NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

For most families, the day their son or daughter commits to a college is a joyous occasion. All those years of hard work, travel, and expenses have finally paid off in the form of a college acceptance letter, roster spot, and in many cases a scholarship. Parents brag to their co-workers about their outstanding son or daughter.  The high school student sports his or her college t-shirt to high school, breathing a sigh of relief that the biggest stress of senior year has magically been lifted. A college commitment should certainly be a source of pride, but what many student-athletes fail to realize is that the hard work is just beginning.

Signing on the dotted line and committing to a college athletic program can be a life changing event. You are joining a team that is, in most cases, much more competitive and intense than what you knew in high school. Don’t downplay the meaning of the word “commitment”. You are not only commiting to play for a college team, you are actually making a commitment to work for the coach. One of the biggest mistakes a student-athlete can make is to take the spring and summer off of training.

Most college coaches will mail incoming freshman a copy of their summer workout.

If your coach does not send you a workout book, ask for one!

Follow your college workout religiously. Those athletes who come to campus in the best physical condition will prove to the coaches that they are serious and committed, and in return will have the best chance of playing early. If you do not understand the workouts, call the coach and ask questions, see if there is an upper-classmen who lives in your area and can help, or consider a few private training sessions at a local gym or training facility.

Set goals for your freshman year and be sure to stay out of trouble. Remember that one wrong move could jeopardize your entire collegiate athletic career. I recently heard from a father of an athlete who had to come home after his freshman year of college because he was not mature or responsible enough to survive on his college campus, despite the fact that he was a star on the baseball team. Once you get to campus it is time to prove to your new coaches why they recruited you. They are looking for student-athletes who will make a positive impact not only in competition, but on the college campus at large.

To those student-athletes who have signed a National Letter of Intent or made an equivalent commitment to a college athletic program – congratulations. Now get to work!

Every parent who wants to help their child play at the next level will be investing a lot of time and money in that goal.  99% of parents I speak with don’t have the experience or knowledge on how to allocate those scarce resources (time & money) to maximize the recruiting opportunities for their child.  They compound that inexperience or lack of knowledge by relying on information from non-experts.  Non-experts on recruiting include HS coaches, Club coaches, friends and relatives who may have had a successful recruiting experience, or hear-say.  As lawyer friend told me, “a person who represents himself in court, has a fool for a client.”  A college decision for your youngster will impact them for the next 50-60 years.  Should a parent leave that process in the hands of amateurs?  I guess it depends on how serious a parent is about finding the right academic and athletic fit for their child. 

 So let’s get to the point:  How much time and money needs to be spent on a child’s recruiting?  Let’s start with some assumptions based on facts.  First, unless your child is the bluest of the blue chips, they will not be discovered by college coaches.  There will be over 75,000 high school student athletes graduating this year who will be on college rosters next school year.  Less than 7,000 of them will fall into the “Blue Chip” category.  The other 68,000 student athletes will have engaged in a lot of effort to make recruiting happen for them.  The sad reality is that 1/3 to 1/2 of those students will make a wrong choice because they had to settle for what was available.  How does a parent avoid this for their child?  They MUST invest in the recruiting process.

You’ve read on these pages the 5 things you need to know and the 5 things you must do.  But no one has written about specific costs.  Regardless of the sport your child plays, they will need to participate in events outside of their high school team in order to get placed on a college coaches’ radar.  Depending on the sport, those are club, travel, elite, premier, AAU, or other teams.  These clubs spring up and die all of the time so make sure your travel team is participating in the right tournaments.  If your child is a football player, they’ll need to attend camps and combines to improve their skills.  From the time a kid is in 6^th grade until they graduate, a parent can expect to pay $3,000 to $5,000 per year on club fees, travel, lessons, personal trainers, etc.  If you aren’t doing that, you’ll have a severe competitive disadvantage with families who are doing that. 

The frustrating thing for parents is that all of that investment will not get a kid looks by college coaches.  A travel coach will promote her/his team by saying s/he participates in all of the right tournaments and that 100’s of college coaches will be in attendance.  While the college coaches will be in attendance, they come with a list of specific players to evaluate in person.  They do not attend with the idea of discovering players.  So, in addition to all of the funds parents have spent on the above activities, they still NEED to market their child.  Marketing costs break down this way:

Most parents don’t have the time to devote to all of these activities.  If they separate these activities among different vendors, they run the risk of not using an expert.  For example, how many video companies use music to enhance the video?  How much are you paying for that feature?  Now, how many college coaches have the volume turned on when they’re watching the video?  ZERO.  Then what parent has the expertise to lay out a comprehensive marketing plan for their child?  What parent can transfer ownership of the process to their child?  As a parent who has been through this, the hardest thing some parents can do is to encourage their child to do the work necessary.  Where does that empowerment come from?  It comes from an expert’s knowledge.

Parents who truly want the best for their kids and want to help their kids achieve their dreams, must be willing to invest the TIME and MONEY to make that happen.  Only in the rarest of cases, will a parent hit the lottery with a gifted, hard-working student-athlete who will get discovered and recruited by her/his dream school college coach.  In all other cases, parents should not rely on “LUCK”.  As a wise man once said, luck is the residue of clearly defined goals and hard work.  If you need help defining that game plan, start here.

On this blog you’ve learned a great deal about the recruiting process, including the 5 things everyone should know and the 5 things everyone must do.  One thing that all student-athletes must do is contact a minimum of 100 college coaches.  If you wonder why, check out what happened to this highly rated D1 football prospect just 4 days before signing day.  What would you do?  Should you always have a back-up plan?  Even 4 days before signing day?  What do you think?   

 Making phone calls to college coaches is an extremely important part of recruiting.  Recruits need to able to effectively reach out to coaches to initiate contact and to follow up effectively.  In order to be adequately prepared for a call with a coach, there are a couple things you must do.  

1. Most importantly, you need to make sure that you are enthusiastic when talking to coaches! 

2. Before you have your first live call with a coach, you need to have a couple practice runs.

- Role play with a teammate, friend, or parent and go over the questions you are planning to ask as well as the questions coaches usually ask.

- Practice leaving voicemails for coaches on your cell phone or house phone. 

- Listen to your voicemails and see how you do! 

3. Make sure you have a list of questions to ask the coach written down.  Also be sure to have a pen and paper ready.

(more…)

 The current economy is affecting families across the country.  Many businesses across America have been reining in costs to combat lost revenue.  The business of college sports is no different.  Athletic departments are being forced to trim costs in any way possible therefore recruiting budgets are taking a hit.  However, since a coach’s job is still tied to their winning percentage rather than cut back, coaches are getting creative.  Today’s New York Times outlined how some schools are changing their ways:

At Amherst College, coaches have been asked to be more selective when sending out a bulk of recruiting letters and encouraged to send e-mail messages to recruits instead of worrying about telephone bills.

Amherst, a Division III college in Massachusetts, is mobilizing its alumni in an effort to have select graduates monitor their local newspapers and academic honor roll announcements to identify potential recruits. The college’s athletic director, Suzanne R. Coffey, said the alumni recruiters might meet on conference calls with coaches to discuss their findings.

“Before the financial crisis occurred, we were talking about ways to identify prospects outside our normal channels,” Coffey said. “Then in the past couple of months, we said this is the type of thing that will make even more sense with financial constraints even more prevalent.”

The Associated Press also put out a story on cost cutting efforts by schools and the NCAA:

The San Jose State football coach says he’ll avoid hotels when possible on recruiting trips. The athletics director at George Washington is wondering whether it’s time to turn out the gym lights earlier each night to save on electricity and heating bills.

Like the rest of the country, college sports is in economic meltdown mode, and not even a grand locale for the NCAA’s annual convention – along the Potomac River just south of Washington, D.C. – can mask the belt-tightening that is under way.

“It’s going to affect travel,” George Washington AD Jack Kvancz said. “It’s going to affect lodging. It’s going to affect all those things that you would obviously think it’s going to effect. You’re going to see schedules affected.”

With coaches cutting back on travel, phone calls, and letters it is more important than ever for recruits to take matters into their own hands and give coaches a vehicle to evaluate their talent.  It will be vital for athletes to use tools like NCSA’s Verified Scouting Report to give coach’s a cheap yet extremely effective tool to evaluate their athletic and academic credentials. 

It will also put more responsibility on families to follow up aggressively.  If you haven’t gotten a phone call from a coach it is up to the athlete to make sure they call directly.  Even if they don’t get an immediate call back athletes will not to continue to stay on the offensive to make sure coaches get a chance to evaluate their Scouting Report.

In a challenging economy athletes have an opportunity to have their education paid in full, but it’s up to them to give coaches the chance to cheaply evaluate their talent.

NCSA conducted a survey with over 9,000 Takkle.com users to determine the most asked recruiting questions by student athletes.  Here are their questions and our answers.

How do I get my information to scouts to look at and evaluate?

College coaches depend on verified information from trusted sources to find talent.  Most coaches attend tournaments, games and camps with a set list of student athletes they intend to evaluate, not with the hopes of discovering prospects.Take advantage of credible sources to get your name in front of college coaches!Unless you’re a “top-1%-in-the-nation” athlete, you will most likely not be “discovered” by a college coach. You need to be pro-active in getting your name, academic scores and athletic achievements in front of coaches.

I run track and I was wondering, are recruiters at the big meets such as regionals or do they look at your stats and records online. If I’m hoping to go to a college far south from where I live, how would recruiters see or find me?

College coaches do a majority of their initial evaluation by looking at video – requested or received from credible sources – often delivered online or via e-mail. After watching video, a coach may decide to have a member of his or her staff make an in-person evaluation.Make sure to have your highlight video online in a format that can be easily distributed to college coaches.What is a good size for a division 1 athlete?

Take a look at NCSA’s Sport Specific Recruiting Guidelines. They take our entire Recruit-Match Database and average the size and speed of players at every single division level for every sport.

Do you have to be a certain age to be recruited?

Academic performance/requirements count from Day One of freshmen year. College coaches can begin sending letters to potential recruits as early as freshmen year, and potential recruits can write, call, and visit college coaches at any time. Bottom line – recruiting starts freshmen year!

Is there any way I can reach out to coaches and take the initiative? Am I guaranteed to be heard by them?

Absolutely, unless you’re a “top-1%-in-the-nation” athlete, you will most likely not be “discovered” by a college coach. You need to be pro-active in getting your name, academic scores and athletic achievements in front of coaches. That means sending out RecruitMe Sheet, following up with phone call and sending out game tapes.

What should I do if college coaches are not responding to my emails or website links?

College coaches are extremely busy. If they don’t get back to you right away, don’t give up! It can take several phone calls and follow up attempts before you reach a coach.

Congratulations Women’s Golf Recruit Chelsea Michalek signing with Lehigh!  Good Luck!

The Wall Street Journal reported this week about the new player conduct rules implemented by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. 

This sweeping new personal-conduct policy, which was announced before the 2007 season, allows the NFL to quickly and summarily fine and suspend players; not just for committing crimes, but for any act that’s deemed harmful to the NFL’s “integrity and reputation.” To guard against these unpredictable suspensions (there have been 10 so far), NFL teams are hiring former police officers and FBI agents as security chiefs, ordering up extensive background checks, installing video-surveillance systems in locker rooms, chasing down rumors and sometimes forbidding players from talking to the press.

Many NFL players feel the policy is an over reach, but the it appears here to stay.  This strict policy also outlines how recruits need to carry themselves at all times.  Just like the NFL is refusing to let character risks damage the league’s image, universities will continue to investigate a players background to ensure solid character.  If you plan on fulfilling your athletic scholarship potential, I recommend making sound decisions.

It is that time of year when every student-athlete, that is a senior, is deciding where to apply and more importantly when. There are so many options: Early Decision, Early Action and Regular Admissions. First and foremost before you apply to any school, you will always want to make sure you have done some research first. You should look up schools on-line and have made some unofficial visits-at the very least. The more you put into learning about your options, the better decision you will make and ultimately you will pick the right school.

Once you have done your research and made some visits, you should compile your top schools and rank them, whether it is two, five, or ten different colleges and universities. Remember everyone’s preferences are different. Next you will want to introduce yourself to the coaches and build a relationship with each. This will also help you rank each school on your list.

You then will want to know where you stand on the coaches list of recruits before you apply to a school. When you know there is mutual interest between you, the coach and the school this is when you should apply. Remember, you should always ask the coach if you should apply before you send in an application! You will want to ask the coach how to turn in your application and what the process is. The coaches may tell you to fill out an application and send it into admissions or they may ask you to give it to them to take to admissions themselves. Some coaches flag the application to let admission know that they are recruiting you and some coaches may work in admission as well. If you apply without talking to a coach, and you don’t get in–the coach can’t do anything thereafter.

Another thing to think about – if you are interested in a school and the coach is asking you to submit your application; you may want to consider asking the coach is they will waive the application fee. He/She may not be able to do this, however it’s worth asking, because college applications are expensive and the costs add up fast!

Now there is a very distinct difference between Early Action and Early Decision. Early Action is non-binding (key word here!) and allows you to submit your application earlier than waiting to apply Regular Decision in the spring. This way the college/university will let you know earlier (January or so, instead of March or April) if you have been accepted. This will give you more time to weigh your options or to make your decision early and have the chance to enjoy the rest of your senior year. On the other hand Early Decision IS binding, and is meant for students who know that the school is their top choice and if accepted, you will go there no matter what.

Make sure to follow these key steps: research the school, visit the school, reach out to the coach, ask questions, apply, get in and then make a decision! Make sure to do this with multiple schools. If you have followed these steps with numerous schools early, you should have the opportunity to apply in the fall. If you need to do these steps with more schools first, you can always apply in the spring. Good luck.

 1.  Dedication to the Classroom.

College coaches understand that not all student-athletes perform the same on tests.  They do, however, know the difference between trying hard and being lackadaisical.  The harder a student-athlete works in school along with his attendance record is strongly considered by colleges prior to a scholarship being offered.  Coaches do believe there is a correlation between effort in the classroom and effort on the athletic field of play.  Dedication and reliability go hand-in-hand.

2.  Communicate with the High School Coach.

It is important that the student-athlete let their high school coach know their intentions in relation to going on to the next level.  A student-athlete can not be afraid to let the coach know what type of academic interests they have and what colleges they are interested in possibly attending. The student-athlete should ask the coach to be honest about his talents and potential.

3.  Work to improve your physical skills.

Playing a sport at the college level demands great physical skills and discipline.  Each level of competition is more demanding and the student-athlete needs to continually improve.  In order to complete and to stay injury free, the student-athlete most stay in top physical condition.  It is absolutely vital for the player to work on improving their strength, speed, flexibility, agility and individual position skills.

4.  Make a positive impression on college coaches.

The way a student-athlete talks, dresses and carries themselves is important when talking with a college coach.  The student-athlete that comes across as arrogant, selfish, foul mouthed or rude is someone who will quickly be eliminated by college staff.  Colleges want team players who are a positive reflection of their program on and off the field.

5.  Be honest with recruiters.

College coaches like student-athletes to be honest during the recruiting process.  A student-athlete should not lead a school on if there is no genuine interest.  The student-athlete and the high school they come from are viewed more positively by the colleges if they are up front and honest during the recruiting process. College coaching staffs do not have time to waste on an athlete that doesn’t have a genuine interest in their institution and program.

Bill Conley worked at Ohio State for 17 years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.