THE RECRUITING PROCESS

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Getting Started

To get recruited and earn a scholarship offer or even to help with your admission to a school, you have to get noticed by a college coach. Coaches can’t recruit players they know very little about. It’s not easy to get noticed among thousands of athletes. Here are some tips to help you prepare for the college recruiting process. Once you have decided that you want to play college sports you need to set some goals. These should be academic as well as athletic. Before going to college you need to know what it is you want to get out of the whole college experience. Are you going to try to improve your skills for the next level, or is playing sports a way to pay for a great education. In these times playing sports can even help you get into a college that might have been out of reach. You should write down some of your goals and reference those when deciding on potential colleges.

Starting Your List

Generate a list of schools you are interested in. Consider what is important to you while you are making your list. What area of education are you interested in? Is the distance from home important to you? Do you like the coaches and feel you can fit into their program? Do some research on the school and see what the university has to offer that you might be interested in. If playing close to home is important to you then one school might have an edge over another. Add anything else to your list that is important to you. Organize your list in either a word document or excel spreadsheet. Always update your list and stay organized when determining what schools you have or haven’t contacted.

Contacts

Remember coaches won’t start recruiting you until they know who you are. Go to the athletic web sites of the schools and fill in the recruiting information form or email coaches on your list and let them know you are interested in playing for their program. Emails should include stats, awards, academics, community service, a brief bio, your contact info, and your coaches contact info. It wouldn’t hurt to include some of your strengths. Let the coach know what sets you apart from other athletes, and how you can be an asset to their program. Coaches might not respond right away so if you haven’t heard from the coach after awhile it might not hurt to send a follow-up email.

What You Can Expect

A common first step in the recruiting process is a letter from college coaches. Some athletes will receive dozens of letters, usually in their Junior year, and some will receive a handful. While it’s nice to get letters from college coaches it is important not to get too

excited because the majority of those letters “ don’t mean all that much”. Colleges send these letters as an advertisement and to lay the groundwork for a potential future investment. Just sending a letter gets the athlete interested in the college, but in no way commits the college to the athlete. The letters are enough to get you interested in their program so if they are interested in you, in the future, they have already initiated communication with you.

Recruiting Facts - Verbal Commitment

While verbal commitments may prove to be an exciting step to take for many athletes one important fact to keep in mind is that verbal commitments are just that “verbal”. The NCAA College-Bound Student Guide states the following information about Verbal Commitments:

“Verbal commitment. This phrase is used to describe a college-bound student-athlete’s commitment to a school before he or she signs (or is able to sign) a National Letter of Intent. A college-bound student-athlete can announce a verbal commitment at any time. While verbal commitments have become very popular for college-bound student-athletes and coaches, this “commitment” is NOT binding on either the college-bound student-athlete or the school. Only the signing of the National Letter of Intent accompanied by a financial aid agreement is binding on both parties.” (NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete, p.28)

Contact

Prolonged contact with coaches is prohibited by NCAA rules if you are a Junior. The NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student Athlete states the following about contact:

“Contact. A contact occurs any time a coach has any face-to-face contact with you or your parents off the college’s campus and says more than hello. A contact also occurs if a coach has any contact with you or your parents at your high school or any location where you are competing or practicing.” (NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete, p.28) 

This is important information to keep in mind as you progress through the recruiting process.

College Visits

You won’t know what a school is really like until you see it firsthand. Even if it's not an official visit, it is important that you go. Getting to see a university up close could determine whether or not you want to attend. If you do get an official visit, that means the coach is serious about you possibly joining their program. Take the visits seriously and remember the goals you set at the beginning of the recruiting process. You should start seeing colleges during your Junior year. Try to go while school is in session so you can get a true feeling of campus life. Also try to set up appointments with the coaches or recruiters from your area. They will be more available in their off seasons.

Back to Your Lists

Make sure when you visit colleges you always have your highlight video, transcripts, test scores, athletic stats and contact information accessible for the coaches. You need to keep track of visits, emails sent, text messages, phone calls placed and be aware of NCAA rules to stay eligible with the NCAA. Once you start making connections with coaches you will start to receive brochures, letters, questionnaires and evaluation forms. You need to keep these documents separated between schools.