5 bad habits that can turn off college coaches
The tremendous growth of club and travel events has made identifying prospects much easier for college coaches.
Prospects put on display every weekend can be cherry picking for coaches roaming from tournament to showcase to combine. But there is a catch. Coaches go to events to scout athletes they already know about.
As National Scouting Report on-the-ground scouts, we are tuned into what coaches are doing and how they do it because we go where they go and we scout the same prospects. Competition among college coaches has always been fierce. But the current recruiting environment allows college programs, when they see their chances improving of landing one recruit over another, to turn their heads away from other athletes who are equally qualified. It is the new nature of recruiting. That puts prospects at a distinct disadvantage.
Yes, there are more coaches out there recruiting.
However, one small slip in skill, attitude or other key trait can doom a prospect’s opportunities to be followed, recruited and offered.
Here are five characteristics college coaches will not tolerate from prospects:
Disrespect: Regardless of how manifested, when a young athlete shows even the slightest degree of disrespect, they are toast with coaches. Look in another direction while getting instructions from a coach? Treat family members badly? Finished. Argue with a game official? Take a hike. Pick one or any number of other rude acts? You are history.
Temper: Toss a bat, argue with a teammate, ignore a coach’s instructions or yell like a banshee, and you will be crossed off the list. Coaches see bad tempers as long-term fixes and they do not have the time to be psychologists for the uncontrollable head case. Lack of
Promptness: When coaches see young athletes are habitually tardy, they begin to doubt whether they will be able to manage their own time in college. If a youngster cannot be on time with adult supervision, a coach has to assume there is no chance that he or she will turn a new leaf when left on their own.
Laziness: So-called game players are of no use to college coaches. There are too many issues coaches already have to cope with to add a lazy player to the list. If you plan to be a college athlete, you have to prove it every time you step onto the court, diamond, pitch or field. Too many hard workers are available for coaches to spend a minute considering the rehabilitation of a lazy one.
Selfishness: Success in college has everything to do with teamwork. A selfish athlete sticks out like a zombie on steroids. They want nothing to do with them.
