How to Become a Recruiting Guru

A day after National Signing Day the dust has settled, but that doesn't mean life has come to a screeching halt for recruiting gurus. That job is a 24 hour a day, 365 days a year job. You are constantly watching film, calling prospects, and calling high school coaches hoping to get the latest scoop. But do you ever wonder exactly how these people get jobs at Scout.com or Rivals.com? The Washington Post did a piece recently on Bob Lichtenfels. For those who don't know Bob is a evaluator for Scout.com, mainly for players in the Northeast. Bob isn't a former coach but he is a guy who gained credibility on a message board. Bob would routinely post detailed analyses of players on the Scout.com message boards and it ended up getting him a job with the company. You see everyone; there is still hope for us after all. The next point this article brings up is how much power these guys have over 17 and 18 year olds. Kids come up to Lichtenfels and practically beg to be 4 or 5 stars. They understand that schools read these sites for update, and every extra star helps. It's no wonder there are kids that fall through the cracks because how can you possibly evaluate every single player out there and even if you do how do you know he would fit in to a particular school's system? Lichtenfels seems to do his evaluating in the first few moments of meeting the recruit. That's why I love recruiting so much because of the pure crapshoot it can be at times and how everyone seems to be in the know. It is funny to read message boards which have posters that have "inside info" and claimed to talk to 's neighbor and he said that he will commit to . People eat this stuff up; there is no wonder that Rivals.com and Scout.com are making money hand over fist with their service. They sell their premium articles but they also sell a "premium" forum to discuss it. You have fans that are 20 to 70 years old fawning over 17 and 18 year olds. Hanging on their every word, even dissecting what the kid wears to an announcement to get a jump on what school they might choose. In the outside world you'd get thrown in jail for this, but this is how the recruiting world operates. Now we can get to my biggest pet peeve of the recruiting process, the aftermath. In the months, weeks, and seconds before a big time recruit announces his intentions message boards are full of praise and optimism for the recruit. Some posters go as far as writing an "Open Letter" and posting it on the message board hoping that the recruit might read it and it will some how change his mind to come to that school. Then after the recruit says he isn't going to that particular school, that same guy who posted all the praise will have a new post saying how that recruit "wasn't material. We never really wanted him anyway." And don't give me that garbage about how your school's fans are too classy to do that stuff. This happens at all the fan bases. So sit back and take a deep breath. Life will go on for you even though the In The Bleachers 5-star running back recruit didn't choose your school. See, I am a recruiting guru.