NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

NCSA caught up with coach Anger at The  University of Washington.  Coach Anger, now entering into his 16th season as head coach. Since his arrival, the Huskies have been a model of consistency, and consistently excellent at that. The winningest coach in Washington history, Anger’s teams have never once missed the NCAA Championships and have been a fixture in the Top-25 with five runs to the NCAA Round of 16 in this decade alone.

1. How would you describe yourself as a coach?

I would describe myself as experienced and dedicated.

2. What is unique about the experience at your school?

Washington is a unique experience.  It is a great combination of being in a city, but still having loyal college town type support.  We play against a top schedule both indoors and outdoors.

3. What do recruits need to know about you?

Recruits should know that I am never satisfied.

4. What do you look for in recruits?

I look for a recruit that can do well academically and is successful on court with room to grow in their game and the desire and willingness to make changes to reach that potential.

5. What is the one thing every recruit needs to do with the recruiting process?

Recruits should be as specific as possible as to what they are looking for and communicate as well as possible.
6. What sort of questions do you really like to hear from recruits?

When it comes to tennis, more recruits should ask what the plan would be for them court with their game.

7. What turns you off when you are recruiting a student athlete?

I can be turned off by a recruit if they are too cocky, lazy or lacking confidence.

8. What do you think your program is the most successful at?

Our program is very consistent.  As a team—reaching the NCAA tournament in each of my 16 years and with the improvement with each individual.

9. Why should a recruit consider your program?

Recruits should consider Washington if they want to go to a beautiful school, play against top competition and desire to improve as much as possible.

10. If a recruit is interested in your program, how should they reach out to you?

The best way to contact me would be through e-mail initially at manger@uw.edu.

NCSA caught up with caoch Cato at IUPUI.  Mo Cato enters his fourth season as IUPUI’s top assistant and was promoted to full-time status for the 2008 campaign. The Jaguars have reached the conference’s postseason tournament in each of his first three seasons and played in The Summit League championship game in 2007.

1. How would you describe yourself as a coach?
I’m a fair but tough and disciplined coach.  I believe that development and enjoyment of the game are residual effects of hard work.  I work hard at becoming the best coach that I can be and I expect our players to work equally as hard at perfecting their game.  I try to give our players direction on what specific areas to work on to develop their game.  How much effort they put into becoming a better player is up to them.  Working hard without direction is wasted energy.  A good work ethic channeled in the right direction will always produce positive results .

2. What’s unique about the experience at your school?
We have a diverse student population which allows for a unique learning environment.  We are also less the ½ mile from downtown Indianapolis so students are always within reach of some of the best restaurants, shopping, entertainments and sporting events in the state and the country.

3. What do recruits need to know about you?
I’ll always put the best interest of the student athlete first.  Also, I place a high value on the academic standing of our players.  You must impress me by giving the same quality effort in the classroom as you do on the field. Players should also know that I’m very focused and driven.  During the 2 hours of a game or training session, I’m all business.  However, at any other time you’ll see a more relaxed and benevolent side of me.

4. What do you look for in recruits?
That’s simple – work ethic.  Of course, the combination of high academics standards and high soccer kills would also make for a pretty good recruit as well.

5. What is the one thing every recruit needs to do with the recruiting process?
Do the research on the school , the coaching staff and the soccer program to make sure it’s going to be a good fit.

6. What sort of questions do you really like to hear from recruits?
I like to hear questions about the academic standards of the university and our soccer program.  Players should also be prepared to ask questions about how the coaching staff sees them fitting into the team and/or system.  Finally, you should ask about the stability of the coaching staff and the soccer program especially over the next 4-5 years.

7. What turns you off when you’re recruiting a student athlete?
Players who are just shopping around and willing to go anywhere or to the highest bidder.  If your first question is about how you can get a full scholarship then you’re probably not the right fit for us.  You must be able to show that you’re interested in our university and soccer program specifically.

8. What do you think your program is the most successful at?
We do a very good job of recruiting local and in-state players.  We also believe strongly in academic performance and community involvement.  We’ve done a very good job at both.

9. Why should a recruit consider your program?
We have over 200 degree programs to choose from.  Our soccer program has participated in the conference tournament the last 5 years.  Students will receive either an IU or Purdue degree.  We are an urban campus right next to downtown Indianapolis.  We have an experienced coaching staff.

10. If a recruit is interested in your program, how should they reach out to you?
Complete the online questionnaire and then follow up with a personal email.  It’s important that each player do a self analysis of their abilities before contacting me so that their expectations are realistic about playing at the Division 1 level.

1. What is unique about the experience at your school?

We value academics, community service and sportsmanship as much as winning…

2. What do recruits need to know about you?

Honesty, integrity, and a good work ethic, are just as important, if not more important to me, as athletic ability.

3. What do you look for in recruits?

I am looking for great student athletes who value striving to be the best people that they can be academically, athletically and personally.

4. What is the one thing every recruit needs to do with the recruiting process?

Visit every school she is truly interested in and meet the players, coaches, and professors….attend a class if possible to see how the school “feels” to her. She should also “sell herself” …ask questions about what her potential role would be on the team!!!

5. What turns you off when you are recruiting a student athlete?

When she appears disinterested during the visit…like she wishes she could be anywhere else. Also, parents who dominate all discussion…I want to know what the student athlete thinks/feels.

6. If a recruit is interested in your program, how should they reach out to you?

Email is best!!

1. How would you describe yourself as a coach?

As a coach, I would describe myself as passionate, positive and energetic. I also strive to treat each player as an individual and help her achieve her best while also working to help our team achieve its best.

2. What is unique about the experience at your school?

Virginia Wesleyan College offers all the benefits of a small liberal arts college (small class sizes, great teacher to student ratio, etc) while also being located in an area with a great deal to do and see. Norfolk/Virginia Beach offers students beaches, city life, parks, you name it!

3. What do recruits need to know about you?

Although I played at the Division I level at Syracuse University and previously coached at the Division I level at St. Bonaventure University, I LOVE Division 3 lacrosse because it is a great balance of academics and athletics, as well as the capability of pursuing many different opportunities (like playing two sports, studying abroad, gaining experience at internships, etc.)

4. What do you look for in recruits?

The ideal recruit is the “total package” from head to toe. Head: We are looking for smart players; people that do well and work hard in the classroom and also players who are smart on the field. Those that strive to learn and grown and improve. Heart: We are looking for passion, players who love the sport and love being a part of the team. Stomach: We are looking for guts! A don’t quit, don’t ever give up attitude. Legs: We are looking for athletes. Players that take the time in the off season to stay fit and stay healthy. That’s what we’re looking for–from head to toe!

5. What is the one thing every recruit needs to do with the recruiting process?

Please be honest with the coaches who contact you and only contact teams you are actually considering. Many times we get “mass mailings” from prospects who aren’t really interested in our particular school–it gets frustrating.

6. What sort of questions do you really like to hear from recruits?

All kinds! I love to talk about our school and program, but I love even more to learn about prospective student-athletes and what is important to them. When I hear questions, I hear what’s important to you.

JUNE RECRUITING TIPS

Golfers: Recruits should be playing in national, state, and local tournaments.

Softball: Recruits need to play on a travel team that attends tournaments, like the following in June: Las Vegas, Rising Stars, Pennsbury and Colorado. Attend camps once you have a relationship with the coach.

Basketball: As of May 19th you can no longer receive athletic aid from a DI or DII program. Recruits should attend camps, showcases and play AAU.

Football: June is the best time during the summer to reach out to coaches, as coaches’ head out for vacation in July and August they are getting ready for pre-season. Recruits should attend camps and combines.

Baseball: The draft is from June 7-9; expect recruiting to slow down over these dates. Recruits should attend 2-3 camps and 1-2 showcases.

Soccer/Lacrosse/Field Hockey: Recruits should attend 1-2 camps, tournaments and showcases.

Tennis: Recruits should attend USTA National tournaments and college tennis exposure camps.

Fall Sports: Recruits should reach out to coaches during June and July, as fall sports will be getting ready for their seasons in August.

!!!ALERT: DI coaches are always recruiting and looking at athletes, however, at this point in the recruiting process there is not always a spot available or money tied to that spot. Seniors this late need to look at walk-on spots, junior colleges and understand that they may need to tryout.

We recently caught up with Coach Bret Colbert from Saint Vincent College Football to discuss what he looks for in a recruit.  This is what he had to say…

1. How would you describe yourself as a coach?

Laid back – not an in your face type of coach. I try to keep the game fun, but know when to put the game face on and go to work.

2. What is unique about the experience at your institution?

The obvious perk is being the Training Camp site of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Many NFL writers (including Peter King of Sports Illustrated) point to St. Vincent College as the best Training Camp site in the NFL.

3. What do recruits need to know about you?

Coach Bret Colbert

I have 2 main goals in recruiting: First is to make our team better, on and off the field. When you recruit better players and better people ever year, you’re only going to get better. Secondly, I want to help my recruits find their right fit. If SVC isn’t for you, I will help you find the right college… as long as I don’t have to play against you.

4. What do you look for in recruits?

Dedication and integrity. Every coach wants their recruits to be big, strong, fast, and smart. But, if a player is not dedicated and not honest to himself and his teammates, you’re not going to get very far with each other.

5. What is the one thing every recruit needs to do with the recruiting process?

Follow up. Whether you have an interest in a school or not, the least you can do is let that coach know. If you’re interested in a school, let that coach know. If you ignore emails and don’t return phone calls, coaches believe you to be uninterested and wasting his time. Let him know that you are interested and why. Conversely, if you are not interested in a school that has been contacting you, let that coach know as well. That saves the hassle of him having to call you and you having to silence his calls and delete his voicemails. Just be honest: “Coach I am not interested in ________ because ______.”

6. What sort of questions do you really like to hear from recruits?

Questions about the school, the education, alumni…etc in addition to football questions. Get to know the school and the people as well as the football program. While I cannot ignore football will be a big part of your life while in school, you also cannot ignore that there are 20-22 other hours in the day that you are not doing anything related to football.

7.  What turns you off when you are recruiting a student athlete?

“Coach, what are my chances of starting right away?” This is the single question that too many recruits concentrate too much on. Everyone wants to play, and everyone wants to start right away. Most freshmen are not ready to play—physically and mentally—in their first year, even at Division 3 programs. What are you willing to do to help the team win? If your main goal in choosing a college is to start sooner, what happens if you get beat out? Will you quit? Transfer? Pout? I would think that most people would prefer to be a role player on a playoff team than a star on a losing team.

8. What do you think your program is the most successful at?

Building something special. Being a new program (entering our 4^th season), we have not had a lot of success as far as wins. We have, however, learned what it takes to be successful at the NCAA D3 level. Our guys have seen the lowest of the lows and are determined to feel the highest of the highs. This program is destined to be great, and our players know that 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the road when SVC is in the playoffs every year, they will have been the ones that built the foundation.

9. Why should a recruit consider your program?

St. Vincent College offers a top-notch education with an opportunity to continue your football career. Our team Mission Statement states “THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM AT SAINT VINCENT COLLEGE WILL BE A PART OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS FOR THE STUDENT-ATHLETES PARTICIPATING IN THE PROGRAM.  IN ADDITION TO LEARNING THE SKILLS OF PLAYING FOOTBALL ON THE COLLEGE LEVEL, OUR PLAYERS WILL BE TAUGHT THE VALUES ASSOCIATED WITH BEING A GOOD CITIZEN, A GOOD STUDENT, AND A GOOD TEAMMATE.  THESE VALUES WILL ASSIST OUR PLAYERS IN THEIR LIVES AND CAREERS BEYOND THEIR UNDERGRADUATE YEARS AT THE COLLEGE.”

10. If a recruit is interested in your program, how should they reach out to you?

Email is always the easiest form of communication for me. I try to keep in touch with recruits throughout the year via email. Anyone interested in exploring St. Vincent College and Bearcat Football should go to our website and fill out our Online Recruiting Questionnaire. This enters them into our recruiting and Admission database, which will keep them up-to-date with news and information about the school and the football program.

NCSA Recruiting Expert Cecil Martin was featured in the Fort Myer’s News Press for a story on the college recruiting process.  The story detailed one family’s hard work in getting exposure for their son Sean.  Unfortuantely, as teh family put it, they “Came up Short.”

Long before his high school football career ended at Evangelical Christian School, Sean Rawson had an eye on the future.

Rawson wanted to play at a Christian college in the Southeast. But unlike the area’s Division I recruits, like Cape Coral’s Jaylen Watkins (Florida) and Spencer Boyd (Notre Dame) in the class of 2010, Rawson wasn’t listed on recruiting websites. That meant it was up to him to promote his skills.

Enter Tim Rawson, Sean’s father, who decided to take an aggressive approach. He created a marketing plan for his son, contacting 84 coaches at 48 schools.

After more than 850 e-mails to coaches, countless phone calls and thousands of miles in travel, Sean received a partial academic scholarship and a spot on the football team at Division II Carson-Newman College, in Jefferson City, Tenn.

“Even with all the work we put in to get a full ride to the right school, as far as we are concerned, we came up short,” Tim Rawson said.

Sean, 17, will have a chance to earn a full scholarship after playing at Carson-Newman, but his situation demonstrates how hard earning money through athletics can be for high school athletes.

According to National Collegiate Scouting Association Educational Speaker and former NFL fullback Cecil Martin, there are more than 1,800 colleges and universities that sponsor college athletes and are able to offer financial assistance.

It’s getting their attention that is key.

“You never want to sit back and wait for a coach to discover you,” Martin said. “As a student-athlete, you need to be proactive. The recruiting process doesn’t begin in a student-athlete’s junior or senior year; it begins when contact is made with a coach.

“You need to be realistic with the schools that you contact, but there is nothing wrong with contacting coaches and telling them about you. That’s how you can get ahead.”

Tim Rawson did just that, e-mailing links to his son’s highlight tapes, measurables and statistics to as many as 35 schools at a time.

NCSA had the pleasure of meeting with Sean and his family back in February.  They opted to continue to the navigate the recruiting process on their own with the help of our Unverified Recruiting Profile.  After hearing how things ended up for him, I can’t help but think how things may have turned out differently with assistance of NCSA’s relationship with college coaches.  That said, the work that they put into the recruiting process is the absolute reality that every recruit faces.  I commend them for putting together and executing a well thought out recruiting plan.

At the end of the day, you really have three options;  Cross your fingers and pray, put in the hard work, or enlist someone to assist you with that work like NCSA.

Big props to our design team for all of their hard work!

There are varying opinions on the value of playing multiple sports in High School. No doubt, there has been more talk in recent years of ‘specializing’ in one sport.

I was watching the local news last night when WSBT TV (CBS) Mishawaka, IN ran a story on a LaPorte (IN) 12th grade athlete named Dustin Demuth who had received a scholarship to play baseball in the Big Ten at Indiana University starting this fall. The story indicated he had been all conference in football, basketball and baseball in one of the toughest conferences in his state, the Duneland Conference.

LaPorte baseball coach Scott Upp, who leads a baseball program that has been ranked as high as number one in America, had this to say about the growing trend of ‘specialization.’

“If there are coaches out there that are telling kids to play one sport, I think they’re crazy,” Upp said. “Because while you’re working on drills and everything else like that, he’s out competing against Crown Points and Merrillvilles and things like that, running from 6’2”, 280-pound linemen. He’s trying to get away and make plays. So he’s competing, and you can’t really substitute that. And basketball, with time winding down, he’s got the ball in his hands, he’s learning how to compete. And all those things that happen in other sports just make him that much better in baseball.”

Dustin told the station, “I love competition. I love being out there with my team and making plays, and I’m just fortunate enough to play three sports”

If you would like to view the story

What are your thoughts?

See what Emory University Swim coach Howell has to say about recruiting:

1. How would you describe yourself as a coach?

I support our student-athletes to reach their potential both in the pool and the classroom. Swimming at Emory is a balance between swimming and academics, but it is a high-level and committed balance. I enjoy being a part of that entire experience. I am more than just a swimming coach and that is one of the primary reasons that I am at Emory.

2. What is unique about the experience at Emory?

There are several unique aspects about the Emory experience. First, we are mid-sized school with a small learning environment. Even though Emory has around 6000 undergraduate students, the student-faculty ratio remains 7 to 1 and the average class size is about 17 students. Second, our location is wonderful. A great college campus with access to Atlanta. We are not a city campus, but you are only about 15 minutes from Atlanta and everything it has to offer. Third, Emory is a liberal arts school with so much more. Incredible graduate schools like business, law and medicine. Finally, Emory offers incredible opportunities — great internships, research positions, jobs, etc. What our student-athletes are able to accomplish during their four years on campus — both in and out of the pool– is really amazing.

3. What do recruits need to know about you?

I am searching for student-athletes who are great fits for both Emory and our program. We get a lot of interest, so we do have to be selective. To be a fit for Emory, you have to fit both academic standards and our competitive standards in the pool. The other important part of fitting with our profile is a connection with the team environment here. We have a very close group and the team is very much a swimming and diving family. That has to connect with you as a recruit for this to be the right fit.

4. What do you look for in recruits?

As I mentioned above, we are looking for the right fit. There are a number of factors that need to line up for Emory to be the right place for recruits. When they do line up, though, it is incredible. There is nothing quite like Emory out there.

5. What is the one thing every recruit needs to do with the recruiting process?

Communicate. Honest communication is key. I try to be honest with recruits as we move through the process and we appreciate the same in return.

6. What sort of questions do you really like to hear from recruits?

I like to hear questions that suggest they have thought about the process and carefully thought about the factors that will be important to them when choosing a school. It is hard to take a recruit seriously when they have not given any thought to the college process and what they are looking for in a school and a swimming program.

7. What turns you off when you are recruiting a student athlete?

When I only hear from parents. I don’t want to recruit parents, I want to recruits student-athletes and find potential impact members for our team. If you are too busy to communicate with me and my staff during the recruiting process, you are also going to struggle with balancing the demands that will be placed on you as a student-athlete at Emory.

8. What do you think your program is the most successful at?

Supporting our student-athletes. We do a great job at developing swimmers and divers — our success as a program reflects how much our athletes improve at Emory. But more important, we support our students to get what they want out of Emory both in and out of the pool.

9. Why should a recruit consider your program?

An opportunity to pursue both swimming and academics at the highest level, an invitation to be part of a team that will always be a part of your life and the chance to compete for a national championship. Swimming at Emory is a lot of fun and you will certainly get a return on the investment of time and energy you put into it.

10. If a recruit is interested in your program, how should they reach out to you?

Email is the easiest way to reach me initially. jphowel@emory.edu