Tag Archives: college recruiting services

Live Recruit Academic

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Live Recruit Academic specializes in those student athletes who are outstanding students with tremendous grades and the ability to play basketball at the Ivy League level or at the college program levels that have high academic requirements.

I had a conversation on Friday December 2nd with Tim Burke who is the creator behind Live Recruit Academic.  Tim played high school basketball at Christian Brothers Academy inNew Jersey and was recruited to play college basketball at Catholic University.

The fact that Tim Burke played high school basketball and was recruited to play college basketball gives him instant credibility when it comes to the college recruiting process.  I think when you look for a college recruiting service you should look for those services that have experienced individuals who have actually lived through the college recruiting process like Tim Burke.

The concept behind Live Recruit Academic is basically for student athletes to create their own athletic profile where they can upload videos and biographical information such as statistics and information on grades.

The goal is for student athletes to connect with college coaches who are looking to recruit them.

Student athletes have the ability to access their profile information and to consistently update their athletic profile. College programs can login to view the student athletes information.  Basically, this is where the connection between the high achieving high school student athlete and the college program begins.

If a student athlete has a DVD of their games, Tim and his staff can convert it then upload it to the student athlete’s profile page.  I think this is a great idea to have video on a website where hundreds of college coaches can view players.  I believe it’s an easier approach to having a video in a beginning of the college recruiting process as opposed to trying to mail out 50 or 100 DVD’s.

Live Recruit Academic has a system where it tracks which college programs have viewed that student athlete’s athletic profile.

Live Recruit Academic is totally different from any other recruiting service. This company focuses on student athletes who have high GPA’s and who have scored extremely higher on standardized tests.  Many other recruiting services are only interested in signing up any and every student athlete but not this company; they’re more concerned with athletic ability of course but, more importantly, high achieving academic standards on the part of student athletes.

The company’s website has been up and running for just about a year so they are building and they are growing every day.

Live Recruit Academic is looking to expand into other sports in the future.  Make no mistake, Tim Burke is an experienced college recruiter.

He has experience as a current AAU basketball coach so he totally understands all aspects of recruiting and coaching along with the most important part, academics.

Live Recruit Academic has created an incredible niche. This recruiting service is not for everyone only those student athletes who demonstrated that they are the best that they can be academically along with athletically.

I was very impressed with Tim Burke and the concept of this outstanding company. If you are one of those student athletes who meet the guidelines and the criteria set in place by Live Recruit Academic, then this clearly is the place for you.

Big 3 Scouting Company Was Barely Awake When I Called

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I wanted to find out what “Big 3 Scouting” was all about so I decided to call them. When Tim Dickens, the guy who runs this company, answered the phone he just said’ hello’,  he did not reference the company’s name or his name or anything to let me know that this was a recruiting service. He sounded like some guy sitting at home hoping for the phone to ring. I could also hear the television in the background; that was just so unprofessional.

The company is based out of Miami, Florida. Tim Dickens has been running the company for three years and claims to have at least ten years of college recruiting experience.  To me, he sounds like one of those guys that has never played sports in his entire life. I really don’t know if he played sports and not; I never asked but he did talk as though he was happy to have a conversation with anyone about recruiting. During our conversation, Tim was talking so much and making very little sense, he made it almost impossible for me to ask any questions.

He didn’t ask me anything about recruiting he just kept talking and talking over me the entire conversation. When I asked Tim what’s his process is when contacting college coaches he told me that he would like to see a DVD of the athlete first then he decides on what fee to charge the parents.

He never mentioned what his fee is. He just kept talking the entire conversation barely giving me the opportunity to jump in and ask any questions. When someone is talking that much during a conversation without giving you the opportunity to really jump in and ask a question, it kind of sounds like they have something to hide. During the conversation, he assumed I had a son that played football so I went along with it and I told him my name and that I was in Cleveland, Ohio. The sad part was that he was struggling just to name a few college football programs in my area; he could not come up with a single name of a college program.

A college recruiting service, who claims to work with student athletes across the country, should know the names of college programs without having to look them up and should be able to say these names without hesitation. This guy made references to another recruiting service, NCSA, talking about how they sent out hundreds of emails to college coaches and how much they charged.

He claimed during our conversation he had worked for another recruiting company, I’m assuming that he worked for NCSA because of his constant references back to what NCSA does. The whole conversation with this guy was not good. I don’t believe he knew what he was talking about and I’m quite sure he probably doesn’t know what he’s doing either. Before ever using a recruiting service, make sure you come out with a strong list of questions to ask.

Ask about previous experience, ask whether they played high school and college sports and, if they are a little slow in their answers, that should tell you that you could be wasting your time and throwing away your money as I believe you would be if you chose Big 3 Scouting.

Overall, it sounds like another company wanting to get into the game of college recruiting but has no real experience.

Athletic Quest Is Becoming a Major Player in the College Recruiting Process.

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The college recruiting process is about information and offering guidance to high school student athletes, that is the strength behind Athletic Quest.

I had a conversation with Chad Kartchner who is the Chief Operating Officer of Athletic Quest.

Basically, the company’s main focus is to identify quality student athletes where they can educate them on all aspects of the college recruiting process.  The mentors are all former college coaches who clearly have the experience and the knowledge of the recruiting process.

Athletic Quest guides student athletes step by step through the college recruiting process using former college coaches as mentors.  I believe their approach to the college recruiting process is extremely positive because of their hands-on, one-on-one connection with student athletes.

Each year Athletic Quest is working with anywhere from 500 to 700 student athletes and, in some situations, topping out around 1,000 high school student athletes.  Their success rate is around 90% of student athletes who use their services and who end up in college.

Athletic Quest works with student athletes all across the country and assigns each student athlete a mentor to guide them and their parents through the recruiting process.  In my opinion, this is an excellent strategy that separates Athletic Quest from many other recruiting services that only care about money.

Athletic Quest evaluates and identifies the student athletes’ strengths and weaknesses. They do not accept every student athlete into their program only those athletes who qualify academically and athletically.

The company has been in existence since 2004 and was incorporated in 2006 by their founder, John Scott.

Many parents and student athletes are going through the college recruiting process for the first time and many of them are not clearly sure exactly how the process works.  Athletic Quest understands that and this is why they provide experienced, former college coaches who are mentors and who understand every aspect of recruiting. This is why I believe this company stands out over many other recruiting services.

I think it’s critical that a college recruiting service has individuals who’ve actually played high school and college sports. This is what impressed me the most about Chad Kartchner; he actually played college basketball therefore, he can relate to student athletes.  Many recruiting services have individuals who barely, if at all, played high school sports and were never recruited into college. Those other services, in my opinion, will never know or understand what it’s like to be an athlete.

Not only does Athletic Quest understands what athletes go through they also employ former college coaches and players who have firsthand knowledge and experience of recruiting.

Their website has a lot of information and they offer a free e-book on the college recruiting process.  Companies like Athletic Quest are clearly going about it the right way.

Could the NCAA Place Restrictions on College Recruiting Services?

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The NCAA is a dictatorship but more importantly the governing body for all of college sports.  Is it possible that the NCAA could place restrictions on college recruiting services that help student athletes gain exposure to college programs?

The NCAA just recently placed serious restrictions on college recruiting websites where college programs have to pay a subscription price to view videos of the student athletes.

I think because the NCAA is not profiting from what recruiting services are doing or what some recruiting websites are doing, it is possible that they could try to eliminate the use of recruiting services all together.

I believe how the elimination of recruiting services would be done is first the NCAA could say that any high school student athlete associated with a college recruiting service would be deemed ineligible.  It could happen because of the total control the NCAA wants to have over all sports.  The high school state associations would also have to agree with the NCAA on restrictions with college recruiting services.

College recruiting services do offer value to high school student athletes and parents and there are many different opinions about using recruiting services. Regardless of what your opinion is, my opinion is that without a good college recruiting service many high school student athletes will slip through the cracks of the college recruiting process.  Without a college recruiting service many high school student athletes may not ever get a chance to go to college.

The entire world of high school and college athletics is changing all the time; there are new rules and restrictions and there’s also corrupt individuals who ruin it for the good people who try to make a difference in the lives of high school student athletes.

Who really controls college sports? Is it the NCAA or the college presidents?  I believe a situation could occur one day where the top 50 major college programs could form their own league separate from the NCAA.  It is highly probable a new league could be formed with new rules and regulations to better serve the high school athletes and parents who are ready for college sports and who are looking to get a college education while playing their sport.

College recruiting services exist for a reason and I think it would be a step backwards if the NCAA were to place restrictions on college recruiting services.  Maybe the NCAA should sanction college recruiting services just like they do with AAU events or football camps or baseball showcases.  If the NCAA recognizes college recruiting services, then this would eliminate all of the bad recruiting services that exists and the good ones could better serve high school student athletes and parents.

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Rivals.com Is Not The Problem With Recruiting, The NCAA Is

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Those idiots at the NCAA are the problem with recruiting not websites like Rivals.com, Scout.com and many others who offer a premium membership to view videos of high school student athletes.

The NCAA has too many rules and regulations and it’s almost impossible to follow every single rule or keep track of any new rules they want to implement.

One of these days major college programs are going to leave the NCAA and form their own governing body, creating their own rules and regulations without all of the red tape from the NCAA that is killing college sports.

In terms of websites such as Rivals or Scout, they’re providing a legitimate service for fans that enjoy high school and college sports, for the student athletes to help them gain exposure to college programs and to college programs to better evaluate student athletes.

Instead of the NCAA running away from websites like Rivals and Scout they should make them a legitimate part of the NCAA recruiting process. If that was done then it would eliminate all of those street agents or runners and other people who don’t have the best interests of the student athlete in mind.

Believe me when I tell you, there are a lot of scumbags who call themselves college recruiters looking to cash in on the backs of naiveté high school student athletes.  The NCAA should crack down on those assholes that are trying to get paid and could care less about the student athlete and their families.

I understand the NCAA wants to protect college sports and the student athletes but trying to eliminate reputable college recruiting services is not the best way to deal with the problem.

What’s going to happen is some individual is still going to try and find a way to get around the NCAA recruiting crackdowns on websites. The NCAA is becoming more like a Middle Eastern country, ruled by a dictator who has been in power for 50 years.

What are your thoughts on the NCAA and their crackdown on legitimate college recruiting websites?

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There are a lot of terrible college recruiting services out there

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You should judge a book by its cover when it comes to college recruiting services.  There are a lot of college recruiting services out there that do a horrible job in representing themselves.  A lot of these services have lousy websites with very generic information.  If you’re trying to persuade a parent to write you a check, having an unprofessional website would definitely hurt your business.

Then there are other recruiting services that tell student athletes that they can “guarantee” that they’ll get them into a division one school.  Anyone who makes such a guarantee to a student athlete and their parents to get their business should be kicked in the ass.

The reason many of these recruiting services make ridiculous statements is because of money.  You should never make promises to student athletes and parents about what you can do for them. You should focus on the facts and what you can do for them based on those facts.

In the world of college recruiting services, money is the root of all evil because so many student athletes and parents are in need of their help and expertise.

I found a so-called college recruiting service the other day and I would have to say this is a classic example of a horrible website which would represent in my opinion a horrible recruiting service. Check them out:  stats-r-us.com.

This recruiting service should be kicked in the ass for even thinking that they have the right to be a college recruiting service.  Trust me, there are thousands of other college recruiting services that have websites that are just as messed up as this one.

College recruiters all need to represent themselves as professional business people at all times or just get out the game.

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3 things you should know before becoming a college recruiter

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For those of you who may not know, I started my professional career as a college recruiter back in 1989.  I thought it would be a great professional business opportunity for me to get involved with.

I played basketball on every level so I thought with the knowledge I had, I could use it to help other student athletes reach the college level.

Back then, there was basically no information available on how to become a college recruiter. There were no college courses to take, no information on the Internet, basically there was nothing available.

There are so many people out there who are fascinated with the entire process of being a college recruiter that I wanted to provide my perspective on the things you will need to do to become a college recruiter.

GO TO CAMP.  One of first things I did as a college recruiter was go to camps. I started out with basketball because that was the sport I played all my life.  By going to camps all over the country, it helped me to get a greater understanding of what parents are seeing and thinking about when it comes to their kids and college recruiting.

Going to camps also helped me gain exposure to college coaches and build up a strong network.  I felt that if these coaches knew who I was, then I could develop some kind of professional relationship and a level of trust.

I believe it’s critical for all new college recruiters to be seen by parents, players and especially the college coaches. This will help build your reputation as a college recruiter.

LOOK THE PART. Being a college recruiter is just like any professional business; you need to look the part.  If you’re serious about being a college recruiter then get yourself some clothes that represent the fact that you are a college recruiter.

Maybe get a polo shirt or some kind of athletic-looking gear that has the name of your company on it.  Also get your fat, out of shape ass in the gym and at least look like you played sports by having an athletic body or something close to it.

I’ve been all over the country to many tournaments, exposure events and camps and have seen many of these wannabe college recruiters who look like they’ve never picked up a ball in their life.  Get in shape! Look like something out there.

GET THE EQUIPMENT. To be taken seriously as a college recruiter you’re going to the need a blog.  I would choose a blog over website because you can update your blog with NAIA news and fresh information all the time and it’s easier to use than the old-fashioned websites.

Get a domain name that says you’re a college recruiter and then your company using something that’s short and catchy.

It’s important to get all the necessary tools and equipment to be taken seriously as a college recruiter.  Get business cards and hand out to every athlete and every parent of an athlete.

Also your email should be off of your domain name and not one of those freaky mail services. Again, it’s all about professionalism.

Technology is critical so get a cell phone with plenty of minutes on it so you can be available to your clients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Computers are, of course, just as important as anything you would ever need in your business. Go out and get the best computers available, in your price range of course.  I believe it’s important to have at least two desktop computers and maybe later a laptop or Ipad.

Your computers are the engines for your business because this is where you will write your athletic profiles on high school athletes, email back and forth with college coaches and your prospective clients.

For me personally, I have two desktop computers that I use in every aspect of my business.

GET BUSINESS TO COME TO YOU. It does not matter how smart you are, what college you went to or even what college coaches you may know. If you cannot get businesses to consistently come to you every day, then you’ve got nothing.

Just because you want to help high school athletes get into college doesn’t mean a damn thing if you cannot get a huge number of student athletes to talk to each and every week.

You must advertise your business in order to get business, you must find out online and in the newspapers where the student athletes and their parents, who are most critical in this process, will be.

I believe it’s easier to reach a larger number of parents of high school athletes over the Internet because that’s where they’re going to look for information on how to get recruited for college.

One of the best resources available to market your business is on the Internet. Message boards that talk about high school sports or websites or blogs that talk about high school sports are the best places to advertise your business.

The most important things to remember is you DON’T want to spend your advertising dollars on a message board or website that has very little traffic and little exposure. You want to advertise on message boards that are extremely popular with the parents of high school athletes.

You are marketing your business to the parents of high school athletes because they’re the ones who will pay for anything their child needs on their way to getting recruited for college.

IN CLOSING. I believe these are very important steps in the process of being a college recruiter.  When I first started, I went out to camps and exposure events for years. Even though I was a former high school athlete, a college athlete and then a professional athlete, I felt I needed more inside information on how the college recruiting process worked.

Keep in mind, there are no college courses available on how to become a college recruiter.  What I did was go out and I talked to people.  I talked to the parents at the camps that I attended, I talked with the players at the camps and I made a point to get as much information as I could from college coaches.

My opinion of the college recruiters out there today is that many of them do not know what they’re doing and they only care about the money and not about getting the kids in college.

I think it’s important to think about how you can best help the parents and the student athletes get into college and you will make a lot of money because you will have a great reputation of service to others, so you will get paid.