Pregame

Recruiting, Intensified:
NCAA Division I Coaches

The Exposure Biz: 
Recruiting Reports, Shootouts, and Exposure Camps 

     Until recently, not many people other than some college coaches could make a living solely from women’s basketball. However, a growing number now earn their keep in women’s hoops without ever having to pick up a clipboard; they have made exposure for high school girls’ basketball players their business.  While some operate recruiting services or scouting reports, others run camps and exposure events for high school girls.  Some do both of these things, and sometimes they also coach a team on the side.  The sneaker giants even sponsor some of them.  Their motivation could be any number of issues, from teaching girls to growing women’s basketball to making money to helping college coaches build winning teams.
     Whatever their driving forces, exposure camp and scouting service directors have become increasingly important to women’s college basketball recruiting.  While some of their boys’ basketball counterparts have tainted the men’s game, those on the women’s side have yet to acquire quite that same harsh reputation.  Perhaps they have learned not to make the same mistakes, perhaps they are more ethical, or perhaps they just haven’t yet been around as long.  While they do have their proponents, even those who may not be their biggest fans admit that they serve a necessary component of women’s recruiting. 

Scouting Services: An Overview 

     Recruiting reports or scouting services exist primarily for the benefit of NCAA Division I college coaches. They should be distinguished from other so-called “recruiting services” that charge athletes to register with them and sometimes also charge college coaches to look at their listings.  These recruiting services, some of which cover multiple sports, market themselves primarily to high school athletes, promising exposure. Most will create an individualized listing for any player with the cash, no matter the skill level.
     Simply put, recruiting reports that charge college coaches provide names and other details for those the directors consider college potential.  While some rank players, others list them in alphabetical order, or in no particular order.  Many offer additional details on a group of prospects, saving coaches time digging up the information – home address and phone number; high school team, coach, and coach’s number; club team, coach, and coach’s number; parents’ names; academic background and interests; basketball strengths and weaknesses; and so on.  Some also offer individual consultation, where subscribers can call directors toll-free to discuss players.
     These recruiting reports may come out as infrequently as twice a year or as often as every other month. Some are sent out via email, others via snail mail.  Some offer special reports including camp or tourney wrapups or profiles of individual players.  It seems that every year, more women’s basketball services pop up as more people jump on the growing women’s hoops bandwagon.

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     Recruiting report directors have some of the same problems college coaches have when assessing talent.  If attending a huge national event and intent on seeing as many girls as possible, they do not have much time to watch any single player.  If a student-athlete does not dazzle during her few minutes under the evaluator’s watchful eye, the analysis could be skewed.  [Bob] Corwin is one of few who acknowledge this reality. “If you go to certain events, you only watch a kid for a short period of time, and you only get a snapshot impression,” he says. He illustrates his point by explaining his ‘Snapshots from Georgia’ report. “It was the case where I was analyzing over a hundred kids who I had each seen maybe play for about five minutes.  That’s about as dangerous as it gets.  You can be really off.  
     “I remember one kid,” Corwin continues, “and I was joking about it, I rated the kid like L plus.  That means somewhere in the smaller DI range, maybe up into the middle level eventually.  The kid’s a major, major Division I player, will play in the majors, and is in junior college today. I remember laughing over it, but hey, you saw her one or two times going up and down the court.  Maybe she didn’t finish or looked a little raw.  Hey, missed evaluation.  You’re not going to get every one right, especially under those circumstances.  Most people, I would say, probably value my Florida evaluations more than some of these others, simply because I’m more familiar with these kids and make it a point to really have a pretty good line on the Florida kids.  The kids out of state that we go to these snapshot events, shotgun evaluations, well, it’s another opinion, but it can be as wrong as any other opinion.”

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