This newsletter is being sent to 50 individuals this week!
This is specific to small-college programs (Division III enrollment driven private institutions) that I wrote about back in April.
Part 1 - Lessons Learned
After spending 12 years coaching NCAA Division III athletic programs, I thought now would be a good time to relay some lessons learned.
Being out of the game for almost five seasons has given me a chance to reflect on what I learned, did well and could have done better.
Handwritten notes should be a staple of your recruitment process
Students don't use email, but parents do
Connections are the game in life and same goes in recruiting
Being early in recruiting is much better than being late
Sometimes your path gets derailed but still show-up (example: hitting deer on the way to a recruit’s game goes a long way if you still make it there)
One of your helpful clues in recruiting will be where/if their parents went to college and where their siblings went
First generation college students and their families are going to need time to process things
Does their family have relatives who competed in college athletics? (grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc)
Younger siblings who play the same sports will likely be as good if not more talented than the older sibling
Elite camps serve multiple purposes (getting them to campus, see them work out, bounce back possibilities if they transfer)
Make sure they like your institution as much as you like them
If their high school facilities are much better than yours, you're going to struggle to land them
Recruit two at same position so you don't miss
If a recruit is scared of who you're bringing in, they're probably not the right fit
It always helps to be on the road (constantly collecting clues like a private investigator)
Size doesn’t matter…if you can play…you can play
Multi-sport athletes always have a higher ceiling
Dual sport athletes won’t work long-term on-campus
Who else is recruiting them?
If they will not visit or apply, move along as quickly as you can
Do they like being recruited and are you enabling it by wasting your budget?
Deadlines are important…wish I knew this sooner
Recruit from veteran coaches, former college players and winning programs at the high school level
Did their head coach play in college and if so, where?
Role players on consistently ranked high school teams add a ton of value
People don't change (character, grades, attendance, work ethic, etc)
Stay within a 3 to 6 hour radius from campus unless you're in the middle of absolute nowhere
Always helps to land recruits where some of your further conference games are at (support in the stands at road games)
If your recruit is gluten free and your cafeteria doesn't offer it, you're out
Don't overthink what your recruit's parents are thinking
Projecting their ceiling is important but what's the floor?
Make sure to talk to them after the game even if their career ends in the most heartbreaking fashion
Always leave on good terms, because you might end up working with them on a staff or team down the road
Double check the time of the recruit's game - Even though you showed up correctly to 200+ games over 8 years, you look like an idiot when you drove three hours away and the game started at 5pm and not 7pm
A program defining win doesn't mean that you will land the recruit who was in the stands
If you take a poor student academically, you better have a process in place for them to succeed
Many kids can play at Division III
Show them the locker room even if it's not your best attribute on-campus
You aren't going to land every recruit
Take time to look back each year on how you can better your process
Episode #91 - Chris Kreider
Chris Kreider’s journey from humble beginnings playing at Lebanon Valley College to his current role as an assistant at Georgia Tech. This episode offers insights into growth, adaptability and family balance. His Division I stops at Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern, George Mason, VMI, Rice, Georgia State and SMU. He has also coached high school, NAIA and NCAA Division II. He has worked for Paul Hewitt, Dan Earl, Scott Pera and Rob Lanier at the Division I level. Topics include: job transition, importance of family, networking, leveraging technology, working at a military institution and much more!
Episode #92 - Jarod Dodson
Coach Jarod Dodson’s football coaching journey spans spending time at Division III, Division II, Division I (FCS and FBS). He talks about his time at South Dakota, Michigan Tech, Buffalo, Old Dominion, South Dakota School of Mines, Alfred State, St. Thomas (MN) and now as the offensive coordinator and associate head coach at Stetson. He talks about Midwest culture, being let go at Alfred State, relationship building, family, transition of divisions, Turner Gill and Lance Leipold at Buffalo, self-growth, honesty and much more!
Book Review
(2012)
Costs money to promote your brand
Great brands are truthful and honest reflections of who they really are
Leaving the tour in the hands of a college student that is trying to convince the high schooler and their nervous parents that this $120,000 school over four years is a certainly a choice
Rethink your website, is it actually speaking to prospective students? If not, you’re doing it wrong
Higher education uses similar cliche taglines…all viewbooks look the same…all bookstore hoodies are the same
Don’t lie to kids in your brochures
Stories about your campus must be consistent (staff, faculty, students, alumni, community)
“In the corporate world, good companies hire the right people and fire the wrong ones. Universities, however, have thrived for centuries by bringing different viewpoints together to spark discussion. Everyone thinks their way is the best way, but if an individual is not being completely honest about the mission of the school in order to further his or her own goals, he or she is essentially lying to kids and stealing their tuition before the kids ultimately drop out.”
Instead of looking to improve your school rankings, figure out a way to improve how people perceive you
“If a school is really good at what they do, its alumni will be fulfilled 10, 20, 30 years after graduation. Isn’t that the ultimate measure of a school’s success?”
How do you communicate with each audience?
Messaging: Personal attention for students, mentoring for parents
Alumni: young alumni, infrequent donors, lapsed donors, big money folks, major donors
Unique Selling Proposition (USP): What would you tell someone about your school if you only had 15 seconds? AKA what makes your school special?
Don’t change your logo just because you can, many other important pieces to the puzzle
Focus on the story behind the person, don’t focus on people
Four-part junior mailing using empathy: High school students under constant pressure to make a decision
Don’t have to be on every social media platform, outdated socials are the worst
Worth Your Time
Adam Breneman does a great job covering the college football landscape. He is a color analyst for CBS Sports and is a former player and college coach. Each offseason he sits down with a ton of college programs. This was a good episode. Coach Rhett Lashlee (SMU Head Coach) is under the radar compared to most Division I coaches and programs.
Fired Coaches Podcast started in May 2020. The podcast interviews coaches, scouts, media and others connected to the sports world that fell from the mountaintop. They were either fired, resigned or told that their contract would not be renewed. Level does not matter. The story does.