3 Common Recruiting Questions From Coaches

Are any of these something you've been trying to solve in your recruiting?

I love answering specific coaching questions for the people who read our information, listen to our podcast, or see us present at a coaches convention they attend. One of the things that’s challenging in those settings is to put out information that can apply to as many coaches as possible, without being able to answer specific questions easily for anyone who has specific follow-up questions.

(Quick side note: You can always reach out and ask me questions at any time at dan@dantudor.com)

But once in a while, you get questions where you’re able to do both - which is what happened recently when a Division III coaching intern and student-athlete reached out with a set of really good questions stemming from a talk I did at the national track and field coaches convention in 2023 (and by the way, I’m looking forward to the chance to do two talks there again this year in December 2024!)

I think his questions will spark some interest for you, and maybe give you some clarity on how you should approach each of these situations when they arise in your upcoming recruiting battles:

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“As a Division III program, how do we try and sway some of the better athletes in the state to choose D3 over some of the mid major D1’s in the state?” 

First of all, I’m a competitor. To a fault. I’ll compete in anything. Once, as 20-something year old man on a trip to the mountains, came up with “Roof Football”, a one on one competition where one player throws a nerf football up onto a slanted roof, and the other player has to catch it as it careens off the roof at high speed and unpredictable bounces. If you catch it, it’s 2 points. If you miss it, you lose a point. First person to 21 wins. At airports, I’ll skip the moving walkway, pick out a person halfway to the end, and try to walk fast just to beat them before they get to the end. Darts, juggling, pie-eating contests…I’ve competed in them all.

And, in my professional life now, I still love to compete. And one of my favorite things to do is to help our underdog clients beat a bigger or more successful school for a prospect.

So, what’s the best strategy for a coach who wants to compete for those types of prospects?

1. First and foremost, you’d better be consistent. I realize that for some of you who are clients or have had us on-campus for a workshop, this advice is something you’ve heard before.  But let me underscore the importance of a consistent message when you are competing with a big name rival:  We find in tracking the interest levels of recruits being contacted by a variety of programs – large and small, big-name and no-name – if a smaller, lesser known program is more consistent than their bigger rivals, that program has an excellent chance of competing for, and winning, that recruit.  Consistency proves that you are serious about them in the most tangible way possible, through regular emails and printed physical letters. Even if they don’t read your materials right from the start, they’re noticing that you are contacting them regularly.  And over time, that will make a difference in how they view you versus a larger competitor.

2. Act like a big dog. This one is tough for a lot of coaches at smaller or lesser-known schools, mainly because it involves a little big of acting.  One of the things that most prospects are looking for from a smaller, lesser-known college program is confidence.  If you as their potential coach aren’t confident on the question of why they should take you as seriously as a big name school they’re looking at, we find that this generation of recruits will sense that weakness and almost immediately relegate you to second tier status.  However, if you jump in and confidently and somewhat aggressively lay out the reasons they should pay attention to you, and develop a plan of action for them to follow as the recruiting process starts, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the results.

3. Explain why being the smaller name is the smarter choice. One of the critical elements that you will need to address as a college recruiter is explaining to your recruit why you, as the smaller, lesser-known college or program, is going to be the smarter choice for them.  That line of reasoning could be based on anything that would make sense to build a case around at your college: The academic reputation at your school, the more personalized coaching they’ll receive from you…whatever makes the most sense for you to stress to your recruit.  The point is, it needs to be something.  Your prospect, who is considering a bigger name school and has probably already assigned their “story” to that competing program, needs a logical reason about why they should keep you in the game.  Fail to give that to them, and watch how hard it is to get their attention later in the process.

4. Start early.  As early as possible.  Smaller, lesser-known colleges should make a point of targeting prospects as early as possible for two reasons.  First, recruiting at higher levels is happening earlier and earlier, so you don’t want to be late to the game.  And second, you’ll get the chance to define yourself before some of your larger competitors begin the process.  In both instances, we’ve seen that approach work for the coaches we serve.

Being a coach at a smaller, lesser-known “name” school - or at a division level that isn’t equal to the one you coach at - isn’t an automatic loss.  Far from it.  These four principles, executed with passion and creativity, can bring great prospects to your roster.  We’ve seen it happen over and over, and have watched these strategies work for the coaches that have implemented them.

“We have a special scholarship grant on our campus, where if your family makes under a certain amount after taxes, we give them free tuition. How do we bring that up, without being insensitive to the families living situations or income status?”

One of the toughest things for coaches to talk about with their prospects is money.

And yet, one of the consistent things we’ve learned in some of our recent research with student-athletes who just went through the recruiting process is that they and their parents put “talking about money and paying for college” at or near the top of their list when it comes to what they want to hear from a coach about. So, don’t worry about offending them by bringing up the topic. Unless you’re awarding athletic scholarships that’ll result in a free college education, money is a topic that has to be addressed (especially, in this coach’s case, when it could mean qualifying for a free college education at a non-D1 school!)

The key aspect of this part of the recruiting process is having the conversation as early in the process as possible, with both the prospect and especially with the parents. I know that’s not always the most comfortable conversation to have, but it’s important to do it, Coach.

Two reasons why:

1. It reveals whether or not your prospect/parent is someone you should be recruiting. If they balk at your offer, or what the net price calculator is telling them they’ll need to pay to come to your campus, it should raise a serious red flag for you. (Most coaches never bring this up, or wait until the end, which rarely works out well).

2. It gives them time to come to terms with why they should want to take your offer. The more time we have to think about buying something substantial (like a college education), the more we tend to justify the expense.

In short, this is a process of being a guide vs. a salesperson in the recruiting process. They are looking for someone to guide them, and they’ll respond favorably if you’re the one who steps up and helps them.

We’ve written a lot more about all of the different facets of money and recruiting here.

“As a coach, how do we get into the recruiting battle if we get a late start on an athlete because of a coaching change?”

O.K., that’s a very specific question…