NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Dear Coach T,

I was  injured last week, should I tell the college coaches that are recruiting me?

Dear Coach Taylor,

My high school team is not very good should I transfer high schools to play on a better team? I’m afraid college coaches won’t recruit me because my team is bad.

Navigating through the recruiting process can be very overwhelming for a family, especially for the athletes themselves. These 17/18 year old student athletes are faced with a decision that will affect not only the rest of their athletic careers but their entire lives. It is important that student athletes are educated on every aspect of each school that they are deciding on. It is important when an athlete makes a final decision that they would want to go to that school if they were not going there for athletics.

Why?

Reason number one is that as an athlete you are only one ACL tear or break away from never playing sports again. Before you commit somewhere, ask yourself “If I can never play sports again will I still be happy at this particular school?”

In recent years a new issue in college athletics has created another reason student athletes need to chose the school based on other reasons outside of how much they like the athletics. As college coaching veteran Randy Taylor always says “make your decision based on the school, not the coach…”. While a coach can have a huge impact on your experience as an athlete, in this current environment college coaches are being fired, leaving for other schools or going to the pros. Coaches leave schools all the time and as an athlete you should have the security that if during your career, your coach happens to leave you will still be happy with where you are.

This is an issue that is most recently facing the 2012 football commits for Rutgers, yesterday in a very quiet move head football coach Greg Schiano was hired as the head coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A move that not even his assistant coaches were aware of until news broke via the media. News broke while the assistant coaches were waiting for him at Don Bosco Preparatory School to lock up two more top recruits. Rivals.com has noted that Rutgers currently has  17 verbal commitments before Schiano’s left for Tampa,  many of whom took to twitter to express their frustration and shock. In what could have been Rutgers best recruiting class to date, five days before signing day many of their top recruits are now questing whether or not they should jump ship, to the other top schools who are now coming after them.

These student athletes world has been turned upside down, but before de-committing from the Scarlett Knights they need to sit down with the significant adults in their life and go over the reasons they originally committed to Rutgers, if it was because of the coach they need to look at their other options, however they should also keep in mind that any school they go to there is a chance that during their careers that coach could leave as well.

Making a decisions as a young adult that will affect the rest of your life can be a lot of pressure on these kids, especially if they are only thinking of things from an athletic stand point. As an athlete you need to remember that less than one percent of all athletes will go pro in their respective sports. It is important to remember that they are going to school to receive an education and set themselves up to succeed for the next forty years of their lives.

Coach Taylor, when sending highlight videos to colleges you’re interested in, should a cover letter be enclosed or just a note stating my interest. If so, what exactly should it state besides my desire to play for their organization?

I would definitely recommend including a cover letter. The only reason you might not include a cover letter with your video is if you already have sent one to this particular coach. It is a good idea to keep track of what you send to each coach.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when constructing your cover letter to coaches:

1. Most every coach now relies on e-mail to both contact and receive contact from potential recruits. That is the preferred method of communication. To find out the e-mail addresses for the coaches you are looking to contact, simply go to the college’s athletic website and look for a staff listing of names and e-mails or ask your Recruiting Coach.

2. Be brief. Coaches at all levels receive dozens and dozens of e-mails/letters from high school-aged players. All you are trying to do is show you have interest, pass along all of your contact information, your resume, and provide each coach with an upcoming schedule of your matches so he can see you play.

3. NEVER HAVE ONE OF YOUR PARENTS WRITE TO A COACH. You are the one the coach might be recruiting, so he/she wants to hear from you directly. (If the relationship develops and it appears that you might be attending that college, they’ll be plenty of time for your parents to have contact with the coaching staff.)

4. Provide contact information for yourself and your coaches. Nothing is worse for a college coach than to have to track down your coach’s e-mail or phone number. By having both an e-mail address and a phone number listed after his/her name, it allows for the college coach to quickly e-mail or call your private and/or high school coach to follow up.

5. Always include basic information about yourself such as grad year, high school, athletic history, GPA, SAT/ACT scores. Tell the coach why you are a good fit for their program.

6. Do not send a form letter that starts out with “Dear Coach” and does not mention anything specific about his/her program and school. The bulk of your e-mail will be kept the same for correspondence you send out to various coaching staff; however a portion of it should be personalized. Bring in something specific about it that you learned by going through the website. State your interest in the school and specific reasons (like “my Dad went to Madison and I want to carry on the tradition” or whatever fits you personally)

7. Detail is important! Be sure that you use spell check and proper English. This is a reflection of your ability. You may send your letter to NCSA to revise.

8. If you are emailing rather than regular mail, DO NOT mass email a bunch of coaches. This comes across as lazy and shows the coach that you didn’t take your time to personalize for them. Make sure to address the letter Dear Coach [[last name]].

Send your recruiting questions to askcoachtaylor@ncsasports.org

You can also get your questions answered directly by contacting an NCSA Recruiting Coordinator at 866-579-6272.

Charlie Adams brings 23 years of experience covering the recruiting of high school athletes who reached their dream of playing college sports. Adams was an award winning sportscaster at television stations and is one of NCSA’s Recruiting Experts.

I was driving near Indianapolis this week and heard former Indiana University Basketball Coach Dan Dakich hosting his daily talk show on 1070 the Fan. A caller called in a little ‘bent out of shape’ that IU Basketball Coach Tom Crean had recently received two commitments from players that had yet to play a second of High School basketball. Two highly rated 9th graders had made their decision to attend IU. The caller just could not understand how they could be doing that at such a young age. Dakich, who was an assistant coach at IU for years and knows recruiting inside and out, wasn’t surprised. He said back when he was evaluating talent he could often tell if a 7th grader could play at a major D1 level like Indiana and the Big Ten. In recruiting, basketball is especially accelerated and seasoned evaluators like Tom Crean can project early if a kid can play. Back in the 1980′s, Bob Knight went down to Bedford, IN to watch a legendary 8th grader named Damon Bailey play a game. In the book, “A Season on the Brink” Knight made a comment to the author John Feinstein that “Bailey is better than any guard we have right now. I don’t mean potentially better, I mean better today.” Bailey ended up going to Indiana and was a very good player at that level.

It’s not that way for every basketball player that eventually plays D1, but it is for the special ones. Trey Lyles is one of the two players to commit to IU. He stands 6’9″ as a 9th grader. The other one is James Blackmon, Jr. His Dad was a very good player back in the day at Kentucky. Tom Crean and his staff have no doubt those two project to be winning Big Ten players. As Dakich said on his radio show, the IU coaches know what they are doing because they are seasoned evaluators. They have been watching those kids in the July evaluation events.

Less than 1% of the High School athletes will get this kind of “fawning over.” The rest have to be proactive in recruiting, and understand the process starts early whether you are a 6’9″ ninth grader or not. A 5’9″ 9th grade basketball player that is not even on the varsity team needs to understand how important it is to make his baskets in the classroom so that he can have more options in recruiting when he is a junior or senior. That kid may never get a D1 offer, but if he and his family get educated in recruiting and he works his tail off, by the time he is a junior and senior he will have more options in recruiting.

Charlie Adams

cadams@ncsasports.org

Charlie Adams brings 23 years of experience covering the recruiting of high school athletes who reached their dream of playing college sports. Adams was an award winning sportscaster at television stations and is one of NCSA’s Recruiting Experts.

I had a long conversation with a mother and father whose daughter, a soccer player, had just found the right fit for college.

She was found by the college coach when he was looking at another recruit’s video. The other recruit was not clearly identified on the video, and the college coach noticed their daughter making plays on it. This is why you cannot make college coaches play detective in trying to figure out where you are on video, or some other kid will get a scholarship off your tape. I have found the NCSA guidance in this area critical. An arrow pointing at the recruit at the start of a play is very important. One of the points of College Recruiting Simplified is to make a “winning Highlight/Skills video.” The key word there is ‘winning.’ Families often have no idea how much more successful they will be in recruiting if they had a better understanding of how to work the video process. I continue to be amazed at how many families don’t even have a plan for it, and don’t have video of their kid – even as 12th graders sometimes!

The mother, father and daughter made several unofficial visits during her High School days. The young lady evaluated out to be a NAIA or D3 player, so they met with several coaches. One young head coach got all wound up during their meeting and talked about how they would have a “D1 mentality” at the D3 school. He was a little too gung-ho. They appreciated his fever and enthusiasm, but wanted to find someone a little calmer. They continued the process, made more visits, and found a school with a veteran coach who still had the fire for coaching. It wasn’t the reason they picked the school. Their major reason was the school would allow her to grown in her faith, athletics and academics, but they felt this particular coach had the calm, steady approach and decades of experience to better fit her. Now, the next kid might eat up that other coach’s wound-up approach. It’s all part of getting out there and finding the right fit. I spoke at the Mizuno Mid East Regional Volleyball Qualifiers in Indianapolis earlier this year. I talked with one mother whose daughter had already been on three unofficial visits in the Fall of her junior year, and was close to firming up the right fit. It was because she was “out there.”

For an Evaluation of your College Recruiting potential

Charlie Adams

NCSA Senior Speaker

cadams@ncsasports.org

NCSA recently received feedback for the College Coach’s Corner from Shenandoah University’s Baseball Coach, Kevin Anderson:

1. How would you describe yourself as a coach?

Cooperative

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

You will have an opportunity to get a quality education and play first class baseball on the D3 level.

3. What do recruits need to know about you?

I respect and teach the game.

4. What do you look for in recruits?

CIAA C-Character, I-Intelligence, A-Athleticism, A-Attitude

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

Find the school that fits their needs academically first and baseball second.  Research the school from every facet.

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

I like guys who want an opportunity and not a guarantee.  Don’t tell me, show me.
7. What turns you off when you are recruiting a student athlete?

An SA that is disrespectful to their parents and current coach.

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

Recruiting good people.

9. Why should a recruit consider your program?

We have taken a program from 12 players,  a 2.18 GPA, back to back 11 win seasons to 54 players and a JV program, 3.0 GPA where we graduate our players rather than run out of eligibility, back to back 38-10 seasons, back to back NCAA South Region champs and the only school to compete in the D3 CWS in 09 and 10’.

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

Contact me via email @ kanders2@su.edu

NCSA’s College Coach’s Corner recently received feedback from Coach Astley about his tennis program at Emerson College. Here is what he had to say:

How would you describe yourself as a coach?

I’m really interested in the development of players and finding ways that they can grow as people and get more out of their tennis.

What is unique about the experience at your school?

We’re a niche school (We have outstanding programs in a broad range of fields related to communications.), so most of the people here are pretty committed to their academic work. We do a good job of balancing their academic and athletic lives.

What do recruits need to know about you?

They need to know what our school is about and whether we’re an academic fit or not (in terms of field of study and their academic record). We can accommodate a broad range of tennis players and make their tennis time worthwhile, but the academic fit is paramount.

What do you look for in recruits?

Hard-workers, fun people, players with experience (and all the academic stuff above)

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

What’s the team like? When can I come visit? Any question that reflects that the student has done a little homework.

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

Questions about scholarships annoy me (we’re DIII), but I do my best to answer because I didn’t know that stuff myself when I was in high school (or college really). Form letters. Unsubstantiated claims about academic commitment.

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

Improving players and making sure they enjoy their time.
Why should a recruit consider your program?

Interested in communications-related major (journalism, writing, acting, marketing, communications disorders, film…) and wants a fun, motivating environment to push themselves on the court.

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

Email is always good.

Mason Astley

Head Tennis Coach

Emerson College

Recruiting Form: http://www.emerson.edu/athletics/Prospective-Students.cfm

Coach Burdette from Kenyon College found time for NCSA to let recruits know a little more about their baseball program and recruiting. Here is what he had to say:

 1. How would you describe yourself as a coach?

I would describe myself as a player’s coach because I have walked a mile in their shoes. I went to a selective academic Division III institution, much like Kenyon, and competed at a high level on the baseball field. I understand the trials and tribulations they are going to go through on a day to day basis and throughout the four years.

2. What is unique about the experience at your school?
I truly believe that Kenyon is unique in the fact that it is a national campus, very selective academically and has been a tremendous baseball program. Not many places are able to offer all of that in one package.

3. What do recruits need to know about you?
Recruits need to know that I will ask them to be first-class in the classroom, on the field and in the community. In that same fashion, the baseball program will be run in a first class manner – from the way we run practice, to the schedule, equipment, uniforms and attitude we bring to the park every day.

4. What do you look for in recruits?
Recruiting at Kenyon encompasses the three major pieces that I’m sure all colleges have: academics, finances and ability to play baseball. However, my focus has to begin with the academic side because of the selectivity, and then it’s about how passionate and talented the student-athlete is playing the game.

5. What is the one thing every recruit needs to do with the recruiting process?
Market yourself. I can’t possibly see or know about all the talented student-athletes that are out there but I will track down any lead that comes my way. (Call, Email, Video, On-Line Questionnaire).

6. What sort of questions do you really like to hear from recruits?
I like recruits that are fearless – guys that are not worried about depth charts or the rigors of the academics. So questions that pertain to how successful they can be and not worried about how difficult the challenge might be.

7. What turns you off when you are recruiting a student athlete?
One turn-off is when a student-athlete remarks how he doesn’t like his coach or that his coach doesn’t know what he’s doing. Another big one is when the student-athlete is disrespectful to his parents.

8. What do you think your program is the most successful at?
Our program is about 100% graduation rates, scoring runs and winning big games. We have had some tremendous victories over some big-time programs and we want to continue our ascent to elite status.

9. Why should a recruit consider your program?
A recruit should consider Kenyon because we care about the entire student-athlete. It’s not all about wins and losses, although we want to win all the games, but more about developing a great player, great student and great person.

10. If a recruit is interested in your program, how should they reach out to you?
Contact me via e-mail (burdettem@kenyon.edu), phone (740-427-5810 – office), mail (Baseball Office, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio 43022) and fill out our on-line questionnaire (http://www.kenyon.edu/). Also send video if you have it and a summer showcase/game schedule.

We appreciate Coach Burdette’s time and effort in putting this information together. Feel free to reach out to him to learn more about his program by using the information above.