Unproven Recruiting Techniques Pt.1
This year will be my 6th year coaching college wrestling. And honestly, I’ve never felt comfortable recruiting. I’ve never felt like I had a great strategy. Sure I’ve signed some great recruits, but it always felt like a fluke. Never systematic.
Recently, this has all changed. Some events and reading took place and in turn, my staff and I have shifted tactics. So far, it feels like it’s working. The stats have backed it up too.
Our new goal revolves around efficiency. I had a suspicion that our recruiting this past year was inefficient. I did a crude statistical analysis and it was enlightening to say the least.
Our staff contacted 1751 kids, conducted 379 calls for, on average, 30 minutes apiece to get 10 commits.
Yes, I’m proud of our hustle. Yes, we hit our goal of 10 commits. But we felt drained and frustrated. It didn’t feel like we were working smart, we were just working hard… and we knew it wasn’t sustainable.
We needed to reach out to fewer prospects but needed similar results. How could this be possible?
My thought was that we needed to skim the fat. Many of the prospects we reached out to were dead in the water from the beginning. They didn’t have much interest and we tried to convince them of the value of Lakeland. It never worked.
We need to find the right prospects and not waste our time with ones who don't fit our niche.
The issue with this idea is we hadn’t formally asked ourselves about our niche. We hadn’t asked, “Who are the right young men for Lakeland Muskies Wrestling?”
Without answering that question, how could we effectively find those prospects?
But first, let’s go back to the impetus of this change.
The motivating force of this change was not the statistics. The statistics just backed up what I was already feeling. I knew we were just hustling. But I thought that was the name of the game. In fact, I bragged about how many prospects we contacted.
It wasn’t until I went to the NWCA Leadership academy that my thoughts about our hustle strategy started to change.
That moment was a panel about recruiting with 3 successful D3/NAIA programs. The coaches speaking about their tactics were:
Nick Mitchell, the head coach of the 9x NAIA National Champion Grand View Vikings. Omi Acosta, the extremely young coach who managed to dethrone those Grand View Vikings last year. Omi has a roster of damn near 80 kids and a national title at age 30 so he must be doing something right. Lastly, there was Ron Beachler, who has been the head coach at D3 Ohio Northern for 27 years- if you’re doing something that long you must be doing something right.
Now, look, even though the panel was where I had the lightbulb, most of it wasn’t that insightful. There was nothing about their on-campus visit, their texting patterns, or much else they did on a daily basis that was much different or enlightening.
My light bulb did go off though. It went off when they each spoke about who they were recruiting.
Nick Mitchell - Grand View - Looking for the absolute best wrestler possible bar none.
Omi Acosta - Life - Looking for overlooked JUCO and City kids (just like him).
Ron Bachear - Ohio Northern - Looking for smart Engineering or Pharmacy students.
Also, during this time, I read a very important book called the Win Without Pitching Manifesto
Both really taught me the same idea- stop recruiting everyone. Find your niche, recruit it specifically.
Before this academy and book, I was reaching out to anyone and everyone. I was selling my program to anyone who would listen. I literally just combed through brackets- I didn’t even know if these guys were interested in wrestling in college.
I didn’t know if they wanted to go to college, go D3, or what their goals were. I just tried to get them on the phone and convince them. I wasted hours and hours searching for these kids, messaging them, following up, getting them on the phone just to find out they had exactly zero interest in our school. We got zero commits from this tactic though it took up probably half of our recruiting time.
Even for the ones that were curious, I knew in my gut they were never going to come to Lakeland. I could feel it in the initial conversation. They got a little excited for a moment and who could blame them, I’m a damn good salesman, but I could see the cracks early. They weren’t responsive texters, they didn’t show initiative, they didn’t have qualities that matched what made Lakeland different.
Even still, I pressed on. I relentlessly pressured them to get through the process and visit knowing that they were a longshot. I wasted my limited time and energy on kids who I didn’t want and who didn’t want Lakeland.
It was short-sighted.
I was just trying to play the statistical game. If I get x prospects applied, y will visit, and z will commit. But this isn’t how it works, though. Recruiting isn’t random- we’re dealing with humans. We have the expert judgment on who is a likely commit and who isn’t. It isn’t about how many are applied or visiting, it is who is applying and visiting
I want kids who fit Muskie Wrestling- but what are the qualities of a prospect who fits Muskie Wrestling?
I needed to define ourselves. Define the Muskie Wrestling market. And I knew it from the moment the lightbulb struck at that leadership academy. I had been using it as one selling point all along.
Co-op.
Lakeland’s has an amazing and very unique program. It is called the Cooperative Education program.
In short, without going into my recruiting schpeal, this is a program that gets you in the workplace during your time in college. With Lakeland’s connections and the student’s ambition, they get a real job, get college credit, make real money, and build a real resume. All the while they get to wrestle and get a degree. Muskie Wrestling is for the career-oriented athlete.
The schedules work. Everything works. It’s a great idea as we all know, people are getting disillusioned with the cost and schoolwork associated with college. This program solves that. It just makes sense.
With my newfound realization, I have been defining the prospect who best fits Co-Op.
Our ideal prospect is one that is a student first (>3.0 GPA). They have likely had a job before or are at least involved in extracurriculars outside of sport. These prospects have passions and interests outside of wrestling.
I always say, our best prospect is not someone who thinks “Wrestling is Life,” but looks to use wrestling to propel their life.
This isn’t for everyone. We know this. We know that this disqualifies certain prospects.
Even certain prospects that a team like Grand View would be salivating at. This is okay, we know that by narrowing our focus we allow the prospects we want to feel more special. By only signing prospects who fit our values, we create a singular focus as a culture that propels everyone involved.
This is contrary to a team that is filled with people with many different ideas and goals of what they want to achieve in college. Our team needs to be united in its goal of prosperity and focus beyond college.
Some of you may be scoffing. Especially when I say, “No, you aren’t what we want at Lakeland. You should look elsewhere.” to a wrestling stud. “How could you say no to Johnny Appleseed the 30x State Champion (with a 2.1 GPA)?!” says the guy on the street.
Remember, college is like any other product in the world. You must define your market and let the rest go. Apple is a premium brand for tech, they don’t chase the $200 smartphone market just like they don’t chase the airplane market. They do this because they know what fits their brand.
You, as a recruiter, must define your brand and be strict about it. Differentiation is the name of the game, without it, the only way to judge you will be your price tag- you don’t want that.
Now, here are some actions you should take if you want to use my unproven technique.
1. Find your Market
What makes your school different? Majors, programs, culture, emphasis, Who you connect with?
Define this and chase it. Make sure your programs values align with it. Make sure your marketing aligns with it. This is your message, this is what differentiates you. This is what you point to over and over again.
\Search for no early. Be the one to say no. It gives you power.
2. Be picky, no begging.
You are the master of your culture and who you recruit.
Know that you aren’t for everyone. Say no to “maybe’s” on both sides. Maybe’s to prospects who you’re not sure fit, and the prospects who feel “maybe” about you.
Know that your time is a premium. The worst thing that can happen as recruiters spend 9 months on a prospect only for them to give you the no answer you’ve known was coming for 8 months.
We’ve all been there. The recruit you really want but who isn’t sure about you. Recruiting is oddly like dating. When you push, they pull. This is why we always pull first. If we pull and they don’t push, they’re not interested. Move on.
Trust your gut and don’t waste your time.
But if you pull and they push, then giddy up, this is a good one- it’s time to sell.
3. Harvard became Harvard by acting like Harvard
Your program will only be elite if you act like it is elite. Have elite expectations, recruit elite prospects, get elite results. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. But only if you don’t lower your standards.
The moment you do, the prospect that didn’t meet your standards will be on your team, poison the well of your elite culture and in no time, the elite athletes won’t have an interest in your contaminated culture.
If you are still skeptical, I want you to think about the members of your team. Think about your commits. How many of those commits were obviously extremely interested from the get-go. For me, it’s damn near 90%.
Now, how many of your problematic student-athletes had issues throughout the recruiting process? They didn’t communicate, took forever to do simple tasks, were wishy-washy, you name it. I bet it is a lot- it has always been that way for me.
This is your opportunity to change. Only take the Hell Yes’. Say no to half-heartedness.
You may not hit your school’s recruiting goal but you will demolish your former retention rate.
With this method, you will have a stronger culture, be a better team, and have a sustainable recruiting practice that lowers your stress dramatically.
Reject hustle culture, be an efficiency mastermind- good luck.