- Log in to post comments
The following article is sponsored by National Scouting Report. Visit NSR’s web site at http://www.nsr-inc.com/
Warning: Social Media Can Make or Break Recruiting
West Virginia University coach Sean Covich laid down the law to his men’s golf recruits in a recent tweet:
“Dear recruits: If I research your social media and find multiple uses of profanity/pics of alcohol, will likely cost you a scholarship,” he tweeted.
Get the point, SOL prospects?
Social media is a wonderful tool to promote prospects to college coaches. I have enjoyed great success using Facebook and Twitter to help high school student-athletes get recruited and earn scholarships. However, if used inappropriately, social media can be disastrous for college prospects.
My simple advice to prospects: “If you have anything posted on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram that you wouldn’t want your mother to read or see, make sure you delete it.”
You don’t even have to be guilty of anything. You can be guilty by association.
Let’s say one of your “friends” posts a picture on your timeline of you and your buddies holding red plastic cups on the beach. Do you think college coaches will assume there’s water in those cups?
Let’s say another “friend” posts profanity on your timeline. “Hey, mother ------, how the ---- are you doing?” Don’t you think college coaches can fill in the blanks? Don’t you think they will associate you with that kind of language?
You bet.
In fact, many college athletic departments assign graduate assistants to “snoop” on potential prospects. If they find something inappropriate on their social media pages, they immediately raise a red flag and report it to the coaches and/or recruiting coordinators.
It’s no different than company executives or human resource managers “snooping” on potential employees. Don’t you think they check out applicants on LinkedIn and other social media sites before inviting them to interview?
It’s perfectly legal … and smart.
Recruiting is highly competitive. If college coaches want to establish and maintain successful programs, they can’t afford to make mistakes. They want to recruit and, ultimately, sign prospects who fit into their teams’ cultures. They can’t afford to take chances on those with questionable character.
As the saying goes: “One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.”
Knowing that, college prospects must be smart, too.
You can have fun on social media – college coaches expect that -- but keep your pages clean. Make sure they don’t contain inappropriate photos or language. If they do, delete those posts immediately.
Use social media to your advantage. Try to “friend” college coaches. Promote your academic and athletic accomplishments. Hopefully, coaches will read your posts and start recruiting you.
Isn’t that what you want?
Want to play college sports? National Scouting Report, the world’s oldest and largest college recruiting organization, receives dozens of requests each week from college coaches seeking qualified high school prospects (2016-19). More than 95 percent of NSR’s prospects receive scholarship offers. For a FREE evaluation and in-home consultation, contact NSR Area Director Gary Silvers, former Executive Sports Editor of the Bucks County Courier Times, at (215) 480-8764 or gsilvers@nsr-inc.com.