by Dan Christensen, Tudor Collegiate Strategies
You’re next recruiting class.
I am guessing it is an important one.
Maybe you missed in your last class. Just didn’t quite bring in the quantity or quality of athlete you were hoping to bring in. Making this class extra important.
Maybe you had a solid season but a few key seniors are graduating and you need to fill those roles with some new athletes.
Or, maybe you’re the kind of coach that understands that every class is important. With possible injuries, athletes transferring out or quitting, or players just not reaching their potential, it is smart to have a consistent flow of solid athletes coming in.
Now, some of you are in a waiting period before you can make contact with your next recruiting class.
Others can, and should, start communicating with current high school juniors or sophomores right now.
Regardless of your division’s recruiting rules, here are two things you can do to help you get into a better position to bring in a killer next recruiting class:
1) Re-assess your social media content
I am telling you right now, your social media output will not single-handedly get you recruits.
But, it might be the thing that gets you in the conversation with a prospect you might not have connected with otherwise.
In order to make that happen though, you need to focus on the right things.
Mainly, telling a story that answers the question “what is it like to be student-athlete at your university?”
Look at your Instagram posts. Do they help answer that question? Often, programs focus so much on score updates, accolades, and scheduling news that they fail to keep this focus.
The problem with focusing on those things is that in the offseason, it is much harder to consistently get content out.
Make a plan to share the parts of the student-athlete experience you want your recruits to know about. The dorms. The food. Fun things to do off-campus. Your team’s personality. The coaching staff’s personality. A day in the life with classes and practice and lifting and homework.
Now speaking to those of you looking for a way to get your story out there before June 15th or September 1st, if you can do social media well and have a plan for getting that content out consistently before those dates, you’ll be at an advantage when those days come. Your recruits will already have a good feel for the program, and you won’t have to spend as much time sharing those stories but can focus on their decision.
2) Evaluate where you get commits from
Look back at your last recruiting class. And if you’ve been at the same school for a while, look back at your last three to five classes.
Where are you getting these kids from?
Categorize them. The resulting data will be very helpful.
If you find that you get 80% of your prospects from online recruiting sites, maybe you don’t need to attend so many in-person recruiting events.
Or maybe you do get most of your prospects from recruiting events. But, of the ten that you go to every year, only two or three actually result in finding athletes that commit. Save yourself time and money from going to those events that never get you any athletes.
Use those funds to get tools that will help you be a more efficient coach, like becoming a Total Recruiting Solution client. Or use that time to invest in your current team. Or to actually spend more time with your family, Coach.
Let’s make this next class your best one yet!
Want to make this next class your best one yet? Need help evaluating your program’s social media or the way you spend time recruiting? Dan Christensen and the team at Tudor Collegiate Strategies are working with over 500 programs around the country to help them bring in killer recruiting classes. You can email Dan with any question at danchristensen@dantudor.com.