College Athletic Recruiting: Some Reading Suggestions

dog reading a bookThere’s a lot of information out there and not enough time to figure out what to read, much less actually read it. So I thought I would suggest a few articles that are worth reading. Some are more “big picture” or “policy” type articles that hopefully you won’t run into playing college sports, but you never know. Others are more along the lines of practical advice recruits and their families need to know.

Early Recruiting

What college coaches say frustrates them the most in recruiting

If you pay attention to this article what they’re saying is that because coaches want/must recruit earlier, they need the players to contact the coaches because the coaches aren’t allowed to contact the players. The conclusion is

Earlier and earlier communication from coaches and athletes. A serious athlete should be approaching the process aggressively beginning (in my opinion) in their Sophomore year of high school. Visit campuses, call coaches, and get on the radar.”

How early recruiting can get earlier

A little sarcasm about scholarships being offered to ever-younger athletes. What’s a parent to do? Follow the Childhood Recruiting Guide, of course.

3 years

A child at 3 should be able to sort objects based on shape and color. Schedule a news conference for the toddler and see if he can correctly pick your school’s hat from those of other programs also recruiting him.

College Athletes Transferring

The NCAA Has Truly Lost Its Mind

One opinion about college coaches claims of a “transfer epidemic.”

Transfer rates for Division I men’s basketball players have hovered between 9 and 11 percent each offseason over the last decade. By comparison, a 2010 study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling indicated that 1 in 3 college students transfer during their scholastic careers.

Coaches Need Skin in the Game With Transfers and NLI

A proposed change to the National Letter of Intent (NLI) that would provide incentives for coaches to make the process of college athletes transferring to other schools more equitable.

At some level, an athlete who wants to transfer or out of the NLI represents a recruiting failure by the coach. The coach either should not have recruited that athlete or should have done a better job selling them on the school. Right now, the risk of that recruiting mistake is disproportionately born by the athlete.

Tips for Contacting Coaches

The Mistake 90% of Athletes Make When Emailing College Coaches

This article lists four phrases that shouldn’t show-up in your email and provides examples of appropriate alternatives.

The key is, showing them you actually did some research by writing personal emails and showing knowledge of what it takes to play for their program. Here are the common ways coaches decipher the generic emails from the legitimate ones.

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