Draft Two - Assignment Two

Assignment Two: College Recruitment

Amelia Mohr Channell

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

ASSIGNMENT TWO: COLLEGE RECRUITMENT 1

Introduction:

I am tired of hearing how high school recruits are making the wrong decision on where

they are committing to, too early. It’s almost like a competition between all the recruits to see

who can commit the earliest to a college for their sport. If any of them were educated on the

NCAA rules and the recruitment process they would know all recruits do not officially sign until

their senior year in high school... So why are players trying to commit before that? Are they

totally blind when it comes to the rules and regulations of the NCAA? For many kids that answer

is yes. In Friday Night Lights, Jason Street is a perfect example of an athlete that committed too

early, being disappointed in the long run. This paper investigates the various practices employed

by college recruiters as they seek out new talent for both established and “up and coming” sports.

More specifically, I will compare the processes employed by recruiters for both male and female

sports. By the end of this paper you should know all the basics of college recruitment, what to

look out for from coaches, what to look for in a school and things to stay away from when

committing to a school.

Literature Review

Terms:

Recruiters: They are typically college coaches with the

intent to hunt down the best athletes, and convince these

athletes to represent their program for the next four years.

Recruits: High school athletes who are watched and evaluated by

recruiters, receiving a wide variety of athletic scholarships.


National Letter of Intent: A legal document that is used to indicate a students

athletic commitment to a certain NCAA college and university in the United

States.

NCAA: Short for National Collegiate Athletic Association; A nonprofit

association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations, and

individuals that organize the athletic programs of many colleges

and universities in the US and Canada.

Athletic Scholarships: Financial aid given to athletes, based on their athletic

ability and predicted success.

Officially Committed: A term used after signing the National Letter of Intent

your senior year of high school that you tell someone when you are going to play

for a schools athletic program.

Unofficially Committed: A term used by athletes before their senior year of signing the National

Letter of Intent. This usually means they verbally said to the coach

they will play for his team after senior year.


Recruitment Strategies & Rules:

Staples, Talty and Popper all agree that the recruiting process begins early for college

coaches, as well as high school athletes. Coaches follow the same standard rules provided by the

NCAA, but also utilize strategies of their own to reach out to players. According to the NCAA,

players cannot officially commit to a schools program until after their junior year of high school.

Technically, players are not officially committed to a school until they have signed the National

Letter of Intent in the Spring of their Senior year. Popper points out that coaches find loopholes

in these rules by contacting the high school and club coaches, in order to determine an athlete's

interest level in their program. Coaches have multiple techniques to get in contact with an athlete

if they are interested in recruiting them. Staples (2013) says, “They will call you, text you,

message you on Facebook and talk to you in person to try to get you to commit to their school.”

Over the years, as social media popularity skyrockets, coaches utilize it as a recruiting tool

(Talty, 2011) (Staples, 2013). Talty (2011) explains that coaches are always trying to develop

“cutting edge” athletic programs, which magnifies the importance of social media marketing

efforts. Not only do coaches use social media to recruit players, they also attempt to target

younger generations, promoting their program for the future. According to Talty (2011) , “With

more than 800 million people on Facebook and 300 million people on Twitter, it makes sense

that athletic departments gravitated to the two social media platforms.” Schools and coaches

cannot directly mention a recruit on Twitter, or Facebook but are able to send direct messages to

a player of interest. The NCAA has put limitations on the amount of phone calls coaches can

make, but some have attempted to slide by communicating with recruits via an alternative media

network: Skype. Talty (2011) makes it clear that, “the NCAA doesn't have the manpower to


monitor what every single coach is doing, especially on Facebook and Twitter... but it ultimately

comes down on the school to monitor itself.” Coaches will try every way in the book to get in

contact with an athlete even if it is not “legal” NCAA rules.

Factors Influencing Committing to a school :

Staples, Just, Pennington, Talty and Letawsky all agree that there are many factors that go

into an athletes decision to commit to a school for a varsity sport. Letawsky (2003) found that the

academic reputation of a college is more important to the athletes than the financial aid offered.

She explains that while both the academic reputation and finances are important factors, family

input has a major impact on the decision to commit to a school. Athletes look at recent

championships/titles the teams have won, as well as the merit and prestige of the coach when

deciding. Just (2014) also reveals that players are willing to follow the head coach or assistant

coach to a new school instead of the school they originally committed to play for. With this piece

of information, Just posed an interesting question: do players commit to the coach, or the school?

He found that it all depends on the athlete. Although Letawsky ruled that finances are not a huge

factor when committing to a college, Pennington declares quite the opposite. In his recent article,

Pennington (2008) points out that money is the parents soul focus while helping their children

commit to a school. Contrary to popular belief, he states that the average NCAA scholarship is

just a fraction of a full ride; the average athletic scholarship in 2008 was $8,707 (Pennington,

2008). “They’re going to be disappointed when they learn that if they’re very lucky, they will get

a scholarship worth 15 percent of the $40,000 college bill. What’s that? $6,000 (Pennington,

2008)?” All these authors point out just some of the many factors that influence an athlete to

commit to a school, however, every athlete weighs their decision on different aspects.


Players part in Recruiting:

Many high school athletes have a preconceived notion that the ability to play a sport, and

play it well, will be enough to earn a scholarship to college. Van Niekerk (2013) points out that

this is completely wrong. In his article, he advices recruits on what they should be doing their

junior year of high school, within NCAA regulations, in order to be noticed by college coaches.

“Recruitment is just about the coaches contacting you but the players also have to contact the

coaches (Van Niekerk, 2013).” A players first step is to prepare DVDs or other short videos of

them playing their sport in order to send it to coaches. Not only do you want to showcase your

athletic ability, you also want to send in a list of your academic achievements, grades and so on

(Van Niekerk, 2013). Before coaches start contacting athletes, the athlete needs to make a list of

schools they are interested in, in order to prioritize and organize their decision process (Van

Niekerk, 2013). An athlete can also start making unofficial college visits to meet with coaches

and team members their junior year, to get a feel of the social and academic atmospheres of

potential schools. Lastly, getting registered with the NCAA Eligibility center is essential for all

hopeful recruits because it makes sure that athletes are academically eligible to play for an

NCAA college.

Male Vs. Female Recruitment:

The recruiting process is different for males and females. In Popper’s (2014) article, he

states that early recruiting is more prevalent in girls sports than men's sports, simply because

girls mature faster than boys. Over the years, colleges have increased the number of scholarships

offered given to women athletes. This lead to a growing number of coaches looking to fill those

spots they have empty but the talent pools these girls are coming out of have not expanded as


quickly as the scholarships available have. For instance, there are 322 women's soccer teams in

the highest division, up from 82 in 1990 (Popper, 2014). There are also 204 men's soccer teams -

a steady increase from previous years. “In women's soccer, there are more scholarships than their

are good players,” said Peter Albright, the soccer coach at the University of Richmond. In men's

sports, its the opposite. Westfall (2011) takes the other route and explains the financial difference

between the two genders scholarships. “Men still receive more athletic scholarships than women

but it is more of a closer percentage than what it used to be. In fact, in 2007-2008, 1.6% of men

received athletic scholarships in relation to the 1.1% of women who received them, compared to

2.4% of men and 1.0% of women who received them in 1992-1993 (Westfall, 2011).” Westfall

(2011) predicts that if this ratio continues leveling off at this rate, it will take about 17 years

before men and women receive the same amount of college athletic scholarships.

Entering the Conversation:

As evidence suggests, many athletes and coaches do not follow the standard NCAA rules

when it comes to athletic recruitment. I propose that there should be a plan written that

prospective athletes follow during their high school years of recruitment. Providing this would

help prevent the athletes from basing their decision on factors other than academics and athletic

programs of the institute. The NCAA needs to put out a plan that can be accessed and taught to

those prospective recruits.

If I was in charge of writing the “Recruitment Plan”, I would let the kids know the basics

of what exactly goes on during their recruitment years and what to expect. This includes of

course the ways in which coaches come into contact with an athlete, the rules that they need to


follow provided by the NCAA, and what factors they need to base their decision off of. This

would ensure that there are no regrets about their decision later on.

All coaches that are looking for recruits try to find new ways to contact an athlete that get

around the NCAA rules. One of the rules that the NCAA states is that a coach cannot call you

until your junior year of high school. Of course, mostly all coaches bend and break this rule.

They will contact athletes through social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook, through

email, and through parents and coaches. I propose that the NCAA repeals this rule of when and

how coaches can contact an athletic recruit, allowing coaches to talk to a player at at any time

during the recruiting process. I think this will make the athletes better understand who is

interested in them, as well as keeping both players and coaches out of trouble with the NCAA

board.

When writing up the NCAA rules section of my plan I would focus on what I feel is most

important for the recruit to be aware of. I feel that commitment times and restricted actions need

to be addressed more clearly. Currently in the NCAA, an athlete cannot verbally commit to a

school until they have completed their junior year of high school. Their commitment is official

once they sign the National Letter of Intent; a legal document that is used to indicate a students

athletic commitment to a certain NCAA college and university in the United States; the spring of

their senior year. I think athletes need to realize that there is no rush whatsoever to “commit

early” just because there is this option provided by a recruiter. I had many close friends in high

school that unofficially committed (verbally committed without signing the National Letter of

Intent) to play soccer their sophomore year and ended up not officially committing their senior

year because they changed their mind on playing for the school they committed to early. If a


coach really wants particular athlete to play for them on their future roster, he will not force a

player to unofficially commit before their senior year. Reiterating the rules to the prospective

athletes will keep them clear of NCAA trouble and keep them from following a coach that is

breaking the rules.

Lastly, I believe that athletes need to know the factors that are the most important to look

at when committing to a school. Student athletes need to base their decision on the academic

programs the college offers and how well the athletic program is, not just the scholarship money

they will be offered. Before students start the recruiting process, many believe that athletic

scholarships are all “full rides”. Unfortunately, that isn't true. Pennington (2008) confirmed that

when he stated that the average athletic scholarship in 2008 was only $8,707. Looking into what

programs and academic opportunities the school provides needs to be the number one priority

because education is the key to getting somewhere in life, not necessarily athletic abilities.

Secondly, an athletes decision needs to be based on the quality of the athletic program they offer,

because that sport will be a large part of the athlete’s college experience as well. Many kids

follow the coach, as pointed out in my literacy review. Getting along with the athletic coach is

important, however, an athlete also needs to feel connected and apart of the team. Overall,

paying close attention to a schools athletic program and academic programs will make an

athletes commitment a stronger one that will most likely stay the same. Decisions should not be

made on the amount of financial aid given, but rather how a particular university will set an

athlete up for the future.

In conclusion, I would love for the NCAA to write a book to hand out to prospective

recruits, in order to better prepare them for their decision making process. I think it would be


interesting to see how just handing out a book with the necessary tools would change players

thinking. It would also be compelling to see how many recruits would stay at the schools they

originally committed to in high school, ultimately revealing the true quality of the NCAA athletic

recruitment process.

Conclusion (So What?):

So why does it matter if high school recruits are knowledgeable about the recruitment

process? Does it really impact their decision making process when it comes to deciding where to

play in college? To answer these questions one must take into consideration the recruitment

strategies and rules, the factors influencing committing to a school, the players part in the

recruitment process and the difference between male and

female recruitment. I’d answer yes to both of those

questions instantly. I saw too many kids in my high school

years decide on schools too early, and for the wrong

reasons. Most of them ended up de-committing once they

got to signing day. The new question now is, will this book

on recruitment 101 actually make a difference in how

athletes think or will it just be another book they throw on

their desk to “read later?” It would be interesting to see if

the number of commitment changes decreases over the

next few years.


(O'Shaughnessy, Athletic Scholarships by Sport)

Interview with Naval Academy Tennis Star: Audrey Channell

“Your Experience of the Recruitment Process”

1. Tell me a little about your background and what your role is at the Naval Academy?

I'm a 4/C Midshipman at the United States Naval Academy, and ultimately, my role is to

train for the next four years, in order to graduate a Naval Officer. My athletic role is to

contribute as much as I can to the Women's Tennis Team, reflecting the prestigious

standards of the Academy on, and off the court.

2. When were you first getting looked at my college coaches and were you aware when it was

going to start?

I was first looked at in April of my junior year of high school - that's when coaches could

verbally call me for the first time. Yes, I was aware of when it was going to start because

the recruiting process is highly competitive - all of the higher ranking recruits know

exactly when the coach can contact them.

3. Did you know much about the recruitment process before your Junior year of high school?

Not really - I wasn't too worried about it. I figured coaches would contact me when they

could - which was the wrong thought process. Coaches need to know that you are

interested in them.

4. Going back to the question before, are there things you would have liked to have been told

before being recruited?

Yes. First - unless you're a national champion or tennis prodigy, full scholarships are

VERY hard to get. I just thought a full ride as common.


5. What were the factors that made you choose to attend and play tennis at the Naval

Academy?

Well, to be honest, it was the only school that offered me a full scholarship. I wanted to

take that stress of paying for college off of my parents shoulders. The tennis facility at the

Naval Academy is also very nice. With a nice multi-million dollar indoor tennis facility, it

adds a significant level of prestige to the tennis program and is hard to turn down. Other

than that, the Naval Academy is a very different type of college; I was interested in the

unique way of life and doing something different with my life.

6. Was there anyone specifically who helped you through the recruitment process?

My dad. He made sure to keep me on top of contacting coaches and helped me make

tennis recruiting videos on you tube. Most other sports can rely on their club coaches to

talk to college coaches, but it doesn't quite work like that for tennis.

7. What thoughts were going through your head when you signed the National Letter of

Intent?

I didn't... It is different at the Naval Academy. You sign your life as I like to say to the

military. Kidding.... it’s only five years after graduation.

8. Do you have any advice to give to athletes going through the recruitment process?

1. If you have any type of interest in a school, make sure you contact the coach as soon as

possible. Send them a simple email telling them that you're interested in their program

and give them a call.

2.START EARLY - it's never too early to plan your future; and you don't want to be stuck

your senior year of high-school still not committed to a school.


3. Don't expect any type of scholarship! A lot of schools have little or no funding when it

comes to less popular sports, and you have to be one of the top recruits to get any amount

of money. Make sure to stay on top of your academics because the coach may be able to

provide a partial academic scholarship as well.


Reference List

Channell, A. ( Febuary, 2014). Assignment One Observations: Friday Night Lights.

Channell, A. (2014, March 27). Interview by A Channell. Experience with the recruitment

process.

Curtis, B. (2012, August). The negotiation. Texas Monthly. Retrieved from http://

www.texasmonthly.com/story/negotiation

Just, D. (2014, January 04). Inside the 'business' of college football recruiting. Retrieved from

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/high-schools/football-news/headlines/20140128-

signing-day-college-coaching-changes-can-force-recruits-to-scramble.ece

Letawsky, N. (2003, December 1). Factors influencing the college selection process of student-

athletes: are their factors similar to non-athletes. College Student Journal, 37(4),

Retrieved from http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/College-Student-Journal/

112720427.html

O'Shaughnessy, L. (Designer). (2013, January 25). Athletic Scholarships by Sport [Web

Graphic]. Retrieved from http://www.thecollegesolution.com/where-the-full-ride-

sports-scholarships-are/

Pennington, B. (2008, March 08). Expectations lose to reality of sports scholarships. The New

York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/sports/

10scholarships.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Popper, N. (2014, January 26). Committing to play for a college, then starting 9th grade. The

New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/sports/

committing-to-play-for-a-college-then-starting-9th-grade.html?_r=0


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Staples, A. (2013, June 17). The case against the letter of intent. Retrieved from http://

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1207793/index.htm

Talty, J. (2011, December 15). How social media affects college athletics. Retrieved from http://

www.ibtimes.com/how-social-media-affects-college-athletics-383910

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Westfall, L. (2011, July 15). Athletic scholarships - who gets them and how many are there ?.

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scholarships-who-gets-them-and-how-many-are-there


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http://www.examiner.com/article/high-school-juniors-and-the-ncaa




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Draft Two - Assignment Two

Documents

Transcript of Draft Two - Assignment Two