To All Athletic Recruits

[Phil C]

I once read an article about a retiring recruter years ago and he gave good advice then and it is good now to all recruits. You can get a good education at most colleges so that may be even but some do have more prestige than others. The main thing that should persuade the recruit is the place. Do they like the college and the city it is located in. Coaches may come and go because circumstances can change quickly. For example I expect Utah to lose their coach to ND this year. So following a coach should not be an important factor even though it important. We all know of some that have left to go to the NFL is one example such as Jimmy Johnson at Miami to Dallas years ago. Also coaches can be fired and hired suddenly. Circumstances change. At Alabama one year Gene Stallings was the greatest coach in the world when they won the national championship. The next year they wanted him fired. The coach that says that an opponent's coach is going to retire in two years may be the one that gets fired, goes to the pros, or to another school. As I have said the expert said the main consideration is the school and place and if you like it. Farther thoughts anyone?

[Phil C]

Also please bear in mind I have never been a college recruit! :)

[bullfrog_alumni_02]

i have one question, but its not that important...why doesnt that tactic not always work when im playing ncaa football?:D j/j thats good advice.

[BrahmaMom]

Good advice. I would add to look at other recruits and make sure you will fit in with them and the team. These are people you will eat with, sleep with, play with, shower with, travel with, work with, cry with, hurt with for the next five years. Make sure you like them and the fit is good. We encouraged our son to shoot for a school where it appeared the coach would be there during his career. It worked for him. He looked at teams where he would have been three years younger than the recruit class b/c they were all juco (KState), teams that he wouldn't have fit in with, coaching changes would have occurred at several of the schools he looked at. And you have to like the weather and the town. Plus, don't underestimate the distance from family and friends. You think it won't matter, but we've seen many out fo state players leave to get closer to home. Most importantly, make sure you'll get a degree.

[Phil C]

ttt

[PPHSfan]

You have to decide what is most important to you.

ie: education, playing time, location, staff, teammates, etc.

If you love the game and want to play right away you might consider a school that is in the building stages. Very few freshman play on the varsity team at powerhouse schools. There are exceptions, such as Adrian Peterson at Oklahoma, but Oklahoma also has a red-shirt on the best Quarterback in the Nation, and he may be a Junior before he gets the starting job.

The campus may be inviting while you are being recruited, but the students may not be who you want to go to class with once you get there. Schools like SMU and Stanford may have really nice neighborhoods, and beautiful dorms, but unless mommy and daddy already drive Jaguars, and own six figure country club memberships, you are not going to fit in when you go to class.

If I were being recruited as a student athlete, the first thing I would look at would be playing time. The second would be the teammates and student body demographics. Then location. As stated before, you can get a good education at any D1 school.

[BrahmaMom]

Depends on what you consider a good education. And it depends on how motivated you are to make sure you get it. There are athletes at big football factories who are taking freshman classes in their junior year of eligibility--probably not a degree in the making. Yes, if you are a STUDENT-athlete, you can get a reasonably decent education at any D-I school, but you have to take the initiative. Now the NCAA has required that a player has met 60% of his hours by the time he has completed his second year on the field (I think that's right, help me out someone). I am not sure those have to be towards a degree, though. But that ruling will help. It also is the reason most schools redshirt more now than before. I still say, take a look at who you'll be spending time with, also if they take juco's b/c they may replace you on the field after you're in too far to transfer (though Dustin Long took the chance and made good on it). Don't get in too deep academically--if you aren't a strong student, look at the level of difficulty of the academics. Decide how far away from "home" you can tolerate, see how you would get back and forth, make sure you are comfortable with the distance, expense, time. Big decision, not an irreversible one, but big.

[cdlvj]

Isn't interesting on how successors to execellent programs do. Wacker built an very good program at Texas State, and O'hara did good for two seasons, and then it went down the toilet. Same with Franchione at TCU. Patterson has done well for two seasons and now TCU is going down. Seems as soon as the sophmores recruited by the good coaces graduate, the program starts going downhill.

[Cameronbystander]

Except for a few rare exceptions there are only two types of coaches in the college ranks:

Those that are fired and those that are going to be fired. (Last quoted by David Cutcliff who was fired this week by Ole Miss)

[BrahmaMom]

Spoke with a former TCU player, recruited under Fran, played under Patterson, he'd share your observation. By the way, he was not complimentary of Patterson, which was our feeling when my son was recruited heavily by TCU. The other advice I'd offer is TALK TO OTHERS who have been through the process. There is a world of experience for you to access.

[Hupernikomen]

education certainly needs to be a priority for every athlete. Some people who go play for schools like stanford, rice and other name brand academic universities do so for the quality of the education program. Others choose a university on recent success or long term success in the sport they wish to play. Others choose a university based on the proximity to their home so they friends and family will have better access to see them play. Others choose a university based on life-long alligience or desire to represent a universtity that is the state they are from, was from, or someone they respect went to. Others choose whatever university will give them a scholarship so they can continue the dream of playing the game they love. Others choose a university because it is the hot place to go at the moment. Others choose a university because the coach who recruited them is well respected, or convinced them to come. Others go to a university where people they already know are at. Whatever chose they make it should be well thought out and shouldn't involve any schools outside of the great State of Texas...:D :D We have whatever you are looking for right here;) ;)

[cdlvj]

I saw on another board also that TCU has an above average amount of injuires also, and it other sports also.

Our Tye Gunn is there, he was recruited by Fran.

[falcons79]

I am so glad to hear some of these responses. We have been dealing with this issue this year, my son has been recruited by several colleges, there were some he knew right off that he was not interested in like tcu and a & m, he didn't feel like he fit in. He was most interested in mizzou and iowa and also alittle bit with kansas, but when it was all said and done he chose to stay with the one that came in and started recruiting him his soph. year and that was u of h. He was alittle concerned when they didn't have a good year this year, but like we told him, don't pick a college on how good they did this year in football, pick where you are comfortable going, and offers a good engineering program which u of h does. He could have picked a big college and been miserable for 5 years or pick one he will have a good time playing at and get a good education. Also my son really likes the coaching staff and the players there, I really think he made the right choose.