For many years my perspective on recruiting came from being a Sports Director at TV stations across America. I interviewed thousands of athletes, coaches and parents on the recruiting experience, and covered all levels of College Sports, giving me a behind the scenes perspective on what College athletics are like at every level.
NCSA Speaker Charlie Adams
From 1985 to 1988, I primarily covered Division Two sports at Cal State Bakersfield (now a D1 program) as well as Junior College Sports at Bakersfield College for KBAK TV in Bakersfield, California. In 1988, I accepted the Sports Director position at WSBT TV in South Bend, where I would cover a heavy dose of Division One (Notre Dame, Big 10) and schools of different levels such as NAIA powerhouse Bethel College.
When I got to northern Indiana from California in October of 1988, South Bend was already cold. As former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz used to say, “There is nothing South about South Bend, Indiana.”
One of my first stories was to go to volleyball powerhouse Mishawaka High to do a story on them as they honed in on another State Championship. I got there and their legendary coach Steve Anderson (now in the Hall of Fame) brought up one of their heavily recruited seniors Amy Rauch to be interviewed by me. He told her I was new to the area.
“Oh, yeah?” she asked. “Where was your last job before here in South Bend.”
“California,” I said.
Before I could say anything else, she blurted out, “WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU LEAVE THE WARMTH OF CALIFORNIA TO COME HERE!!!???”
I still chuckle when I recall that story. She was dead serious. She looked at me like I had mental issues. Like many college caliber High School athletes in frozen tundra areas like South Bend, she was weary of the Lake Effect Snow and depressing winters. She was interested in finding a college that “was someplace warm!” Rauch signed with the University of Tennessee.
For many young people, weather is a factor in where they want to play College sports. It usually isn’t the major factor, but sometimes can be.
Jeremy and Katy Wilkinson were state championship golfers at Clay High in South Bend, IN. Both signed with LSU golf and a major reason was the year round warm weather in Baton Rouge. Jeremy especially had dreams of playing Pro one day, so he wanted to be someplace warm 365 days a year. At the same token, Luke Donald played college golf at Northwestern in the cold, windy Chicago area, and he is doing well on the PGA Tour.
In many cases, Spring Sports athletes consider weather. There are top notch Softball and Baseball programs in the north, but their teams have to travel South to play a lot of games in March.
Notre Dame hardly ever has a coach leave for another coaching position because the school is such a top quality place to coach. Two exceptions have been baseball coaches Pat Murphy, who left for Arizona State, and Paul Mainieri, who left for LSU. The bottom line is that the odds were heavily against them winning a National Baseball Title at a cold weather school. At Notre Dame, Mainieri was able to get ND into the NCAA Tournament, and made the College World Series once, but it was obvious it was going to be hard to do much more at a northern school. In his second year as Coach at LSU, he won the National Championship, and I think he will win several more.
Lindsay Benko, phenom swimmer at Elkhart Central High and eventual Gold Medalist, signed with the University of Southern California swimming. Her Dad, Roger, recently told me weather was a big factor. She wanted to get a quality education for a national power swim program, and BE WARM.
A lot of young people are looking for an invigorating place to get educated and play the sport they love in College. Parents of a highly skilled northern Indiana basketball girls basketball player recently told me she was very interested in Pepperdine, in Malibu, California. It’s very early for her, but like many young people she was intrigued by the chance to go someplace that was 80 degrees practically all year long, and that overlooks the ocean.
Of course, a lot of young people “talk the talk” of going far off to some tropical weather-like college paradise, but in reality are extremely connected to their family and would be homesick. A College within a few hours of home would be a better fit for them.
It’s important to not get carried away with the “weather factor.” The most important thing for a recruit is to find the RIGHT FIT for him or her, and to use athletics as a way to:
* Get a College education and develop the Life Skills that come from being a true College student-athlete, such as competitiveness, team spirit, time management skills, and leadership qualities.
But weather can be a factor. And who says everyone is seeking the sun? Iowa State’s football recruiting class of 27 players from a recent year included 19 from warm weather states Texas, California and Florida. Those young people know how to buy a coat.
Superstar recruit Manti Teo left Hawaii for Notre Dame. The Irish had a few players from Hawaii on their team. They are still alive and have not frozen solid at last check. I would imagine they will probably end up back in Hawaii one day to raise their families, but they are enjoying the experience of living in a different part of the country and getting to take part in snowball fights.
Many people love living in a place with four seasons. Although the dreary winters here in South Bend can get annoying, they have never bothered me that much. I grew up in Mississippi, and to be honest had “issues” with the brutal humidity as I got older (as a kid you have energy to burn). There are parts of the day from June to October that you don’t even want to go outside. You end up a sweaty, dog-tired mess. It’s like being in an oven.
Of course, when I am shovelling the driveway in bitter February weather, I am longing for that oven.
There are so many factors in recruiting. The bottom line is finding the right fit. When Logan Heastie was being heavily recruited as a High School football player out of Chesapeake, VA, he took visits all over. Down South. Up North. He said this:
“I want a place where I feel comfortable,” he said. “One thing that doesn’t matter to me is the weather.”
He signed with the University of West Virginia. He could have gone to one of the Florida schools.
Being open geographically, whether the weather is terrific or not, is important. NCSA has seen many warm weather High School kids get remarkable packages from northern Colleges, because all Colleges are looking to improve their national ranking, and they want young people from all fifty states.
The late Al McGuire, hugely successful as Marquette’s head men’s basketball coach, was recruiting a young man hard that was from New York City. McGuire wanted him to come to brutally cold Milwaukee and play at Marquette. Tired of the New York cold, the player was intrigued by the warmth of Louisiana, and the recruiting pitches of schools down there.
McGuire, who never missed a trick, asked the young man if he was aware of the mosquito’s in Louisiana that were bigger than his hand? The look on McGuire’s face was dead serious. The recruits eyes bulged. He envisioned being attacked by the massive mosquitoes of Louisiana. He signed with Marquette.
There are no such-sized mosquitos in Louisiana.
When I deliver College Recruiting Simplified, one of the points I emphasize is how important it is to really nail your Evaluation as to what level you can realistically play in College, and all of the other important factors such as Academic fit, size of the College, and do you want to be close to home or get away from home? There is a reason NCSA has “Realistic Evaluation” as number one on the ’5 Things You Must Do’ to have a successful recruiting experience.
From where I live, there have been many examples of young people heading to warmer climates. Ben Larson was a very good basketball player that led Elkhart Central down State when Indiana had the famous One Class Basketball State Tournament. He played College Basketball at beautiful Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Ben stands second all-time with 217 3-pointers made from 1995-99.
This is what their school writes about their weather:
“Since campus is just 10 miles from the Pacific Ocean, everyday is a beautiful day in our neighborhood. Cal Poly is located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, in an area known for the outdoors. Hiking, biking, kayaking, sailing, sport fishing, whale watching, rock climbing – it’s all possible most of the year. Not to mention surfing. Surfline.com ranked Cal Poly as the #3 surf school in th
Weather can be a factor in where a young person decides to play College sports, but when all is said and done, it is usually not a major one.
The Weather Factor is brought up, often in football, as a negative recruiting tactic. I was glad to read Gene Wojciechowski of espn.com interview top High School football recruits and the vast majority said they were turned off by D1 football coaches that used negative recruiting tactics.
Part of his article had this insight from a top national football recruit: “Good recruiters don’t negative recruit. They don’t say things like, ‘Hey, man, you don’t want to go to that school — they’ve got four feet of snow.’
Many College Coaches, especially in D1 football, will put whatever spin they can on things to get a kid. Check out the Steve Addazio situation. When he was an assistant coach for the Florida Gators he told USA Today this:
“I’ll tell you what. It’s awful nice to wake up every day and have blue skies. It’s sunny. You wear shorts every day to work,” Florida offensive coordinator and recruiting ace Steve Addazio told USA Today in a 2010 article. He points to weather as an increasing factor in talent procurement in the past decade or so. “Warm-weather guys like to stay in a warmer climate, and a fair amount of Northern-climate guys want to play in a warmer climate.”
Well, Addazio was offered and accepted the Head Coaching job at Temple University…in frigid Philadelphia (!), a city that gets so much snow it had to delay a NFL game for two days because of blizzard conditions.
I can just see his spin now to recruits: “Well, I tell you what, it is nice to wake up and be able to not just wear shorts to work, but sweaters and coats because having four seasons is better. Blue skies are overrated. You need dreary skies some, because life is not all blue skies. For a kid to play in the NFL, they need to experience frigid playing conditions and that is just something you don’t get down South. I tell you, that humidity down there will eat you alive…”
Speaking of weather playing a role in pro potential, the player that has legitimate NFL potential and that plays their College football up north often gets better used to cold weather because they play and practice in cold conditions. In the 2010 Sun Bowl game with Notre Dame and Miami, many observers there said Miami was defeated as soon as they came out and experienced the cold conditions of El Paso that day. They were layered up like eskimos while Notre Dame players wore short sleeves and were not affected in the least. Now, there were other factors for Miami’s performance, such as their recent coaching change, but they looked awful in the first half. If the NFL goes to the 18 game schedule, which it will, weather will be a bigger factor as more games late in the season will be played in awful conditions (remember the Bears-Patriots game in Chicago recently?). Those games often have huge implications on playoff status.
Former Ohio State star recruit Terrelle Pryor observed why many northern players do seriously look at playing ball in the South.
“There are a lot of beautiful women. That’s a big thing,” he told USA Today. “I don’t think it should be a reason you choose, but I’ll guarantee you a lot of young males coming out of high school are looking at that. And some guys just don’t like being in the cold.”
All in all, weather is a factor – like a lot of other things – but it isn’t the end-all factor in recruiting. Otherwise, wouldn’t the University of Hawaii be a major power in every sport every year?
Oh, and regarding Amy Rauch, the volleyball player that gave me a hard time for leaving warm weather for cold weather. She signed with Tennessee, but ended up transferring to Michigan State.
Share your observations on weather as a factor in recruiting and in College Sports below. If there are points above you disagree with, or if you have different perspectives based on your sport, please share. Here is what one reader wrote:
“I absolutely connected with Charlie’s story above, as I too grew up in South Bend and played high level volleyball. I was not a top recruited athlete like those at Mishawaka, however, I knew there were smaller schools in Florida that I had a chance at…and did. My dream was to leave the severe winters of South Bend and play volleyball on scholarship for a division II school in Florida. That dream was lived and weather was the number one factor for that choice. Weather can and should be a factor if you want to look at the overall, day to day, satisfaction of college life.” Mary Ellen
Please share your opinions or experiences regarding Weather as a factor in Recruiting and College Choice by writing below.
For a thorough Evaluation of all of the factors involved in finding the Right Fit at the College Athletics level, click here to talk with a College Scout
Charlie Adams, Speaker
NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network
cadams@ncsasports.org
