Monthly Archives: September 2010

Should high school coaches be paid full time to coach their sport?

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The high school coaching profession is extremely challenging; the hours are long and the pay is low.  Many high school coaches do outstanding and unbelievable work every year for the student athletes that they coach.  Should high school coaches be paid full time to only coach their sport?

This question will spark a huge debate because many people do not believe that high school coaches bring any value to their sport or to their schools.  I believe high school coaches are a critical aspect to the success of high school athletes.

School coaches, in my opinion, bring a lot of value to the schools they coach for and for the players that they teach and coach.  If they did not matter what high school teams were doing then no one would show up for the games.

I know every school district would not be able to afford to pay a coach a full time salary to only coach.  Maybe high school coaches in revenue-producing sports such as football and basketball should be paid full time.

What are your thoughts?

I know that it may not be a great idea to hire someone to just coach their sport and do nothing else, but it’s done at the college level. I do understand that colleges and universities have the money and the resources to pay a coach full time to only coach. I’ve heard stories of how the head coaches would use their coaching salaries to pay assistant coaches and to put money back into their program.

There can be creative ways to possibly raise money to pay a high school coach’s salary to coach full time.  At the college level, I do know that they have basketball camps to help fund their athletic programs and pay for a coach or two.

Maybe this process can work at the high school level where there could be some sort of fundraising for basketball camps or host an event where money could be raised to pay a coach a full time salary or give them a larger piece of the pie.

I’m sure there are many parents and fans of high school sports who do not understand the amount of hours that it takes to coach high school players and to develop that program in which they coach. In my opinion, and maybe I’m wrong but it is my opinion and I believe high school sports is a critical part of a school’s curriculum.

I understand that education is extremely important but I also believe that playing sports is also important.

In many school districts throughout this country high school sports is everything to a high school kid that play sports. Many of these young men and women look to high school coaches as father-figures or role models and I believe there is a huge value to having a full time high school coach.

The world is changing; the things we use to do 15 or 20 years ago do not apply to young people today. Everything is different and I believe having strong mentors as head coaches can do a lot for the young people who play a sport and uplift a community or even a high school.

There is a crisis in this country when it comes to the many school districts that are having financial problems.  Enrollment is dropping at many school districts and that affects money but I believe more creative thinking can create a better future for the overall success of high school coaching, athletics, school districts and, of course, the students.

Recruiting More Recruiting and More Recruiting

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I would bet that if you talked to a thousand high school players, all of them would say that they’d like to play at a college somewhere.

The problem is recruiting.

In the college recruiting process, many parents and high school student athletes leave it all up to the high school coach.

The high school coach is there to coach that sport. It’s up to the parents and the student athletes to figure out what direction they should go in recruiting; what methods they should use for college recruiting.

There are a huge number of high school athletes out there who are not being recruited for college right now, and most of them will just be college students. Their playing career is now over. Do you want this to happen to you? Without having the right plan in place, you will end up without a college program.

Recruiting is about exposure.

The more college programs that know about what you can do over and over again are the ones that will recruit you. The more information a college program has on you, the more they can recruit you. The more they see your name on their list of players to be recruited by college programs then the more chances that they will recruit you. If college programs like what they see in you they will make an offer to you.


Recruitng, Recruiting, Recruiting

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I would bet that if you talked to a thousand high school players, all of them would say that they’d like to play at a college somewhere.

The problem is recruiting.

In the college recruiting process, many parents and high school student athletes leave it all up to the high school coach.

The high school coach is there to coach that sport. It’s up to the parents and the student athletes to figure out what direction they should go in recruiting; what methods they should use for college recruiting.

There are a huge number of high school athletes out there who are not being recruited for college right now, and most of them will just be college students. Their playing career is now over. Do you want this to happen to you? Without having the right plan in place, you will end up without a college program.

Recruiting is about exposure.

The more college programs that know about what you can do over and over again are the ones that will recruit you. The more information a college program has on you, the more they can recruit you. The more they see your name on their list of players to be recruited by college programs then the more chances that they will recruit you. If college programs like what they see in you they will make an offer to you.

Recruiting, Recruiting, Recruiting.

If you don’t want to pay a college recruiting service to help you with getting placed with a college program, then don’t use one. But of you decide to go with Woods Recruiting you’ll be glad you did!

Talk To Al Woods The College Recruiter

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What’s up? I’m a college recruiter everyone, if you did know that by now.  I will be giving parents of high school student athletes an opportunity to talk one on one with me free of charge Wednesday, September 29. This will be by appointment only.

If you are interested, please e-mail me to let me know what time would be good for you.  We’re only going to take 10 people Wednesday, September 29.

Here are the rules:  You must call at your scheduled appointment time, you must tell me a little bit about the athlete and you are limited to only two questions.

Thanks,

Al Woods

My email: alwoods@woodsrecruiting.com

The freshman year and the college recruiting process

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The other day, I was checking my Twitter page when I received this question from a parent:  “My daughter in freshman (HS) soccer. What does she need to do to get watched by a recruiter? Or to stand out to get recruite?.”

First of all, it’s a great question because it tells me that the parents are very serious about their daughter’s athletic future.

I’d like to add just a little background on recruiting.  The college recruiting process is extremely challenging. There are many twists and turns and you must give yourself enough time in the process to make it work and to correct any mistakes you may make along the way.

As a high school freshmen, I believe this is a critical time in their athletic career because academics begin to count towards college.

The grades you get in high school will be on your high school transcript and this is a permanent record.

I believe it’s important to get out to a very good start academically once you reach high school.

In terms of gaining exposure to college programs, you may want to identify which college programs you are interested in.

Create a list of college programs in your home state.

Find out all that you can about that college program and about that college or university.

Find out all that you can about the course of study which the HS athlete intends to major in.

Find out all that you can about the college coaching staff.

Find out all that you can about the distance from your home to the college campus and if this would be suitable for you.

Gaining exposure to college coaches can be challenging no matter what sport you play but if you can go to the tournaments, camps or exposure events where college coaches will be attending, then that’s very critical to be seen by these college programs.

If you are at a particular event try to make it a point to find out what coaches are there and, once you’ve determined that, you may want to write each individual coach about who you are what your HS athlete can do athletically and academically.

As a freshman in high school, it is extremely early in the college recruiting process in terms of trying to gain the attention of college coaches but there’s nothing wrong with getting the process started now and finding out all the things that you have to do to make the college recruiting process work for you.

Oftentimes, parents of high school student athletes will wait until their senior year of high school to begin thinking about what they should do in the college recruiting process and I believe that is a huge mistake.

The college recruiting process is a marathon; it has never been something that you could turn on and off when you felt like it.

Of course anyone out there looking for information and help with the college recruiting process can clearly sign up with Woods Recruiting. We can guide you through the process step by step.

Overall in the college recruiting process, there will be thousands of things that must get done. Research the process, understand the process and take your time to fully understand how all of this will fit together.

IMG is starting a high school football championship

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The sports marketing company, IMG, is starting a high school football championship.  Do you think the high school players and coaches will want to be involved in such a game?  Do you think that the high school football season is long enough and that extra games would be overkill?

Remember, these are just high school kids and it seems that companies like IMG want to make them into professional athletes before they’re ready.

Can parents be too involved?

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Parents want the best for their student athlete no matter what, whether they play a sport or not. But we are talking about the pressure-filled goal of getting that college scholarship, right? And I know how a lot of sport parents are.

Most have some knowledge of what they’re doing and others are just plain crazy!

Parents are way too involved in the college recruiting process and some of them need to back up and sit down! Many times, parents want to do all the work for them .

There are many parents who will make phone calls to college coaches, they’ll write letters and send emails to college coaches, they will hang all over their child when he or she is having a face to face conversation with a college coach.

Now tell me if I’m wrong but the parents are not going to college, the parents are not playing sports and the parents are not the ones who’s getting a scholarship. It’s your child; let them do all of that.

That’s what is expected of them from a college coach who is doing the recruiting.

How many times have you seen some crazy parent going off on a coach or ref at a ball game? Or parents getting into fights with other parents at ball games? And why does this happen??

It’s because parents are, for the most part, out of their minds!

The parent’s role should only be to assist their star student athlete in the family and not try to ruin it for them, the overworked high school student athlete. Please parents, give your child some air and let them enjoy the process of being recruited! It’s all for them anyway.

Parents must stop and take a seat!