January Update: “Soft Recruits” and other forms of baloney

It’s a new year and our New Year’s Resolution at College Athletic Advisor is to help bring clarity to your recruiting process! To that end, we’re going translate some often-misunderstood phrases that coaches use in recruiting. It is critical that student-athletes and the advisors around them understand what it means for a student-athlete’s recruiting process when they hear these phrases.

• “Keep in Touch” (also “keep me in the loop” or “update me on your progress,” etc.)

Translation: “You can keep sending me stuff, but right now you are not someone we are actively recruiting. This is not a forever judgement… coaches DO re-evaluate recruits when they get new information. BUT, if a coach isn’t interested in learning more about you it is probably wise to expand your options! If the coach doesn’t provide a roadmap for future communication, you need to understand that you are not currently under active consideration as a recruit.

• “You are a soft recruit” (or “if you get admitted we’ve got a roster spot for you,” etc.)

Translation: You are not a recruit. Especially at highly selective colleges/universities, a coach can tell 100 prospects “we’ve got a roster spot for you if you’re admitted” knowing that this translates to one or two student-athletes AT MOST. Also, at a selective college if a coach says he/she will “write a letter of support” but you do NOT get a “likely letter” or some other concrete offer of admission (or “likely admission”) from the actual admissions office (or from admissions through the coach) you need to understand that while their letter is meaningful, they have used their admissions pull on other students which makes their support for YOU unlikely to tip the scales one way or the other. A “soft recruit” is NOT a recruit. It is a polite way of explaining to you that you are not a priority – it’s NOT unethical… the coach is clearly saying you aren’t getting the admissions support that real recruits get. The ethics issue comes up when a college counselor or consultant doesn’t clearly explain to advisees that being “soft recruit” is a polite form of rejection. We are working in an unregulated space, and this is a quality indicator.

• “70% (or some other high number) of our current roster attended our ID camp” (or other claims about camps leading to actually being recruited by that institution)

This is a great example of how there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. Of COURSE most of their roster attended camp… they sell EVERYONE they talk to on attending camp. BUT this does NOT mean that they are recruiting YOU to their varsity team.

Think of it this way: if 100 prospects attend each session of camp and a dozen roster spots (over 4 years – so 3 a year) are filled by campers, that means less than 3% of campers end up on the roster (what if they have 3 sessions, now we’re below 1%). THAT is the framing that matters. Unless the coach specifically follows up to schedule an overnight visit, submit your transcript to admissions, or communicate a scholarship/financial aid offer, you aren’t in that 3%.

As always, if you are looking for the individualized or institutional consulting help that puts you ahead of your peers, check out our services here! You can make an initial appointment through the link on our homepage! School administrators and counselors access our free resources, appointments and programs for school collaboration here.

For more information, contact Dave Morris, College Counselor & CEO, College Athletic Advisor, dave@collegeathleticadvisor.com or phone: (719) 248-7994

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