NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Tyler Pollick – St. Pius X High School, Pottstown, PA

Tyler Pollick came onto the NCSA family about 5 months ago realizing the effort that has to be put into the recruiting process.  Tyler has learned the necessary steps to take and has not disappointed in their execution.  Tyler has participated in 5 coaching sessions, and is vigilant in reaching out to coaches in every which way.  He is the prototypical student-athlete we love to work with.

On the field Tyler is an animal.  One of those that his play on the field shouts much more than his measurables in the weightroom.  Tyler also is a fantastic student.  Holding a 4.0, and a 140 on his PSAT (2-part)!

Tyler has been on the phone with numerous coaches, including Towson, Brown, Hofstra, and Villanova.  Tyler is also taking advantage of every weekend this summer for visits, and 1-Day camps.  He is at the point where he has to tell some coaches no because his entire summer calendar is full.

Tyler is truly a great student-athlete to work with, and we only expect bigger things to come.

Last week, April 15th to be exact , marked a significant recruiting ”first down measurement” for football players in the class of 2010.  It was the first day that they could receive phone calls from DI college football coaches.  While the date that a college coach can call a prospect for the first time varies depending on the sport and level of play…that initial phone conversation is a big step in developing a recruiting relationship.  Unfortunately, many prospects have no idea what to expect from that phone call and we figured this was a good time to shed some light on how prospects in ALL sports can prepare for a phone call from a college coach…Before we get into what a recruit can expect from a phone call from a college coach, here are a few important ideas to keep in mind:

- The first day a college coach can call a prospect is not always the first time they have spoken on the phone.

• As we have pointed out many times in the past, prospects are able to call college coaches at any time. The prospects that are farther along in the process might have already made phone calls to college coaches and spoken with them prior to the initial period which makes it permissible for a college coach to call the prospect. In cases like this, the phone call might go a little differently than for the prospects who are speaking with a coach for the first time.

- By the time the first day a college coach can call a prospect rolls around, many student-athletes already have offers!

• This is very important to realize. DI college coaches in just about every sport have already begun to offer scholarships to 2010 (junior) graduates…and some might even be finished recruiting the class of 2010 completely. This has all taken place and coaches haven’t even been able to call them yet in some sports! This should be a strong indicator of how early college recruiting takes place and why freshmen and sophomore year are so important in the process.

- Know the dates for your sport!

• The first thing every recruit should do is to learn when a college coach is able to call them for the first time. Although April 15^th happens to be the first time a DI college football coach can call prospects, we realize many of you do not play football…so find out that date for your sport. If you are unsure when this date occurs, be sure to download the “Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete” Here.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about some of the most common questions prospects can prepare for when speaking with a college coach.  Obviously every staff will ask different questions, but many will have an actual script of questions and topics to assist the coaches in their phone call…It might be a good idea to have a script of your own, or at least some answers prepared in advance.  Here a few of those questions as well as some advice for answering them:

Q:  How are you doing in school?  What is your GPA, test scores, etc?

Advice: Make sure you are always aware of your current academic standing.  Always know your GPA (both core and cumulative), class rank, and test scores.  Even if your GPA or test scores are lower than you would like, be honest with the coach and let them exactly what you are doing to improve.  Tell them you are receiving extra tutoring or taking a SAT / ACT prep class to raise your scores.  The worst thing a student-athlete can do is simply not know their academic information.  If you don’t know your GPA, what do you think a college coach will assume? (Hint…they are not going to assume you are earning straight A’s)

Q:  What are your strengths as a player?

Advice: Do not be modest here!  This is your chance to shine and tell the coach what you do best.  Be informative and honest.  You have been working your whole life to develop these strengths…be proud of them and communicate their value with answers that consist of more than one word.

Q:  What areas of your game are you working to improve?

Advice: While this can be a tricky one, it is important to be honest.  Do not spend too much time discussing your weaknesses, but rather let the coach know how your off season workout is going to address those areas and how you are going to turn them into strengths.

Q:  What are your goals for the upcoming season?

Advice: This is something every student-athlete should think about.  We encourage student-athletes to set measurable goals and write them down to hold themselves more accountable.  Make sure to mention both team and individual goals.

Q:  Do you think you are capable of playing at our level?

Advice: Always Yes!  Explain why you think you can compete at their level or what you are doing to ensure you would be an asset to a team at any level of play.

Q:  What improvements have you made over the past couple of years?

Advice: Focus on things you have done to improve your game over the years.  Do not be afraid to tell the coach how much better you are now than a year or two ago!

Q:  What type of scholarships are you looking for?

Advice: This is your chance to bring up financial issues if they will be a determining factor in your decision making.  Be open to options and always ask about other types of aid besides athletic scholarships.  Never directly ask for a scholarship, but rather let the coach know what sort of impact that need will have on your decision.

Q:  What are your interests or hobbies?  Do you have a  girlfriend, boyfriend, etc?

Advice: This is the coach’s attempt to get to you know you on a personal level.  Remember, in many cases, these coaches are many years older and they are doing their best to relate to the prospect.  Let the coach know more about you!  This will help you connect on a more casual level and also give the coach something to ask you about next time you speak.  Have some fun with this question!

Q:  Who is going to help you make your college decision?

Advice: Let the coach know who will be a part of the decision.  Will your high school coach play an integral role?  Will the decision be made by you and your parents?  Are your parents involved?  This information will greatly help the coach understand who needs to be included and involved.

***This is the million dollar question***

Q:  What other schools are recruiting you?

Advice: Let them know who else is interested…and be honest!  If the coach finds out that many other schools are recruiting you then you will immediately look like a better recruit.  Try to let them know about schools that are similar to the one you are talking to.  For example, if you are speaking with the coach at Yale and you have heard from four other Ivy League schools, make sure you go into detail about their interest.  No coach wants to lose a recruit to a rival school.

This is your chance to show off how wanted you are by other coaches with the hope that it motivates the coach you are speaking with at that time to take action.  If you have offers, let the coach know.  In order to create this type of leverage, you must have a number of options.  If you are concerned about the number of options you currently have, be sure to expand your search and let more coaches know about you.

Q:  What questions do you have for me?

Advice: Be sure to check back next week when we explain what sort of questions prospects should be asking when they have the opportunity to speak with college coaches.  This is your chance to find out valuable information…don’t pass it up!

Beware of incurring too many student loans.  As this NY Times article relates:

“Perhaps seduced by the idea of graduating from a well-respected university, many students tend to overlook the consequences of graduating with debts that are likely to far exceed their starting salaries. And as many borrowers have learned, student loans are among the most ironclad debts, on par with child support, alimony and overdue taxes. They stick with you no matter what.”

The interest rates are not favorable and you cannot declare bankruptcy because of them.  What parent would put this kind of burden on their child?  Particularly if that child is a student-athlete who could play at the collegiate level.  Is your child good enough to earn an athletic scholarship?  Here’s another money quote from the same article:

“You often hear the quote that you can’t put a price on ignorance,” said Ezra Kazee, who has $29,000 in student debt and has been unable to find a job since graduating from Winona State University in Minnesota last May. “But with the way higher education is going, ignorance is looking more and more affordable every day.”

Don’t go the student loan route.  Find out if your child is good enough to play at the next level.

There have been some recent donations to nine different universities with stipulations on how to use the money.  One of those parameters is that the money be used for student scholarships – which could have some impact on athletic or academic money given out by the schools.

Recently we asked if recruits should be allowed to follow a coach to a new school despite signing a National Letter of Intent with the coach’s old school.  It is a valid question, but it was traditionally a useless question because unless a school released the recruit from his signed letter he was contractually bound to attend the university for at least one year.

Now a new loophole has emerged that is becoming more and more common among top-recruits.  There is no hard evidence, but it appears that top recruits are now routinely receiving addendum letters that allow the recruit an escape clause if the coach they signed with leaves for another school.

“It’s just early permission granted so that the student athlete doesn’t have to tussle with the school, doesn’t have to wait for a new coach and doesn’t have to wait for new recruiting opportunities,” said Paul Biancardi, ESPN/Scouts Inc. national director of recruiting and an ex-college coach. “It’s a feeling of security.”

But, doesn’t this destroy the entire purpose of the NLI?  Does a top recruit deserve to receive an addendum letter while a lesser recruit is bound to his NLI?  Should new provisions like the firing of an assistant coach be included in every NLI? Is the entire program useful anymore?  What do you think?

The first possible day a college coach can call a junior prospect is April 15th, the last day is May 31st. This is called the spring evaluation period.Each prospect is allowed to receive ONE phone call during this period. The call has to be received by the prospect or a family member and a conversation has to take place. If a coach leaves a message on a machine or with a family member (that isn’t more than a message only) this doesn’t count as the one call.

Here are some important points to realize about this call:

When the head coach calls a prospect on the first day that prospect should know he is on the very top of “the list” on the recruiting board and is most important to that staff.

• When the head coach calls a prospect during the first week he is very high on the list and very important.
• If the head coach calls later in the period, the prospect is still important but the decision was made by the staff to wait for some reason (I will go through several of the discussions that take place in the “war room” to determine the timing and organization of these calls).
• If the defensive coordinator or offensive coordinator calls a prospect during the first day, week, etc. that prospect knows he is important to the staff but either doesn’t warrant a call from the head coach or the coordinator needs to talk to the player to sell him on the offense or defense.
• If the position coach calls the prospect, he’s important to the position coach and the staff but doesn’t warrant the head coach or coordinator calling.
• If the area recruiting coach calls, the prospect is important to the area coach but hasn’t been elevated to the level on “the list” to warrant others to call. This call is often made to “keep the prospect warm” until more of a decision can be made to elevate his status.
• Remember that the later in the period a prospect is called either he’s down “the list” or a decision was made to get more information, that is, the coaches wanted to see the prospect in person to “eye ball” the player or check out the young man’s transcript and test score, etc.
• If a player doesn’t receive a call during the spring recruiting period he’s on the staff’s lowest list or they don’t know enough or anything about the prospect.

Of course these decisions are never made easily.  There are a number of discussions that need to take place in the War Room before April 15^th.

• Discuss the prospects that the head coach must call the first day or even the very first call the head guy has to make to let the prospect know he’s the #1 prospect on the board regardless of position.
• Discuss the prospects that must get a call from the head coach the first week, second week and so on.
• Make a decision whether the player the head coach calls is done in conjunction with an assistant coach so the head man can handle the PR portion of the call and the assistant can take care of business like academics, when he or somebody will be at their school, getting tape, etc.
• Decisions need to be made if the coordinator needs to call especially if the prospect needs assurance of how he’ll fit in the system or if there’s a new coordinator, etc.
• Further discussion is about the position coach involvement or whether the area recruiting coach will handle the call.
• There’s also a list of players that will get calls later in the month based on late decisions by the area and position coach.
• Additionally, the two graduate assistants are allowed to call prospects as well. These prospects are on the “keep warm” list.

• The recruiting coordinator is in the room and offers suggestions throughout the meeting and is responsible for the coordination of the head coach’s calls primarily and that only one call is made to each prospect. He then is responsible to document all of the coaches’ calls for the compliance office. Each coach is responsible for not violating the call rules and proper documentation.

As you can see these calls mean a great a deal to recruits and coaching staff.  By understanding where you stand on a recruiting board, you can properly target the schools that have an interest in you.

Most Americans associate April 15th with tax day, but every junior football player with hopes of playing college football has today circled for a different reason.  April 15th is the first day that Division I college coaches can begin calling recruits.  The period lasts until May 31st.

So why is today so important?  If you think that coaches didn’t have their entire list of top recruits to call today finalized weeks ago, you are living in a dream world.  Coaches will be chomping at the bit to make a great first impression on the phone today.

Potential recruits need to be extremely realistic with themselves today.  If they haven’t received a call by the end of today, they need to understand two hard truths.

1) They need to expand their college search outside of Division I immediately.

2) Recruits who still have Division I dreams will need help to catch up.  Even if they are athletically qualified to play at the highest level, they need to realize that they haven’t been identified as a true prospect.  They need to get extremely aggressive reaching out to schools and coaching staffs.

Many recruits hoping for one last shot at making an impression on a Division I coach turn to NCSA and our Recruit-Match Database.  I’ve had the pleasure of seeing several recruits snag last second offers, but I’ve also had the pleasure of helping many others find schools in other divisions to continue their athletic careers.

One fact is certain: Recruits need to use today as a benchmark to judge their progress.

The athletic department arms race has really heated up in the last decade.  New stadiums with luxurious new locker rooms and training facilities became the norm rather than the exception.  Coaches and administrators sold alumni that these new facilities were vital if they were to compete in the emerging landscape.  Along with the rising buildings being erected on campus, coaching salaries exploded as well.  Men’s football and basketball coaching salaries naturally led the way since their sports funded the rest of the athletic department.  Just as interesting though, is the rise in coaching salaries across non-revenue sports.  The Columbus Dispatch took a closer look at the Ohio State Athletic Department and their rising pay scale.

In the decade following 1998, salaries for some coaches and department administrators doubled and, for others, tripled, in inflation-adjusted terms. The pay raises were funded not by tax dollars, but largely by revenue surpluses in the football and men’s basketball programs.

Names such as Jim Tressel and Thad Matta might come to mind when you think of increasing salaries for coaches, but you could just as easily throw in the names of Bluem, Joe Breschi, Linda Kalafatis, Bob Todd, Anne Wilkinson and many other lower-profile coaches and assistant coaches.

All have benefited from the rising tide of college sports pay.
One way that Athletic Departments have funded these huge raises is by allowing and assisting coaches in earning supplemental income.

Breschi, the men’s lacrosse coach until he left the university last year, made the equivalent of $63,100 in 1998. Last year, Breschi made $232,500, fueled largely by a camp that pushed his bonus to almost $140,000. Overall, his pay increased 268 percent over the decade. Nationally, the average total pay for a lacrosse coach is about $197,000.

The eye-popping statistic isn’t his total salary, its the $140,000 he made through bonuses like his camp.  Keep in mind the Ohio State team only had 9 freshman last year!  Just imagine how many hopeful recruits attended camp with little to no chance of being recruited!

Large camps like this are proof that athletes need to be in contact with college coaches before they commit to attending a camp.  Once they have been identified as a bona fide recruit attending a large camp can be beneficial.  Until, you are sure that you are more than just a $dollar sign$ I recommend contacting college coaches.

It might seem ridiculous to some, but there is a reason coaches like Pearl lure top talent.  He has the ability to connect with recruits many years his junior in a unique way.  Recruits should realize that connecting with coaches is equally important.  It is exactly why so many athletes start the recruiting process as early as freshman year.

We would like to thank Coach Randy Taylor for all the insight he has provided the last two weeks.  His behind the scenes look at how college coaches recruit elicited a wonderful response from our loyal readers both in terms of questions and comments about the topics he covered.  I realize that a great deal of Randy’s information centered on football (no surprise given his background), which inspired many of you to ask questions about other sports.  With that in mind, I wanted to take some time to introduce all of you to a tool that student-athletes and parents of ALL sports can take advantage of (and thousands already are)…The NCSA Recruiting Education Blog.

Learn how to use this tool.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term “blog,” it is defined as:

“a ‘Web Log.’ -  Frequently updated website often characterized by short posts, links and the ability to comment.”

The NCSA Recruiting Education Blog is exactly that…A website with information updated daily about the world of college recruiting.  All the content is written by a member of NCSA’s expert staff and there are new articles everyday covering relevant and current topics.

Curious about new NCAA rules?  Check out the NCSA Recruiting Education Blog!

Want to read about how to edit your highlight tape?  Check out the Blog!

Looking for sport specific information that is offered more frequently than our weekly newsletter?  Yup, you guessed it…Check out the Blog!

How can you get the most out of the Recruiting Education Blog?   Here’s a quick lesson that will allow you to maximize this tool.

The first step is to make sure you have the link to the website saved somewhere (I suggest adding it to your favorites):

NCSA Recruiting Education Blog:  http://blog.ncsasports.org/

Once you arrive at the Blog, the information is automatically ordered chronologically starting with the most recent posts.  While all the information posted on the blog is insightful, accurate, and relevant…obviously everyone is interested in learning about different aspects of the process.  This is where you can utilize the search capabilities to find the information you want.

Let’s imagine you are interested in learning about the financial aid process or how to secure more financial assistance.  Upon arrival at the blog, you have two options to search for that specific information.  In the upper right hand corner, there is a section that says, “Search Blog” and then has a space where you can type in whatever information you desire.

A simple search of the keyword, “Financial Aid” immediately pulls up a number of articles, again ordered chronologically, ranging in topic from how to appeal your financial aid award to an article about how leverage can be used in the financial aid process to secure more money.  That search alone pulls up almost 50 articles!

Another option to search for specific topics is to use the “Keyword Cloud” on the left hand side of the Blog under the title “Categories.”  A “Keyword Cloud” is basically a different format of the keywords associated with the website.  The larger the keyword, the more often that term appears somewhere in the Blog.  You will notice that “Athletic Scholarships” is the biggest term in the cloud and that is because that phrase is discussed so often in the articles on the site.  All you have to do is look in the cloud, click a category you are interested in, and you will immediately have a list of articles to read through.

Now that you have found all the content you are interested in, it is time to interact.  One of the most attractive features of the blog is the conversation that the articles inspire between readers.  At the bottom of every post, the reader has the option to comment.

COMMENTS ARE ENCOURAGED!!!

This is your opportunity to communicate with both other readers and also NCSA’s expert staff.  All comments are reviewed and answered by a member of NCSA’s staff…and we love responding so…Comment Away!

Now that you have found the information you are looking for and commented on the topic, some of you might be interested in sharing that particular article with others.  We have made it very easy to share the article on a number of platforms.  Sharing options are located in two places on the blog.  At the end of every article, there is a section that says, “share this story,” followed by seven different logos.  Each logo represents a different way to share the article (Facebook, Google, etc).  You can choose whichever online vehicle suits you best (or just simply email the article using that icon) and spread the education!  The sharing options are also located in the upper left hand corner just below the “Blog Home” link.

All the articles that have ever appeared in this newsletter are saved on our Recruiting Education Blog…along with thousands of other useful posts.  We realize that education is the first step towards success in this process and the Recruiting Education Blog was designed to provide families with a fresh source of information about the recruiting process.  We hope you take advantage of this valuable resource!