NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Strategies and Tactics

 Puzzle Recruiting Tactic (247sports)

You have discovered the face of the program for the next four years while out on the recruiting trail.  The problem is so have over a dozen other schools.  Understanding that if you secure a Letter of Intent (LOI) from this athlete you could wrap up a top recruiting class, you must pull out all the stops to get him/her to commit to your university.  From finding out the most influential people (or animals) to creating custom comic books3, we will look at a few strategies and tactics to finalizing the deal.

The most fundamental part of recruiting on any level is establishing relationships. If you can understand the recruits, the ways they think, and what motivates them, it gives one perspective on what to sell them on. With different recruits, come different needs. Due to this fact, recruiters cannot become one-trick ponies to fill the diverse needs of their teams. Deciding factors that may pique the interest of recruits include, but are not limited to:

1.       Location of the program

2.       Winning program

3.       Playing with other good players

4.       Focal point of team

5.       Attaining more playing time

6.       Chance to play professionally

An example of recruits signing to increase their chances to play professionally was set by Kentucky’s John Calipari. To convince eight 5-star recruits to play for him this past season, Calipari fully changed his coaching style. Kentucky played a platoon system where they substituted team members five at a time to give them equal minutes.2  

There is no better feeling for an athlete than being able to play in front of family and friends. Professional athletes normally spend thousands of dollars on tickets when they have a chance to play road games in their hometowns.  This factor of location played a huge role in Mississippi State reeling in the 8th ranked player in the 2015 class, Malik Newman, over the likes of powerhouses Kentucky and Kansas among others.1

The toughest job of the recruiter is to sense what factors weigh the most on a recruit deciding to play college ball. Once that code is cracked, it is much easier to hang those influences in front of the future players as enticing bait. After they bite, all you have to do now is reel in the big fish.

REFERENCES

1Borzello, J. (2015, April 24). Top recruit Malik Newman commits to Mississippi State. Retrieved July 12, 2015, from http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/basketball/mens/story/_/id/12755862/top-recruit-malik-newman-commits-mississippi-state-bulldogs

2Daniels, P. (2014, December 19). The Reality of Modern Basketball Recruiting. Retrieved July 12, 2015, from https://the-cauldron.com/the-reality-of-modern-basketball-recruiting-d884b93dbbc3

3Treadway, D. (2014, May 19). 11 Absurd Recruiting Tactics That College Football Coaches Have Recently Attempted. Retrieved July 12, 2015, from http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2014/05/19/11-college-football-recruiting-tactics-stories-methods