No New Facilities to Brag About? No Facilities Period!? Here's the Strategy:
Don't let 'nothing' prevent you from doing something with your prospects
Whether or not your stadium, field, pool, gym, locker room or anything else on campus actually looks like this doesn’t matter.
Sometimes, it feels like a non-stop losing battle when it comes to an outdated facility, or no facility at all.
And what makes it hard is that it actually feels like a double punch to the gut most of the time, once as you’re trying to compete in that facility during your season, and again when you’re hosting a recruit on campus…and figuring out how to hide them from the stuff you don’t want them to see.
Did I just describe your situation?
I’m not going to pretend it isn’t tough, or sugarcoat some kind of easy 1-2-3 solution to the problem. It goes way beyond what you and I can address here, obviously, and would involve your athletic director or other people on campus to find a solution. And even if that happens, it’ll likely be more than a year away.
So in the meantime, let me lay out a game plan that we’ve seen other coaches use to get over the significant hurdles you’re also facing.
First and foremost, remember: Recruits (and your team) are looking, watching and listening to see how you’re feeling about a facility.
You don’t have control of a lot when it comes to this topic, but you do have control of how you react to it. And talk about it. And explain it.
Why is it so important? Because when we’re forming our opinions on something, and we’re still somewhat undecided on what we think about it (like your facility, lack of on-campus facility, or old locker room), we wait for confirmation from someone in authority. Someone like you, Coach.
If you don’t like it, or apologize for it, or seem visibly upset or bothered by it, you’ve just told me everything I need to know about it. You’ve confirmed what I should also think about it, which in many cases isn’t what you’re aiming for. To put it simply, your recruits are listening to what you say, how you say it, and the body language that goes along with it.
So, how should you be approaching this recruiting hurdle?
Be upbeat and enthusiastic. Show them that you’re not embarrassed about where you call home, athletically. I’ll say it again: they’re watching.
Demonstrate transparency. Don’t hide a part of your athletic campus that you don’t want them to see. When you do this, three bad things are likely to happen:
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