“Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that upon other fields on other days will bear the fruits of victory,” MacArthur famously said decades ago about sports’ role in the armed forces.
Can an NCAA violation be considered secondary? Should there be stiffer penalties over the last few years there has been huge increase in secondary violations. Auburn was the latest offender this past week after a number of websites and a restaurant publicized an unofficial visit.
Auburn will likely self report the violation and receive no penalty. The question is; Should they? Bruce Feldman had an interesting reaction from a school administrator on his blog.
“That is one of the biggest problems I have with the NCAA. All of the prospects enjoyed it, and they leave the campus having a great time. Auburn will report a secondary violation, which is nothing. In the end they will probably get some of those players. They should put in a rule that if you have multiple reported violations with a prospect you are not allowed to recruit him.”
Seastrunk (a top target) sure left Auburn gushing: “I can’t reveal all the information, but you guys will be surprised when I commit [in early January]. And I think y’all might like where I choose,” he told Auburnundercover.com. “This is the best ever,” Seastrunk continued. “They just welcome you in. I feel the warmth of everyone. I love the environment here and I feel at home.”
Should the NCAA crack down on minor infractions? Should they increase the penalties for these penalites? Should they Just leave things alone? What do you think?
UMASS Commit - Kellen Muldoon
The college athletics recruiting process is about marketing oneself to stand out in a pool of thousands of athletes at the same level. There are only a select few athletes who top programs put their attention towards aggressively. For the rest of us, myself included, they have to work for the attention of recruiters and be the aggressor in the recruiting process to show colleges that they are worth their time.
NCSA really helped promote me as a college recruit, as they knew that I had the skills and the drive to play Division 1 Soccer. NCSA sent my player profile and stats out to D1, II and III schools, which I would follow-up with contacting coaches through e-mail about their program. Soon enough, I found myself building strong relationships with three universities. These schools had both my desired major (engineering) and a solid soccer program. For every tournament I attended, I e-mailed the coaches so that if they had the opportunity, they could come see me in action. It was also helpful that NCSA frequently updated my profile with every new accomplishment. My NCSA profile gave me something substantial and indicative of my worth as a player to send to college coaches. It helped me build relationships with schools that otherwise may not have contacted me. Instead of waiting around for a college coach to notice my strengths, NCSA helped me to take the initiative to achieve my goal, earning acceptance into a D1 soccer program.
The best part of this recruitment process is developing strong relationships between college coaches. Soon I found myself in the midst of a soccer network – coaches knowing players I have played with, or other friends and coaches I know. In the soccer world, it’s a small circle. Everyone seems to know each other at least down the line somewhere. As in the “real-world” or any career situation, marketing yourself well is of the utmost importance. This pays off when college coaches across the nation talk to each other about you as a player, and more importantly, as a person. Talking with many coaches has also helped build my confidence in dealing with professionals and in making my college decisions.
After 2 years, the recruitment process has ended and my journey with NCSA is coming to a close. It is time for me to take the final steps. To prepare for my upcoming season as a Division 1 soccer player, I am training everyday with my motivation being the soccer field. Looking back on my recruiting process, all of the hard work: e-mailing, calling, visiting, and going to training camps, I realize it was all worth it. All of the monthly e-logs helped me stay on track so I was able to continue relationships with various coaches.
My advice to anyone who is aspiring to play collegiate soccer or any other sport at a higher level is to be proactive. Develop strong relationships with your current teams, college coaches, and college players. Visit as many schools as possible, put in the work regardless how tedious it seems, play your best, and enjoy this sometimes draining recruitment process. It will all pay off in the end like it did for me!
You may remember the name Elena DelleDonne. She was once dubbed the LeBron James of women’s basketball and was set to be the next great UConn star. Then she abrubtly quit the sport citing burnout and a lack of love for the game. She promptly left UConn and enrolled at Deleware to play volleyball.
Predictably to some, she has done another about face and announced that she will resume playing basketball this 
year.
“When I first arrived at UConn there was a feeling I just couldn’t describe. For a while, I didn’t quite understand what was going on and I ended up blaming basketball, when in fact most of my feelings were based on homesickness. I missed Lizzie [her older sister, who suffers from a number of afflictions] and my family. I just didn’t realize what was happening.
“College is a very big step in anyone’s life and going far from home was tough for me. But I guess if I were to sum the whole thing up, if I were to say what it is that I learned during the year, it’s that I mistakenly put the blame for my feelings on basketball, when in reality it was homesickness. Once I was able to get home and play another sport [volleyball at the University of Delaware] for awhile, once I was able to enjoy things again, I was able to realize that Delaware was where I wanted to be. I love my home and I love the university. I’m thrilled to be here.”
Elena’s story is an extreme example of an athlete not totally being comfortable with the school she chose. Her initial decision came down to Tennessee and UConn, when perhaps she should have been considering schools closer to home. Maybe she should have been looking at schools that would have allowed her to play basketball and volleyball. No one can be sure, but perhaps she would have come to a better initial decision by looking at more options.
Every athlete has to go through a difficult decision process to find the perfect school (and sport). At NCSA we help guide our athletes to expand theri options as mush as possible. You can never 100% eliminate choosing the wrong school, but having multiple scholarship offers to choose from, sure helps.
Think character doesn’t matter during the College Athletic Recruiting process? Guess again. Lance Stephenson, one of the highest rated basketball prospects and star of the documentary “Gunnin’ for that #1 Spot”, is slowly losing more and more interest from college coaches. He isn’t losing options because of his talent, he is losing them due to questions surrounding his character. Today’s Washington Post examines his slide:
Still regarded as one of his class’s top talents, Stephenson shoulders ancillary baggage — questionable amateur status, a pending criminal charge, a reputation for petulant on-court deportment and a father viewed as meddlesome — that has led many schools, including more recent suitors such as Maryland, to waver in their pursuits.
The star who more than a year ago had his choice of college basketball’s elite programs has become a prize only for those schools in desperate need of a temporary marquee attraction.
“He’s got a one-and-done mentality,” said Jerry Meyer, a Rivals.com college basketball recruiting analyst who has followed Stephenson’s development for several years. “He expects to only be [in college] one year. The question is, is he a talented enough player to make it worth one year when you have to consider all the other risks?”
Stephenson will land at some college or perhaps even Europe before trying his hand at the NBA, but what about less talented recruits? They usually get dropped from the recruiting board immediately when a red flag comes up. Recruits today need to realize now more than ever that all eyes are on their every move. They need to be doing the right things on and off the field to ensure recruiting success.
NCSA standout Kyle Prater was featured in today’s Chicago Sun Times. Kyle has received more than 30 offers, but won’t commit until January or February.
“Corey and I are looking at Illinois, Notre Dame and Tennessee together,” Prater said. “The recruiting process hasn’t gotten crazy, but I’m trying to keep it all in perspective. I’m still trying to find out which school is best for me. If I made a decision now, it would be too soon.”
The 6-4, 205-pound wide receiver, rated among the top 40 players in the nation by every scouting service, will narrow his list to 10 schools within the next week or two, then to five when he’s ready to make official visits. This isn’t the game plan he had intended.
“I’m still not sure which schools I’m most comfortable with,” Prater said. “I wanted to make an early commitment, like Corey did, because I didn’t want it to get crazy during the season. I didn’t want recruiting to interfere with my team. But I want to keep my eyes open. I want to make the right decision. I don’t want to have any regrets.”
NCSA recruiting coach Rick McDole thinks he is going through the process exactly correct.
“Kyle understands this is a 40 year decision and when you have as many options as he does it makes sense to take your time and explore all your options as thoroughly as possible. Athletes rarely understand that you need to find a good fit athletically academically and socially, but Kyle has a firm grasp on it.”
NCSA caught up with football standout Andy Gallik about his high school career and the opportunity to compete at the college level.
NCSA: How do you show a college coach that you are really interested in their program?
Gallik: The best way that I can show a college coach that I am interested in their program is by communicating with them often. A coach can tell that you really have a desire to play for their team if you are corresponding through email or phone on a regular basis. Whenever I send an email I usually ask a question at the end of it. This way the coach will email back knowing that I want to learn more about their program.
NCSA: What are you doing to “take charge” of your recruiting process?
Gallik: I feel that I can take charge of the recruiting process by making several visits. The best way to impress a coach is to make time to travel to their campus, and spend time with them. You may have grown quite a bit from what coaches have seen on your highlight tape. The coaches will become even more interested knowing that you are bigger than what they expected.
NCSA: What makes you a unique athlete that stands out from a crowd?
Gallik: Coaches have definitely evaluated me in person already. I have sat down with numerous coaches that really want to see what I am really like. They know that I can play the game of football, but they want to evaluate me on a personal level. They ask what you like to do in your spare time or what are the most important things in your life. I am completely honest with coaches because they have heard the generic answers before so I try to be real with them.
NCSA: How do you handle nerves when communicating with college coaches?
Gallik: learned a lot about communicating with coaches through the NCSA and my recruiting coach Rick McDole. I learned that preparing for a conversation with a coach is the best thing to do. Always write down questions to ask and picture what they would respond with. Practicing with a parent is a great way to get better at this.
NCSA: How do you deal with disappointment in the recruiting process? Can you give an example?
Gallik: Disappointments in the recruiting process happen every single day. Seeing that another kid get a scholarship offer from a school that you were interested is probably the best known of them all. The best way I handle this is to go work out. I always go lift, or run when things aren’t going my way from a recruiting stand point. It is a great way to blow off steam and helps me stay motivated during my workouts.
NCSA: What are your plans for the summer?
Gallik: I plan at camping at the likes of Arizona, Illinois, Michigan State, and Minnesota. Several schools are allowed to make an athletic evaluation during the May evaluation period so some things may or may not change with my summer camp schedule.
NCSA: What are some of your team goals for next season?
Gallik: A state championship. My team has the tools in place to do great things. We ended the season a little earlier than we would have liked to last year so we all have that sick feeling in our stomachs that we want to get rid of. Hopefully we can finish the season on a high note my holding up the state championship trophy down in Champaign.
NCSA: Who is your favorite college athlete?
Gallik: My favorite college athlete is Eric Wood from Louisville. He has been their starting center their for a long time there and I have been following his progress on the field. I also think I play like him in a lot of ways. He explodes off the ball, plays fast and doesn’t stop going 100% until after the whistle is blown. He should also be a top draft pick in this month’s NFL Draft.
NCSA: Tell us what you’ve learned working with NCSA so far?
Gallik: My recruiting has been great so far. NCSA has made it a much smoother process knowing what exactly to do and when to do it. To be honest, I did not know much about the process before joining NCSA. It is now much clearer and everything has really picked up for me. I am glad to be a part of the NCSA family.
I was speaking to a junior athlete not too long ago and I asked him, “If I were a college coach, why would I want to recruit you?” For the next fifteen minutes he detailed all his athletic and academic achievements ranging from his size, speed, experience, to his course load filled with AP classes and straight A’s. After finally exhausting all his accomplishments, I looked at him with a great deal of admiration and proceeded to ask, “Now, how many college coaches know as much about you as I just learned in the last fifteen minutes?”
He looked at me slightly dumbfounded and replied hesitantly, “None, I guess.”
He was exactly right. What he failed to realize that despite his hard work he neglected to take the necessary steps to properly let coaches know about his athletic and academic success. He didn’t understand that athletes need to approach the recruiting process the way that most young, aspiring professionals seek employment.
Mom and Dad, how many of you were lucky enough to complete high school, college, or a graduate school and sit back and wait for the job offers to pour in? I imagine a small handful were fortunate enough to be in that position. However, I would guess that the majority faced a vastly different process for finding gainful employment for the first time.
Think about it.
Upon completion of your highest level of education, you most likely put together a resume outlining all your hard work and then distributed that resume to potential employers. How many did you send out? One? Two? Highly doubtful. Typically that number exceeds 20 and with good reason…Finding the right 1st job is hard work!
Interview
If your resume impressed Human Resources, the next step probably included an interview. You would prepare, dress nicely, and have a short in-person opportunity to impress the employer in the hopes they would hire you or at least invite you back for another round of interviews. Did you only go to one interview? Unlikely.
Now think about the way technology has changed job-seekers’ ability to distribute their resume. You can post in job sites such as Monster or Career Builder. You can hire a professional to help you hunt for a job. You can go directly to the corporate website and submit your resume. With the increased avenues to “get your name” out there, which one should you choose?
Does any of this sound familiar? If you have been following our newsletter, you might notice some distinct similarities between the job search process and the athletic recruiting process…
Building a Resume? (Athletic and academic website)
Resume
Distribute your Resume? (Connect with college coaches)
Interviews? (Phone calls, unofficial and official visits)
They are almost identical in many ways….
Now, let’s digress back to the conversation that started us down this path with the junior student-athlete who I spoke with…
After learning that no college coaches really knew the student athlete, I inquired about what sort of steps he had taken to pursue collegiate opportunities.
He went on to explain that he had in fact created an athletic and academic resume, found about 15 coach email addresses and sent out his resume. When inquired about the return on his efforts, he indicated he had received about 4 questionnaires / form letters.
This young man, who had spent 16 years building a thoroughly impressive resume, and as of his junior year (the most important in recruiting) had only sent it out to 1.8% of the opportunities available, received zero interviews (phone calls, visits, etc.), made no follow up phone calls, and was nowhere near an offer. Why? It sounds like he is doing everything right, doesn’t it?
Next week I will explain where he went wrong.
In the meantime, I encourage all parents to comment and share their stories of how they found their first job, and what lessons student-athletes can take away from those stories and apply to the recruiting process…
NCSA caught up with football standout Andy Gallik about his high school career and the opportunity to compete at the college level.
NCSA: How do you show a college coach that you are really interested in their program?
Gallik: The best way that I can show a college coach that I am interested in their program is by communicating with them often. A coach can tell that you really have a desire to play for their team if you are corresponding through email or phone on a regular basis. Whenever I send an email I usually ask a question at the end of it. This way the coach will email back knowing that I want to learn more about their program.
NCSA: What are you doing to “take charge” of your recruiting process?
Gallik: I feel that I can take charge of the recruiting process by making several visits. The best way to impress a coach is to make time to travel to their campus, and spend time with them. You may have grown quite a bit from what coaches have seen on your highlight tape. The coaches will become even more interested knowing that you are bigger than what they expected.
NCSA: What makes you a unique athlete that stands out from a crowd?
Gallik: Coaches have definitely evaluated me in person already. I have sat down with numerous coaches that really want to see what I am really like. They know that I can play the game of football, but they want to evaluate me on a personal level. They ask what you like to do in your spare time or what are the most important things in your life. I am completely honest with coaches because they have heard the generic answers before so I try to be real with them.
NCSA: How do you handle nerves when communicating with college coaches?
Gallik: I learned a lot about communicating with coaches through the NCSA and my recruiting coach Rick McDole. I learned that preparing for a conversation with a coach is the best thing to do. Always write down questions to ask and picture what they would respond with. Practicing with a parent is a great way to get better at this.
NCSA: How do you deal with disappointment in the recruiting process? Can you give an example?
Gallik: Disappointments in the recruiting process happen every single day. Seeing that another kid get a scholarship offer from a school that you were interested is probably the best known of them all. The best way I handle this is to go work out. I always go lift, or run when things aren’t going my way from a recruiting stand point. It is a great way to blow off steam and helps me stay motivated during my workouts.
NCSA: What are your plans for the summer?
Gallik: I plan at camping at the likes of Arizona, Illinois, Michigan State, and Minnesota. Several schools are allowed to make an athletic evaluation during the May evaluation period so some things may or may not change with my summer camp schedule.
NCSA: What are some of your team goals for next season?
Gallik: A state championship. My team has the tools in place to do great things. We ended the season a little earlier than we would have liked to last year so we all have that sick feeling in our stomachs that we want to get rid of. Hopefully we can finish the season on a high note my holding up the state championship trophy down in Champaign.
NCSA: Who is your favorite college athlete?
Gallik: My favorite college athlete is Eric Wood from Louisville. He has been their starting center their for a long time there and I have been following his progress on the field. I also think I play like him in a lot of ways. He explodes off the ball, plays fast and doesn’t stop going 100% until after the whistle is blown. He should also be a top draft pick in this month’s NFL Draft.
NCSA: Tell us what you’ve learned working with NCSA so far?
Gallik: My recruiting has been great so far. NCSA has made it a much smoother process knowing what exactly to do and when to do it. To be honest, I did not know much about the process before joining NCSA. It is now much clearer and everything has really picked up for me. I am glad to be a part of the NCSA family.
Auburn University may have landed in hot water after hosting more than 20 of the nation’s top recruits for unofficial visits this past weekend. Around 9 p.m. Saturday the recruits were greeted by hundreds of fans at Toomer’s Corner, a campus landmark. Several websites and a local restaurant all advertised the gathering beforehand. The gathering violates two potential rules.NCAA rules (Bylaw 13.10.1) states “A member institution shall not permit a media entity to be present during any recruiting contact made by an institution’s coaching staff member.”
Another potential violation comes from Bylaw 13.10.5: “A member institution shall not publicize (or arrange for publicity of) a prospective student-athlete’s visit to the institution’s campus. Further, a prospective student-athlete may not participate in team activities that would make the public or media aware of the prospective student-athlete’s visit to the institution (e.g., running out of the tunnel with team, celebratory walks to or around the stadium/arena, on-field pregame celebrations).”
Making matters worse for Auburn the entire event was caught on video.
The purpose of this article isn’t to hammer Auburn, in today’s recruiting landscape this could happen to any BCS School. I wanted to take the time to point out to recruits that they are always in the spotlight and cameras are always rolling.
This potential violation won’t harm the recruits in any way, but if a more serious infraction would have occurred everything would have been captured.
