“Generosity consists not of the sum given, but the manner in which it is bestowed.” -Mahatma Gandhi
Before I get into the heart of this week’s blog, I want to add a heavy dose of context first. I have been coaching at the college level for the better part of 27 years, and when I haven’t been coaching at the college level, I have been working with college coaches to help them find the right kids for their respective rosters. With that said, I would say that 75% of the college coaches I have encountered over the years live their lives and professions under the umbrella of the quote above. Most coaches are tremendously giving people with huge hearts and a great compassion for the human spirit. Their purpose is always to help and never to harm.
I know how hard it is to be a college coach. I know there are not enough hours in the day or days in the week (or financial support) that enables all that needs to be done to run a program the way college coaches want their programs run. I also know that most parents do not often think about the families of college coaches or the often miniscule salaries most are receiving to do a job that would require 2-3 times the income compared to similar leadership positions outside of higher education.
I am not writing today as a coach or scout or adviser. I am writing today as a parent. My hope is that I can help all of the outstanding coaches throughout the country to take a deep breath and better understand the compassion needed by the teenagers in the world who desperately want their time, evaluation, feedback and honesty.
I know most small college coaches are getting 20-30 emails from interested recruits each week. The big schools may get 10 times that number. It’s the reason why the foundation of my coaching practice and the first 2 chapters of my book begin with commitment and a recruit understanding their personal reality. Parents and recruits need to have compassion for college coaches as much as they want that compassion reciprocated. For example, if your child is a 5’6” volleyball Outside Hitter, you really shouldn’t be wasting the time of the coaching staff at a major D1 progam. You are a minimum of 5 inches short of the size they would even begin to consider.
But I digress. College Coaches: I am imploring you to take a day with your staff to put a simple strategy in place (if one is not already there) to decide how you want your “generosity bestowed”, and in the big picture, how you want your program perceived.
What is your plan when a student-athlete sends you a letter or an email of interest? What is your response time when a potential recruit leaves you a voice mail? Who is responsible for replying to those emails and responding to those voice mails? What is the message you want to provide? And, most importantly, what would you have liked to have received when you were 16 years old after you mustered up the courage to reach out to a college coach to see if they might be interested in you?
As a parent, all I am asking is for your staff to put a few minutes into thinking about the kid who spent hours cutting and editing their game films, writing, editing and re-writing the perfect email to introduce themselves, and then the time waiting, hoping, wishing that you will respond with anything that resembles an honest evaluation and feedback.
Can you designate an assistant (or 2 or 3 for you big schools) to respond to every kid? Can someone take 3 minutes to write back and say “Johnny, thank you for your interest in our program. I’ve watched your film, and you play with the attitude and toughness that we love to see out of high school prospects. However, as a 5’10” and 180 lb Linebacker, you are physically much smaller and lacking the elite athleticism we need at our level. We encourage you to continue to fight to reach your dream of playing in college. We think you would be a great fit at the NCAA D3 or NAIA level. We wish you all the best of luck!”
I timed myself writing that email. It took me 1 minute and 35 seconds to write. If I watched 2 minutes of the young man’s film and quickly realized that he didn’t have what we needed, I would have spent less than 5 minutes to give this young man what he needed (honesty!) more than anything else. He now understands his reality. He now can tell everyone that a major program responded to him and gave him feedback that he could play college ball, AND, he feels nothing but positivity about your program.
And for you small school coaches who get a small percentage of the emails and phone calls that the D1s get, I implore you to stop replying to a recruit’s email with a 2000 word generic essay about how great your University is. Please stop replying with a generic camp invite without even watching the kid’s film or reviewing their grades. That camp invite makes them think that you really like them and want them to visit. What families should understand is that you just want their $300 to come to the camp. Prove them and me wrong.
If you want a family to come up with $300 to come to your camp, please take 2 minutes and watch their film and review their grades. Send them an email like this:
“Hey Jennifer! Thanks fo your interest in our softball program. I really love your ability to hit to all fields, and you have a great jump on fly balls as an outfielder. I think you definitely have the ability to play at our level. However, we are presently not recruiting outfielders in your class, but we never know when we are going to need another player. We’d love for you to come to our upcoming camp, so we can work with you directly to get to know you better. We hope to see you this summer! Good luck in your search!”
As college coaches, we get so caught up in winning that we often forget about the humanity of our responsibilities. We forget what we felt like at that age and how scared and overwhelmed we were. You don’t have to find extra hours or days in the week, but you do need a plan. Could your assistant coach take 2 hours once per week to watch a little film and respond to every recruit who has emailed or called since the previous week? I bet if you are honest with yourself, you would agree that this is more than do-able and a huge boost to your personal and program credibility.
If you are struggling to manage all of this and organize your recruitment in a way that makes sense, please give me a call or shoot me an email. I consult with college coaches and athletic departments all the time. I promise to build you an efficient strategy that works for you and your staff to be compassionate in the window of time that you have available. The key is simply finding a way to represent yourself in a responsible way in order to respond to ALL inquiring recruits while also being able to sleep at night!
Enjoying these blogs? Want to schedule a free 30-minute coaching assessment with Coach Rogers? You can do so here: https://www.significantcoaching.net/
Interested in Coach Rogers’ Book on College Recruiting? You can find it here: https://bit.ly/Matt-Rogers-Significant-Recruiting-Amazon
