This Month in Coaches Advisor…

Recruiting Special:

“I hate when that happens”- College coaches lament lack of call backs from high school coaches.

A great way to make college coaches lives easier – this year!

Coaches Advisor – December 2004

“Please leave a message at the sound of the beep and I will not call you back”

Not the normal message one hears when leaving a message is it? No, but apparently some high school coaches are not calling back college coaches who leave messages! I was at a Massachusetts high school state semi-final game a few weeks ago with a Division II offensive coordinator and a defensive coach from a 1-AA school.

One of the coaches said: “I can’t stand this coach (head coach for one of the teams) he never calls me back and I am interested in two of his kids. I can’t get anything on him!”

The other coach chimes in, “You too? He never calls me either! I am really at the point where I prefer not to recruit around here, because so many of these
guys don’t call back. And then they complain, ‘You never recruit our kids!”, well how can I if no one calls me back.”

Hopefully all you high school coaches out there are reading this and are appalled. Isn’t helping your kids play at the next level part of the job? It’s just
what you do, right? Forget job description, no high school coach would say that, especially when the hourly wage for coaching is about $2.50. You coach for
a love of the game and the kids! Are these coaches even filling out their player evaluation forms for the state associations?

They also complained about coaches who do not teach in the school being next to impossible to reach if you don’t have their cell or home phone. Is this you? Do you call coaches back promptly? College coaches will take a call almost 24-7 if it is about a recruit. You have to call them back. Don’t let your judgment of a players ability affect who you call back. Let the college coach do that part of the job. Sure give your opinion, but do your part and make sure the communication lines are open.

A Big East recruiting
coordinator had three things in mind when asked the questions, “What could high
school coaches do to make the lives of college football recruiters easier?”:

1) Make Film Readily Available- “Coaches are all from Missouri, the show me state, we want to see what a kid can do on the tape. Show me on film. I go into some high schools and the coach has like 60 blank tapes, all supplied by colleges that want a copy of some game. We can’t recruit without  seeing them on film. I understand that the coach might not have the time or the facility to do it, but they need to set up a system to get it done. (See next section for
some ideas.)

2) Transcripts to go along with the film – “The second thing we need is accurate information about the player: His grades, SATs, class rank, address, current phone number, a cell phone and email, his address, parents names, guidance counselor, it all helps. Some schools have everything ready when you walk in, each player has a full bio/transcript and they either have the film, or send it out in a day or two. Others? It is like pulling teeth.

3) Honesty – “Honesty is the best policy when talking about a kid. The bottom line is that I want to know if a kid can play at our level. Don’t lie to me just because you like the kid – it hurts him and me if you give me a dishonest evaluation. Plus, am I ever going to trust what you say in the future? If you don’t know, say so, I appreciate that more than lying.”

He went on to add this about honesty, “I also want to know if I am chasing a ghost. I went down to a high school in Florida last year and told the coach I am interested in Player A and Player B, do you think we have a shot? He looked me right in the eye and said ‘Coach, Player A will never leave the state of Florida.’ and I said, ‘Great, thanks for telling me, I won’t
waste my or his time.’ You can’ t always count on a kid to tell you this up front. So be honest with me.”

The Film Issue – A novel solution.

College coaches live and die with film when recruiting prospects. They all want it! They all need it! The high school coach is tired of being asked for it by coaches and parents. What do you do? Easy. Invent a new student intern position called Sports Information and Video Services Coordinator and manage it in conjunction with the schools AV/Journalism class so credit can be received by the lucky student!