But more than being simply a ritual, recruiting college athletes is a very serious and competitive game having definite winners and losers. As games go, it is a strange one because those who at first believe they have won may find out later that they really were losers. And those who thought they had lost may turn out in the long run to have won after all. To make it even stranger, in the recruiting game both sides can win or both can lose. Much of this chapter is devoted to explaining how these things can happen.
The recruiting game is like most contests in the way that participants treat the rules. In a sports event, many of the rules set the upper limits of acceptable behavior, the point beyond which we shouldn't go: five fouls in basketball, weight limitations in wrestling, no contact with an opponent in races, etc. We risk penalties or disqualification if we go beyond these limits, but we risk losing if we don't stretch the rules as far as we can. In the recruiting game, the rules describing allowable limits also tend to be seen as really setting the standard for behavior, rather than the upper limit.
Among the behaviors that recruiting rules limit are the number of contacts a college recruiter can have with a prospective athlete, the number of free trips to visit the college, allowable gifts, the value of scholarships offered, and other carrots hung out to entice star athletes. For example, current NCAA rules state that a recruiter is allowed to come to your home three times. If a college really wants you, its recruiters will certainly see you those three times, and then they may try to sneak in as many other "accidental" contacts with you or your family as they can. Why? Because many recruiters fear that their competition is sneaking in extra contacts and that you'll forget them when it comes time to make your choice among colleges.
In the recruiting game, those who seem to be on your side at the outset may often turn out to be the enemy, while you may find friends and allies where you least expected them. It's a recruiter's job to seem like your pal and to paint a picture of life at the college and on the team as all sunshine, victories, and rewards. But once you enroll, your pal the recruiter either has become your boss or is off somewhere making the same promises to someone else.
As a participant in the recruiting game, you had better know the rules, many of which were written to protect you. The people who are recruiting you certainly know these rules, although they may do their darnedest to get around them. For recruiters, getting caught and penalized for breaking the rules is a calculated risk. Unfortunately, few athletes who are being recruited fully understand either the rules or the penalties which may come from breaking them. In this chapter, we'll describe who the players are in the recruiting game and their motives, as well as the rules of the game and the penalties for breaking those rules. If you are beyond the point of selecting your college, you may want to skip on to the next chapter. However, if you are still in the process of deciding on a college or if there is any chance that you might transfer to another school, the information in this chapter should prove valuable.
PLAYERS IN THE RECRUITING GAME
The opposing sides in the recruiting game appear to be the various recruiters from different colleges striving to capture athletic talent. But you and the other high school and junior college athletes are more than just the prize catches of recruiters. You are also active participants in the recruiting game. As many athletes have found out, you will benefit by understanding this; and you are more likely to suffer if you don't. Whether you've only been contacted by one college recruiter, or swarms of recruiters are beating down your door, you're in the game, more or less feeling its pressures, but certainly guided by its rules. You're even a player in the recruiting game when the initial contact with a coach is made by you.
Coach-Recruiters
Those recruiters who coach at the college are the official recruiting representatives of the school. In the case of small colleges having small coaching staffs, you are likely to be recruited by the head coach, who also may be in charge of the entire athletic program. Even small schools, though, often may have an assistant coach (more likely in football and basketball; less likely in other sports). The primary job of most assistant coaches is to recruit new talent. Assistant coaches also scout opponents and, in their remaining time, actually do a little coaching.
Assistant coaches are considered to be successful if they catch a large proportion of the athletes they seek, or if they reel in one or two of their top-rated prospects. Assistant coaches who fail to catch enough talent (or the right talent) may lose their jobs. This helps to explain why they often promise recruits the world when they can't even guarantee delivering a spot on the team. Much has been written in recent years about unethical recruiting of athletes, but a couple of examples should be enough to show you how bad it can get. A large college in Texas faces charges that its recruiters-including a head coach-promised full-ride athletic grants to track athletes, and then delivered only half-grants once the athletes enrolled. A California school has been taken to court by several athletes who have charged that what had been described to them as scholarships for four years suddenly became loans when their eligibility was used up. And these are not even the worst examples of recruiters allegedly lying to prospective athletes.
A favorite line of recruiters is that you will be the key to the team's next championship. Instead, their real plan for you may be to serve as a backup to someone else. Even if recruiters have great plans for you, they are probably recruiting at least one other athlete for your position or event. Seldom will a coach bank on only one untested young athlete to fill a particular need on the team. While it might make you feel good to believe that you are the exception, it would be foolish.
Recruiters are salespeople. Their job is to get you-and others like you-to commit yourself to their school. An effective salesperson paints a picture that makes his or her product (in this case, the athletic program and college) look irresistible, or at least more attractive than the other choices. After you buy the product, it may turn out to be considerably different from the way the salesperson (recruiter) made it seem. But by then, it's too late. Recruiters' promises don't come with guarantees. One recent college athlete described the situation this way:
Hard-sell tactics are an accepted part of the recruiting game. Knowing this, you should take the recruiters' promises with considerably more than a grain of salt. Remember, their job is to get you to enroll at their college, which also keeps you away from their rivals. Recruiters are employed in a tough, competitive job, and keeping their job may depend on hooking you. Some coach-recruiters have even intimated this to prospects in the hope of making them feel guilty if they don't sign with them.
Athletic prospects usually have most of their contact with assistant coaches. In NCAA Division I football, you will meet the head coach before it comes time to commit yourself to the college, but NCAA rules do not permit the head coach to be present at the signing. Your commitment (at NCAA schools) is made official when you sign what is called a National Letter of Intent to attend a particular college. This document binds you to enrolling at that school if you intend to play intercollegiate athletics. It is designed to bring an end to the recruiting process and to keep other colleges from continuing to try to attract you.
Recruiting by Boosters
The following headline appeared in the January 27, 1982, edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education: "Excessive Boosterism Plagues Sports Program at Wichita State." The story describes how Wichita State, penalized by the NCAA for a record sixth time, has "a problem with overenthusiastic boosters." (Since that time, Wichita State has received a seventh penalty from the NCAA.) But Wichita State was only one of 18 universities under probation at the same time for breaking the rules of the association. In 12 of the 18 cases, the violations included illegal recruiting. Many of the violations were caused by enthusiastic but illegal recruiting by athletic boosters. The failure of boosters to follow recruiting rules has been such a large problem that the NCAA and other governing groups have developed long lists of rules to stop the practice. If we've learned anything from the history of college athletics, however, we can't expect these new rules to do much more than make booster-recruiting more subtle or sneaky.
Many athletic boosters try to remain within the official recruiting limits and are concerned with doing right by the athletes they try to win over to their college. On the other hand, some athletic boosters are motivated only by dreams of being involved in producing a national championship. They care little for the long-term needs of individual student-athletes and either don't know or don't care about the rules set up to control recruiting. Since boosters are not officially connected with the college, their jobs obviously are not in jeopardy if they break the rules and exceed the limits of recruiting. They volunteer to spend their own time, energy, and often a considerable amount of money attracting athletic recruits to their schools because they want to be associated with a championship team. The chance of being able to boast that they had a part in producing a winner is worth their time and money.
Recruiters who are alumni or boosters may have your best interests at heart, but don't count on it. If we have convinced you to take the promises of assistant coach recruiters with a measure of salt, be even more cautious when considering the promises of booster recruiters.
Parents and Current or Former Coaches
Besides yourself, the only ones you can count on to have your best interests at heart are members of your immediate family. Even here, you have to take care that they aren't just living out their own athletic fantasies through you. Present or former coaches may care about your welfare, but they also may have ties with particular colleges or, in the worst of cases, may be promised some sort of reward for influencing you to attend a particular school. Weigh whatever is told to you about the benefits or liabilities of a particular college, even when the information comes from someone close. A bad decision by an athlete on choice of college is more costly than a bad decision by a non-athlete. At the very least, it may cost you considerable playing eligibility if you decide to change schools.
