When picturing how the athletic recruiting process will go for you, I would imagine that you feel it will be extremely smooth. You will have a high school coach who does a great job marketing you to college coaches and that will eventually lead to multiple Division I offers before you sign with the school you grew up following.
Unfortunately, that dream scenario may happen in 1 out of 10,000 situations, if not less. I have never actually been told by a family that the high school coach did enough for them in the recruiting process. Usually I just hear complaints about how the coach doesn’t do anything/doesn’t care. With this in mind, I have put together a list of the different types of high school coaches that families will encounter in the recruiting process. Feel free to pick out which one your high school coach is.
Connected, motivated, and will travel
Qualities: Plain and simply does
everything he can for all of his athletes to play at the college level.
More:
This is the dream coach that likely doesn’t exist. He is connected with
college coaches that he has worked with over the last few years. He is
motivated to help his athletes find a home and will even take them to visits if
they don’t have a ride. I have one coach that I know who fits some of this
but is a little too controlling (see more soon). This type of coach may
not exist simply because if someone works this hard, they want to take care of
the entire process and control it all.
How can I help support Recruiting-101?
- Use highlight-videos.com for a Hudl tuneup/new video
- E-Book: Guide to the Athletic Recruiting Process for Parents
- E-Book: How Juniors Can Get a Head Start on the Football Recruiting Process
- Complete Package: Junior Football All State Recruiting Package
- E-Book: Football Recruiting Position by Position Advice
- Complete Package: Senior Football All State Recruiting Package
- E-Book: Producing a Scholarship Worthy Highlight Video
- E-Book: How Seniors Can Finish the Football Recruiting Process Strong
Pushing the top dogs
Qualities: Helps his best players find a future
home and will do everything for them.
More: The focus of this coach is to help his best few players find a college.
He will call college coaches, market them, and maybe even make a highlight video
for the best of the best. But if you are not among that group, good luck
getting any interest.
Over the top with control
Qualities: Wants to control everything about
the recruiting process.
More: A
perfect example is a coach who does an excellent job marketing his players but
has told them he doesn’t want them to go to college camps because he doesn’t
want them away from team workouts. If an athlete has Division I offers
already, then that is fine. The problem occurs when an athlete is a fringe
Division I player hoping to land a scholarship offer. That hurts them in a
huge way.
Willing to help when called upon
Qualities: When asked, they will help
you.
More: The key for you is to
jumpstart them and point them in the right direction. You may need to ask
them to call college coaches or send out tape. Some people may need
reminding multiple times and this coach is a perfect example.
Inactive
Qualities: Doesn’t do much or bring much to table.
More: Likely a coach with a lot on his plate. It may be someone who
teaches, is the athletic director, and has a family. There is not much
time on the side to be able to help you with the recruiting process. They
are overall inactive.
No clue
Qualities: The recruiting process? What?
More: Likely
a small school coach who has not played college athletics and has not seen any
of their players go to the college level. They have no clue what is going
on. A good example is a high school coach who told me that a major college
program was likely going to offer one of his players. I talked to the
player and he said the college didn’t call in May. The coach just doesn’t
understand the process.
