The Economy and Recruiting...

There is no doubt that today, more than ever before, it is imperative that parents understand the dynamics of college athletic recruiting. With most private schools topping the $30,000 a year mark, and each school's financial resources being drained by the troubles in the stock market, there is less financial aid to go around. Coaches are being squeezed, too, especially those who coach "equivilency" sports....in order to retain their top players, they are having to commit more to those who are already on the team, leaving less for those who are being recruited now. In other words, those who are "counting" or hoping for an athletic scholarship may very well be offered less than they would have just two years ago. And with other forms of institutional aid shrinking, there is simply less "discounting" going on at private schools.

The answer? Academic monies are still widely available...yes, your mother was right--you need to go do your homework!

Microblogging on college sports

In my ever expanding world of trying to understand all the new "tools" to communicate with folks, I have begun to use Twitter as a way to post more succinct thoughts and ideas.. similar address: http://www.twitter.com/collegeathlete. For more information click on the link and you can see some of the postings ...

More to come...

Online recruiting questionnaires--watch out..

Periodically, I hop around on different college athletic sites to look for clues about their recruiting practices. I came across the Recruit Section on one site associated with CSTV (now CBS Collegesports). "Associated" means they pay a fee to have their sites built and managed, or have the site built for free, but allow CSTV to place advertising on the site and retain the revenue. This practice has been pretty commonplace for the past 10 years.

What startled me in looking at this particular site was the following paragraph that popped up when trying to access the online recruiting form that has become standard on nearly all college web sites. Here it is:

The Prospective Student-Athlete (PSA) Database

In addition to providing you with (school) recruiting information, we also encourage you to submit a profile to the athletic program(s) you are interested in.

In order to submit a profile, you must first register for a CSTV Online, Inc. Interactive account. If you have already registered, you may simply log in with your username and password.

Once you are logged in, you will be given the ability to create and maintain your own personal profile which may be submitted not only to one or more (school) athletic programs, but to all participating athletic programs partnered with CSTV Online, Inc. Your profile will consist of "Personal", "Academic" and "Athletic" questions which are found on Prospective Student-Athlete questionnaires used by the majority of the athletic programs around the country. The information in your profile will only be seen by athletic department personnel at the school(s) in which you submit your profile.

If you are a high school recruit, or a parent of a recruit, this recent development should be on your radar. Now, before you can access what has been a streamlined process for providing ONE coach and ONE program, your athletic, personal and academic information may now be shared with every college that CSTV has built a web site for and therefore maintains a business relationship with.

Why should you care? Because CSTV is collecting your name, email and other identifying information from you to market to you and to sell your information to anyone who wants to sell to student athletes like you. Schools like this site are basically selling YOU out to a huge corporation before you even fill out the recruit questionnaire. Is this okay with you? Is this okay with your parents? Is this okay that they are sharing your information with over 100+ schools that are clients of CSTV? Is that what you bargained for?

so you want to be a college athlete....

In my time as both an NCAA Division I and III head coach, as well as a college athletics director, I am constantly amazed at the lack of good information that is out there for high school student athletes to base their decisions on. I read every article on "how to be noticed/recruited by a college coach" I can get my hands on, and they seem to fall into three categories:

1. Written by scouting services who have never been responsible for evaluating talent and molding it into a cohesive program; or
2. Written by members of the news media who interview one or two head football coaches, then attempt to write authoritatively on the subject; or
3. Written by a parent who went through the process with their son/daughter and now believes themselves to be a recruiting "expert".

It's one of the reasons I started this blog, as there seems to be no one speaking to the "Olympic Sport" athletes (read: non-football or basketball) about how to find their way in the recruiting world. So that's the mission of this portion of the blog--to help you find your way...and to make this blog even better, please feel free to ask questions about the recruiting process, particularly if you don't know what to do...if we share the information with everyone, we'll all get smarter...

Recruiting Education for Student Athletes

In the past 12 years, I have spoken to over 5,000 high school student athletes, parents, coaches and guidance counselors about the NCAA recruiting process as it is practiced by coaches at all levels. One thing that constantly impresses me is how hungry everyone is to get the information that is right for them. Many of the other "recruiting services" that are out there do two things: either try to get you to put a profile on a website so coaches can "find you", or try to fit you into a "combine" model mostly tailored for football players. These services are more than happy to have you pay for this evaluation and exposure.But is the right way to choose a college?

A multi million dollar industry has developed in the past 10 years designed to capitalize on your desire to market yourself and gain maximum exposure as an athlete. Modeled after the pros, these entrepreneurs have taken their passion for athletics (and in some cases, former college athletes) and turned it into a business whose sole focus is to create anxiety in you. This industry includes:

• Summer Camps offered by college coaches;
• Filming/video services;
• Combines;
• Web profile services;
• Club teams;
• Club Tournaments;
• Clinics offered by college coaches.

How do they create this anxiety? By marketing the idea to you that if you don't PAY to attend/use their camp/service, you will somehow not be chosen by a college coach. This works particularly well for those high school student athletes who have the desire to earn an athletics scholarship.

Don't believe me? Here's an example:

A coach at a preeminent academic university has started the practice of telling sophomore recruits that if they do not attend both the summer camp on that campus AND the junior year "open" clinic led by that school's coaching staff, they can forget about being recruited. Just absorb that for one second. Now, keep in mind that summer camps are additional income for college coaches, and in season clinics are often used as fundraisers for the team. This particular coach is telling you that unless you pay to demonstrate your talents on campus, you can forget about being looked at. Do the top athletes have to do this? No way--there are different rules for them. This does apply to all the other "dreamers" that are willing to do almost anything, including indirectly paying the coach, in the hopes they will be offered a scholarship.

(Here's what makes that situation worse: imagine you really wanted to be looked at by that coach, but the school is a five hour drive from home and you have a family event that weekend which should take priority. Can you guess what the coach said to the student athlete? The entire weekend, this student athlete was inconsolable--she felt she had lost her only chance to audition for the coach. Is this what college recruiting should be?)

More to come....

admissions and athletics

Today I spent some really good time with our admissions staff and learned alot about the process of targeting potential students and then ultimately how that turns into an entering freshman class. It makes me think about the number of admissions offices that are targeting their prospective students through various methods...PSAT scores, high school, even zip code. Did you ever wonder how colleges find out about you? They buy lists of names.

Coaches do much of the same. Whether they go to a combine, an exposure camp, or a tournament, oftentimes the organizer has your contact information available for sale to the coaches who attend. It is not unheard of to charge $300-$500 for one packet at one tournament to each coach who attends. After they pay the tournament expenses, that still leaves quite a bit of profit left over....

This blog will focus on the enormous industry that has developed in the last 10 years designed to capitalize on your desire to play sports in college. Many of them are pure money making ventures--others can really help YOU answer some questions for yourself about whether that school/coach/social environment really has your best interests at heart.

So, if you've stumbled across this, welcome! I'll try to provide you with some good insight into the world of college athletic recruiting....check back often.