Put Yourself in a College Coach's Shoes (Part III) - What would it be like if you met 100 new people every week? Not only that, what if you had to get to know them well enough to decide who was going to be your new best friend?

This is what recruiting is like for college coaches. Each week they hear from tons of new players and have to figure out which of those players they're going to recruit. It's kind of like picking a fantasy football team if you've never watched an NFL game.

The fact is, it's impossible for a college coach to evaluate every player. One coach told me recently, "I know going into this that I'm never going to be able to see 90% of the players who contact me." Yikes.

What college coaches tell us they want is to be able to quickly figure out who you are and what you're like as a player. Your job is to make this easy for coaches. Otherwise, it's quite likely that you'll get lost in the shuffle.

Make it absurdly easy for a college coach to evaluate you

You need college coaches to be able to get a clear picture of who you are in 5 minutes or less.

Don't hold back: give them the information they need to decide to pursue you or not. If they decide you're not right for their team, you won't waste any more time on that school. If they do like what they see, then they'll add you to their list of priority recruits.

Here are the four questions you need to answer for them:

1. Do you have the grades to get in?

2. Do you play for a good team?

3. Do you play at good tournaments that they attend?

4. Do you have a short highlight video that they can watch?

If a coach can answer "yes" to these questions quickly, you'll have helped them make an informed decision. Then you can get the feedback you need to move forward -- whether it means pursuing that school aggressively, or focusing your time and energy on other opportunities.

"Players have to know something about the colleges they're contacting," said the DI coach I talked to a couple weeks ago.

"Look," she said, "I get more form letters than you could possibly imagine. Most of them go directly into the trash." Point well taken. Most athletes contact coaches without really thinking about why that school is a good fit.

Put yourself in a coach's shoes: you get hundreds and hundreds of messages from players who say they want to play for you, but they don't know the first thing about your school. It's a huge turnoff.

By contrast, the coach told me, there are players who know everything about her college. "They know what our academic strengths are, they know where our players come from, and who's graduating." What a difference an email with that kind of detail makes for the coach! And, in turn, it has huge dividends for the player.

The cool thing is, you can learn a lot of the basics about a school quickly and then use those in your correspondence.

Here are the 3 places to start

1. CaptainU College Profile -- We have lots of information on each college team in America. Start here and get comfortable with the basics like academic standards, size, location, division, tuition, financial aid, and so on.

2. Wikipedia -- Have you read the Wikipedia article for any of the schools on your list? This is a great way to start getting a feel for different academic, social, and athletic aspects of a school.

3. Team websites -- You can learn a ton about a team by going to its website. Read the latest news, check out the roster and see where their players come from, and find out how many players will be graduating the year you'd like to join the team.

Read Part I

I had a great conversation this past week with one of the best college coaches around. She shared some important wisdom that I want to pass on to you.

Most importantly, she said that players should think about what recruiting is like from a college coach's perspective. If you empathize with what a college coach is going through, you can be much more effective.

I'm going to write three articles summarizing this conversation to help you understand what coaches have to deal with when it comes to recruiting. I hope you'll take this new perspective and turn it into actions. This week, I'm going to focus on her comments about profiles.

Profiles, she said, "Are where it all starts. This is what tells me if you're a legitimate recruit for us." Incomplete profiles get trashed. If you don't care enough to fill out your profile, it's a pretty strong indication that you're not that serious about playing in college. You have to be willing to do the most basic leg work if you want to make a college team.

The 5 Things Your Profile Needs to Be Useful

1. GPA is the first thing she looks at - Most coaches have cozy relationships with the admissions office, but if you're not up the school's academic standards, it's not worth your time to contact them. Your GPA absolutely must be on your profile. Help the coach see right away that you're someone who is academically qualified.

2. Club and high school team information is key - There are a lot of teams out there called "Storm," "Elite," and the "Walruses." If that's all you put on your profile, a coach isn't going to have any idea who this team is, let alone how good you are. You need to provide as much information as possible. Who are your coaches? What tournaments do you play in? How do you do at them? These questions have to be answered, otherwise the college coach will be left in the dark.

3. A good video is a huge step forward - "I know that I won't get to see the vast majority of the kids who contact me," this coach told me. If a college coach can easily watch your video and see that you're legit in five minutes, you're going to go on a short list of players she's going to actively try to see play in person.

4. List your events - Imagine this: a coach likes your profile and wants to see you play, but has no idea that you're playing in the same tournament she's attending this weekend. The opportunity is missed and she doesn't get to see you. It happens all the time. For this reason, you have to keep an updated list on your profile of the events you're attending.

5. Pictures matter - Pictures help create an emotional connection. When the coach I was talking to sees a profile with no pictures, the player remains anonymous. By contrast, a profile with a headshot and some great action shots help distinguish you from the 1,500 other players she hears from each year.

Log into CaptainU and do these 5 things

(From an MVP Consultation this past week) - Pretty much everyone puts UCLA on their list. And what's not to like? It has great academics, absurdly good athletics, and year-round sunshine.

I had a consultation with Heather last week. UCLA was on her list. I asked her why and she said, "I figured I'd throw my name in the hat and see what happens." I like that risk-taking attitude, and I told Heather as much. Put yourself out there and see if they bite. It's okay to have a couple reach schools on your list.

But here's the thing: having your entire list be made up of brand name, exceedingly hard-to-make Division I teams is a recipe for failure.

Here are the 3 reasons why

1. The odds of making the team at a school like UCLA are extremely slim. They hear from thousands of prospective players each year.

2. If you're only interested in low probability schools like UCLA, you typically need to have a loooooong list of colleges. The bigger your list gets, the more difficult it is to send solid, personalized messages. Instead, you have to send impersonal mass emails, which is a surefire path to the junk box.

3. Most people add big name colleges like UCLA without doing any research on them. Yes, the school is well known. And yes, the campus is beautiful. But is this really the right place for you?

I asked Heather what she knew about Cal, UT-Austin, UOregon, and UWashington, a few of the other colleges on her list. Not much, she admitted. They were the schools that she had heard of, so she put them on her list.

We agreed that she should get off the beaten path a little and explore some other awesome, slightly less well-known colleges. I suggested a few places she could start.

This would be the basis of a much "healthier" list of schools -- and the basis of a recruiting campaign that would be far more likely to succeed in finding her a college where she'll be totally happy as student and an athlete.

Mackenzie is making a lot of headway. She's close to getting offers from two schools in the ACC and one in the Ivy League. Still, one of the ACC coaches and the Ivy League coach have told Mackenzie that they need to see her play at least once more.

A few weeks ago, Mackenzie's club coach floated the idea about skipping the next high school season to play club instead. He knows where things stand with the colleges on her list and he told her that she's more likely to be seen by those coaches if she's playing club ball.

But here's the catch. Mackenzie really likes playing for her high school. She told me, "My high school team isn't as good as my club team, but I like playing in front of my friends and for my school."

In some circles, it's become conventional wisdom to say that playing club is hands down better than playing high school. The competition is better. The exposure is better. The ability to develop is better.

But what about the experience? What about what the player actually wants to do?

Always lost in the fray of the club vs. high school debate is the fact that playing for your high school, in some ways, is actually more like playing in college. When you play high school, you're playing for something concrete -- your school, your friends, the name on the front of your jersey. That's not too different an experience than playing in college, even though the level of play might vary.

It so happens that Mackenzie's high school season is at the same time as the college season. The college teams she's looking at have resources, but the odds are slim that they'll be able to come watch her in the middle of their season -- whether she ends up playing club or high school. The "added exposure" that she would get from playing another season of club isn't such a sure thing after all.

For some players, playing club and foregoing high school is the right decision. But for Mackenzie, who loves playing with her classmates, the right decision is to play for her high school. We'll see how that goes over with her club coach...

In his own words: "I am an extremely dedicated player. I train 6 days a week either with my team or personal trainer and since living in Minnesota makes it difficult to play year round I play on Winter tournament teams and travel to warmer states to play."

"I like Torii Hunter as a player because he always smiles and so do I. I think that is part of truly loving the game."

Check out Tyler's recruiting profile.

(From an MVP consultation this past week) - Sami is close. Really close. She has two scholarship offers from two outstanding colleges. Here are the offers as they stand:

1. X College is offering a $12,000 scholarship.

2. Z College, which is where Sami really wants to go, is offering $9,000

Rebecca, Sami's mom, tells me: "My biggest concern is for Sami to be happy. She really doesn't want to go to X College, but that extra $3,000 is going to make a difference. I look at this as a business transaction, a negotiation. Should we tell the coach at Z College about the X College offer and use that as a bargaining chip?"

"Hmm," I say, knowing it's more complicated that that. I happen to know that the coaches at Z College and X College are friends.

"The college coaching world is tight-knit. Everyone knows everyone else, so you have to tread lightly. If word gets around that you're trying to play these guys off each other, they might decide that you're someone they don't want to be involved with."

What's So Great About Z College?

I ask Sami why she likes Z College so much more.

"I did what you said and visited both schools," Sami says. "And I just felt at home when I was at Z College. I loved the coach, the players, the campus. I sat in on a class and was like, 'This is what college is supposed to be.'"

Rebecca jumps in. "X College is pretty much out. We're just keeping them around so we have some leverage. In reality, we'd do pretty much anything, including taking out bigger loans, to make it possible for Sami to go to Z College."

Our Game Plan

"Alright," I say. "Let's make Z College happen and see if we can bump up that scholarship. But to be successful, we have to be respectful and not come across like we're 'wheeling and dealing.'"

We agree on the following course of action:

• Rebecca and Sami are going to call the coach at Z College. This is a call where it makes sense for Rebecca to be on the line (as opposed to most recruiting calls, which are about players developing rapport with coaches.)


• Sami is going to tell the coach that Z College is her top choice, that she loves everything about it.


• Rebecca is going to say that she's totally behind Sami, and that even though there's another offer on the table for more money, she wants to do everything to make this happen.


• She's going to explain to the coach that financially, this is going to be a stretch for the family.


• Then, instead of making demands like, "X College offered us $3,000 more. You need to match that, or we're going elsewhere," Rebecca is going to say, "Look, we really want to make this happen, even though there's another offer on the table elsewhere for more money. What should we do at this point? Is there any way you can help? Do you have any advice?"

The beauty of this approach is that it will cast the coach in a consultative role, as a teammate, rather than an adversary in a tough negotiation. Our goal, I explain to Sami and Rebecca, is for the coach to get off the call highly motivated to help you, knowing that he has a wonderful player and person on the verge of committing, who just needs a little more help from him.

"Uh oh," Cory thought. A few days before, he had sent college coaches a DVD with his highlight video -- at least, that's what he thought it contained. But now, he'd gotten a message on CaptainU from a coach asking, "Cory, are you sure this is the video you meant to send?"

Cory tried to recreate what had happened. He'd recorded a bunch of games and then edited them down into a crisp highlight video that would show college coaches how good he is.

In addition to posting it on his CaptainU profile, Cory wanted to send a physical version to each coach on his list. His dad made a bunch of copies and -- wait a minute!! Was it possible that his dad had accidentally copied something else?!?!?! Cory hadn't double checked each video before sending them. He just assumed they were alright. What had his dad done?

It turns out that Mark, Cory's dad, sells heavy machinery. As Cory started to hear from more of the coaches on his list, he realized that instead of duplicating his highlight video, his dad had actually copied a promotional video for ... bulldozers!

"At first," Cory told me on the Answers feature, "I was mortified. What had I done? Had I ruined my chances?" Bit by bit, as more coaches responded to him with amusement, Cory realized that it wasn't so bad after all. Coaches weren't upset -- rather, they were in hysterics. One told Cory that it was without a doubt the first time he'd gotten a recruiting video featuring a bulldozer.

Cory came up with a great stock response. He apologized profusely, promised to send them a copy of the real video, and ended by saying, "In the meantime, I hope you 'dig' this one." Absolutely classic. The inadvertent video and the great sense of humor will make Cory unforgettable to college coaches.

Angela Ruggiero has done it all. She's won Olympic gold, silver, and bronze. This February, she's going to try to add to her collection in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Angela was the total college athlete. She graduated from Harvard with honors.

In 2005, Angela became the first woman to play professional men's ice hockey.

She tells that story and more on this episode of Role Models, our web radio show with the best, most inspirational athletes on the planet.

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Who Do You Want to Hear Next?

Angela's nominees for future episodes of Role Models are: US soccer legend Julie Foudy (you can listen to our interview with Julie here), tennis great Andre Agassi, and former USA hockey star Cammi Granato.

Listen to past episodes.

Steven is a very good player. (I'm going to use pseudonyms.) He's been pretty sure for a while that he wants to go to College A. He really likes the school and they offered him a great athletic scholarship. He hasn't committed, but they want an answer. Soon.

Just when everything seemed to be falling into place, it got more complicated -- in a good way. A couple weeks ago, Steven played really well in a tournament. The coach at College C approached Steven's club coach after a game and asked about Steven's plans.

After hearing about this, Steven was really excited. He did exactly the right thing. He went home and used CaptainU Mail to send a message to the coach at College B.

The coach replied almost immediately and invited Steven to come on an official visit. It was unfolding at a crazy pace, and Steven was totally pumped. But this is where it got complicated.

College B has a reputation of being a party school. On the Answers page, Steven told me, "It sounds like an amazing opportunity, but I'm not into that stuff. What should I do?"

We discussed it back and forth and agreed that Steven shouldn't judge College B by its reputation alone -- that he should give it a fair shake, visit, and see for himself. He's going on that visit soon.

It was fun watching this story unfold for Steven. It's a great example of how to deal with awesome new opportunities that present themselves along the way. And it's a really important reminder that you shouldn't base your decision on reputation alone. Visiting campus can make a huge difference. I can't wait to hear how Steven's visit goes!

How do you deal with adversity when you're on the field? If you fail the first time, do you give up?

If you did, you wouldn't have gotten as far as you have as a player. Now that you're within a stone's throw of playing in college, why change your mentality? Be a lion, not a lamb.

College coaches are paying attention to how you respond when things don't go your way. Do you give up if you don't immediately hear back from them? In many ways, your persistence in recruiting is a test of what you'll be like as a college player.

3 ways to deal with adversity

1. Send another email! -- Show that you won't be deterred simply because you don't hear back after your first email.

2. Send another email! -- No, this isn't a typo. Until you get a definitive thumbs up or down, you have to keep emailing the coach. It often takes 3-4 emails to get your first response.

3. Make the call! -- When you've sent 4 emails and haven't heard back, it's time to call the coach. It takes guts to call -- and coaches know this. They'll appreciate the risk you're taking.

It's important to realize that you're not bothering the coach. Rather, you're making his life easier. You're showing him which players on his list of recruits are persistent and aren't going to capitulate when faced with adversity.

So sign into CaptainU and send an email to a coach from whom you haven't gotten a response!

by Avi - College coaches get lots of emails from recruits saying pretty much the same thing. After a while, they all start to blend together and it's hard for coaches to remember who's who.

Now imagine this: there's one player on a coach's list who does something really different -- something unique and creative. It's not hard for the coach to remember that player.

In fact, the coach is intrigued and wants to learn more about her because she stands out among the 100s of other recruits he is considering. Here are 5 great examples of things you can do that will make you unforgettable:

1. Make a top 10 list -- Come up with a list of 10 (serious and funny) reasons why that school is a good fit for you.

2. Make a cartoon strip -- Draw a bunch of stick figures illustrating your career as a player there.

3. Make a "documentary" -- Film yourself acting like it's 10 years later and you're reflecting on your successful career at that school.

4. Get testimonials from your friends -- Ask them for serious and funny reasons why they think you'd be good for a college team. Format them nicely and send them to the coach.

5. Make a collage -- Photoshop a bunch of pictures together, including a headshot, that makes it look like you play for the team.

There's an infinite number of possibilities. Be creative and do something that feels genuine. You'll be amazed at the results.

Their last name is synonymous with lacrosse domination.

3 Powell brothers, Casey, Ryan, and Mikey have graced the Syracuse lacrosse field, broken records, and won national championships.

On this episode of Role Models, we sit down with Ryan Powell, captain of Syracuse's 2000 national championship team.

Ryan talks about the lessons he learned from his hard-working father and the importance of developing fundamentals.

He also talks about playing X-Box with Donovan McNabb at Syracuse, his ridiculous stick handling skills, and what it's been like to start a successful lacrosse company, Rhino Lacrosse.

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Who Do You Want to Hear Next?

Ryan's nominees for future episodes of Role Models are: Casey Powell - Ryan's older brother and Syracuse lacrosse legend; Kristen Kjellman - US women's national lacrosse player and Northwestern grad; and Mikey Powell - Ryan's younger brother, musician, and Syracuse lacrosse legend.

Listen to past episodes.

What is your college recruiting goal?

For most people, the answer is, "To get a DI scholarship." But what it should really be is, "To play at the right college." If you can get an athletic scholarship at the right college, all the better. But if you get one at a school that's really not a good fit, you're not going to be happy.

Aiming for an athletic scholarship is a fine goal, as long as it's secondary to finding the college that's right for you academically and socially.

4 myths you have to understand:

1. Myth #1: Athletic scholarships are abundant - Reality: The NCAA severely limits the number of athletic scholarships a college team can offer.


2. Myth #2: College teams actually have every scholarship the NCAA allows - Reality: Even though a team might be allowed 10 scholarships, it may only have enough money to pay for 3 of them.


3. Myth #3: Most players who get scholarships get full rides - Reality: Actually, very few athletes get full rides. Often, the best players in the country are only on partial athletic scholarships.


4. Myth #4: Division I athletes get the most financial aid - Reality: DI athletes do get the most athletic financial aid. But the average DIII athlete gets more total financial aid. So a DI athlete might get a $5,000 athletic scholarship, while a DIII athlete might get a $10,000 academic scholarship.

What to do with this knowledge

Now that we've looked at scholarship myths and realities, here's how you should pursue the goal of playing at the right college and hopefully getting some scholarship money:

1. Review your Colleges list and take the CaptainU Guided Tour for each school. Ask yourself this question: "Do I honestly like this school or is the main appeal that they offer athletic scholarships?"


2. Remove the schools that don't pass this test.


3. Use the Mail tool to email and build trust with the coaches at the colleges that are still on your list.


4. Once you've built some trust with the coaches, ask them what opportunities are available to pay for your education if you decide to go there. Leave the question open-ended, so you can talk about all kinds of scholarships, not just the athletic variety.

The golden full ride many athletes hope for may not be realistic, but here's the silver lining: you're much more likely to be happy at the college you end up attending. If it's not all about athletic scholarships, you'll make a much better decision.