Educational Series

This Is the First in a Series of Articles About the College Recruiting Process

 Phase One:  Identification and Recognition

The first and most important phase in the recruiting process is being identified and recognized as a potential college prospect. Before determining who they will or will not recruit, college coaches first identify which prospects might qualify for their program by accumulating names and evaluating each candidate’s profile, academics and statistics. For potential prospects, it is imperative to get into this pool of names at as many colleges as possible. Failing that, you will never be recruited.

So, how do colleges come up with the names? Is it from some magic list on the Internet? Perhaps a list that just suddenly appears? No, it doesn’t work that way. Almost all prospects start out as a referral from some source. Referrals once primarily came from high school coaches. If your high school coach did not recommend you, then you had very little chance of being recruited, regardless of your abilities. The modern recruiting process has changed drastically from this outdated method.

Now, coaches pursue the best players nationally and regionally rather than just locally, and they are discovering talent in more sophisticated ways. A key component in the process is emergence of scouting services which have the ability to find and promote prospects from every level of competition. These private scouting companies identify potential prospects at a young age and make their skills, profiles, contact information and videotapes readily available, which colleges want. The best of these companies pre-qualify and thoroughly screen prospects before passing them on to college coaches. But, there are only a handful of these legitimate, private scouting organizations in America and, of course, some are better than others. Colleges extensively use these sources to identify potential recruits.

College coaches also identify prospects from their summer camps and from tournaments and showcases which they attend. However, most of these players were already recommended to them and these venues are primarily used to evaluate prospects, not discover them.

Internet listings, sites where any prospect can upload their resume, are gimmicks and are seldom used by experienced college coaches because the prospects have been through no meaningful screening process. These massive lists of unscreened candidates create huge haystacks which coaches find extremely difficult to pinpoint viable recruits. Time is money, even in coaching, so coaches elect instead to peruse the Web sites of historically credible services where much of the pre-screening has already occurred by trusted, professionally trained, on-the-ground scouts.

Once coaches have a prospect pool, the weeding out process begins and they methodically start eliminating those candidates which do not meet their particular needs or standards, athletically and academically. This most often happens after coaches have distributed and receive returned questionnaires from interested prospects.

This Is the Second in a Series of Articles About the College Recruiting Process

Phase Two:  Evaluation

After being identified by a coaching staff, the evaluation phase is the most critical phase for any prospect. This is the weeding out phase as college coaches begin the process of eliminating candidates from their prospect pools. Coaches examine physical attributes (size, speed, strength, etc.), athletic accomplishments, academic records and personal videos.  Not surprisingly, half or more of the prospects in the original pools are dropped from consideration at first glance.  With limited time to evaluate each student-athlete, coaches read the information provided and weed out anyone whose basic data fails to meet teams’ needs or the school’s eligibility requirements.

In large, high profile college programs, 90% or more may be eliminated because of the coaching staffs’ exacting and demanding standards.  Unfortunately, most prospects are unaware they have been crossed off, especially if they have received questionnaires from these programs.

Point of Emphasis: It is critical to understand that receiving a questionnaire from a college does not mean the school is going to formally recruit you. Questionnaires are merely information gathering tools, not a signal that an athlete will be recruited or offered a scholarship.  Moreover, while disappointing to families, it is unrealistic to expect staffs to reject each prospect individually by phone, email or letter.  There simply is not enough time.

For prospects, the best course of action is to get involved in the process as early as possible.  Being identified as a freshman or sophomore is ideal.  Why?  Name recognition is the key.  Coaches can follow you longer and evaluate you in more depth over time.  Prospects “in early” are often given second chances whereas they may be eliminated if their profile information arrives as a junior or senior.

Prospects in the process early may stay in the evaluation phase for several years as recruiting coordinators continue to track them throughout their high school careers.  Nonetheless, history shows that a staff may keep a prospect in their pool of candidates for two or more years and still reject them in the end.  This is the never-changing nature of college athletic recruiting.

Point of Emphasis: There is a belief among many parents and coaches that because you make All-Conference, qualify for a state playoff, or play club or travel sports you will be discovered and recruited.  Adhering to this flawed theory is the worst mistake a prospect and family can make.  Too much will be happening while you wait.  Coaches will be evaluating prospects every day.  Waiting only puts you at the back of the line, if you get in line at all, as others get noticed and go to the front of the line.

Remember, a college coaching staff’s objective is to find and recruit the very best student-athletes available to them.  If coaches do not know about you, they cannot possibly evaluate you.  So, as a prospect, the primary goal is to get in and then stay in as many college recruiting pools as possible for as long as possible.  This approach allows prospects to maximize their chances of receiving scholarship offers as seniors.

So, what to do?  Be pro-active.  Do not wait.  Get involved now.  Choose a course of action which will insure that you will be recognized and evaluated by as many college programs as possible.  Coaches need constant scouting information and academic updates.  Failing this, prospects can be forgotten or pushed to the side.  But, a continuous flow of information keeps your name in front of coaches and this persistence and availability can pay you major dividends.  Here are some helpful tips:

• Create a brief, but thorough resume

• Make initial contact

• Send coaches monthly reports of your athletic and academic progress

• Send coaches a DVD of your skills and game videos at least once each year

But, and this is a big one, before doing all this on your own, be prepared for sticker shock.  This solo effort can be very expensive as well as time consuming.  And, realize that many colleges will not take you as seriously as you deserve since the info is coming directly from a prospect or a prospect’s parents.  To college coaches, you are not considered a “reliable source.”  Another downside?  This method is usually a one-time shot, gambling that the coaches will see and evaluate your qualifications this one time.  In the transient world of college coaching, the continual availability of your profile and video is essential.

A better option is to have your high school and club coaches send your information and videos to colleges on your behalf.  Historically speaking, however, going this route is fraught with obstacles.  High school and travel or club coaches typically do not have the time, resources or connections to get this done quickly or professionally.  Consider two key points:  One, promoting their athletes to colleges is not part of any high school or club coach’s job description.  They are in place to coach, not to promote athletes.  In other words, they are not getting paid to do this type of work.  Two, coaches deal with a lot of players, not just you, and their job is to coach, not to secure scholarships for their athletes.

The most effective way to stay in the most recruiting pools for the longest period of time is to hire a credible scouting company with a history of proven success and a long-term reputation for having connections with college coaches.  Yes, this requires an investment, too, but because scouting companies have the expertise and methods to reach a multitude of college coaches instantaneously, it well worth exploring this method.  The assurance of maximum recruiting exposure can put you at a distinct advantage over other prospects that choose to wait and let college coaches find them.

This Is the Third in a Series of Articles About the College Recruiting Process

Phase Three:  Formal Recruiting

The third phase of the recruiting process is when college programs actually start recruiting high school athletes. Letters and initial calls do not determine that a prospect is being formally recruited.  The NCAA says that a prospect is actually being recruited when one of three things has occurred:

• A prospect receives two phone calls from an NCAA coach.
• An NCAA college coach goes to a prospect’s athletic competition to specifically scout that athlete.
• An NCAA college coach extends an invitation to the prospect for an official visit to the campus.

If one or more of these three requirments have not been met, you are not being recruited by an NCAA college.

Coaches have made all their preliminary evaluations and eliminations of prospects, some for as long as three or four years. Their final list is never really final, however.  Even at the last minute, viable, top-notch prospects may enter the process, be evaluated and recruited, that is, if the coaching staff sees these late entrants as having the skill set and academic qualifications which match or exceed the prospects already at the top of their list.

In the end, it is a matter of each college choosing the best of the best that they have available to them.  They will begin seriously comparing the prospects.  Personality and “fit” are key determinants in this faze as coaches and prospects begin to communicate more formally and frequently.

Different sports have their own recruiting rules and each college program has their own established criteria for the kind of players that they will recruit.  Generally, they have looked at skills and competition videos, scouted games and practices, and attended showcases and tournaments to personally evaluate specific athletes.  They start calling, writing and emailing prospects which have made the cut.  Coaches will invite these prospects to their camp or offer campus visits, some unofficial, some official.

As a prospect, you have to sell yourself to the coaching staff and convince them that you are the best choice over the others who are being considered for the offer.  In recruiting, perception is often more important than reality.  A college coach will always recruit and make the final offer to the athlete who appears to be very best choice for their program.  Everyone’s opinion is taken into consideration – admissions officials, current team members, other coaches on the staff.  And, prospects which may have been at the top of a recruiting list can rise and fall on that list accordingly.

The recruit who lands at the very top of the list may, in fact, not be the best prospect athletically and/or academically, but may be the one who most impressed coaching staff and receives an offer.

This Is the Fourth in a Series of Articles About the College Recruiting Process

Phase Four:  The Offer

The fourth phase of the recruiting process is the offer a prospect receives from a college coach, the final part of what can be an exciting and rewarding, if not frustrating, process.

Point of Emphasis: It has become popular for colleges to make offers to prospects earlier and earlier.  And, it would not be a stretch to assert that often times coaches and prospects are putting the cart before the horse when this happens.  So many unpredictable things can occur prior to the actual signing date that taking this route can be ill-advised.  Injuries, academic problems, character issues, change of heart, coaching changes, and other unforeseen things which happen in life and college sports over time, can cause a verbal commitment to be an exercise in wishful thinking, not to mention embarrassing and a complete waste of time.  To the extreme, even seventh and eighth graders have received college scholarship offers.  Without a crystal ball, which no one has, neither a coach nor a prospect can accurately predict if in four or five years a youngster will still be a viable prospect or the coach will still hold the prospect in such high regard.  

*Editor’s Note:  Since the publishing of this article, the NCAA has proposed legislation to end early verbal offers of financial aid from coaches to prospects prior to July 1 following a prospect’s junior year in high school. 

Here are some key points regarding this the final recruiting phase:

• A National Letter of Intent (NLI) must be signed by the prospect and parents before a commitment between the prospect and institution is considered legally binding.
• Verbal, or oral, commitments are non-binding, but they may occur at any time.*
• Colleges can make as many offers to as many prospects as they wish, but they can sign only a certain number each year because each sport is restricted to the total number of scholarship players permitted on their rosters. These numbers are regulated by the NCAA, NAIA and the NJCAA.
• An oral commitment is only valid when an NLI has been signed during a “signing period” and returned to the college in the prescribed time frame.
• To reiterate, in the NCAA, an NLI can only be signed during a “signing period.”
• The NLI is binding for one academic year.
• An NLI can only be signed by incoming college freshmen or junior college transfers.
• The NLI is a contract between the college and athlete, not the athlete and coach.
• If after an NLI has been signed and the coach subsequently leaves the program, the athlete is still legally bound to attend the college with which they signed the NLI. There is no caveat within the NLI allowing a prospect to renege on the agreement on the grounds that the coach must be employed by the college with which the NLI was signed.
• For a prospect to be released from an NLI with an NCAA institution, the college’s athletic director from that institution must formally release the prospect in writing from the NLI contract. If the athletic director does not give this consent and the athlete still wants to attend another NCAA college, the prospect will be required, in all likelihood and in most cases, to endure a one-year period of ineligibility prior to being allowed to work out, practice or play for the new college.
• Colleges are not required to participate in the NLI program, but it has become more commonplace.
• A prospect is not required to sign an NLI to receive a scholarship to play college sports.
• Once an NLI has been signed by an athlete and prospect, no other colleges within the same governing body, which is the NCAA, NAIA or NJCAA, is permitted to recruit the athlete.
• When a prospect signs an NLI, the contract provides specific details regarding how much athletic scholarship is being awarded.  Academic scholarships, grants and loans are a separate part of the admissions process and are negotiated between the prospect, parents and admissions officials.
• NCAA Division III institutions do not, and cannot, require prospects to sign the NLI since they do not offer athletic scholarships; however, it is common for DIII schools to put together very attractive “packages” which provide a number of scholarships, grants and loans.
• Most colleges, including NCAA Division I programs, “package” their offers to make attending the institution

  

  more affordable for families.

• Coaches of NCAA Division III institutions may not, by rule, influence a prospect’s admission to their college for athletic reasons. A prospect must go through the admissions process on their own and be accepted based on their high school or junior college academic performance and records.
• All prospects must meet the governing body’s and college’s minimal academic requirements for admission before an NLI can take affect.

Being recognized, evaluated, recruited and eventually offered a scholarship to play college sports is a long, arduous journey with a variety of restrictive rules to navigate along the way.  It is essential for prospects to plan wisely, to follow that plan and to make adjustments along the way.  Competition for athletic scholarships and roster spots are extremely fierce.  There are more qualified athletes than there are available scholarships.  Getting involved in this process early allows prospects to have their best chance to be recruited.  Moreover, following outdated ideas about how the process works and how to approach and go through it most often results in a prospect losing out on the opportunity to compete at the next level.

The privilege of playing college sports is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  Consider every option available and take the course which best fits your family’s parameters and limitations.  If the choice is to go it alone, be diligent and persistent.  One-time efforts and mailings rarely get results.  If it is to rely on high school or club coaches, require a plan be provided to you on paper which specifically outlines that plan, then ask for regular, timely feedback from the coach.  Failing in those choices and you are at risk of falling behind in competing for a scholarship offer. 

If you elect to engage in an agreement with a scouting service such as National Scouting Report, consider reputation, depth of coverage, frequency of their promotions delivered directly to colleges and their historic, overall success rate.  Also, be certain that the service is committed to your success through a comprehensive promotional program which provides complete and professional exposure to college coaches in your sport through the following:

• Password-free access to your personal Web page
• Online, digitized skill and/or game footage
• A planned, periodic direct mail campaign which continues throughout your high school career
• Regular distribution of your profile to college coaches via e-mail
• Security measures which will only allow college coaches to gain access to your address, phone number, cell number, email address, social security or any other personal, sensitive data
• Access to professional recruiting advisors

This Is the Final in a Series of Articles About the College Recruiting Process

Choosing the Correct Path to Take

Prospects and their parents have five choices to approaching the college recruiting process:

1. Wait for coaches to find you
2. Go it alone
3. Get help from your high school coach
4. Get help from your club/travel coach
5. Seek out and enlist the expertise of a professional recruiting service

For the purpose of rating which path will provide you with the most choices, we have rated each in terms of:

5 = Provides you with the most thorough exposure and best opportunity to be recognized, evaluated and recruited due to 24/7 Internet presence on a reliable, frequently visited Web site; the reputation and dependability of the distributor; the wide variety of promotional options;  frequent distribution of profile and video link.  Most often associated with professional scouting services with comprehensive promotional programs.

4 = Provides you with a moderate number of opportunities due to limitations in the number of colleges contacted, inaccessibility of profile information and video on the Internet, and infrequency and inadequate  number of promotions distributed to college coaches.  Most often associated with efforts by high school, club and travel coaches. 

3 = Provides you with moderate to minimal opportunities due to the lack of direct contact with college coaches through promotional campaigns.  Most often associated with Internet posting sites.

2 = Provides minimal opportunities for scholarship consideration due to one-time promotional efforts, no Internet presence, inaccessible video and unreliable distribution source.  Most often associated with parents who choose to promote their children on their own.

1 = Provides no opportunities for scholarship opportunities due to belief that “if you are good enough, college coaches will find you.”  Most often associated with parents and coaches who believe the recruiting process is the same today as it was 10, 15 or 20 years ago. 

Choice 1: Waiting. (NSR Rating: 1)

This is a course most often taken by those who live in the past and believe that recruiting today is the same as it was 10, 15 or 20 years ago.  It is not, by any means.  If you elect to go this route, expect a very limited number of colleges to recognize you, if any.  Regardless of your abilities, waiting will put you behind other prospects of your caliber and even those with less talent.   Do not expect to be recruited if you elect this archaic method.

Parents who choose to go it alone typically believe they know more than they actually do.  The recruiting process to “loners” is a simple matter of sending information to a few coaches who will see the talent and heart the parents see and will drop all the other prospects they have been evaluating to make an offer to their child.  While some blind squirrels do occasionally find nuts, it is a difficult venture which more often than not results in disappointment and lackluster outcomes. 

Choice 3:  Get Help from Your High School Coach. (NSR rating: 4)

This is generally an effective course to take.  However, it is quite uncommon that high school coaches have the time, expertise, financial funding and mandate to promote their athletes.  NSR conducted a study in 2005 which found that the average high school coach spends an average of 80 hours per week on school responsibilities.  Time, then, is a major obstacle for them.  Most coaches are not adept at designing or constructing comprehensive profiles.  Few high school coaches can afford to take money from their athletic budgets or own pockets to fund a promotional campaign for their athletes – promote one and the coach is forced to promote them all.  And, it is highly unusual for high school coaches to have written in their job descriptions the duty of athlete promotions. 

That said, if you have a coach has shown a consistent history for overcoming all these hurdles, you are not only fortunate, but have the second best option in getting noticed by college coaches. If you are in this position, be  sure to have a one-on-one meeting with the coach to examine the specific promotional plans, the time frames which the information will be distributed and the plan for getting video to college coaches quickly – a must. 

Usually the downside to this choice is that very few high school coaches are actually familiar with the modern recruiting process and, because college coaches rarely scout at high school events, have been unable to develop relationships with those coaches.  It is unusual in the whole scheme of recruiting for a high school coach to have an “in” with coaches to the point of helping their athletes get recruited.

Choice 4:  Get help from your club/ travel coach.  (NSR Rating: 4)

This is more likely to occur than receiving aid from your high school coach.  If your organization has a history which shows a high success rate from promoting their athletes, you are in a very good position.  However, it is incumbent upon you to know what this process is, how frequently your information will be distributed, the condition of your personal Web page and how often it will be updated and by whom, and a tracking sheet which shows when promos were sent and when coaches responded. 

The clear downside to this method is the shooting, editing, presentation and distribution of skill and/or game footage which is required by most college coaches in today’s recruiting environment.  Because  most of these coaches have other jobs and families, there is little time, if any, to schedule video sessions.  This shortcoming can make a big difference with college coaches. 

Choice 5:  Seek out and enlist the expertise of a professional recruiting service.   (NSR Rating: 5)

Assuming that you properly vet your scouting service options, and you are able to find a professional company with an excellent reputation and history of success, this route will provide you with the most opportunities to be recognized, evaluated and recruited.  Modern reputable scouting services are technologically advanced to the point of offering prospects an excellent array of exposure and promotional tools which can make a prospect’s profile and video available 24/7 on the Internet.  They also have experienced staffers with the ability to offer immediate assistance through toll-free telephone hot lines, email and fax.  And, a few scouting companies actually have area scouts who live nearby so that you can meet with them personally to discuss scenarios and answer your personal recruiting questions face-to-face.        

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