NCAA Basketball Recruiting: The Negatives

There are many aspects of recruiting that excites college coaches and makes them feel good about what they do for a living. But as we all know, there is always another side to every story. From the many hours spent recruiting to the feeling of rejection when you lose out on a recruit you were so invested in, there are some negatives that one must be prepared for in recruiting.

Recruiting can strain relationships (ghheadlines.com)

Men who work regular hours can tell you how satisfying it is when they make it home from work and they are happily met by their loved ones for a day out in the yard. For coaches, this is seldom the case. Due to irregular work hours, even high school coaches normally do not make it home before the sun is down. Add the task of recruiting phone calls and overnight trips, college coaches’ children rarely see their parents at home. Many times this lack of a relationship with the family can cause a strain on marriages and tension on the family. One coach and his wife ate McDonald’s every night for three straight weeks while she was pregnant because it was the only place open at 9:30 when they drove home from practice.2 This eventually led to the coach and his wife deciding that he needed to step down because they did not like the situations the family was being placed in.

The sting is that much more significant in the end if the coach does not get his return on his invested time by signing the recruit.  The countless hours spent making phone calls, in-home visits, and official visits are felt to be all in vain if the recruit chooses to play at another school.  These lows, complicated by the fact that you could have been spending that time on other recruits or with family, cut deep enough to make coaches even question if they are in the right profession.  Losing out on a player made a huge impact on one coaches career. He was recruiting a top 25 ranked player and justifiably putting out a lot of energy and effort. Pretty soon it went from recruiting to relationship-building followed by a commitment. Eventually the player he decided he wanted to open his recruitment back up after an official visit, de-committing on the coach. When the head coach asks about other targets, the coach does not have an explanation on who is next. There is no next, because all the time had been spent on the main target.  Now the coach is employed at another university.1

These are only two examples of many that shine the light on the darker side of recruiting.  It is a very rewarding practice, but there are times that things can get ugly.  Are you and your family going to be up to the task?

REFERENCES

110 Things You Need to Know about College Basketball Recruiting. (2014, November 7). Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://athlonsports.com/college-basketball/10-things-you-need-know-about-college-basketball-recruiting

2Wyrwich, T. (2009, May 12). Coaches struggle to find balance between work and family. Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/high-school/coaches-struggle-to-find-balance-between-work-and-family/