College Coaches Recruiting

Special to Greensborosports.com:

The NCAA tournaments are in full swing with an eventual champion to be crowned
shortly for both men and women’s teams. Many schools have stocked pile their
teams for 2011 recruits and are now focusing on 2012 and beyond. However there are also many schools that still have college scholarships to try and fulfill
their roster spots for 2011 because of the term called “Late Signing Period”
which starts in April. Late signing period normally occurs when either a school
did not get the player that they originally thought they were going to get. Many
times an athlete did not meet the academic requirements which revolves around
the SAT or ACT test scores. Sometimes an athlete that they signed in the Fall
decommits because maybe a coach that recruited them left the university for
whatever reasons and the NCAA allows that student athlete to re-open their
recruitment. Sometimes an athlete may have gotten in trouble that were not along
the lines of the NCAA guidelines and the potential recruit “Letter of Intent”
was resended. In some cases a scholarship became available when an enrolled
athlete decided to quit, transfer or did not keep up with the academic
requirements or character requirements that were in the collegiate rule book.
All scholarships are on a year to year basis and could be terminated as such.
Coaches know they have a short lease and no matter how important academics may be, if their teams do not win, they are terminated as well. No student athlete
should not take that ligthly.

Now that the AAU season is under way and many coaches will be on the prowl
to see whom they could find to help their university win games and ultimately
help to secure their job status for now and in the future. They will be watching
prospective student athletes from all across the country. Coaches do not make
decisions on a player based on the name of a school or whether your team has won a State title or not. Coaches sometimes get caught up in rankings of a
player based on many sites that have now become fashionable (which in reality
has become a money maker). A lot of coaches are now starting to hit the pavement again because they have founded out that many young prospective student athletes could easily fall under the radar and many times overlooked.

If a student athlete or their parents state” that their child is being
recruited”, normally the reality will set in when coaches are allowed to make
contact verbally with that athlete during the open period for girls the week
after the Final Four. If that student athlete ( junior going into senior year)
is not receiving phone calls on that very first day or during that initial week,
there is a good chance that what one may have thought is not the reality. Many
Division I schools will make that call for a student athlete that they have an
interest in. A student athlete and parents need to make sure that all their
ducks are in a row from the paper work standpoint. They need to make sure that
the “Core Courses” are in line with college admittance requirements. They need
to make sure that things are in place for “Clearing House Admittance”. The worst
thing that a parent could do is to wait around for a Highschool Coach or AAU
Coach to become their child’s decision maker. Parents must learn to take
ownership of the process or seek help in understanding it, so that they do not
set their kids or themselves up for a major dissappointment.

Many coaches if they have not offered a student athlete a scholarship
prior to their senior year will take a wait and see approach during the Spring
heading into the Summer AAU events. Sometimes they could have already offered
and may pull the scholarship offer after watching that athlete during those
periods. When they decide to pull the offer it could be for a number of things
that are non actual basketball related. It could be centered around a character
flaw. It could be how that kid handles criticism from their highschool or AAU
coaches. It could be that kids lack of hustle. It could be that student athlete
trying to do some things that their skill level does not have and it makes them
look less than what originally caught the coaches eyes. Coaches are always
watching the total prospective player overall make up before they make the
decision. Sometimes the student athlete good or bad makes the decision for them. If a coach is asking you to make some unofficial visits and to attend some of their Elite camps, there is a great chance that they have identified you as a
real prospective student athlete for their program.

Too often students and well wishers get caught up in thinking that if
you do not go to the ACC or some other well known major conferences that it
means that a student athlete may not be that good. Nothing is further from the
truth. Normally that is something that folks who have no scholarships to offer
that come to those type of conclusions. If a senior to be does not have an offer
in hand right now, it is critically important that the coaches need to know
where you are playing his Spring and Summer and it will be imperative that you
send out some game film from this past season that display your skills. (Stay
away from highlite films). Demand that your highschool coaches get those game
film to you so that you can send them out to several schools whether its Divion
I, Division II or Division III. Coaches from across this country and near are
not going to just jump in a car and decide to stop at a gym to see what is in
there. If you as a senior to be are being set up for an official visit or two,
then you know for a fact that you are a legitimate college recruit for that
program.

Seniors that are not signed does not mean that it is too late. There are
still some unsigned senior events going on. It is also ok to maybe readjust ones
thinking if their mind was set on Division I athletics. The main focus should
always be about academics and never lose focus of that. But in the real world
coaches get paid to win and to bring in the right talent that they feel will
allow for such. Good luck as the eleventh hour is a reality for many and the up
and coming have a great chance to get ahead of the curve starting right now.

One thought on “College Coaches Recruiting

Comments are closed.