Category Archives: Helping yourself

Email of the Day: Communicating with College Coaches

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Most parents are uncomfortable trying to initiate recruiting communication with college coaches. Few do it well. Here’s a good example of an appropriate inquiry from parents and a well-written, honest, no BS response from a D1 coach. (If you’re curious, the coach responded in two days, which is more than appropriate.)

 

Dear Coach Smith,

Our daughter is Ophelia Harris and she would like to play for you.  She is a rising junior at West High School located here in Monroe Tennessee.  We are naïve to the process so we are soliciting you directly for guidance, direction and interest on how we might possibly move forward.  My wife and I hope this is not inappropriate.

Brief background: Ophelia is attending West HS because of academics.  For 2020 US News and World Report currently ranks West at 13 th in National Rankings.  She currently is carrying at or near a 4.0 GPA.  Humbly, she is very athletic.  Her formal basketball training is very new compared to her peers.  Her early athletic pursuits were focused on figure skating and have since transitioned to basketball.  Her basketball pursuit is currently represented by individual personal training, High School team and AAU teams.

We have attached a brief ‘Hudl Video’ from some of her high school games from the abbreviated 2020-2021 season which all are in agreement was a very challenging COVID season for all.

Again, my wife and I are attempting to drive a process we are unfamiliar with so reaching-out to you directly.  We are for certain you are very busy.  As your schedule permits, if you would be so kind to provide your feedback it would be most welcomed as deemed appropriate.

Thank you in advance for your generous response.

 

With kindest regards,

George & Astelle Harris

 

 

Mr. Harris,

Thank you for reaching out, and thanks for your patience in my response. According to NCAA rule, I am not allowed to engage with prospects or their parents via email once they enter high school up until September 1st entering their Junior year. However, I understand how difficult this process is, and I want to help you with as much information as I can without commenting specifically on Ophelia’s talent as it relates to Eastern State University (trying to stay as compliant as possible). Anyway, I truly commend you to wanting to help your daughter and for seeking help in that regard.

For some background, I’ve coached at the DI, DII and DIII levels. They are all very different. Right now, is the perfect time to begin to think about Ophelia’s recruitment as mid-major DIs and lower are just now developing their lists for her age group. As she is still a sophomore, this will be a big spring and summer for her where she will begin being evaluated and eventually recruited. Right now, though, the goal is to just get her on programs’ radars. I’d start by compiling a highlight tape, which you’ve done. I’d then have a link to a full game film that you think most appropriately shows her skill set. Lastly, I’d get her season statistics from her high school head coach. After that, I’d target programs of interest and I’d shoot them emails, attaching my summer schedule and contact numbers for the high school and/or AAU coach. I’d also encourage you to ask Ophelia’s high school and AAU coach to essentially do the same things. Tip: address each coach individually and send one email per recipient, it makes it feel more authentic and often is a separator for prospects. In addition to those things, I do think it helps to go to the Elite Camps of the programs that she is interested in. Unfortunately, due to COVID, I’m not sure how many of those opportunities there will be this year.

As far as evaluating Ophelia, from her highlight tape I can tell that her motor seems very high, she seems to play very hard and is very athletic. Based on her skill, size and athleticism that I was able to see in the highlight tape, she seems best suited for a DII level program as a quick/slashing small forward or power forward. I’ll be quite transparent, at this age, most prospects are at that DII level, so please do not take that as a slight. This summer, I’d encourage her to work on her ball skill (vision) as well as continuing to work on shooting the ball. I couldn’t tell much defensively from the highlight tape, but I could tell that she seems to be an impressive rebounder with good instincts for the ball. Based on her athleticism, I’d assume she is a solid defender, but I’d challenge her to be exceptional with those instincts and length and try to be as disruptive as possible. I haven’t seen full game film or anything, so please take this all with a grain of salt, but that’s what I could access through the tape.

Again, you all are taking good steps at the right time as far as reaching out. Ophelia is tracking as she should be talent wise. Last thing is for her to get ready and have a great summer!

Hope this helps!

 

Laurel Smith
Head Women’s Basketball Coach
Eastern State University

 

 

 

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Smart College Recruitment

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The email below is my response to a parent who called asking for help with college recruitment. Her daughter, a junior who just reclassified, already has 3 full D2 offers. Mom is getting contacted regularly by colleges and has no idea how to respond. She was never an athlete herself and by her own admission has no understanding of the college recruiting process (a better place to start than many of you think). The starting point here is zero.

 

Hi Tamara,

Thanks for calling yesterday to talk about making a list of colleges that we should be looking at for Shanise. Here are some quick thoughts/guidelines to use as we go through Shanise’s recruitment over the next 1-2 years.

Education. This should be the most important factor. We don’t want to sacrifice on education if at all possible. We shouldn’t have to, if we do it right. You’d be stunned and disappointed at how many families say it’s most important but make decisions and choices that prove it’s really not. Let’s get the best education we can for Shanise. We’ll need to use basketball to do that. She can get admitted to a better college by leveraging her basketball than she could based on just her academic profile.

Cost. She’s already been offered some full D2 scholarships, so we know we can get a college education for free. Most families would give anything for that. At the right D3 school it may be worth it to pay a few thousand dollars per year instead of accepting a D2 or D1 full scholarship. That might sound crazy, but we should consider paying a little if the difference in level of education is very large and if we know the payback (lifetime earnings difference) is more than worth it.

D1. This would be great if we can get it. We’re not there yet. She may never get to that level. If she does, ideally she’d end up at a Patriot League school, Ivy League school or schools like Bryant, SUNY Binghamton, Vermont, William & Mary etc. that offer an excellent education.

D2. There are very few D2 schools that offer the high level of education we want and should be able to get. None of the D2 offers she currently has provide that level of education. The short list of the best academic D2 schools includes: (listed by academic rank and then alphabetically)

• Hillsdale College – Highly+ Competitive
• Bentley University – Highly Competitive

• Stonehill College – Very+ Competitive
• Assumption College – Very
• Grand Valley St. University – Very
• Le Moyne College – Very
• Mich. Tech University – Very
• Northern Michigan University – Very
• New York Institute of Technology – Very
• Pace University – Very
• St. Michael’s College – Very
• University of the Sciences – Very

D3. There are many excellent D3 academic schools/leagues. The best are the UAA and NESCAC. If she does well on her SAT/ACT we should focus on those and similar leagues. The UAA and NESCAC are the best D3 educations in the US and they are the best D3 women’s basketball leagues in the US. Outside of those leagues, let’s start by looking at SUNY Geneseo. I think they’ll be all over her, she can get admitted, and it could be a great choice. The education is excellent (Highly +), they play great D3 ball (they go to the NCAA tournament virtually every year), it’s close to home, the price should be right and I think it could fit her personality very well.

We should start the process from the ground up. That means starting with D3 schools. Yes, I know, everybody wants to play at the highest level and get a scholarship. You’ve already got D2 offers, so you might be thinking I’m nuts for saying we should be considering D3 schools. Smart families have the highest level as their goal, but start from the D3 level and work their way up.

I’m sure you’ll have lots of questions. Let me know when you do.

Thanks.

 

Mike

 

 

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Overwhelmed by the Recruiting Process? Put Education First.

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I returned recently from a major east coast summer basketball camp where I had a lengthy discussion about the recruiting process with the mother of a talented junior. Her son is a good student who already holds offers from D1 schools, none of them big-time. A single mom with two kids who never went to college and never played sports, she told me she has little awareness of colleges or basketball programs. Working two jobs (they are a low income family) leaves her precious little time to deal with the recruiting process. I told her I’d had a conversation at the camp with a coach who said she was not returning his calls. She acknowledged that was a problem and said she feels overwhelmed by all the attention. “There are so many schools”, she said, “how do I handle this”?

The answer is simple, although a surprisingly large number of families never figure it out. Start with the schools offering the most highly rated educations. (See separate blog showing list). This quickly shrinks the list while having the added benefit of keeping priorities straight, often next to impossible in this process, even for those who are good at it. Focusing on the top-rated academic schools cuts the number of possible schools from approximately 265 (outside the big-time basketball conferences) to about 45, while maintaining priorities. For most, only about half of those 45 will actually show recruiting interest. Now the list is manageable and efficient, goals are intact and focus is tight. The chance of success has increased greatly.

 

 

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Quote of the Day – College vs. Minor League Baseball

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After seeing the body of work, the development that occurred, the maturity that occurred, I know it was the right decision (to play college ball).

 

 

– This from a  mid-level D1 college baseball player who was drafted in the 35th round out of high school, but opted for college. Three years of college (and a 3.6 GPA in finance) later, he’s signing after being taken in the 13th round. His high school and college ball were both played at schools in the northern US.

 

 

 

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