- Jul 29, 2016
- 231
- 43
18 months ago, a guy with a national (but small) recruiting service came and spoke to my daughter's travel team. I thought it was an interesting topic, but I didn't think we were in a position where we would benefit much from it. Our daughter is very smart, and we have some money set aside to help her pay for college. She's looking at one mid-major D1 and a bunch of high-academic D3 schools. But my in-laws offered to pay for it, so we said "what the heck."
Mistake.
Our "representative" with the recruiting service didn't bring much to the table. If he was discussing our daughter with coaches, he didn't tell us about it. In GA we do school ball in the fall, and the state playoffs are at the Olympic facility in Columbus, GA in late October. It is an electric atmosphere, and there are a ton of college coaches there. Our "rep" was also there, but he hardly spoke to us at all, and did not speak to my daughter. She played beautifully, and we updated the "rep" daily with videos and told him where we were playing. A week after, I emailed the "rep" and asked him what the deal was, and heard nothing. Later, he told us his email had been hacked and he was missing a couple of weeks worth of emails.
Fast forward to a month ago - in the very heart of the TB season. I reached out to the "rep" and asked him who he had been in touch with about my daughter. He responded that "things are quiet" because of the NCAA dead/quiet period (but my daughter is a 2022). I pushed him harder and harder to tell me who he had spoken with about my daughter. He grew increasingly defensive and belligerent, and finally told me his laptop had been destroyed (long story) and he would have to recreate his records. I was concerned about this, so I emailed the org's president. He called me and reassured me.
A month later, still nothing had happened. No emails (except one "form" email that goes to all of their kids) and no update. So I held my nose yesterday and fired the guy. I also truly considered them to be in breach of their written agreement with us, so I asked for half my money back (and told them if I had to sue them, I would ask for all of it back). This led to the president calling me and then send me a series of emails, insisting that they had done everything they promised. It seems they have a portal on their website for selecting schools they can canvass, for submitting videos, etc. They argued that because we had informed them via email of the schools we're looking at (daughter copied the "rep" on every college email - literally hundreds of them), that they never had the info they needed to put their "system" into motion for us,
I confess I raised my voice. I confess I told the guy I was a lawyer. I confess I told him to cease and desist from all communications on behalf of my daughter. I wasn't cool. I was peeved, but what I was hearing was just complete and utter BS. This service wasn't cheap ($3K+) and I think we sorta didn't pay as much attention to the details because it wasn't our money. Further, as my daughter gets closer to college age, I have sincere doubts about how much "pull" a recruiting coordinator has with the coaches. Surely the coaches discount most of what a paid consultant is telling them. It's not like this small-time guy in the South is going to have any pull at Colgate or Amherst or Bowdoin.
I don't want to poo-poo all recruiting services, but this one left a very bad taste in my mouth. Rant over.
Mistake.
Our "representative" with the recruiting service didn't bring much to the table. If he was discussing our daughter with coaches, he didn't tell us about it. In GA we do school ball in the fall, and the state playoffs are at the Olympic facility in Columbus, GA in late October. It is an electric atmosphere, and there are a ton of college coaches there. Our "rep" was also there, but he hardly spoke to us at all, and did not speak to my daughter. She played beautifully, and we updated the "rep" daily with videos and told him where we were playing. A week after, I emailed the "rep" and asked him what the deal was, and heard nothing. Later, he told us his email had been hacked and he was missing a couple of weeks worth of emails.
Fast forward to a month ago - in the very heart of the TB season. I reached out to the "rep" and asked him who he had been in touch with about my daughter. He responded that "things are quiet" because of the NCAA dead/quiet period (but my daughter is a 2022). I pushed him harder and harder to tell me who he had spoken with about my daughter. He grew increasingly defensive and belligerent, and finally told me his laptop had been destroyed (long story) and he would have to recreate his records. I was concerned about this, so I emailed the org's president. He called me and reassured me.
A month later, still nothing had happened. No emails (except one "form" email that goes to all of their kids) and no update. So I held my nose yesterday and fired the guy. I also truly considered them to be in breach of their written agreement with us, so I asked for half my money back (and told them if I had to sue them, I would ask for all of it back). This led to the president calling me and then send me a series of emails, insisting that they had done everything they promised. It seems they have a portal on their website for selecting schools they can canvass, for submitting videos, etc. They argued that because we had informed them via email of the schools we're looking at (daughter copied the "rep" on every college email - literally hundreds of them), that they never had the info they needed to put their "system" into motion for us,
I confess I raised my voice. I confess I told the guy I was a lawyer. I confess I told him to cease and desist from all communications on behalf of my daughter. I wasn't cool. I was peeved, but what I was hearing was just complete and utter BS. This service wasn't cheap ($3K+) and I think we sorta didn't pay as much attention to the details because it wasn't our money. Further, as my daughter gets closer to college age, I have sincere doubts about how much "pull" a recruiting coordinator has with the coaches. Surely the coaches discount most of what a paid consultant is telling them. It's not like this small-time guy in the South is going to have any pull at Colgate or Amherst or Bowdoin.
I don't want to poo-poo all recruiting services, but this one left a very bad taste in my mouth. Rant over.
