at the discretion of the head coach came up a number of times.  I suppose this information is new to many parents and student athletes, so I encourage you to read more about the specifics, but I would rather focus on a different aspect of this topic.

There are certain reasons for a college coach to not renew an athletic scholarship that most reasonable people would find understandable.  Failing to meet academic requirements, legal issues away from the field, and poor work ethic on the field all seem like logical reasons for a coach to decide against renewing a scholarship.  The most controversial and least publicized reason for a college coaching neglecting to renew the scholarship is the student athlete simply not being good enough to play for that program.  The reason this issue is controversial is because coaches do not take advantage of it enough!

The reality is that college coaches are fearful of negative publicity when they decide not to renew a scholarship which will frighten potential recruits in the future.  Rather than experience this backlash, the coach will often times become brutally honest (or manipulative in my opinion) with the athlete and let him or her know that the chances of them playing anytime in the near future are very slim in the hopes that this will discourage the athlete from staying with the program and maintaining their athletic scholarship.  To me this seems cowardly. 

***Warning…What I am about to write might upset many people***

I believe college athletics would be better served if the college coaches would simply tell the student athlete they are not good enough to play at their program and they have decided not to renew their scholarship.  While this might upset the student athlete, at least they will have an opportunity to pursue a school where they will have a realistic chance to play.  I realize the downside to what I am proposing, but I ask the naysayers this; is it that much worse than what is currently being done?  Wouldn’t we all prefer the coaches actually be honest with a student athlete rather than give some distorted version of the truth in the hopes that the student athlete will do them a favor and leave the program on their own accord, thus saving their reputation for future recruits?

If you are a graduating senior and you have no offers to play your desired sport in college it may not be too late for you.  Often times as a teacher and as a college recruiter I have heard the desperate cries of parents and student-athletes that they waited too late and their sports careers are ruined.  Whether through injury or under exposure, those collegiate opportunities still may be out there for you, so don’t give up!

First and foremost it is essential that the student-athlete remain involved in competitive play for their sport, either through a college club team, or by walking on.  If a student athlete plans to transfer from one college to another it is essential for college coaches to see that you have not take a year off from your sport.  Whatever college or perhaps prep-school the student-athlete become involved with, get on that club team or attempt to walk on.  When walking on and you feel that you have no chance to ever start or earn a scholarship, transferring to a new school may be your solution.  There are plenty of colleges out there looking for transfer students to play for their programs.  If you are qualified to play at the school and you will make an impact on the team, the coaches will want you.

However, they will not be able to find you unless you promote yourself.  Lucky for you, you have learned your mistakes from the first time around.  Self promotion and massive exposure are your solutions.  In the mean time, you first year of college should be a focus on grades, and remaining competitive as an athlete.  There are second chances out there, but it depends upon the student-athlete and their determination to give themselves the opportunity to succeed.

The Pac-10 Conference is called the “Conference of Champions” for a good reason.  In 2007-2008 the conference captured 13 NCAA Team Championships far more then its runner up, Big Ten (5).  These 13 championships is one shy of the record 14 set in 1996-1997.  The Pac-10 has lead the nation in NCAA Championships 41 of the last 47 years.  They also finished second five times in that span.

College recruiting can be an intimidating entity.

It’s a long and elaborate process that is chock-full of questionnaires, phone calls, letters, brochures, summer camps, campus visit, interviews, etc. Don’t believe me? Check this story out.

What’s probably the most frightening, though, is what happens at the end of all this work — your final college decision. Take Zeke Motta in the story:

“I’m just trying to weigh out what ultimately I want to go to — a top-10 perennial school that is going to be competing for a national championship every year or going to a school that has great academics but is maybe only going to qualify for a BCS Bowl once every two years or something like that,” Motta said. “I am trying to find a mix of good academics and great football.

“It’s a big decision.”

Indeed it is. But luckily, it doesn’t have to be the only decision. Let me explain.

Here at the NCSA, the end goal is for all of our student-athletes to attend a college with the right academic and athletic fit. And the vast majority of the time, that happens.

But sometimes, something goes wrong — the head coach who recruited you leaves, you’re not getting enough playing time at your current school, you decide you don’t want to play your sport anymore, you want to attend a larger school, your sport takes up too much time. Whatever the reason, people will change their mind about things, including what college to enroll in.

But does that mean you have to be miserable for however many years you have left of college? Of course not. If you don’t like the situation you’re in at your current university, transferring always is an option.

This isn’t to say that every time something doesn’t go your way, it’s time to back your bags and head for the hills. College is designed to prepare you for adulthood, and part of that means learning how to make the best of a not-so-great situation. And with transferring comes the chance of having to sit out a year, losing a year of eligibilty or not being able to play your sport at all, so definitely make sure to do your research and talk to the college coaches at the other schools you’re interested in.

Ultimately, however, if you’ve found yourself unhappy with your college choice for an extended period of time, transferring to another school that has what you’re looking for might be, and usually is, the best path to take.

The college recruiting experience has many twists and turns.  There are many factors that play into recruiting for a student-athlete but one they have control over is doing the research.  Every student-athlete’s process is completely unique and different.  Doing research on the colleges and the process should be one of the top priorities!

Not only is the Stanford University one of the top academics schools in the country but it is also one of the best athletic programs (Stanford has won 14 consecutive Directors’ Cup).  The Stanford baseball program is a regulaly in the College World Series and is a two time National Champion. 

The Baseball Assistant Coach Dean Stotz at Stanford talks about the importance of research and choosing a college; “I have been doing this a long time, and if I may be so bold, I would like to help you simplify the process of selecting what college you will attend. First of all, please have respect for the magnitude of this college decision. You will live with this decision THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! This is not a “four year” decision, but a “FORTY YEAR DECISION”. There are no “mulligans”, no “do-overs”. Consider the task as if you are doing the most important research paper of your young life. The title of your research paper is: Where will I attend college? Now, how do you do well on a research paper?–RESEARCH!!!

There are three broad areas of risk in your college decision. You must decide what type of “academic challenge”, what type of “baseball challenge”, and what type of what I call “social challenge” you wish to take on.  In Coach Marquess’s and my 31 years we have not graduated 9 people who attended Stanford for four years.” What do you think?  Please post a comment on this topic!!

So you think you are being recruited because you received a questionnaire?Did you know that the Mississippi State baseball program sends out an average of 1,500 prospect questionnaires each year?

Facebook. MySpace. YouTube. Video conferencing. Web sites. Text messaging.

My oh my, how much recruiting has advanced in the last 15 years.

As Adam Diorio noted in his post, “Want Athletic Scholarships? Use Technology!”, recent technological advances have allowed NCAA college coaches to explore new methods of reaching out to potential student-athletes. It has also allowed them to tip-toe around quiet and dead period restrictions (what’s a “dead period”?).

Adam details two questions in his posting before jumping into the hi-tech hot tub. The one that I’m going to focus on is:

1. Do we know how technology can and cannot be used to maximize my student athlete’s recruiting process?  Basically, do we know the rules?

And for a good long while, the “can” heavily out weighed the “cannot.” Up until August of last year, text-messaging was a popular way for coaches to get recruits to call them. But slowly but surely, things are changing. As Paul Steinbach dictates in “Technology Rules”:

“Existing NCAA legislation limited how many calls a coach can make to a prospect, but placed no limits on the number of prospect-initiated calls, so coaches targeted the recruits with text messages that read simply, ‘Call me.’ The practice became intrusive, and often expensive, for highly sought-after athletes. (See ‘No EZ Answers,’ November 2006, p. 141.) The new rule, which went into effect Aug. 1, is just one of many related to technology found within the nearly 50 pages that address recruiting in Article 13 of the NCAA Division I Manual.”

That manual can be found here. The specific bylaw restricting text messaging, as well as other kinds of electronic communication, is found on page 99. But in addition to that, if you or your son or daughter is even considering playing a college sport, make sure you all read over most, if not all, of Article 13.

Also something to consider: New legislation is put into effect on Aug. 1 (one month away), so make sure you stay up to date with the ever-changing restrictions.

And of course, there are still a few loopholes out there and a couple of ways coaches can get around restrictions, such as not being able to track text messages or online social networking sites. But to put it into perspective, if technology has advanced so much in 15, 10 or even 5 years (Facebook became mainstream only four years ago), imagine how long it will take the powers-that-be to find ways of tracking the currently un-trackable.

Big Brother might not be watching right now, but could be soon.