Football Recruiting Strategies

For college football coaches, recruiting during the months between January and April is just as important as the in-season strategizing and roster management. Increasingly, fans have directed their attention to football recruiting, leading to countless recruiting magazines and 24-hour sports television coverage. Football coaches convince high school seniors to join their program by discussing their opportunities to become award winners, national champions or professional players.

  1. Local Recruiting

    • Football coaches have a distinct advantage for in-state talent, since players will probably want to stay near their families and homes. Keep in touch with local high school programs about players enrolled there. Recognize that winning will trump those loyalties so you should have a plan for turning weak programs around. In the early 2000s, Louisiana State University changed its recent fortunes by recruiting in-state talent. When players like Corey Webster and Dwayne Bowe chose LSU over other offers, the course was set toward two national titles and several conference titles.

    National Recruiting

    • All college football coaches should build a national network. You should build relationships with high school coaches across the country, gaining their trust. For programs in states that are short on in-state football talent, national recruiting will prove important. Football coaches build a list of needs every year, from quarterback to offensive linemen, and having a national recruiting base allows them to meet those needs. If you are going to build a national recruiting network and lure players away from their home states, though, you will need to win games and even national championships.

    The Next Level

    • Most players moving up to the college levels are trying to maximize their opportunities at the professional level. Athletes will want to play in a pro-style offense to show scouts at the next level their abilities. Football players also want to gain the prestige and attention that individual awards bring. Between 2000 and 2009, former University of Southern California head coach Pete Carroll pulled in top-ranked recruiting classes by offering players the chance to play in pro-style offenses, as well as the chance to win prestigious individual awards like the Heisman Trophy. During Carroll’s tenure, Matt Leinart, Carson Palmer and Reggie Bush won the award, and all three were drafted in the top ten of the NFL Draft.