NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Hayden Howard a 2010 graduate out of Harvest Christian Academy in Aurora, TX is this month’s Football Impact Football Student-Athlete.  Hayden is a standout in the classroom.  He carries a perfect 4.0 GPA, with a 29 ACT.  And Hayden is not just cruising through on “easy” classes, he takes 5 AP classes, and many more Honors classes.  His commitment extends to the field as well.  Hayden is a 1^st Team All Conference player.

Hayden has made the most of his guidance/exposure from NCSA.  He has had 7 coaching session, and has been matched with appropriate schools 6 times.

Hayden’s abilities and his commitment to maximizing his recruiting experience have parlayed into 3 offers to date.  Mt. Union, Lewis and Clark, and William Jewel have all offered this outstanding student-athlete.  We wish Hayden continued success, and best of luck choosing his school.

Hayden Howard

One of the most common messages that NCSA conveys to families is simple:  It pays to be a recruiting student-athlete…in more ways than one.

Recruited student-athletes experience benefits that reach far beyond the obvious opportunity to play the sport you love.  From scholarships to preferred scheduling to personal tutors – athletes have a vastly different (in many ways better) college experience than the average student.

ESPN came out with an eye opening report today that exposes the advantages given to recruited student athletes and I strongly recommend you read the entire article here.

Here are a few of the highlights from the report:

While not surprising that athletes receive admissions exceptions, the degree to which this occurs is widespread:

“An Associated Press review of admissions data submitted to the NCAA by most of the 120 schools in college football’s top tier shows that athletes enjoy strikingly better odds of having admission requirements bent on their behalf.

The notion that college athletes’ talents give them a leg up in the admissions game isn’t a surprise. But in what NCAA officials called the most extensive review to date, the AP found the practice is widespread and can be found in every major conference.

The review identified at least 27 schools where athletes were at least 10 times more likely to benefit from special admission programs than students in the general population.”

Many athletes are far less deserving of admissions than regular students:

“But the school also acknowledged in its NCAA report that athletic recruits overall are less prepared. At Texas, the average SAT score for a freshman football player from 2003 to 2005 was 945 — or 320 points lower than the typical first-year student’s score on the entrance exam.”

The advantages athletes receive are not supposed to be reserved only for them:

“The NCAA defines special admissions programs as those designed for students who don’t meet “standard or normal entrance requirements.” The NCAA says such exceptions are fine as long as schools offer the same opportunities to everyone from dancers, French horn players and underrepresented minorities as they do to fleet-footed wide receivers and 300-pound offensive linemen.”

Many universities defend the practice of special admissions citing the added value it brings to the school and student population.

Regardless of whether or not you agree with athletes receiving special privileges, it has and will happen for the foreseeable future.  This places even more importance on making sure you put yourself in the best possible recruiting situation so you can maximize your future education.

I talk to families every day who have no plan on how to pay for college.  When I ask the question, “How important is a scholarship when choosing your child’s college?”  The typical answer is, ”a scholarship is real important, but s/he is going to college no matter what.”  What they mean is that they are willing to borrow all kinds of money, go into all kinds of debt, to make sure the all important degree is obtained.  It is clear from these answers that these families are not aware of the quickly changing landscape in lending practices now. 

In this article in yesterday’s Washington Post, the rising costs of college and the reduced availability of student loans is documented.  The key sentence is, “The upheaval in financial markets did not just eliminate generous lending for home buyers; it also ended an era of easy credit for students and their families facing the soaring cost of a college degree.”  Read the entire article.  If you need a plan for paying for college and a student who is also a good athlete and enjoys playing their sport, that may be a way to reduce those student loans.  To learn more about opening up opportunities to play sports in college so your child’s education can be funded by means other than student loans, go here.  If your child is an 8th grader or older and you haven’t begun to plan for college expenses, you’re already late.

College coaches have a lot of ground to cover.  No staff, no matter how vast their resources, can realistically evaluate the entire country.  New Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly has been under the national spotlight and he spoke about his recruiting philosophy with Scout.com.

There are a lot of very, very good analysts out there relative to high school evaluations, very accomplished people, and I think you need to use that as a resource. But at the end of the day, it’s on me to make those decisions, and sometimes that may not be in accord with how they are evaluated by other entities. That’s what I was responding to. At the end of the day, it’s on me. I’ll make the decision on whether that kid fits, and there’s more to it than just what he does on the field. It’s what he does off the field too.

I’ve got two hands. That means I can hold two hands here (putting them on the table in front of him). I can’t hold anybody else’s hand. So there’s not going to be a lot of hand-holding here at Notre Dame because it’s Notre Dame. It’s what’s expected. There are going to be some guys who are four- and five-star guys that I’m not going to hold on to their hand.

Coach Kelly reiterates two of NCSA’s 5 Things You Need to Know to Get Recruited.

Recruiting Starts with Verified Information & Purchased Lists. College coaches depend on verified information from reliable sources and purchase lists of prospects as young as 7th grade. Without a reliable third party, like NCSA, coaches simply can’t cover the entire country.

Only a College Coach Can Offer You a Scholarship. Too often recruits rely on others in the hopes of receiving a scholarship.  At the end of the day, only one opinion matters.  Recruits need to focus on being pro-active to contact as many coaches as possible.

In the quest for a college athletic scholarship impressing a college coach with your quality of character is vitally important.  Needless to say photos surfacing on MySpace of a recruit flashing gang symbols is never seen as promising.  When the photos surfaced the recruits in question immediately distanced themselves from the situation.

Trail said that when the photo was taken several years ago, he was “what you’d call a wannabe.” He said he never carried a gun or committed crimes. According to a search on the Web site of the Miami-Dade clerk’s office, Trail has no criminal record in Dade County. He also said that if a young man in his neighborhood doesn’t align himself with one group or another, he opens himself up to danger. He spoke of times when he had guns pointed in his face, and his knowledge of particular gang members kept him from getting shot.

“They say you have two choices,” he said. “It’s either get down or lay down.” “Get down” means align yourself with a group. “Lay down” means get killed. Trail said he wants to succeed in college so he can escape his neighborhood, so he never has to worry about making that choice again.

Right now it appears that the controversy will blow over and the recruit will keep his scholarship, but the story serves two important reminders.  One, recruits need to be more careful with their personal lives than ever in the internet age. However, on a much brighter not the story reminds us that athletics continues to provide student-athletes with another option.  I’m sure everyone can agree getting a college diploma trumps the other two choices outlined.

This week SportsCenter is counting down the Top Moments of the Decade.   You might think that they would be dominated by  household names, however the moment that stood out to us at NCSA is what could be considered the college play of the decade.  The coolest part is that it occurred at Division III.  The play and the enthusiasm evident on the field is proof that College Sports are College Sports, no matter what the level.

As a former collegiate athlete, this was the path I chose. I started my college career at South Suburban College in Illinois and transferred to St. John’s University in New York, where I played basketball.

If you are a senior, I urge you to look into this option, especially if you feel like you are settling with the 4-year program that sits on the top of your list.

If you are a junior or an underclassmen, I recommend that when you communicate with college coaches at 4-year institutions, if they tell you they are done with recruiting your graduating class or position, you should ask if you attended a junior college for one or two years, would they still recruit you and have spot on their team for your position.

Experience comes in so many different forums for college players. The biggest jump for any athlete is from high school to college. This is why so many players take the junior college route—to gain experience.

When a four year program gets a junior college transfer they are getting a player that is polished and is ready to compete. Unlike most high school players who do not hone the skills to step in and make an impact as a freshman.

Not only are players mature physically–they are more mature mentally. One of the biggest successes in a transfer is their character. They will prove it on the road, as well as, on and off the field. Many college coaches have stated that they prefer to take a transfer over a high school freshman.

It also makes “dollars and cents” to attend a junior college. With the cost of attending a University at its highest point and rising, many junior college tuition costs are less than the cost of books for the classes at a 4-year college. It is also very important to understand that you will take the same classes whether you attend a junior college or a 4-year institution for your first two years.

Junior college is not the right fit for everyone. However, junior college is not the black sheep of playing at the next level. Happy Hunting!

Following up with yesterday’s post about recruiting rankings is a short post today from the Wall Street Journal.

If bowl season teaches fans anything, it’s that getting top recruits doesn’t guarantee success. In this year’s 34 bowls, half of the participating teams didn’t have a single starter in their final regular-season game that was considered a top-100 prospect in high school, according to recruiting Web site Rivals.com. The Count analyzed 1,496 bowl-game starters and found that just 8.4% of them were top-100 recruits.

USC starts 13 top prospects—most among all bowl teams. By contrast, its opponent Saturday, Boston College, didn’t start a single top-100 prospect in its final regular-season game. In the title game, Texas starts nine top prospects and Alabama only has three, yet Alabama is a 4-point favorite. Both teams are led by players (Colt McCoy and Heisman winner Mark Ingram) who weren’t top-100 prospects in high school. This trend continues in the Rose Bowl, where underdog Ohio State has eight top prospects compared to Oregon’s zero. Then there’s the Fiesta Bowl, featuring undefeated TCU and Boise State. Neither team starts a top recruit.

The numbers reinforce what we’ve been saying all along, rankings are meaningless compared to a coaches evaluation.  Recruits need to focus on getting coaches to watch their film and make a realistic evaluation.  The only way you can get a scholarship is by proving to a college coach that you are the right fit for their program.  No one else’s opinion matters.

So how can you impress a coach?  You can either hope they find you and cross your fingers or get pro-active and start contacting college coaches.  NCSA can be your engine to get pro-active now!

Dale Widolff is in his 26th season as the Head Coach for Occidental College. During his tenure the program has compiled a regular-season record of 146-86-2, one of the best winning percentages of any NCAA III or NAIA school in the Western United States. Widolff ranks ninth among winningest active coaches in NCAA DIII. He has claimed 10 SCIAC titles, and advanced to the national playoffs on 6 occasions.

NCSA: How would you describe yourself as a coach?

Coach Widolff: I would describe myself as a passionate and compassionate coach. One cannot be highly successful in your life’s endeavors without being passionate. A coach who has compassion for his players will make decisions based upon what is best for the individual as well as for the team.

NCSA: What do recruits need to know about you?

Coach Widolff: Recruits need to understand that our program emphasizes treating everyone with respect.

NCSA: What do you look for in recruits?

Coach Widolff: For prospective recruits I look at their passion, work ethic, team first attitude, and at their desire to play early in their college career. Here, at Occidental College first year players have a great opportunity to play early in their career. The best players play!

NCSA: What is the one thing every recruit needs to do with the recruiting process?

Coach Widolff: During the recruiting process all recruits need to be proactive. Recruits need to initiate contact with the schools that interest them, rather than waiting for a college coach to contact them.

NCSA: What sort of questions do you really like to hear from recruits?

Coach Widolff: I think smart recruits should ask a coach like myself, “How will your program make my college experience better?” And, even more importantly, they should as a coach “How will playing college football impact my life after college?” Even though Occidental is a place where lots of freshmen earn starting positions, I think student-athletes who focus solely on playing time end up not choosing the best program for themselves.

NCSA: What turns you off when you’re recruiting a student athlete?

Coach Widolff: When recruiting a student athlete I get turned off when a recruit talks negatively about his high school coaches.

NCSA: What do you think your program is the most successful at?

Coach Widolff: Our program is most successful at getting highly motivated, talented, bright athletes to put the team’s success first while becoming a close knit team, a band of brothers.

NCSA: What’s unique about the experience at Occidental College?

Coach Widolff: The uniqueness of Occidental is that only a handful of small colleges in the country can successfully combine a rigorous, highly acclaimed academics program with a football program that consistently wins championships.

NCSA: Why should a recruit consider your program?

Coach Widolff: All recruits should consider Occidental if they want to be part of a championship level program while receiving one of the best educations in the county.

One of my fond memories from the Speaking Trail this year was delivering College Recruiting Simplified at Traverse City West High School two days before Thanksgiving. Over 150 parents and athletes came to the Talk, showing that people want and need recruiting education. It was a great audience and we covered a lot in about 50 rip roaring minutes!

While in Traverse City, I picked up a copy of the local newspaper and read about a young man who I think is a tremendous role model on what attitude, goal setting, and work ethic can lead to in life. I saved the article so I could share part of it with you to inspire you in recruiting.

Max Bullough is a senior football player at St. Francis High in Traverse City. The newspaper story in the Traverse City Record-Eagle was about him being named Player of the Year in the area.

As a junior, he committed to Michigan State where he will major in Finance. More and more kids are committing earlier and earlier as recruiting has accelerated in recent years.

Bullough has carried a 3.9 GPA in High School. Early on he knew that being outstanding in football and academics would help him stand out in recruiting.

“I set my goals early, and I set them high, so I knew what I was reaching for,” he told Dennis Chase of the Associated Press.

Bullough has been blessed with God given height and weight (6-4, 230) but not exceptional athletic ability. What he didn’t have there, he made up for with a ferocious work ethic.

“I am not the most athletic person in the world. I can’t control that. But I can control how hard I work.”

Bullough’s HS Football coach, Greg Vaughan, had this to say about him: “He’s academic All-State. He works hard. He’s in the weight room first. He’s out to practice first. Everything he does, and it doesn’t matter what we’re doing, he’s going as hard as he possibly can. Of all the talented kids I’ve been around, he’s by far the hungriest, most driven and hardest working.”

I encourage young people to read his quotes and and follow his approach. When the best player on the team is also the hardest worker, the most humble, and the most goal oriented, you have the recipe for an awesome college sports prospect. Part of being a recruitable college athlete is developing the attitudes and mindsets of this young man. As we head towards 2010, challenge yourself to be as determined and hard working as Max Bullough.