You ask any of the top college football programs in the country about recruiting and they will tell you in a heartbeat that they would much rather deal with the high school coach or the parents of a prospect than the street agent, 7-on-7 coach or the “uncle” who really isn’t the uncle.
There was a time when a college football coach looking to recruit a prospect would call or visit the high school coach for information on the recruit. More and more these days, the first call to get info is going to a 3rd party who may not always have the best intentions. Third party operations have been existence for quite some time. When I was coming up there was the magazine called Super Preps that would rank recruits. There was also Parade Magazine, Blue Chips, etc. Those publications would provide pertinent information on recruits and tell you where they were located. However, the college coach looking to recruit the player still needed to call the high school coach to recruit the kid. Nowadays, your “street agent” will work it where they are the only contact if you want to get to the kid and some of them will bill you like a law firm. It’s a money making venture for the 3rd party and the player is sold off to the highest bidder. This is not a good look for college football recruiting.
I have spoken to colleges who will flat out avoid a certain area of the country because of the proliferation of street agents in that area. Some have taken a stand against those types but how long can they last doing that?
The major reason that street agents have multiplied like locust is because high school football coaches have not grown with the recruiting game. Many high school coaches simply feel like helping their athlete with recruiting is not their responsibility. They are under the false impression that if the kid is good they will be found or that there are so many companies out there willing to take the responsibility of recruiting over that I don’t have to get involved. This is where the mistake is made.
As the high school coach, you are the mentor for the player. You are the example. For a lot of the athletes you represent the only constant male figure in their lives. When you turn a blind eye or give less than your best effort to help them achieve their dreams you open the door for disaster. It is, for lack of a better term, a modern day “pimp and hoe” situation. If you aren’t telling your daughter how pretty she is, how valuable she is, how much she is worth then you run the risk of some unsavory character taking over when he’s willing to tell her those things.
High school coaches ignoring the recruiting game run the risk of losing their players to the street agents and third parties that call the shots for your athlete that is playing for you. Why? Because that street agent is doing YOUR JOB. Yes, recruiting is your job. It’s more now than just waiting for the school to call you and then talking to them. High school coaches have to be proactive. Reach out to the colleges. Use quality third parties to achieve this when necessary. Gather, maintain and manage the information on who is recruiting your athletes. Make it your job. If you are too busy, assign the job to a coach or staff helper. Whatever you do, don’t just ignore it.
Failing to assist your athlete with recruiting screams loudly “I don’t really care about you”. What is a teenager other than a bundle of dreams. If they want to play college football, you should do everything in your power to try and make that happen. If they can run your 110’s, push your sled, hit in your Oklahoma drill, get up for your 5:30 AM practices so that you can shine on Friday Night then you better be willing to go the extra mile to secure them an education. Ignore this information and open the door for the street agent to make all of the decisions regarding that athlete. That can range from staying out of practice, missing a workout to no longer attending your school.
Chad Wilson is a college football recruiting expert and creator of the GridironStudsApp which allows high school football players to gain exposure to college football coaches and fans. Wilson is a former college football player for the University of Miami (92-94) and Long Beach St. (’90-’91) and played briefly for the Seattle Seahawks (’95). He is also a former youth and high school football coach for over 15 years most recently for 5-A State of Florida Champs American Heritage. He runs All Eyes DB Camp a defensive back training company located in South Florida IG: @alleyesdbcamp. Wilson’s oldest son Quincy plays in the NFL for the New York Giants and his younger son plays cornerback for the Arizona Cardinals.
Interested in hearing what coaches, players, parents and scouting companies have to say about this.
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I think your article was a real cheapshot at services like the one I represent
that has continually satisfied it student athletes and parents.To use words like pimps, Hoes
etc. as a blanket description for all recruiting services with one slight
reference that there may be a suitable 3rd party service after 90 % of your
article did everything but label scouting services as criminals.Have you ever
spoken to a high school coach that isnt actually lazy but just doesnt have
contacts or he may be a coach that has too many responsibilities such as
coaches more than one sport,teaches has a family .Sometimes a coach that hasnt
had a lot of success on the field are a little reluctant to converse and send
film highlighting his own shortcomings and play calling with a successful
program.What I see too much of is a high school coach that has a player with
Div.1 or 1AA Potential but his contacts and comfort zone is primarily with DII
and NAIA programs .Take a Guess on the div.level the coach limited contacts tells the prospect he’s most
suited for.Some of these coaches would rather the prospect take the offer that he
put in place even if it is beneath the players skill level and academic goals
rather than have an outside person whos has only known the player for a short
time come in from out of nowhere and has better options for his player that he has known for 4 yrs.This is common because
we talk with college coaches all day long and I have list already with what
these coaches are looking for and I know as soon as I see enough footage who
will fit where.Its not rocket science but when you focus on one thing all day
regardless of what field it is you will have more contacts than someone who can
only devote partial time to the same thing.Why not have someone like this on
your side.Some of the coaches that we deal with that are comfortable with
themselves and dont let ego get into the picture will say “you guys do what you
can and I will do what I can on my end and hopefully we will get him the offer
he deserves.” It doesnt have to be so either or .I have had contact with high school coaches that have told me “I have never had a player like this one we are in a small town most of our players have been NAIA or DIII caliber can you watch this film and tell me if you think this kid could get a Missouri Valley or OVC offer ” and the opposite has happened also where a H.S. coach says “normally all of our players are full qualifiers and go on to 4 yr schools but this one needs Junior college or something do you know anyone at a juco ? ” sometimes the kid is close enough to where juco is killing a fly with a sledge hammer maybe prep school from July to Dec is the answer .The coaches who put ego aside for the athletes benefit works very well.We cross reference schools with
these coaches to make sure we arent going after the same schools and this will
double the exposure with the athlete.Whats wrong with that.This process is far
removed from anything remotely close to prostitution as you referenced .If you
know of someone deserving of that type of reputation why dont you just state
their offenses and give us their names instead of strongly implying that
everyone that connects players with coaches is some kind of predator.I doubt you
will publish but I would atleast like a response from you. Thanks
Tim, I appreciate your comments. First, you should realize that Gridironstuds.com, in effect, is a recruiting service. So, with that in mind, I would not write an article discrediting all recruiting services. The purpose of the article was to draw attention to high school coaches who do nothing to help their kids go off to college and continuing play football. You and I both know that there are quite a few coaches out there that are like this. Coaches like this allow “street agent” types to come in and take over their athletes because they are doing a job that a high school coach should be doing. Also, I coach high school football and I am not going to listen to the argument that a coach has too many other things to do than to worry about getting his players recruited. You have to make time for it and if it’s too much for you, assign the duties to an assistant coach or student trainer. Just don’t tell me you are going to do nothing. I offer a service here for high school coaches to build up their college coaching contacts and you would be surprised how many of them blow it off like they have better things to do. Those guys are the first ones complaining when the school down the street ends up with their players. Chances are that school is getting their kids recruited and your former player took control of his future and went where there was a better opportunity for himself. High school coaches can ignore the recruiting game if they want to but they will pay the prices for it.
I did say in my article that high school coaches should also connect with “reputable 3rd party” recruiting services. I certainly did not label all recruiting services as pimps. There are good and bad in every industry. However, “street agents” flourish because high school coaches are not proactive enough with their college football recruiting duties.
I appreciate your response. When a coach says he doesnt have time most I realize that most part that may not really be the case but I have dealt with a few of them that I felt had too much going on to do a thorough job and this isnt something that should be done a little when you have some time.If I were a parent of an athlete that was about the be the asst coaches recruiting experiment.I would definitely be looking for a 3rd party source but if I read this article of yours without having gone thru this process before I certainly would have felt that going to an outside source would be something that was more likely end in serious problems maybe even worse than my son not being recruited at all.In My opinion I just thought that there was so much more emphasis on a a few of these shady characters that were dealing with some very exceptional athletes that I am sure were known to all DI coaches prior to making headlines for recruiting violations.I wouldnt surprised me if some of the high profile players that made these headlines probably passed on their high school coaches advice and input but were lured in by some promise from a street agent.If so that is something that the parents needed to be more involved with.Very few student athletes will even warrant this type of involvement that this article spoke about but I can see were would give parents cold feet about reaching out to a 3rd party .You are spot on about coaches will have their players moving on to the high school who has a track record of putting his players in college.Maybe some coaches who see this article will consider reaching out for help if they dont have contacts,time or motivation.
Regards Tim Dickens