It’s July, it’s hot, it’s summer and College Coaches are on the Recruiting Trail to find Potential Prospects. Most have the perception that this means every college coach in the country is traveling from east to west, and north to south to scour the gyms, courts and fields for future athletes.
In reality, most college coaches may only take one trip to a tournament or showcase annually each year. The reason for this is simple. Money, or the lack of it in their recruiting budgets.
College Sports is broken up into a huge divide of REVENUE versus NON REVENUE SPORTS. The divide is split between the “those that have it” and the “those that don’t”. The ones that don’t are all NCAA Division I College Programs outside of NCAA D-1 Football and D-1 Basketball. Don’t believe it? Refer to page 22 of the NCAA GUIDE FOR THE COLLEGE BOUND STUDENT ATHLETE. It shows very clearly the difference between the two.
What is a Non Revenue Sport exactly? First, It is a sport or college level of competition that does not sell enough tickets to even pay for the Coaches salaries. Second, it is a sport that has an average annual recruiting budget of $2,000.00 or less to find potential athletes nationwide.
You may find this hard to believe, so go and ask a few college coaches that are not at the NCAA D-1 Level what their annual recruiting budget is. You will be shocked.
So if you are an Athlete with a desire to play college sports and you are NOT an NCAA D-1 Elite, Blue Chip, Major College Football Player or Basketball Player, you better get busy now because come October most college coaches will have their Recruiting Lists established.
What is a Recruiting List? It is a list of potential student athletes that fit the minimum criteria a college coach is looking for to fit the needs of their program. Most college coaches will hear from 50-500 new athletes each year. Most D-1 Football Programs and Basketball Programs may hear from 5,000 or more athletes. If you want to be in the game, you must get into the game and now.
Once these lists are established and relationships begin to be built, if you come along later and are only an “Equal To” Athlete of what a College Coach already has on their lists, they are not adding you and subtracting someone else. You will have to be much better than the athletes they are already looking at. And when I say much better, I’m not talking about “equal to” or “as good as”, I’m talking better than. And your parents opinion won’t matter, only the opinion and evaluation of the college coach will matter.
So where to begin?
STEP 1: Get an accurate evaluation of your best level of college competition. Look at sizes and times of athletes on college rosters, their awards and achievements. If you’re not the same, you won’t be playing at that college.
STEP 2: Start by establishing a list of 75-100 Potential Colleges that you feel you may be able to be (1) admitted to and (2) be able to play at and compete.
STEP 3: Put together a quality Player Profile or Resume to provide to college coaches. They cannot evaluate you if they do not have the correct information to assess you with.
STEP 4: Plan ahead to get ahead. If you think you can just walk on and go to the local college that is NCAA D-1 or Junior College, find out. Talk to the Coaches, ask them to be blunt and honest as you’re very serious about wanting to play college at a level that is a good fit for you. Most college coaches will be blunt if asked to be, if not you can plan on getting used to increase the enrollment of the college.
STEP 5: Keep Trying. Don’t get discouraged if 2/3’s of the colleges don’t respond positively or at all. Realize that 1/2 of the colleges just recruited your position or event last year or the year before that and don’t even need it this year. Keep looking and working at it.
Finally, recognize that there are over 15 million high school athletes and only 2,200 colleges with athletic programs. The College Recruiting Road is just that, a road you must travel. The sooner you begin the journey, the better opportunities and options you can have. So don’t wait, you’ll be too late.
Let me leave you with a quote by Coach Gerald Oliver that coached in the NBA and with the University of Tennessee:
“It is not the College Coaches Job to find every potential student athlete.
It is the Student Athlete’s job to find every potential college program.”
ASK THE EXPERT: To ask Coach Scott any questions about college recruiting, e-mail him at
coach@athleticquest.net 
