Interest v. Recruiting v. Offers

Bird Friend

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Jul 17, 2017
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Have to ask, is this the best we can expect?
I wanted to address this question posed on one of the individuals listed in the 2021 Recruiting thread. Considering the history on that particular player, it's a valid question . . . BUT it seems to make a couple assumptions that I didn't intend when I began listing players our coaches have contacted. Those assumption: 1. we're actively recruiting the player listed; 2. we want this player on our team.

Interest:

When we show interest in a player, it's simply an acknowledgement to the player that we want to learn more about him, his skills, his goals, etc. Maybe we've requested video, to know where the kid will be playing so we can come watch, or to tell him we're checking in with his coaches and/or local scouts. The key here isn't that we've made no commitments. We just want to gather more info. We want to find out if the kid has the skills and skillsets that will fit in with our team. What about work ethic? Mindset? Is there (or could there be) an interest from him to come here? Etc. This may be as far as we ever go. Or, we take the next step. Most kids we contact will not make it to the next step.

Recruiting:

Now we know enough about the kid to know we want to invest more time with him and that this kid has some interest in coming to ISU. We're going to take a deeper dive: watching more video; watching games in person (if possible); talking more with the player, his coaches, scouts, other college coaches, his parents; taking more time to document the kid's skills, emotional and physical maturity, teamwork, grind, etc. The goal is to decide whether to take the next step and offer the kid . . .

Offers:

When we offer a kid we're telling the kid we want you on our team . . . obviously . . . We're making a commitment to this kid to continue to follow his play, be engaged in his development (as much as is permitted), keep the lines of communication open. The offer may be completely open . . . we want this kid no matter who else commits. Or the offer may be contingent, meaning if someone else at that position commits this kid the offer will be pulled. That can bite us: think Terry Johnson v. DJ Cooper. Cooper wanted to come here, but Johnson committed first . . . I think Jank could've had a dancing team had Cooper committed first . . .

Summary:

Interest only means we want to know more before we go any further. These kids are available and seem to check a box or two on our list of needs, but we need more info to see how many boxes the kid checks. So please don't assume just because we've contacted a kid means we're gonna start dating . . .
 

cubird

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Jul 19, 2017
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2,350
Makes it crystal clear to some who make assumptions on who is really being recruited.
 
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