Dear Parent(s),
I would like to take a minute to address a growing concern with you – recruiting services. I have coached at the collegiate level for 20 years (serving as a Recruiting Coordinator for 10 of those years) at every level except FCS and now coach at the high school level. I believe this gives me a “special” insight as to what I’d like you, the parents, to understand regarding “recruiting services” as I have been on both ends of this topic. For the sake of time I will just touch on the main points.
Here are some of the things they will tell you:
-Your son is the best and should be receiving lots of interest from colleges.
-We will set up a “conference call” with our resident expert (insert which position your son plays here) coach.
-Your sons high school coach isn’t doing anything to help your son get a scholarship offer.
-If you don’t act now and pay us for our amazing services your kid will be losing out on an all important opportunity to help him reach the NFL.
-We can even break up the payment into low monthly installments to make it more affordable.
-If you don’t take advantage of this tremendous opportunity, you are a terrible parent.
-We even offer regional combines to test your son and, if he’s good enough and you have the money he can be “invited” to attend our national combines!
-We will get your name and info out to every college coach in the United States.
Here is what will actually happen:
-The recruiting service will send out a mass email to college coaches that will have a link to your film attached (Something you can do for FREE).
-The college coach will promptly DELETE any and all “junk” mail from said recruiting service. (As a college coach I never looked at anything from a recruiting service nor did any other college coach I knew).
-Not only is your high school coach working very hard to get your kid looked at if he’s good enough, but college coaches will usually ONLY listen to high school coaches regarding a kid’s ability.
-No college coach looks at any testing results unless they were there themselves, and college coaches don’t go to recruiting service combines. They have their own camps, at their own schools, with their own testing.
-The money you spend on a recruiting service, their combine, and other nonsense can be better spent by putting into a savings account to help with your sons’ college costs. Or better yet, get your son a tutor for whichever academic subject he needs to improve his grade or score in.
Finally, as a recruiting coordinator the first thing I always told a kid and his parents was to NOT spend any money on a recruiting service. They could craft an informative e-mail with their sons academic and athletic info, a link to their 3-4 minute highlight film and their best game. Remember to include contact info for themselves and their high school coach. Its as simple as that! How much did that cost you?
I hope this letter has helped to at least give you something to think about before considering whether or not to pay for a recruiting service.
Thank you for your time.