NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Today’s Wall Street Journal ran an interesting story about Ivy League athletics. As a Yale grad, when I tell people where I attended college their first reaction is always “great school” rather than “great sports”. For decades the Ivy League has maintained its reputation as the best in the world when it comes to, well, almost everything. The Ivy League is number one in every academic field, consistently offers the most aggressive financial aid packages, has world renowned fine arts programs, etc, etc. The Ivy League has built a reputation of dominance and superiority yet they are often regarded as second tier when it comes to athletics. How can such a competitive group of business folk and scholars be okay with not being number one on the playing field?

According to the Journal, the Ivy League accepts they will never be supreme in athletics because they refuse to sacrifice their academic ideals in order to build world class teams.

Why are the Ancient Eight increasingly irrelevant in the most competitive arena of all? The short answer, the long-accepted one, is that they choose to be: that they won’t sacrifice their academic ideals by giving athletic scholarships to athletes. But other factors-like a long-standing ban on postseason football games and the schools’ academic standards for athletes-appear to be dragging the league down.

The Ivy is never going to be the Southeastern Conference-and nobody is suggesting it should be. The schools don’t need the exposure of sports to attract students and alumni donations. But some of the league’s alumni complain that the schools offer their students the best of everything, except in this one area. “Why not give them the same opportunities and the same platform in athletics that you do in academics?” says Marcellus Wiley, a former NFL defensive end who played at Columbia in the 1990s. “I think they should revisit everything.”

I agree with Wiley, not former Harvard president Derek Bok who believes that the Ivies should let this one go. The second shift was the Ivy’s 1981 expulsion from Division I-A, college football’s premier classification, which occurred because larger-conference schools desired greater control over TV-contract negotiations. They voted to restrict I-A membership to schools that had 30,000-seat stadiums or averaged 17,000 in attendance over the previous four years, which not all of the Ivy League schools did. The Ivies didn’t contest the decision.

“It was clear that’s not where the Ivy should be,” says Derek Bok, Harvard’s president at the time who scoffs at the idea that the Ivies must excel in all endeavors, athletics included. “If we have a bit of humility, we have to understand that nobody can be excellent at everything. There’s no reason why, because you’re good at teaching and research, that you have to be good at football. That’s a historical accident, not a necessity.”

Come on. Sure, there must be some areas where the Ivy League can forfeit its superiority but sports should not be one of them. It would not be that hard for the Ivies to make a commitment to producing national contenders and I believe they could do without severely compromising their academic standards.

Deciding to play College Sports is not a 4 or 5 year decision. It is a 40 or 50 year decision. The impact can be felt for decades.

I recently delivered “College Recruiting Simplified” at the Ecelerate Football Combine in Greensboro, N.C. I struck up a

Henri Fitzgerald

conversation with a man standing at the fence watching the athletes do Combine drills. His name was Henri Fitzgerald. When I found out that he had played College Football, I asked him to share his story.

“Charlie, I played football at Emory and Henry College in Virginia, a Division 3 school,” he said. “My education there was 100% paid for. I owe it all to football.”
Now, Division 3 schools don’t offer athletics scholarships, but there’s a slew of different ways for athletes to get all, a big chunk, or a decent chunk of their education paid for at that level.

“Being involved in community and charity activities in high school really helped me,” he said. “I got the Bonner Foundation scholarship and that opened the door to all kinds of other scholarships. I majored in Political Science and Business Management. I later got my Juris Doctor at Wake Forest. I am now Vice President/Senior Planned Giving Advisor for Wachovia Trust. I do Investment Management for Non Profits. Again, I owe it all to College Football.”

Henri played receiver at Emory and Henry College. Playing College Sports gave him a distinct advantage in the job market over people who were just regular students in College.

“Having that I played College Sports on my resume was very important,” he said. “When I did my job interview with the Senior VP, he noticed that I had been a College Athlete. That’s mainly what we talked about in the interview. The College Athlete brings so many things to the table character-wise.”

Lacrosse Recruiting continues to expand west as the number of scholarship opportunities grows.  The sport has seen explosive growth over the last 20 years and doesn’t appear to be slowing down.  The Wall Street Journal reports on how the sports interest has grown at the high school and college level.

These days the sport is showing serious growth. Participation in high school lacrosse has about doubled this decade, to a total of 143,946 boys and girls playing on high school lacrosse teams in the 2007-08 school year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, which tracks participation by sport. In 2000-01, there were 74,225 high school lacrosse players.

And the fervor goes beyond high schools. A 2007 survey by the National Sporting Goods Association found an estimated 1.2 million Americans over age 7 had played lacrosse within the previous year — an increase of 40% since 1999.

Johns Hopkins is one of the 56 men’s Division 1 college lacrosse teams, based on NCAA data from the 2007-08 season. Including Divisions II and III, there are some 239 men’s college lacrosse teams nationwide with 8,900 athletes, double the number of participants two decades ago. On the women’s side, there are now more than 300 college lacrosse programs across Division I, II and III, according to the NCAA, triple the number seen two decades ago.

It’s also growing when compared to other sports. In the 2007-08 school year, 17 colleges added women’s lacrosse, more than any other sport. Meanwhile, a dozen men’s teams were added in 2007-08, far more than sports like basketball, which added three teams; football, which added two and baseball, which added just one team.

A number of factors have contributed to the sport’s growth, including an increase in media coverage, the availability of athletic scholarships and the sport’s growing appeal at schools west of the Mississippi.  Indeed, the game has steadily migrated as former players and coaches moved West. Lacrosse Magazine says that of the 2,427 men’s lacrosse players on D-I rosters in 2009, 118 players came from five key Western states: California (55); Colorado (37); Washington (13); (Arizona (9) and Oregon (4.)

“The game has just exploded in the three years that I’ve lived in San Diego,” says Dave Herman, the varsity boys’ lacrosse coach at Francis Parker School in San Diego.

The availability of college scholarships is also a draw. Chuck Cohen, who helped launch a youth league in Orangetown, N.Y., that has grown from 70 boys in grades five through eight to more than 300 boys and girls from first to eighth grades, says, “Many of the D-1 teams are offering college scholarships, and there are tournaments and recruiting camps where college coaches can watch the kids play.”

As the talent base spreads from east to west and more college programs pop up on the map recruiting will become increasingly unpredicatable for college coaches.  In the past a few top prorams could mine the east coast power houses for top talent while everyone else fought for scraps.  With this expansion of talent more and more programs are closing the talent gap by recruiting nationally in areas that would have been unheard of only a few years ago.

Potential lacrosse recruits need to understand the fact there is simultaneously more opportunity and competition than ever before.  Simply playing for a top program or shining in a showcase may not be enough to prove to a college coach that you are worth a scholarship.

The NCAA has made their official ruling on Twitter.  Shockingly (at least to me) they have determined that the social media service can be used to directly message recruits.  In my opinion this

“We view that option on Twitter the same as we view normal e-mails,” Cameron Schuh, Associate Director of Public and Media Relations for the NCAA, told ESPN. “It’s just you can’t post those (direct messages) on your main page.”

“We view Twitter as a blog. As long as coaches are on there talking about what they’re doing with their day and how their practice went or things like that • not getting into specific terms, that’s fine. They can’t talk about a person they’re recruiting, or they can’t use it to talk about their whereabouts on a recruiting trip.”

The fact that Twitter can hook directly to any cell phone makes this a realistic alternative to coaches that miss the ability to text message recruits. There is no doubt in my mind that coaches will be rushing to this new medium to contact recruits in a new “cool” way.  Good recruiters will be able to seperate themselves by direct messaging recruits useful tidbits in real time and positively enhancing their programs image on their public tweets.

If you are a recruit I would recommend joining Twitter and making sure your Tweets are athletically focused.  Its especially ideal because the recruit can choose who’s messages they allow.  they need to follow a coach to allow a direct message and give specific permission for that coaches direct messages to link up to their phone.

I predict Twitter’s explosive growth rate will soon be taking off with coaches and recruits alike.  The only question will be who jumps on the bandwagon first and who uses it most effectively.

Follow NCSA on  Twitter at http://twitter.com/ncsa

Twitter Messaging on a Phone

I think the world of Athletic Directors at high schools. I have been working closely with A.D.’s across the country since 1985. How they coordinate all the sports, transportation, and officials impresses the heck out of me. They hire coaches, work with parents, and constantly try to upgrade facilities and budget for equipment. Their dedication to young people is to be admired. They play vital roles in the success of high school sports. There is a saying that when people have dedicated years of relentless service to an organization and to others, they leave their blood in the bricks. That is true of Athletic Directors.

I’ve found that A.D.’s have experience with their athletes being recruited and come to know a good bit about recruiting. I have found they are passionate about making sure families know about the NCAA Eligibility Center. It drives them goofy when legitimate D-1 or D-2 prospects horse around and don’t stay in sync with the Eligibility Center process as juniors. All in all, though, A.D.’s would be the first to tell you they are not experts on recruiting and sometimes can be off the mark. I recently had one Athletic Director tell me for the past twenty years he had advised kids that if they wanted to play College Sports they should sit down with their High School Coach after their sport was done in their senior year and map out a plan.

Yikes!

Another well meaning A.D. has always told his athletes that “if you are good enough the Colleges will find you.”

Yikes again!

Parents often think it is “the job” of the A.D. and the Coach to get their kid a college athletic scholarship, so it is the responsibility of the A.D. to make sure parents and kids are educated on recruiting, especially since it has changed so much in the last three or four years.

I sat in on a session at a state Athletic Director’s conference. The speaker, an A.D., highly suggested to all of the A.D.’s that they bring in a recruiting expert to speak to parents. He suggested that one good time was in August at Parent Meetings.

I agree. A.D.’s are often looking for ways to get maximum attendance of parents. They worry that some parents won’t come out because they feel it will be the same information from last year. A presentation of “College Recruiting Simplified” is a sure fire way to help attract parents because they are often starved for information on how to maximize their child’s ability to play at the college level.

NCSA founder Chris Krause’ first book, Athletes Wanted is now available to pre-order for shipping June 1st! Athletes Wanted is the premise that athletes are indeed wanted in all areas of society. Just look at the record TV contracts for college and professional sports networks, the rise of ESPN and the conference networks, and the growth of collegiate athletics in popularity year in and year out.

The other areas athletes are wanted is on college campuses and in the professional world. Statistics prove that the recruited student athlete is much more likely to be accepted to a better college or university, and receive a better scholarship and/or grant and aid package. After college employers want former athletes as well. Just polling recruiters and CEO’s it is apparent- former college athletes are in demand for leadership position in every career imaginable!

Why? The book digs into the Athletes Wanted world and is designed to shed light upon why, and gives tips and anecdotes into how you can help maximize your student athlete’s athletic scholarship and eventual life potential.

Student athletes are taught life skills that impact them continuously. The former collegiate student athlete brand is something they carry with them always. Since the average person changes jobs over 25 times throughout their lives, this will come in handy in opening doors, building relationships, along with the learned skill set of hard work, leadership, goal setting, team work, time management, and achievement that will help them succeed at whatever they set their minds to. These invaluable tools will continue to help them thrive in a meaningful and rewarding career to provide for their families and be positive role models, spouses, friends and parents long after the cheers and roar of the crowd are over.

It takes a mature person to understand the keys to being successful and accomplishing goals. It is especially tough when the task is both physical and mental in nature. The steadfast and focused individuals are able to handle the ups and downs that eventually lead to success. The following is a road map for young athletes to follow if they are truly committed to being the best they possibly can be in their particular sport.

Keep All Doors Open

As an athlete, you need to give yourself every opportunity to succeed. The better you are in the classroom the more opportunities you will have in the future. Everyone would like to play at the top level of collegiate competition but we all know those opportunities are limited. If you are talented enough and dedicated, those chances may indeed come to fruition. The ultimate goal, however, is to end up at a school that is the best match for you. The better you are in the classroom, the more choices you will have from which to pick.

Be Committed

Once you have decided to make college athletics your goal, you need to set your game plan and be rigid in keeping your every action toward accomplishing that end result. It’s easy to stray from the disciplines it takes to be successful; only the strong-willed reach their goal.

Let Others Know Your Intentions

As an athlete, don’t be afraid to communicate your intentions. There are a lot of people who can be instrumental in the process. Relatives, coaches, administrators, and friends are just a limited example of those who can be important as you work to accomplish your goal.

Ask For Help

Even though the bulk of your success rests within tour attitude and your efforts, it’s smart to learn from those who have been where you want to go. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about physical training, improving technical skills, or mental maturity; seek help from those who know what it takes to max out ones’ potential.

Work to Improve

As you go up the athletic ladder the competition gets tougher and tougher. Everybody you will face at the next level will be as good as or better than the best of the best you have already faced. The great athletes thrive on competition and know if you don’t get better you are doomed for failure.

Ignore Naysayers

Remember that not everyone you come in contact with is as dedicated and committed as you. There will be those who try to deter you along the way; even though sometimes not purposefully. Others will be jealous of your successes. It is crucial to keep your eye on the target and not get off track.

Be a Leader

Just as others have done for you, you have an obligation to pay back and pay forward. The examples you set may well be the standard other athletes will use as their guidelines in the future. Remember, the best leaders are those who lead by example.

Learn from Failure

The road to success is a rocky one. There will be ups and downs along the way and it’s important to not dwell on the shortcomings but use them as motivators. Every failure is learning and growing experience. Getting knocked down is going to happen, the key is to get back up and go again.

Share Your Successes

Great teams celebrate together. As an athlete, never forget your success is a team success even if the sport is considered an individual success. Your team is comprised of may who have and continually helped out. Let them know your success is a direct reflection of their help and support.

Believe in Yourself

Confidence in yourself and your convictions is the self-motivator to finish the job. Never waiver from your belief in your own abilities. Others can help but you have to have the grit and determination to do it yourself. The long hours of physical and mental preparation fall solely on your shoulders; be proud.

NCSA’s efforts to Simplify the College Athletic Recruiting Process were profiled by Taylor Bell in today’s Chicago Sun Times.

The May evaluation period for college football coaches is just around the corner. But the timetable for the recruiting process has been squeezed, and coaches, faced with new NCAA restrictions, are looking for more efficient ways to see as many prospects as they can in a shorter period of time.

Chris Krause, the founder and director of the Chicago-based National Collegiate Scouting Association, and his co-workers, former college recruiting coordinators Randy Taylor and Bob Chmiel, have established a state-of-the-art film library to feed the appetite of every college coach.

For the first time since the 1980s, coaches from coast to coast will be able to view highlight tapes of all the leading prospects in an area at one time and in one place, then have an opportunity to visit the schools and personally eyeball the players who fit their needs.

”A lot of kids are flying under the radar right now,” recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said. ”Coaches are looking for diamonds in the rough. We’re going to see schools coming into Chicago that haven’t been here in a long time or are coming for the first time: Clemson, West Virginia, Syracuse, BYU, Nebraska, Colorado, California, UCLA and Washington.”

Describing the May evaluation period as ”a new dawning in Chicago,” Lemming predicted the Class of 2010 could receive more full scholarships than any class in recent years because of the increased exposure.

”The bulk of recruiters are looking at seniors-to-be,” Lemming said. ”A lot of offers come in May and June. By July 1, if you don’t have an offer from a Division I school, you’d better run for help to a Division II or III program.”

Some fantastic advice from Tom.  If you are really interested in jump starting your recruiting process contact our scouts at NCSA.

Last week, April 15th to be exact , marked a significant recruiting ”first down measurement” for football players in the class of 2010.  It was the first day that they could receive phone calls from DI college football coaches.  While the date that a college coach can call a prospect for the first time varies depending on the sport and level of play…that initial phone conversation is a big step in developing a recruiting relationship.  Unfortunately, many prospects have no idea what to expect from that phone call and we figured this was a good time to shed some light on how prospects in ALL sports can prepare for a phone call from a college coach…Before we get into what a recruit can expect from a phone call from a college coach, here are a few important ideas to keep in mind:

- The first day a college coach can call a prospect is not always the first time they have spoken on the phone.

• As we have pointed out many times in the past, prospects are able to call college coaches at any time. The prospects that are farther along in the process might have already made phone calls to college coaches and spoken with them prior to the initial period which makes it permissible for a college coach to call the prospect. In cases like this, the phone call might go a little differently than for the prospects who are speaking with a coach for the first time.

- By the time the first day a college coach can call a prospect rolls around, many student-athletes already have offers!

• This is very important to realize. DI college coaches in just about every sport have already begun to offer scholarships to 2010 (junior) graduates…and some might even be finished recruiting the class of 2010 completely. This has all taken place and coaches haven’t even been able to call them yet in some sports! This should be a strong indicator of how early college recruiting takes place and why freshmen and sophomore year are so important in the process.

- Know the dates for your sport!

• The first thing every recruit should do is to learn when a college coach is able to call them for the first time. Although April 15^th happens to be the first time a DI college football coach can call prospects, we realize many of you do not play football…so find out that date for your sport. If you are unsure when this date occurs, be sure to download the “Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete” Here.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about some of the most common questions prospects can prepare for when speaking with a college coach.  Obviously every staff will ask different questions, but many will have an actual script of questions and topics to assist the coaches in their phone call…It might be a good idea to have a script of your own, or at least some answers prepared in advance.  Here a few of those questions as well as some advice for answering them:

Q:  How are you doing in school?  What is your GPA, test scores, etc?

Advice: Make sure you are always aware of your current academic standing.  Always know your GPA (both core and cumulative), class rank, and test scores.  Even if your GPA or test scores are lower than you would like, be honest with the coach and let them exactly what you are doing to improve.  Tell them you are receiving extra tutoring or taking a SAT / ACT prep class to raise your scores.  The worst thing a student-athlete can do is simply not know their academic information.  If you don’t know your GPA, what do you think a college coach will assume? (Hint…they are not going to assume you are earning straight A’s)

Q:  What are your strengths as a player?

Advice: Do not be modest here!  This is your chance to shine and tell the coach what you do best.  Be informative and honest.  You have been working your whole life to develop these strengths…be proud of them and communicate their value with answers that consist of more than one word.

Q:  What areas of your game are you working to improve?

Advice: While this can be a tricky one, it is important to be honest.  Do not spend too much time discussing your weaknesses, but rather let the coach know how your off season workout is going to address those areas and how you are going to turn them into strengths.

Q:  What are your goals for the upcoming season?

Advice: This is something every student-athlete should think about.  We encourage student-athletes to set measurable goals and write them down to hold themselves more accountable.  Make sure to mention both team and individual goals.

Q:  Do you think you are capable of playing at our level?

Advice: Always Yes!  Explain why you think you can compete at their level or what you are doing to ensure you would be an asset to a team at any level of play.

Q:  What improvements have you made over the past couple of years?

Advice: Focus on things you have done to improve your game over the years.  Do not be afraid to tell the coach how much better you are now than a year or two ago!

Q:  What type of scholarships are you looking for?

Advice: This is your chance to bring up financial issues if they will be a determining factor in your decision making.  Be open to options and always ask about other types of aid besides athletic scholarships.  Never directly ask for a scholarship, but rather let the coach know what sort of impact that need will have on your decision.

Q:  What are your interests or hobbies?  Do you have a  girlfriend, boyfriend, etc?

Advice: This is the coach’s attempt to get to you know you on a personal level.  Remember, in many cases, these coaches are many years older and they are doing their best to relate to the prospect.  Let the coach know more about you!  This will help you connect on a more casual level and also give the coach something to ask you about next time you speak.  Have some fun with this question!

Q:  Who is going to help you make your college decision?

Advice: Let the coach know who will be a part of the decision.  Will your high school coach play an integral role?  Will the decision be made by you and your parents?  Are your parents involved?  This information will greatly help the coach understand who needs to be included and involved.

***This is the million dollar question***

Q:  What other schools are recruiting you?

Advice: Let them know who else is interested…and be honest!  If the coach finds out that many other schools are recruiting you then you will immediately look like a better recruit.  Try to let them know about schools that are similar to the one you are talking to.  For example, if you are speaking with the coach at Yale and you have heard from four other Ivy League schools, make sure you go into detail about their interest.  No coach wants to lose a recruit to a rival school.

This is your chance to show off how wanted you are by other coaches with the hope that it motivates the coach you are speaking with at that time to take action.  If you have offers, let the coach know.  In order to create this type of leverage, you must have a number of options.  If you are concerned about the number of options you currently have, be sure to expand your search and let more coaches know about you.

Q:  What questions do you have for me?

Advice: Be sure to check back next week when we explain what sort of questions prospects should be asking when they have the opportunity to speak with college coaches.  This is your chance to find out valuable information…don’t pass it up!

The first possible day a college coach can call a junior prospect is April 15th, the last day is May 31st. This is called the spring evaluation period.Each prospect is allowed to receive ONE phone call during this period. The call has to be received by the prospect or a family member and a conversation has to take place. If a coach leaves a message on a machine or with a family member (that isn’t more than a message only) this doesn’t count as the one call.

Here are some important points to realize about this call:

When the head coach calls a prospect on the first day that prospect should know he is on the very top of “the list” on the recruiting board and is most important to that staff.

• When the head coach calls a prospect during the first week he is very high on the list and very important.
• If the head coach calls later in the period, the prospect is still important but the decision was made by the staff to wait for some reason (I will go through several of the discussions that take place in the “war room” to determine the timing and organization of these calls).
• If the defensive coordinator or offensive coordinator calls a prospect during the first day, week, etc. that prospect knows he is important to the staff but either doesn’t warrant a call from the head coach or the coordinator needs to talk to the player to sell him on the offense or defense.
• If the position coach calls the prospect, he’s important to the position coach and the staff but doesn’t warrant the head coach or coordinator calling.
• If the area recruiting coach calls, the prospect is important to the area coach but hasn’t been elevated to the level on “the list” to warrant others to call. This call is often made to “keep the prospect warm” until more of a decision can be made to elevate his status.
• Remember that the later in the period a prospect is called either he’s down “the list” or a decision was made to get more information, that is, the coaches wanted to see the prospect in person to “eye ball” the player or check out the young man’s transcript and test score, etc.
• If a player doesn’t receive a call during the spring recruiting period he’s on the staff’s lowest list or they don’t know enough or anything about the prospect.

Of course these decisions are never made easily.  There are a number of discussions that need to take place in the War Room before April 15^th.

• Discuss the prospects that the head coach must call the first day or even the very first call the head guy has to make to let the prospect know he’s the #1 prospect on the board regardless of position.
• Discuss the prospects that must get a call from the head coach the first week, second week and so on.
• Make a decision whether the player the head coach calls is done in conjunction with an assistant coach so the head man can handle the PR portion of the call and the assistant can take care of business like academics, when he or somebody will be at their school, getting tape, etc.
• Decisions need to be made if the coordinator needs to call especially if the prospect needs assurance of how he’ll fit in the system or if there’s a new coordinator, etc.
• Further discussion is about the position coach involvement or whether the area recruiting coach will handle the call.
• There’s also a list of players that will get calls later in the month based on late decisions by the area and position coach.
• Additionally, the two graduate assistants are allowed to call prospects as well. These prospects are on the “keep warm” list.

• The recruiting coordinator is in the room and offers suggestions throughout the meeting and is responsible for the coordination of the head coach’s calls primarily and that only one call is made to each prospect. He then is responsible to document all of the coaches’ calls for the compliance office. Each coach is responsible for not violating the call rules and proper documentation.

As you can see these calls mean a great a deal to recruits and coaching staff.  By understanding where you stand on a recruiting board, you can properly target the schools that have an interest in you.