12 Ways to get Noticed by a Coach Part II
by Patosha Jeffery
In Part I, I gave you an overview of what recruiting is, what it means to play basketball at the next level, the different levels of college basketball. In part II, I want to talk to you about ways to get recruited. How do you put yourself in front of college coaches to be recruited? And so, what I’m going to do is break it down into three ways that you can get recruited.
3 Ways to Get Recruited
The three ways you can get recruited is to go to them, to go to the Internet, or to go to events. In today’s age, I’m telling you, there are so many opportunities out there for you to get in front of college coaches. Back when I played basketball, we did not have the Internet. There were not as many events going on that I can think of. AAU was extremely big, but now, there are so many other opportunities out there. And so, I want to break it down for you on how you can get in front of college basketball coaches, so you can begin to be recruited.
12 Ways to Get Noticed by a Coach Part I
By Patosha Jeffery
I’m fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to attend the University of Memphis on an athletic scholarship to play basketball. It’s funny because when I was entering high school, I did not know that this was even possible.
I was not focusing on going to college, it was just something that did not really enter my mind until I got to the high school level. And my high school coach told me, you know there’s a possibly you could get an athletic scholarship. During my sophomore year of school, I received my first letter. It was from Southern Illinois University. It just opened my mind to the possibilities that are out there.
I wanted to talk to you about the possibilities of playing college basketball.
What is recruiting?
One of the first things I want to talk about is recruiting. You hear about recruiting and being recruited. But what does that really mean? What does it really mean when a college coach is recruiting you. What is recruiting? Recruiting is the process of college coaches looking and finding qualified players to fill positions on their roster, or on their team.
How Recruiting Services assist Schools
Story from http://www.startribune.com
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Jerry Kill is no different than most college football coaches when it comes to receiving outside advice in recruiting. He wants to make his own evaluations, see things with his own eyes, formulate his own opinions.
“I’m going to make my own assessment of who I think is good and not good,” the Gophers coach said. “Some people say, ‘Well, that guy is a five-star guy.’ Well, who’s rating that five-star guy? I’d rather look at them myself.”
But many schools, including the Gophers, also rely on recruiting services to do some of the initial legwork, often at a hefty price. College programs devote a portion of their budget to purchase biographical information, videos and scouting reports on high school recruits around the country in an effort to crosscheck their own databases and save time in recruiting turf wars.
As the recruiting season inches toward the Feb. 1 signing day, coaches are focused more on finalizing classes than evaluating talent. But recruiting services operate year-round hoping to aid the process and, yes, make money.
Opinions vary among college coaches on the usefulness of recruiting services and their true benefit. That industry gained national attention this past year after the NCAA launched an investigation into Oregon’s involvement with Houston-based talent scout Willie Lyles.
The NCAA is investigating whether Oregon paid Lyles $25,000 for legitimate recruiting material or to steer high-profile recruits to the program, including running back Lache Seastrunk. Lyles had a mentoring relationship with several current and former Ducks players. The recruiting information Lyles provided Oregon reportedly was outdated.
“Here’s the problem with recruiting services: There are a lot of different entities in the industry that are lumped under this classification,” said Randy Rodgers, who owns a scouting service focused solely on Texas prep football.
Rodgers puts 30,000 miles a year on his pickup truck scouting talent across the state. He estimates that he visits 12 to 15 high schools each week to talk with coaches, watch practices and games and study videotape. He writes a one-page scouting report on prospects he evaluates — 743 total last year.
Rodgers offers just one of many scouting services that focus on a particular area of the country. The NCAA does not require recruiting services to be sanctioned or registered with the governing body, so it’s difficult to know exactly how many exist. The NCAA is considering a proposal that would require football and basketball recruiting/scouting services to be approved on an annual basis.
“It’s like anything else, common sense should prevail,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said before the 2011 season. “If something should cost $5 and a guy is charging $100, you might want to ask a couple of questions.”
