Recruiting with Ron Zook
May 16th, 2008 - by Fresh off Illinois’ first run to the Rose Bowl in x years head coach Ron Zook sat down with the Chicago Sun Times to discuss a variety of topics including recruiting. He is widely regards as one of top recruiters in the country. As is usually the case, potential recruits should listen carefully and take away some valuable insight.
Q. How important is recruiting?
A. It is the lifeblood of college football. In the NFL, the draft is most important. Football is played by players. It’s all about them. Someone once told me that it is better to be known as a bad coach with good players than a good coach with bad players. I believe that.
Q. How do you evaluate a prospect?
A. Production. Football is a production game. In recruiting a player, I have to ask myself: What is his character? Can he help our program reach our goals? Will he graduate? But character is No. 1, no question about that.
Q. What don’t most people understand about recruiting?
A. Everybody has something good to sell. It is hard because you are selling something you can’t see, not a car, but a feeling, the prettiest picture. It is hard to get them to understand what a school can do for them.
Q. What separates a great player from a good player?
A. Production. I’m looking for something special, the guy who wants the ball in his hands no matter how pressure-packed the situation is, the guy who has the ability to take his level up, a winner, a guy who loves to compete.
Q. One NCAA rule you would change?
A. I would somehow allow coaches to communicate with prospects more than they can now. It takes time to develop relationships. It doesn’t happen overnight. Coaches and prospects are asked to make decisions based on what we know about that person. It is hard to get to know people in the time we have: one call in May, call once a week beginning on Sept. 1, one home visit and one official campus visit. It isn’t nearly enough time to get to know them and for them to get to know us.
Coaches always discuss how the wish they wish they had more opportunities to develop relationships with recruits to learn about the intangibles that make up their character. The reality is that while the NCAA has placed numerous restrictions on coaches, potential recruits have constant opportunities to contact coaches proactively. Coaches only get one call, recruits have unlimited. It’s up to recruits to take it upon themselves to put in the extra work to close the gap and establish their character early in the process.
