NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

College Coaches often rely on a certain level of theatrics to show recruits that they are interested.  Wait check that.  Really, really, interested.  So of course it makes perfect sense that the newest trend in recruiting is college coaches using helicopters (Yes, you read that right. Helicopters) to shuttle across town on Friday nights visiting as many games and recruits as possible.  While this lets coaches check out some more snaps, there is a lot more going on than just a coach hungering to see a recruit in action.  Coaches are using helicopters to make a statement.

The New York Times interviewed Cincinnatti head Coach Chick Kelly and recruiting coordinator Tim Hinton on why UC is using a chopper.

“We said, ‘Let’s really make a presence, let’s do a Tom Cruise fly-by and make sure that we drop it down where we make a good impression,’ ” Kelly said. “We’re using it to get to games, but if by chance you make it a big event, so be it.”

“It wasn’t an evaluation process,” Hinton said. “It was a sell process, that’s what it was about. It gave us an opportunity to take the time and effort to do things as first class as we can.”

I’m sure many would criticize a coach for running up thousands of dollars on helicopter bills during tough economic times, but that is the age of recruiting we live in.  Recruits need to understand this and play the same game.  They need to do whatever it takes to get in front of a college coach and prove they can play.  This is true in every sport.  One great way to start that process is talking to collegiate scout at NCSA.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 4:57 pm and is filed under Athletic Scholarships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.