According to the Department of Education, the average recruiting budget for FBS men’s sports programs is $700,000.00.
Think about that for a minute. A major NCAA Division I athletic program will spend an average of $700,000.00 on the recruiting efforts for ALLof its men’s sports programs.
What’s rarely mentioned is that football and men’s basketball will consume about 50% or $350,000 of that budget. That leaves an average of only $50,000 for each of the remaining sports programs like baseball, golf, lacrosse, swimming/diving, tennis, soccer, track/field & cross country to secure recruits.
If a college or university funds additional men’s sports like water polo, wrestling, and hockey, the recruiting budgets are even further diminished. But each program is not evenly funded so many sports may receive much less than $50,000 to recruit high school student-athletes.
Important note: women’s sports programs usually average substantially less in recruiting budgets than men.
Here are the average men’s teams recruiting expenditures by the conference for 2013-2014 (take notice of all the number of programs in major conferences below the $700K average):
Given these figures, it’s easy to understand why college sports programs have a difficult time locating and evaluating all of the talented high school student-athletes in the U.S and abroad. They simply do not have the resources to accomplish the task. This is even more evident if you compete in a sport outside of football and basketball.
Here are 3 steps to overcome the limits of college recruiting budgets:
Be properly evaluated and start targeting schools that match your athletic, academic, financial and geographic goals.
Don’t wait to be contacted by college coaches. Create an appropriate game plan to begin personally introducing yourself to coaches at proper fit schools.
Begin building and sustaining personal relationships with college coaches over an extended period of time in order to secure offers from best-fit schools.
Understanding the limitations of college programs to recruit high school student-athletes and executing a well thought out game plan may produce outstanding results in your goal of playing your sport in college.
Over the last five years, SportsForce has helped over 1,000 student-athletes and families successfully navigate the college recruiting and athletic scholarship process while saving families on average $50,000 in college expenses.
In the 1990’s, the surge of competitive youth sports and club teams exploded in the United States. Since that time, joining a competitive club team and attending showcase tournaments or camps have become the dominant choice of more serious middle school and high school student-athletes. The driving motivation is typically to improve their skill sets, compete year round and ultimately enhance their college recruiting opportunities.
Due to NCAA recruiting restrictions and minimal recruiting budgets, college coaches have relied heavily on the ability to evaluate student-athletes at large tournaments, showcases, camps and combines. For the past 20 years, most families of high school student-athletes, have (knowingly or unknowingly) aligned their approach to college recruiting with the club team and tournament experience to look like the model listed below:
Freshman Year: The student-athlete has a high level of passion and desire to excel in their chosen sport. They commit to spending additional hours on personal training and skill work, or hire a sport specific specialist to help. At this point, they have most likely already joined a club or travel team to compete outside of the high school season and are often attending numerous tournaments, camps, combines or showcases annually. As the year progresses, the student-athlete goes on to play for their high school team. The hope is that their improved skills and abilities catch the eyes of college coaches in attendance at one of their competitive events.
Sophomore Year: Repeat the process/cycle
Junior Year: Repeat the process/cycle
Senior Year: Repeat the process/cycle
The tragedy taking place today, is that most student-athletes and families are still following this outdated 1990’s approach to college recruiting, or what we call the “hope” strategy.
Why can this recruiting approach be so limiting and usually ineffective for the more than 8 million high school student-athletes in the U.S.?
The importance of joining a competitive club team or playing in appropriate tournaments is not in question here. They can greatly help to advance your son or daughter’s skills in the off-season, or possibly assist in being evaluated by a college coach at a large showcase event. The club team coach may even know a few college coaches they can call on behalf of your son or daughter to provide additional feedback.
However, the approach families take to college recruiting is being challenged in three key areas.
1.) First, most club teams simply do not possess all of the necessary tools, time or resources needed to personally mentor and guide each of its players over a two, three or even four year period, let alone helping them to secure and manage multiple offers.
2.) Second, the majority of parents do not understand how to effectively promote their son or daughter to right-fit college coaches and programs.
3.) Last, families are spending thousands and thousands of dollars each year to attend multiple ID camps, tournaments, showcases, or combines in the hopes of generating interest or “looks” from college coaches for their son or daughter with too often, little or no results.
Unfortunately, most parents don’t fully understand how coaches evaluate and recruit at these events. There are normally several hundred, or maybe over a thousand players in attendance at a showcase tournament and college coaches do not have the ability to scout every player.
John Wooden, former UCLA basketball coach and the creator of the Pyramid of Success is a huge inspiration to many coaches, players and parents across the world. Thinking about the college planning and recruiting process, it struck me to create a “Pyramid of College Recruiting Success” diagram. The purpose is to help make crystal clear what the different stages of the climb up the pyramid are, and the keys to its success.
This pyramid presents families and their student-athletes with the opportunity to begin taking more control over their college recruiting options and choices. The biggest difference between this approach and the one started in the 1990’s is the importance of creating a comprehensive college recruiting game plan. It should include specific goals and strategies that may ultimately help to generate multiple offers from best-fit schools. The initial target list schools should at least match your son or daughter’s athletic skills, academic abilities, potential playing time opportunities, academic goals/majors, school location/size, and financial budget (note: most scholarships are not full-rides).
The other major focus point is centered on the importance of the student-athlete taking the time to begin building and sustaining relationships with college coaches as early as possible. A student-athlete should be developing an ongoing and “personal” dialogue with 10-12 college coaches, or maybe more. As college coaches and student-athletes advance through the recruiting process together, it is only natural that some coaches will be more interested in certain players over others. The opposite also takes place as student-athletes begin to narrow their choices of schools/sports programs that best fits their needs. Too often, student-athletes make the fatal mistake of placing all of their recruiting focus and energy on one or two colleges, only to be left out entirely when offers are made because the coach recruited and offered a roster spot or scholarship to a different player.
One of the least efficient and most costly ways to being recruited is by attending all of the tournaments, camps and showcase events you hear about. That can be a very expensive and time consuming endeavor for your entire family. The goal, rather is to pinpoint those competitive events where your potential best-fit college coaches will be in attendance and to build a relationship with them prior to the event. Again it’s important to outline what a best-fit school and sports program looks like for your son or daughter. As previously mentioned above, these priorities should include things like: athletic and academic abilities, potential playing time, opportunity to turn professional in their sport (if desired or realistic), available majors, future career networking opportunities, location, size and potential financial obligations or savings.
It’s very important to ask yourself what your family’s college recruiting game plan is, and if it is clearly defined. Everything starts with an honest evaluation with where you and your child are in the process.
If done properly, this new approach could exponentially increase your son or daughter’s chances of being recruited and may ultimately help in securing multiple offers from their best-fit schools.
SportsForce is a College Recruiting Advisory Group based in San Diego, CA. Our entire team of college recruiting advisors dedicate their passion, time and attention to evaluating, educating and guiding qualified student-athletes and families through the college planning and recruiting process.
1. Why did you decide to sign with Southwest Baptist University?
I decided on Southwest Baptist because of how honest and straightforward Coach Martin was. He really made me feel welcome on my visits and made me feel like I could come in and make as big of an impact as I wanted to. Coach Martin works really hard to make SBU a great place to play, and I started feeling that vibe as soon as I met him.
2.Describe the excitement you feel about becoming a college student-athlete?
When I signed to play at Southwest Baptist, I was incredibly excited to be taking the next step in my baseball career. I had never really doubted that I had the ability to play ball somewhere, but I was ecstatic to find a place like SBU. I couldn’t wait for class to start so I could start working out with the team and Coach Martin.
3.What advice would you give to other athletes looking to get recruited?
The best advice I can give is to just make yourself somebody that you would want to coach. If you can make yourself presentable, I believe that you have a legitimate shot at being noticed. Be respectful when you meet a coach, even if they’re not interested in you, because who knows who they could be in contact with.
4.Who has been the biggest influence in your sports career and why?
The biggest influence in my sports career has probably been my Dad. He taught me baseball from a very early age. Without his guidance and knowledge, there is no way I would have had the opportunity to play at the collegiate level.
5.What would you like to accomplish during your college sports career?
My goals for my collegiate career would be to become the best I can be on the mound, and really make strides towards making the MLB draft. I am ready to work hard and do everything I can to realize my goals.
Over the last five years, SportsForce Recruiting has helped over 1,000 student-athletes and families successfully navigate the college recruiting and athletic scholarship process while saving families on average $50,000 in college expenses.
Many parents and student-athletes believe that once they receive a letter from a college coach they are being actively recruited. In reality these letters are apart of a large marketing process where college coaches send letters to hundreds and often thousands of other student-athletes and families across the country.
What does being actively recruited really mean?
Typically, being actively recruited means you are receiving PERSONAL emails or letters. It is important to realize the difference between a personal email from a coach and a mass marketed letter to thousands of students. Further, if you receive a call from a college coach after July 1st of your junior year, you are getting actively recruited. However, if you are a football or basketball player you can receive phone calls in April and May of your junior year. Families and student athletes must realize that just getting letters in the mail does not mean you are being actively recruited.
A SportsForce Story
One of our staff members, Nate Nelson who was the college recruiting coordinator for Stanford and Princeton’s football programs and played football at University of California at Davis (NCAA) fell victim to the actively recruited myth. Nate came out of San Diego and was a very solid football player in the class of 1997. He started getting letters from colleges as a sophomore and junior and thought he was for sure going to get recruited his senior year. Suddenly, his senior football season passed and he was left with nothing. No schools interested, no opportunities, and he had to scramble to find a school that would be a good fit for him.
Nate did receive letters from UCLA and USC his sophomore and junior years but their interest fell off. Bottom line, he wasn’t on their recruiting board. He was NEVERgetting actively recruited and was only getting marketed to by college programs. The school that he ended up going to was a Division 1-AA School called UC Davis. It did end up being the exact right fit for him athletically and academically. But, the stress that him and his family had to deal with because he was an unsigned senior is easily preventable.
You don’t want to fall into the same trap that thousands of families do each year during the college recruiting process.
Many parents and student-athletes believe that once they receive a letter from a college coach they are being actively recruited. In reality these letters are apart of a large marketing process where college coaches send letters to hundreds and often thousands of other student-athletes and families across the country.
WHAT DOES BEING ACTIVELY RECRUITED REALLY MEAN?
Typically, being actively recruited means you are receiving PERSONAL emails or letters. It is important to realize the difference between a personal email from a coach and a mass marketed letter to thousands of students.Further, if you receive a call from a college coach after July 1st of your junior year, you are getting actively recruited. However, if you are a football or basketball player you can receive phone calls in April and May of your junior year. Families and student athletes must realize that just getting letters in the mail does not mean you are being actively recruited.
A SPORTSFORCE STORY
One of our staff members, Nate Nelson who was the college recruiting coordinator for Stanford and Princeton’s football programs and played football at University of California at Davis (NCAA) fell victim to the actively recruited myth. Nate came out of San Diego and was a very solid football player in the class of 1997. He started getting letters from colleges as a sophomore and junior and thought he was for sure going to get recruited his senior year. Suddenly, his senior football season passed and he was left with nothing. No schools interested, no opportunities, and he had to scramble to find a school that would be a good fit for him.
Nate did receive letters from UCLA and USC his sophomore and junior years but their interest fell off. Bottom line, he wasn’t on their recruiting board. He was NEVERgetting actively recruited and was only getting marketed to by college programs. The school that he ended up going to was a Division 1-AA School called UC Davis. It did end up being the exact right fit for him athletically and academically. But, the stress that him and his family had to deal with because he was an unsigned senior is easily preventable.
You don’t want to fall into the same trap that thousands of families do each year during the college recruiting process.
Our
Many parents and student-athletes believe that once they receive a letter from a college coach they are being actively recruited. In reality these letters are apart of a large marketing process where college coaches send letters to hundreds and often thousands of other student-athletes and families across the country.
WHAT DOES BEING ACTIVELY RECRUITED REALLY MEAN?
Typically, being actively recruited means you are receiving PERSONAL emails or letters. It is important to realize the difference between a personal email from a coach and a mass marketed letter to thousands of students. Further, if you receive a call from a college coach after July 1st of your junior year, you are getting actively recruited. However, if you are a football or basketball player you can receive phone calls in April and May of your junior year. Families and student athletes must realize that just getting letters in the mail does not mean you are being actively recruited.
A SPORTSFORCE STORY
One of our staff members, Nate Nelson who was the college recruiting coordinator for Stanford and Princeton’s football programs and played football at University of California at Davis (NCAA) fell victim to the actively recruited myth. Nate came out of San Diego and was a very solid football player in the class of 1997. He started getting letters from colleges as a sophomore and junior and thought he was for sure going to get recruited his senior year. Suddenly, his senior football season passed and he was left with nothing. No schools interested, no opportunities, and he had to scramble to find a school that would be a good fit for him.
Nate did receive letters from UCLA and USC his sophomore and junior years but their interest fell off. Bottom line, he wasn’t on their recruiting board. He was NEVERgetting actively recruited and was only getting marketed to by college programs. The school that he ended up going to was a Division 1-AA School called UC Davis. It did end up being the exact right fit for him athletically and academically. But, the stress that him and his family had to deal with because he was an unsigned senior is easily preventable.
You don’t want to fall into the same trap that thousands of families do each year during the college recruiting process.
To get started today take advantage of our FREE 30 Day Trial.
If you have any questions or you would like to learn more about the college recruiting process and our custom highlight video packages contact one of our college recruiting experts at
To get started today take advantage of our FREE 30 Day Trial.
If you have any questions or you would like to learn more about the college recruiting process and our custom highlight video packages contact one of our college recruiting experts at
As the school year winds down, many students start to get a little tired and start looking pretty hard towards summer. High school seniors are so notorious for this that there is even a word for it: senioritis. Just because you’ve been accepted to a college and cleared for graduation is no reason to let your grades and academic and athletic performance slip. Read on for some tips to help you enjoy your senior year without tarnishing your record.
Avoid the Schedule: Gym, Lunch, Gym, Pottery
Don’t set yourself up for a lackluster semester by not challenging yourself. Sure, badminton can be challenging and so can making a clay pot, but how will these look on your transcript? There’s no reason not to take classes you have been looking forward to all high school in your senior year, just don’t let this be your entire course load. Keep yourself challenged to stay engaged and show colleges that you are a serious student. Consider taking and AP class if you have not already, if you work hard and pass the AP test for a certain subject, you’ve already taken care of some college credits.
Stay Engaged by Doing Things You Love
It’s easy to get bored senior year and try to forget about high school and look at your college years ahead, so find projects that will keep you engaged in your high school life. Working on the school newspaper or yearbook is a great way to do this. These will help you stay up to date and involved in your school. Also, just because you’re graduating doesn’t mean the school paper will stop going out, so being held to deadlines will keep you in the right frame of mind and keep you from slacking off. As a bonus this extracurricular activities are great experience as you build your resume.
Search Out Academic Options
In your final months of school, you may feel like you’ve got high school mastered. So why not take a college course or two early to challenge yourself and stay ahead of the game. Try the local community college for these classes. Many high schools will count this college course credit towards your high school credit and some schools even allow for early dismissal from regular hours to attend college courses. Check with your guidance counselor for your options, you may even be able to knock out a Gen Ed or two. Just make sure your future college will accept these credits, so you don’t end up taking the same class twice.
Stick with Sports, Even if Your Main Season is Over
If practice is the only thing getting you through your day as the school year winds down, then so be it. Just don’t let that fall to the wayside, too. Sports can be a great motivator to go to school, so even if you’re major season isn’t the spring stay involved with any spring sport as an incentive to go to school and stay in school those final days of your college career. Remember, colleges don’t stop looking at you once you’ve been accepted, that final transcript matters, so don’t tarnish it with senior skip days and sliding grades. Enjoy your senior year, just not too much!
Be sure to visit our Education Page for more resources for student-athletes and parents.
To get more advanced recruiting tips, strategies and advice, visit our website and sign up for our complimentary SportsForce College Recruiting Guide and updates below.
FREE sign up for SportsForce College Recruiting Guide:
Article courtesy of SportsForce, Home for professional College Sports Recruiting Profiles, Highlight Videos, Tips and Tools – www.sportsforceonline.com
As the school year winds down, many students start to get a little tired and start looking pretty hard towards summer. High school seniors are so notorious for this that there is even a word for it: senioritis. Just because you’ve been accepted to a college and cleared for graduation is no reason to let your grades and academic and athletic performance slip.Read on for some tips to help you enjoy your senior year without tarnishing your record.
Avoid the Schedule: Gym, Lunch, Gym, Pottery
Don’t set yourself up for a lackluster semester by not challenging yourself. Sure, badminton can be challenging and so can making a clay pot, but how will these look on your transcript? There’s no reason not to take classes you have been looking forward to all high school in your senior year, just don’t let this be your entire course load. Keep yourself challenged to stay engaged and show colleges that you are a serious student. Consider taking and AP class if you have not already, if you work hard and pass the AP test for a certain subject, you’ve already taken care of some college credits.
Stay Engaged by Doing Things You Love
It’s easy to get bored senior year and try to forget about high school and look at your college years ahead, so find projects that will keep you engaged in your high school life.Working on the school newspaper or yearbook is a great way to do this. These will help you stay up to date and involved in your school. Also, just because you’re graduating doesn’t mean the school paper will stop going out, so being held to deadlines will keep you in the right frame of mine and from slacking off. As a bonus this extracurricular activities are great experience as you build your resume.
Search Out Academic Options
In your final months of school, you may feel like you’ve got high school mastered. So why not take a college course or two early to challenge yourself and stay ahead of the game. Try the local community college for these classes. Many high schools will count this college source credit towards your high school credit and some schools even allow for early dismissal from regular hours to attend college courses. Check with your guidance counselor for your options, you may even be able to knock out a Gen Ed or two. Just make sure your future college will accept these credits, so you don’t end up taking the same class twice.
Stick with Sports, Even if You’re Main Season is Over
If practice is the only thing getting you through your day as the school year winds down, then so be it. Just don’t let that fall to the wayside, too. Sports can be a great motivator to go to school, so even if you’re major season isn’t the spring stay involved with any spring sport as an incentive to go to school and stay in school those final days of your college career. Remember, colleges don’t stop looking at you once you’ve been accepted, that final transcript matters, so don’t tarnish it with senior skip days and sliding grades. Enjoy your senior year, just not too much!
Be sure to visit our Education Page for more resources for student-athletes and parents.
To get more advanced recruiting tips, strategies and advice, visit our website and sign up for our complimentary SportsForce College Recruiting Guide and updates below.
FREE sign up for SportsForce College Recruiting Guide:
Article courtesy of SportsForce, Home for professional College Sports Recruiting Profiles, Highlight Videos, Tips and Tools – www.sportsforceonline.com
Over the summer we shared some tips on how to prevent athlete burn out. These tips may not have rung too true at the time, as many student-athletes do get a break over the summer. Now that you’re deep in the school year and the season, it’s time to check out those old tips and see below for few more.
1. LEARN TO RELAX: Life as an athlete is extremely busy and stressful. Slow down and take at least 15 minutes a day to relax; read a book, listen to some music, or write in a journal. You’ll find that taking a few minutes everyday to recharge your batteries will give you more energy to perform well on a daily basis.
2. FIND A BALANCE: Sports are time consuming and can easily become the single focus in your life. Force yourself to find a balance between sports, school, extracurricular activities, and a social life. This will help prevent you from getting both physically and mentally exhausted.
3. MORAL SUPPORT: You need support and encouragement to succeed in athletics. Make sure you have a parent, coach, or teammate who acknowledges your achievements and dedication to the sport, and who will encourage you to continually improve your game.
Be sure to visit our Education Page for more resources for student-athletes and parents.
The SportsForce blog reported on a story like this back in February, which you can see here, and SportsForce would to share an earlier article that extolled the virtues of athletics for girls. Bringham Young University concluded a study in 2007 that stated that playing high schools sports increase the chance of a woman graduating from college by 41 percent.
Playing on a high school team increases young women’s odds of graduating from college by 41 percent, according to recent BYU grad Kelly Troutman and her mentor, sociology professor Mikaela Dufur, who report their research in the new issue of the journal Youth & Society.
“If the goal is for girls to get a higher education, our findings favor the idea of girls playing high school sports,” said Dufur, who played in the marching band but did not play on any sports teams in high school. “Not only are girls good for sports, sports are good for girls.”
Beckett Broh, a sociologist at Wittenberg University in Ohio who is not affiliated with the BYU research, concluded in a 2002 study that athletics help students’ academic performance during high school more than any other extracurricular activity. Broh said school administrators facing tight budgets should take the new BYU study into consideration before putting an athletic program on the chopping block for the sake of cutting costs.
“This is pretty powerful evidence that interscholastic sports are worthy of our education dollars,” said Broh. “This is one of the first few studies that have done a really careful look at long-term benefits of sports.”
Troutman and Dufur analyzed a sample of 5,000 female students from the high school class of 1992 who were randomly selected to participate in the National Education Longitudinal Study. Those students, both athletes and non-athletes, completed surveys in 8th grade, 10th grade and 12th grade. Six years after finishing high school, the participants completed a final survey that included questions about post-high school education.
The 7th Annual SoCal Hoop Review was held April 10th and 11th at Cal State University Dominguez Hills and Lynwood High School in Lynwood, CA. The tournament was open to all high school grades including seniors. Both AAU teams and High School teams took the chance to compete.
The tournament showcased top talent from across the country and gave players a chance to show off their skills in highly competitive games in front of top college coaches, scouts, as well as media. Check out the highlight video below.
To visit the SportsForce Boys Basketball Home page click here.
the highlight video below. To visit the SportsForce Boys Basketball Home page click here.
Sport: Baseball Positions: Catcher Height: 6’3″ Class: 2010 School: Scripps Ranch High School San Diego, CA
Wynston Sawyer, batted .700 with two home runs and eight RBIs at the Lions Baseball Tournament this past weekend. This performance earned Wynston the recognition of being named the MVP of the 6A Division for the tournament. Wynston also contributed to the now 12-2 Scripps Ranch Falcons with two doubles, five walks, three stolen bases and six runs scored. To view Wynstons’s complete SportsForce profile click here – http://www.sportsforceonline.com/athletes/wsawyer
Scouting report courtesy of SportsForce – Home for college Sports Recruiting Videos, Tips, Tools and Premium Services – www.sportsforceonline.com
The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, announced on Friday that Corey Hawkins of Estrella Foothills High School is its 2009-10 Gatorade Arizona Boys Basketball Player of the Year.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Hawkins as Arizona’s best high school boys basketball player.
Hawkins is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March.
The 6-foot-3, 180-pound senior guard led the Wolves (31-1) to their third straight Class 3A state title this past season, averaging 36 points, 10.1 rebounds, 4.6 steals and 3.7 assists per game.
The returning Gatorade Arizona Boys Basketball Player of the Year finished his career as the state’s all-time career scoring leader with 3,154 points and also set the single-season scoring record with 1,152 points this winter.
The 2010 Arizona Republic Small Schools Player of the Year, Hawkins scored a season-high 65 points in a win over Chino Valley High on Feb. 2.
Hawkins has maintained a 3.14 GPA in the classroom. He has volunteered locally as a youth basketball camp counselor and participated in a humanitarian effort to collect and send shoes to earthquake victims in Haiti.
“Corey Hawkins has a work ethic unlike any player I’ve ever coached and he’s made himself one of the most complete basketball players in the state,” said Estrella Foothills High Head Coach Ty Amundsen. “He has made such an enormous impact on our team and on our program as a whole.”
Hawkins joins recent Gatorade Arizona Boys Basketball Players of the Year Taylor Rohde (2007-08, Pinnacle) and Jerryd Bayless (2006-07, St. Mary’s) among the state’s list of former award winners.
Hawkins has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball on scholarship at Arizona State University this fall.
