college athletic programs and the influence on college admin-
istrators that those donations create. Booster donors can be
found influencing institutions at every division level. Some
may say the foregoing is an exaggeration. The truth is, it’s
not. Because recruiting is so intense, vicious, and unfair, many
people get hurt along the way. It is unlikely that any coach
intentionally hurts a prospect, yet because of the mechanics of
the recruiting process and the high stakes involved, prospects
and their families get hurt.
As an example, if a coach follows the three to four prospects
for every position recommendation of Dave Kaplan’s Ultimate
Recruiting Seminar, a multi-day seminar designed to train col-
lege recruiters of high-school prospects, three of four prospects
for every recruited position are being strung along. I confess
that during the recruiting year 1998–1999, I strung along four
athletes while my number one choice considered which of
many offers she would accept. She accepted our program’s
offer late into the recruiting season. I then had to call the oth-
ers to tell them the bad news. You can imagine the response to
my apology and my offer that the prospect could walk on and
that I’d try to get them athletic aid the next year. Although
she and one of the other prospects that did walk on became
great friends, my ears continue to ring.
The Truth Is: You Are entering a high-Stakes
Contest Where Only the Opposition Knows
the Rules
You need to learn and effectively use the rules to provide your-
self a chance to win the recruiting contest. Can you imagine
participating in a game (infinitely more important than any
state championship) with unknown, non-understandable rules
Understanding the Recruiting Process 11