Should Coaches 'Swing for the Fences' and Recruit Next-Level Prospects?
And more importantly: How in the world can you land those recruits?
It’s a classic issue for college coaches at all levels:
Should I ‘swing for the fences’ and recruit prospects that might be out of my league on paper? And if so, how can I finally land one of these next level kids?
That’s what one coach email me about…
Of course, the answer to this big topic is imperfect, at best. But let’s deal with the core question: Should coaches even attempt to go after a next level athlete that might make a big difference in the program you coach? And, what are the strategies that have been working for coaches lately who love taking a good swing for the fence in their ongoing recruiting?
First, should it be attempted? Yes. For two key reasons:
No matter what level you coach in college, it usually only takes one or two next-level prospects to change the results in competition. In other words, you can lose 18 of the 20 next-level kids you recruit and end up with some incredible results.
What we just described shouldn’t prevent you from keeping a focus on your regular recruits that you would typically try to bring in. If you simply add the layer of more next-level prospects to the recruiting mix, you should get the core class you need.
The next big question is the how part. The good news is that we have two decades of research on seeing what connects best when it comes to swinging for the fences. Here are the important strategies we see working regularly that you might want to utilize as you try your best to get next-level prospects into your program:
Don’t act like you’re not the big time program you want to eventually be. This is important…if you frame yourself, through your actions and demands (or lack of demands), you will usually automatically be relegated to ‘back-up choice’ status. Doing
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