More on What College Coaches Are Looking For
March 30th, 2009 - byRecently, I shared insights on recruiting from Notre Dame women’s head basketball coach Muffet McGraw, who successfully recruited the nation’s top high school basketball player, Skyler Diggins. Here is more of what McGraw looks for in recruits. This comes from the book “Courting Success” (Tailor Trade Publishing)
“This may surprise some people, but I don’t look at a lot of statistics. When I do, I look at percentages rather than 
actual numbers. A player can average 27 points in high school, but it could be because she takes 30 shots. I look at free throw percentage a lot. That’s how I determine good shooters. A player who is shooting 50 or 60 percent from the line is not a good shooter. Period.
I observe their overall communication patterns with teammates. I watch free throw huddles. I watch what happens when the team is losing. Who’s positive? I watch their demeanor on the court. When they come out of a game, do they cheer for their teammates, or are they just waiting to get back in the game? I want leaders. These are really character issues more than basketball skills. Then of course, there are the God-given abilities – speed and size.
A lot of times I’ll see reports that I’m “recruiting someone.” Well, it depends on your definition of “recruiting someone.” I’m sending out hundreds of letters, but I’m certainly not “recruiting” hundreds of players. And players are getting letters from everyone. It doesn’t mean they’re getting scholarship offers. A player should also know that a school’s interest is serious and genuine when she begins to receive personal, hand-written notes from the head coach. If the head coach comes to see you play in your junior year, you’re in pretty good shape, though this is not always true. Sometimes I’ll see a prospect’s name on a lot of lists, so I’ll put her on my list, too. Then I see her play, and she’s just not what I’m looking for. But, generally, if the coach is there, it’s a good sign.
Young athletes need to ask better questions during the recruiting process. The one question players don’t ask is the most obvious one: Are you offering me a scholarship? It amazes me that they never ask that!
Players who want to get noticed by Notre Dame should respond to the letters I send out and contact me for an unofficial visit.”
Muffet McGraw, Head Coach, Notre Dame Women’s basketball, from the book
“Courting Success” (Tailor Trade Publishing)
March 31st, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I strongly agree. I’m an athlete myself and i understand what a coach is looking for through out his/her players,being RESILIENT.
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:15 am
I’ve heard the comment Coach McGraw say several times: “Are you offering me a scholarship? It amazes me that they never ask that!”
The question I have is just when is this the right time to ask “the question”? My assumption is that if it is an early-in-the-process unofficial visit, at a time when communication between student-athlete and coaches is just forming (lets say the early stages of courtship), and the student-athlete is not yet receiving personal correspondences with the head coach, then asking if they are being offered a scholarship is premature.
April 2nd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
There is no perfect right time to ask that question. However, its important to always be inching towards it. After sending film you should follow up and ask if you can be expecting to be recruited. Then you can ask if you will be receiving an official visit. After an official visit you should be able to ask a coach of where you stand on their recruiting board.
However, things don’t always move the same way. That is why its important to always follow up with questions and eventually having the guts to ask “the question.”