Parenting Guide to Recruiting in the New NIL Era – Part 1
Things are changing in the recruiting process for high school athletes who desire to play at the collegiate level. In this new era of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness), you need to guide your child on key smart and essential questions to ask a coach. Equally, if your athlete is not among the 2% to capture part of the NIL money pile, then you also need to mentor your child to ask key smart and essential recruiting questions.
Most of your children are among the 98% who will not get money to play college sports yet they can still be among the athletes who get athletic and/or academic scholarships providing the opportunity to continue their athletic career.
Create and protect a personal brand
Now more than ever, you must create and protect your child’s personal brand in seeking a collegiate sports experience. Social media remains a key way recruiters communicate and watch athletes. Put on your task list to set up Instagram and X accounts specifically for college recruiting. Manage social media with your child. Work together with your athlete to post film and highlights of their training and competiting.
In this new era of NIL, athletes in non-revenue generating sports have unique opportunities and distinct challenges to monetize their personal brand. Options to make money include being a social media influencer, speaking, selling branded merchandise, and finding local brand partnerships.
This guide empowers parents and athletes with essential knowledge, concrete steps, and conversation starters to make informed decisions and maximize NIL potential while preserving focus on performance and academics.
Questions to ask coaches for non-NIL focused athletes
Communicating with a college coach in person, over the phone or through email is an opportunity to make a great impression. Part of making this solid mpression is asking questions which help determine whether the college is a good academic, athletic, and social fit for your athlete.
Use this as an opportunity for your athlete to find out the steps to take to be recruited at the college and to gauge the kind of culture of the team, campus, and the environment of the community. These are some questions he or she can ask recruiters and coaches.
- What are your recruiting needs for my class?
Find out what the coach is looking for in his or her recruiting efforts for your class. This helps you determine how many roster spots are left and how likely it is you will get recruited. It may also provide insight into how likely you will get playing time, especially in your first year or two.
- What are the next steps in the recruiting process with your program?
You will want to use your conversations with a coach to help you form a concrete idea of the steps you need to take if you want to play at the school. The coach might tell you about camps where you can be evaluated by their staff, steps in the application process, or other steps you can take which allow you to plan moving forward with the particular college.
- What is your recruiting timeline?
This is another one of the questions to ask coaches which give you a sense of the timing of the recruiting plans. This is an important question which will help you assess how much time you have for subsequent recruiting steps with the program.
- What does a typical day or week look like for a player during the season?
Your experience as a student-athlete at a particular college should be a big consideration as you assess a school for fit. Asking a coach what the typical day/week looks like during the season will help you to determine how busy you will be, how difficult it will be to juggle your major and/or a social life. Everyone is different in terms of what they are looking for outside of the sport/academic/social-life balance at college, and this question will help you to form a good picture of what the balance would look like at the school.
- What are the off-season expectations for a player?
This is another question relating to the sport/academics/life balance consideration and allow you to determine what your off-season will look like. You must know the commitment you will need to fulfill in terms of training and time. More than likely, the school provides off-season training regiments expected to fulfill on your own or with the team in order to show up physically ready.
- What are the values of your program? What is important to you Coach?
Every coach leads their program according to a set of values and ideals. This question gives the coach the opportunity to tell you about the character of their program, the values they are seeking in their players and their priorities in recruiting. You will be able to assess if these values align with your own values and what you are looking for in a program.
- How would you best describe your coaching style? The team culture?
Every player has a preference for how they like to be led and coached. Asking a coach this question about their style allows you to assess whether there is a good fit between the coach’s style and your preferences. This factors in your overall evaluation of a match with the program.
- How does the program support players missing class for games?
Academics should be a primary driver in your assessment of fit. Remember, roughly 2% of college players go on to play professionally within their respective sports, meaning the education you obtain from the college is extremely important for your future. You want to have a good idea of the support you will receive from the school while juggling academics and athletics to ensure you are able to succeed. You can also ask a coach what kind of support resources the program provides to aid your efforts to thrive in the classroom.
- What are the academic expectations for players on your team? What is the role of academics and internships?
This is another useful question pertaining to the academic side of your experience at the college. It is helpful for you to know the GPA expectations for instance, as well as how much the athletic program emphasizes the academic side of their player’s experience at the college.
- What is the team’s GPA/ graduation rate?
In line with the above academic-focused questions to ask college coaches, this question will allow you to assess what your academic situation might look like at the end of your time at the school. This will have implications for your post-college life and should be an important consideration when evaluating college programs.
- What housing options are available to players?
Where you live throughout your time at college is important and often has a big impact on your experience at school. It is helpful to determine what housing looks like for athletes on the team, where athletes stay and what options athletes have for all four years. Housing is definitely an important factor in evaluating a college’s fit.
- What does the team do for fun on their days off?
This is more of a cultural/social question which helps you assess what your college experience will look like when not in class or in sport activities. This question gives you a good understanding of the communal side of the college and the camaraderie of the team. This helps you determine if the school’s social environment provides a solid connection for you.
Additional questions to ask for non-NIL focused athletes want to develop their brand
- How do you support athletes’ personal development outside of sport? What is your philosophy on athletes building their personal brands?
- How do you prepare athletes for life after college sports?
- How do you help athletes prepare professionally while in school -e.g., resume, LinkedIn, networking
- What is your view on NIL opportunities for athletes in non-revenue sports?
- Do you help athletes connect with local businesses or alumni who might support them?
- If a small NIL opportunity came up, how would you and your staff guide me through it?
- What are the team or university policies I should know about regarding branding or social media?
- What kind of media coverage or social media support does your program receive?
- How do you promote your athletes’ achievements beyond the team-e.g., school, community?
- What opportunities exist for athletes to coach, volunteer, or speak in the local area?
- What alumni connections or mentorships exist for current athletes?
- What career outcomes have your past athletes achieved after graduation?
Recruiting for non-NIL athletes now requires more intention to communicate, participate in camps, showcases, and keep an appropriate display of your skills and competitive accomplishments on social media. Navigating this takes discipline, consistency, and solid communication skills. Rosters spots for many sports have been reduced due to new NIL rules. Walk-on and preferred walk-on opportunities may still exist but sparingly at some schools. The sooner you can make connections with coaches and recruiters, the better.
Questions to ask coaches for NIL revenue-generating focused athletes coming next in Part 2!
Parenting athletes is hard work. There’s an entirely new and different set of dynamics at work. You have to be mom, dad, or mom and dad, coach, counselor, EMT, equipment manager, engineer, and seamstress all before dinner! You’re not alone and maybe, just maybe, we can help each other navigate this never-ending path to glory. Hey, what’s your biggest challenge with your athlete?
