While it is not my intention to provide you with a course on
comparative recruiting philosophies of different colleges, some
discussion of why colleges recruit is necessary. You need some
information about the basics of recruiting philosophy in order
to understand why and how the suggestions made in this guide
can help you achieve your athletic and academic goals.
Colleges offer athletic financial aid and other types of finan-
cial aid for many reasons, some more obvious than others.
Many big-time Division I programs offer “full-ride” athletic
scholarships for the most obvious reason: money. These pro-
grams sign and enroll “blue-chip” student athletes so that they
can have powerful, winning programs.
Generally, powerful, winning programs in Division I foot-
ball and basketball generate substantial revenue for their
institutions. Very few other programs generate enough rev-
enue to even be self-sustaining and are subsidized by the
institution itself. However, most other colleges want to have
winning programs, too, but they have additional reasons for
recruiting student athletes and offering financial aid based
on athletic ability.
Even though coaches may be from programs that are not as
powerful, they too must recruit as hard and as smart as they
chapter 2
Recruiting and
Financial Aid