NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

College coaches hear from thousands of prospective athletes each year. Will you be the player they remember? There are thousands of talented athletes and your skills alone may not make you stand out; you need to find other ways to grab coaches’ attention. There are five things you must do in order to set yourself apart as a top recruit.

First, be realistic in the schools that you contact. Every student-athlete needs an objective, third-party evaluation to determine which college programs may be the best fit academically and athletically. A knowledgeable third party will help you set realistic expectations on programs, competition levels and academic fit so you can target approximately 100-200 realistic opportunities.

Next, post your academic and athletic resume online. The days of delivering paper resumes through the mail are over and college coaches would prefer to receive an electronic copy of your athletic and academic accomplishments. Your online resume should include a highlight video. You don’t need to worry about adding music or slow motion to your video. College coaches want to see your skills and how hard you work so those extra touches are not necessary and actually have the potential to distract coaches from making an evaluation.

Contact at least 100 colleges. Many prospective student-athletes make the mistake of targeting a small group of schools. Remember that you will not be a fit for every program, so the more colleges you introduce yourself to the more opportunities you will have. College coaches contact thousands of student-athletes in order to have enough options to fill their needs. Play the same game and contact 100 to 200 college coaches. Most athletes receive serious interest from about ten percent of those coaches which will give you about ten to twenty programs to actively consider.

When you express interest in a school, show the coach how interested you really are by impressing them with your knowledge of the school and team.  This will require you to thoroughly research the school and have the ability to pull a few facts about the school that you can then bring into a conversation with a coach. Ask them well thought out questions that require a detailed answer rather than an answer that can be found on their website.

Be determined and do not give up if a coach does not respond right away. The most successful recruits are proactive and not afraid to pick up the phone or schedule an unofficial visit. Remember that your college choice is not a four year decision it’s a 40 year decision. To handle the recruiting process properly takes time, hard work, persistence and help. Most athletes do not take the time to formulate a smart recruiting game plan. If you approach your recruitment with a responsible and prepared mentality you will stand apart from the competition.

Today is Blog Action Day, www.blogactionday.org.  The purpose of Blog Action Day is to create a discussion. Bloggers take a single day to focus it on an important issue.  This year’s topic is Climate Change.

I wanted to take a sporting perspective to an issue that is highly debated on college campuses across the country by focusing on the University of North Texas’ new football stadium.  The new $78 million dollar stadium will feature extensive green building and vie for a LEED gold standard.  The stadium is funded by an athletic fee that was voted on and approved by students.  In preparation for the vote, pro-stadium supporters rallied using Facebook and other forms of social media.

The Stadium Construction victory is a testament to both the University of North Texas’ commitment to Green Building and the power of the Internet to bring focus to an issue.

Rendition of the New Stadium

The quest to find the right college for a student-athlete is a challenge that we here at the National Collegiate Scouting Association readily accept with open arms. We understand not only what it means to families to have their student-athlete comfortable and excited to be attending the university of their choice, but we also understand the passion and desire that our student-athletes have to find that particular university. We also understand how important it is for college coaches to be matched up with qualified student-athletes who will help their universities grow both academically and athletically. With this being said, we here at NCSA will do everything we can to match student-athletes with universities that we feel would be a good fit. But when it’s all said and done, it’s up to the student-athletes to visit these schools, meet these coaches and decide for themselves if they truly see themselves being members of that university for the next four years of their lives. So how does a student-athlete go about doing this? How do they put themselves in the best situation possible to meet coaches and visit schools? They should be utilizing a somewhat untapped resource and with this I would like to introduce the unofficial visit.

For those student-athletes who have seen movies like The Program, He Got Game and Blue Chips, the recruiting process might seem like a dream come true. In The Program, Darnell Jefferson is welcomed to Eastern State University by a charter bus filled with cheerleaders. NBA superstar Ray Allen plays the main character in He Got Game and is whisked away from campus to campus for weekends of fun and spoil. Several “blue chip” prospects in Blue Chips receive gifts and frequent visits from the coaching staff. One thing each and every parent, coach and student-athlete needs to know is that these are movies attempting to depict a very long and difficult process. For the majority of high-school athletes, the best way to get a feel for a school and a coach is to take advantage of the unlimited amounts of unofficial visits a recruit can take during their four years of high school.

One might ask, “What is an unofficial visit and what other kinds of visits are there?” Great question. An official visit is one where the cost of part of the visit is incurred by the school. For example, a recruit is invited to visit the campus and during their visit the school will pay for their flight, hotel room and meals. These are less common than unofficial visits and are heavily regulated in terms of how many a school is allowed to give out and how many a student-athlete can attend. The alternative is the unofficial visit, where a student athlete visits the campus on their own and pays for it themselves. Although it may be less glorious than the official visits depicted in films, it is just as effective in terms of finding a school that you would be comfortable and eager to attend. Did I mention that you can take an unlimited amount of unofficial visits? Read on…

So let’s say you are a student-athlete and this blog has inspired you to take some unofficial visits…but you don’t know how to go about it. Here is your crash course to the unofficial visit.

First, come up with a list of schools and programs that you are interested in learning more about. Basically, you want to narrow down your list to schools you would realistically like to attend and compete for. Next, pick a weekend where you know the coach of your respective sport will be on campus. Football and basketball games are very popular events for coaches to entertain recruits, so pick a weekend where there is a game such as football or basketball. Next, you want to contact the coach to let him or her know that you will be visiting that weekend. Ask if they can give you a few minutes of their time to meet and possibly answer some questions that you may have (hint, hint…come prepared with academic and athletic questions for the coach). Next, contact admissions and also make them aware of your visit. Campuses are constantly giving tours and you want to make sure you see the campus in its entirety because it will be your home for the next four years. You also want to have a main contact in the admissions department to answer any questions you may have before, during and after your unofficial visit.

So now you’ve got your game plan to schedule some unofficial visits, but what is it that coaches are looking for when a recruit comes to campus. Marc Thibeault, head coach of John Carroll University’s baseball team, explains what he is not looking for.

“I can’t tell you how many times a recruit shows up with holes in his jeans, hat backwards, earring in and really has no questions when they visit. “

Coach Thibeault looks for potential student-athletes who can carry themselves well both on and off the field. Making a good first impression when meeting coaches is essential, and your appearance is key. A great point Coach makes is the ability of the recruit to ask meaningful questions during their visit. Think of it as a job interview; when your potential employer asks if you have any questions and you say “Nope, I think we’re all good here,” they are going to take that as a lack of preparation and excitement on your part when it comes to becoming a member of their team. College coaches will view this the same way.

When asked about some good questions for recruits to ask on their visit, Coach Thibeault had a few in mind.

-What did your graduating class end up doing upon diploma?

-How many freshmen ended up playing 4 years?

-What are the years of players playing my position?

-What were the credentials of last years recruiting class?

The above questions are great things to ask coaches and by asking these questions, a recruit shows the coach that they are interested, committed and eager to contribute to the program.

The bottom line is that no one buys a car without test driving it. No one gets married without dating first and no recruit should commit to a school without visiting campus. So instead of waiting by the phone or the computer for a coach to invite you for an official visit, maximize the unlimited amount of unofficial visits you can take and put yourself out there. The recruiting process may seem less glorious than depicted in the movies, but the end result of choosing the right school is all the glory a recruit needs.

I wanted to share some great tips I have heard from college coaches over the past week.

“Do you want to win or do you hate to lose? Everyone wants to win, but after you don’t win are you hating it enough to want to change?”

“Fill out our questionnaires, it starts our timeline. Once we know your grades and accomplishments we can gage interest and follow up with you to get film or see you play live.”

“We want to see some highlights first, but must see full game or see you live.”

“We want student-athletes that are self-motivated.”

“Even though we are a DIII program, we want to know about you as a freshman, so start early.”

“These are things we look at: transition defense, leadership, strength and athleticism.”

“If you don’t respond, we will stop recruiting you, beause we feel you are not interested.”

“If you play on a high school team that doesn’t win, it won’t hurt you, but if you playing on a winning team it betters your chances.”

I received the following quick email from a Student Athlete this morning:

Im not sure if im getting letters becasue my coach doesnt really give us our stuff on time

I hope that everyone who read that was a horrified as I am.  For whatever reason, a coach has decided to not deliver what could be crucial recruiting information to a recruit.  Unfortunately, this scenario plays out all too often. Coaches think they are protecting their players from extra recruiting pressure and make the worst recruiting mistake:

They Assume that if the Player is Good Enough, Colleges Will find Him

A huge part of recruiting is starting early and building relationships with as many coaches as possible.  While mail indicates the least interest from a coach, it also represent the FIRST interest a college coach can express.  Recruits NEED to get this information and NEED to respond.

If this scenario sounds familiar, I urge you to sit down with your coach and express why you need to receive any recruiting news immediately.

Over the weekend the United States National team made another step in the right direction.  The 3-2 win over Honduras clinched a spot in the 2010 World Cup.

My question to you is what do you expect from this team moving forward?  Is making a quarterfinal appearance likely in 2010?  What about the Semi’s?

I’ve long been a critic of  the NCAA’s ever expanding rule book.  It has become so complex that athletes face unfair penalties simply because they have no idea what the rules are!  ESPN’s Gregg Easterbrook had a great take on Dez Bryant situation at Oklahoma State and his “violations.”

The Dez Bryant situation is completely ridiculous. In June, Bryant tagged along as Deion Sanders discussed a business deal that did not include Bryant, then went to dinner at Deion’s house. Months later, Oklahoma State, worried that Bryant was somehow involved in the business deal, asked him if he knew Sanders. Bryant panicked and did something really stupid, denying he knew Sanders. Now he’s suspended not for any substantive violation, rather for failing to tell the truth about a permissible action. Of course football players, like everyone else, should always tell the truth. But the punishment is totally out of proportion with the offense: Let him do a community-service project as punishment.

Surely Bryant panicked in part because NCAA rules are so complex, no one can understand them. All big colleges now have a “compliance officer” whose full-time job is to understand NCAA rules — Oklahoma State has two compliance officers plus a “monitoring coordinator” and an “eligibility coordinator” — and even they make mistakes. But they don’t pay any price for mistakes; kids do. The NCAA will bend any rule when it comes to money for the NCAA, but God forbid a confused 20-year-old should fail to follow the letter of subsection 48(d)! Note: Reader Rusty Shackleford of Tulsa reports that Jenks High, a local power plagued by eligibility and recruiting scandals, is hiring a compliance officer. For a high school!

His final point about the high school is one of the more ridiculous stories I have heard this year.  However, kids need to understand just because rules seem foolish, they won’t be held any less accountable.  having someone up to date on every NCAA rule in your corner, like NCSA, can be a huge help in recruiting.

The University of Houston is off to its best start in football since the late 1980′s.  Typically up and coming programs try to parlay any improvement on the field to improvements in the caliber of recruits they go after.  However Coach Kevin Sumlin shuns that theory and has indicated that they will continue to evaluate players the way they always have.

“It’s a backhanded slap to the guys who committed to there are better players who now want to come here.  whos to say that the guys we got aren’t really good?  And who’s to stay the the numbers on the Interent are correct?  Its important to target guys who you think fit your schemes.  Then you ask: Is he a good person?  Is he qualified academically?  Does he want to be here?  There’s a lot to be said for taking a  kid who wants to be here over a wait and see guy.”

Coach Sumlin’s recruiting strategy should be comforting for recruits in every sport.  The Houston staff evaluates every player on their own merits.  They aren’t concerned with anyone else’s evaluations, especially the medias.  That gives every serious recruit a chance to prove themselves.

But how can recruits prove to a coaching staff they are worthy of being recruited?  First they need to get a foot in the door by proving they are athletically qualified (fit their scheme).  Once that is accomplished the other questions coaches have can be answered rather easily if the recruit puts in the proper effort to build the relationship.   This can be accomplished by reaching out to the coaching staff consistently and pro-actively.

However, recruits need to understand that there are right ways and wrong ways to reach out to coaches.  That is why so many recruits reach out sources like NCSA to make sure they know exactly how to handle each situation.

There are a number of fall softball college exposure tournaments and camps. This is a time that the colleges are looking ahead for their recruiting classes and some finalizing for the current senior class. Most D1 schools are already finished with the 2010 recruiting class and are looking at juniors and younger. While D3 schools are still looking for 2010′s.

NFCA endorses three camps that are held during softball tournaments. There is the Sparks Pumpkin Fest held in Elgin, IL; the Oklahoma Night taking place in Mustang, OK and the Ronald McDonald one that will be in Spring, TX.  These camps are an opportunity to show coaches what you can do.  College coaches watch athletes perform skills and evaluate their talent.

The fall is an important time of the year for the colleges at all levels (NCAA, NAIA, Junior Colleges)  to evaluate players and see you play. Players interested in playing at that next level must be letting coaches know about yourself as well as providing the coaches your fall schedule so they can see you play.

If you are a athlete who desires to play at the college level and need help and direction check out NCSA.