Inspired by a recent video from the Big 12 where a few of the league's coaches sat in front of the camera and shared some of their favorite recruiting stories, something dawned on me - recruiting stories are a huge untapped resource.
While down at the AFCA back in January, I had the opportunity to swap recruiting stories with a number of current, and former, college coaches who had some great ones to share. Like everything else we've covered on previous episodes of the podcast, these types of stories have always fascinated me, in part because everyone has at least one to share.
Whether they come from Power Five assistants or graduate assistants, or coaches at the small college level, there are a ton of outstanding recruiting stories out there that deserve to be shared. So I spent some time putting together a way where we could share multiple stories for a comeback episode of The FootballScoop Podcast, which is making a comeback next week after a short bye-week break.
Just as a refresher, here's the video that the Big 12 put out a few weeks back. David Beaty's story is the best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vn30ldamnk&t=1s
Those are the types of stories we're looking for as we embark on this journey sure to bring in stories that will make people laugh and cry, as well as touching stories that don't get shared enough.
Literally anyone that has ever recruited has a story or two to share, and those that have been in the profession for years have no shortage of tales from the pavement (or via phone or social media) to share - so to field as many as humanly possible, I have set up a Google Voice mailbox.
Here's how you can have your recruiting story featured on the podcast.
- Call - Dial 616-236-3047
- This is a designated Google Voice mail box, so it will ring a few times, and then allow you leave your message.
- Share your story - Feel free to leave a name, school, and contact number, or just keep it totally anonymous. My understanding of the setup is that you have three minutes to fit your story in - which should be plenty in most cases - but in the case that it isn't, just call in again and note that you're continuing on your previous message.
- It might help to start my saying "I was a (college OR HS coach) at the time..." and lead into the story that way.
It's important to note that this isn't just reserved for the college coaches out there. I know there are plenty of high school coaches that have some great stories related to recruiting to share as well.
The best stories will get hand picked and edited to be shared on the podcast set to be released one week from today.
Let the fun begin! I am looking forward to hearing your stories, and sharing them with the rest of the coaching community. Feel free to reach out to me directly via email (doug@footballscoop.com) or Twitter (@CoachSamz) as well.
Subscribe to The FootballScoop Podcast here, and catch up on past episodes where we talk about building a successful program (Ep 1), creating and sustaining a successful culture (Ep 2and 3), how to recruit with limited resources (Ep 4) and finding work / coaching / family balance (Ep 5).