Division I Men’s Basketball Recruiting Strategies: Separating High-majors from Mid-majors

1. Division I Men’s Basketball Recruiting Strategies: Separating High-majors from Mid-majors Chad Seifried, Ph.D., RAA The Ohio State University

2. Introduction • Competitive advantage and organizational effectiveness • Better at recruiting = create and sustain competitive advantage • Institutions must continually seek to gain or sustain competitive advantages against their rivals by resolving or creating recruiting inequities. • Practice innovative and effective recruiting strategies • Imperative for those involved in the recruiting process to understand the strategies competing institutions utilize to influence prospective student-athletes choice of institution so they may better align themselves in the competitive recruiting marketplace. • Frequently, this pursuit triggers schools to dedicate a tremendous amount of their athletic budget toward recruiting (Cunningham, 2003; Funk, 1991).

3. Purpose and Significance • Identify tactics and strategies Division I men’s basketball programs generally employ to attract/recruit prospective student-athletes to their institution and a rationale for their use. • Differentiate those strategies employed by “high-major” and “mid-major” institutions • Process of recruiting student-athletes receives little attention by research investigators and even fewer investigate the strategies by which institutions attract/recruit student-athletes to their institution (Bouldin, Stahura, & Greenwood, 2004; Klenosky, Templin, & Troutman, 2001). • The limited literature demonstrates no one specific strategy or emerges as appropriate for the recruitment of all student-athletes because numerous factors influence student-athletes choice of institution (Baumgartner, 1999; Bouldin et al., 2004; Fizel & Bennett, 1996; Hultz, 1998; Klenovsky et al., 2001). • Vital information to athletic programs to help them design their recruiting game plans

4. Method • Purposive sample used from 30 Division I men’s basketball institutions in 20 conferences • Purposive sampling acts as a powerful method to gather subtle and important information or behaviors from a specific and generally difficult to recruit group (i.e. coaches). • Generalizability and Limitations • Utilized personal contacts screened for eligibility • Materials asked for included: recruiting philosophies, strategic plans, and any paperwork developed or required to assist coaches during the recruiting process. • Follow-up phone calls to arrange for materials and clear up what “recruiting materials” encompassed • High and Mid-major label

5. Method • Content Analysis- systematic examination of written, audio, or visual policy, guidelines, and philosophies to express the special intensity or depth of feeling describe the work communicates (Holsti, 1969; Salant & Dillman, 1994; Stemler, 2001). • Triangulation of materials from institutions • Overall, seek to extract themes from the materials collected • Utilized expert reviewers to examine the recruiting information obtained. • Three expert reviewers are former/current assistant coaches in Division I men’s basketball. These individuals possess over 40 years of experience and recruited hundreds of student-athletes to their institutions. Furthermore, these individuals all worked at institutions labeled as high and mid-major.

6. Develop a Plan of Attack • Establish areas to recruit based on previous success • Schools are very specific because they have to be (not everybody’s wallet is the same size) • Southeast High-major v. Pacific NW Mid-major • Limiting variables • Money • Academics match • Travel • Domestic • International

7. Early Identification • What age group are we talking about? • Direct Observation • Members of Coaching Staff • Friends of Program • Former Coaches/Players • Scouting Services • High-majors more likely to utilize/comment • Make comments about ability of players (position, athletic ability, skill level, etc..) • Some are better than others • Some positioned better for certain types of areas or student-athlete (i.e. junior college or high school) • Current Div. II, III, and High School Coaches • Mid-majors more likely to utilize

8. Early Identification • Camps and Clinics • Some are better or more highly thought of than others (Nike, ABCD, Five Star for Basketball) • Chance for Direct observation live or through video • Team, Individual, Position, and Evaluation camps • Chance to build contacts with high school and other coaches (i.e. special guest speakers) • Frequently held during school/sport quiet periods so it gives institutions/schools a chance to talk when they usually wouldn’t be allowed • Unanimously cited and used by all programs surveyed

9. Player Evaluations • Personality match with program/institution • Needs of program (Graduation, improve team chemistry or overall talent, strip rivals of talent, enhance future recruiting possibilities) • Common Demographic Data • Height, weight, test scores, g.p.a., important family members • Institutions will vary on thoroughness • Some more personal information and some more athletic information • Prospect’s Athletic Ability • Scoring Range • Quickness • Aggressiveness • Position(s) • Coachability- what is this? • Other general skills (practice player?, physical appearance)

10. Mailings • Questionnaires • Sent out in 10th or 11th grade • Much like evaluation information • Other information includes; other outstanding players competed against, AAU/JO events and Camps attending, name of school and coaches • Are highly valuable because they are easily updated from one year to the next • All programs utilized

11. Letters • Hand Written vs. Form/Computerized • Hand perceived to be special • More utilized by High-major • # of personalized letters dependent upon desirability of recruit • Highly prized (3 handwritten), next level (1 handwritten), all others (computer) • Accompanied by news article clipping • Focused on coach, player’s position, institution itself

12. Phone Contact • Sell strong points of program, institution, city, academic program • All programs utilized • Make call from a comfortable place • Record every piece of information • This helps the staff later for the building of better conversations with recruit • Education on sales techniques • Data Collection • For NCAA • For Personal Records • Highly valuable for building personal relationships • Recommended all coaches get involved

13. Home Visits • Confirmation Letter and Phone call prior to visit • Tailor presentation to recruit • Friend of family and others • Academic Catalog • Handouts about recruits academic interests • Address questions about class size, academic monitoring, grad. rate, etc.. • Discuss housing options, tickets, travel, schedule, television, tournaments, success of conference or institution etc.. • Negative Recruiting? • Address scholarship and playing time • Be honest • Check NCAA rules and regulations

14. Campus Visits • Itinerary • Detail every aspect of trip • Important because of limited time NCAA allows for official visit • What are some items you would include as part of the itinerary? • Meet important people in academic and athletic programs • Instructors/professors • Coaches • Trainers (Athletic and Strength) • Academic Support • Prospective Teammates • Player Hosts

15. Summary • For the most part, recruiting practices appear similar between high and mid-major programs. • Commonly created a strategic plan to identify the types of student-athletes they want and where they intend to recruit. • Established organized lines of communication through the different mailings, evaluation forms, and telephone conversations to identify recruits and evaluate a potential match to their needs. • Created attractive “sales” presentations for home and campus visits also surfaced as a major tactic.

16. Summary • High-majors appear more knowledgeable about specific scouting services • Mid-major programs appear more likely to rely on lower level programs than high-majors. • Lower division programs often compete for the same caliber of student-athlete mid-majors recruit. • Mid-majors generally appear to possess significantly smaller recruiting budgets • Spend little recruitment money towards the national scene. Instead spend their valuable time and energy on recruiting close to home and identifying talent as early as possible. • Relationship building terribly important

17. Summary • High-major programs appear to utilize the handwritten letter more than their mid-major counterparts. • Finances and mid-major programs typically possess less auxiliary staff members than their high-major peers. • Some institutions admitted they possessed little time to produce a preferred larger number of letters because of other administrative demands. • Negative Recruiting • Tactics used against competitors to discredit their reputation. Dixon et al. (2003) found institutions discredit their competition by attacking their academic reputation, travel accommodations, facilities, and coaching staff members (Dixon et al., 2003). • Found nothing addressing this concept • Literature suggests it occurs during recruiting practices (Dixon et al., 2003).