The Biggest Myths in Recruiting by Dave Prossner
Dec 18

"you will be very lucky to have even 3-4 local colleges recruiting you"

In this issue I'd like to cover the "biggest myths in recruiting," responsibilities of the student athlete, high school coaches, and parents in this process, and what the college coaches are really looking for. We have covered a lot of ground already in this series of articles and I'm getting lots of good questions and suggestions in my email from around the country.
Probably the two biggest myths today in recruiting can be summed up by 1."I'm so good the colleges are going to fall over themselves getting to me" from the athletes themselves to 2." my high school coach will get me into college". Let's look at the first one.
Unless you are coming out of a powerhouse league or one of the top schools in the state, and getting a lot of press, you will be very lucky to have even 3-4 local colleges recruiting you, and that's out of hundreds of programs. Honest! College coaches are not looking for giant egos, they want good athletes!
The second myth concerns the misplaced belief that the high school coach will get your athlete recruited. Most high school coaches are in charge of a program with 20-30 individual athletes on the team. Most are full time teachers in addition to being a coach. Some coaches are much better than others in helping with a phone call or a few letters, but their main responsibility is with the team and its performance. Quite frankly, they don't have the time, nor do they get paid to get your athlete recruited to college. Even if a coach has been around for a long time, they may only know 15-20 college coaches personally- out of several hundred varsity programs! Let's put the responsibilities where they belong if you want to be successful in your college quest.

RESPONSIBILITIES
THE STUDENT ATHLETE
Do the best you can both academically and on the field! I cannot stress the importance of academics enough. The higher your GPA, the more choices you will have! In all of the college coaches’ meetings I have been through with my sons, almost every coach asked about grades first and then talked about his program and the student’s interests later. Stay out of trouble! One incidence concerning alcohol or drug abuse will kill any chance of a scholarship opportunity.
THE HIGH SCHOOL COACH
Their job is to run the best program they can in their particular sport. Most coaches will do what they can to help your athlete be noticed. Sometimes they will write letters to a particular college coach or sometimes it’s word of mouth at coach’s clinics or conferences. Ask their opinion about where they think your student athlete could play.
One of the best things a high school coach can do is to take the team to the state championships. These are usually well scouted by the college coaches. Please remember that the high school coach has to look after the whole team. That’s what they get paid for … not to do a lot of work for any particular student athlete. I found that if you treat them right, and ask nicely, they’ll help.
THE PARENTS
I’ve got to be brutally honest here. Your student athlete probably is not going to do what is necessary, and the coaches are too busy running their own programs to put a lot of time and effort into getting your athlete looked at by college coaches! So,… that leaves YOU! You will have to organize, manage, and lead throughout this process, or hire an organization such as The National Scouting Report to do it for you.(www.nsr-inc.com)
WHAT COLLEGE COACHES LOOK FOR…
College coaches are looking for intelligent student athletes who they don’t have to worry about flunking out. They want good athletes who are coachable and don’t have overpowering egos. Often, they want particular position players who will be able to contribute to the team for all four years. Ideally, their parents should be able to take care of the financial burden of the tuition. They realize, however, that most people can’t afford to pay the full shot for college, so almost every family has some mix of financial aid. I found that the mix, in terms of grants vs. loans, changed in direct proportion to how badly the coach and the college wanted the athlete.
A REMINDER! You should be scheduling your unofficial visits with your student athlete now. School is almost over and if they have completed their junior year in high school, you need to get going. As always, you can reach me through my website-www.recruitingguide.com.- Dave Prossner