There are three main attributes that college coaches typically look for in a prospective student-athlete. While every sport’s recruiting is slightly different and those factors might vary ever so slightly from one sport to the other, three main things typically stand out when coaches are looking to offer a scholarship to a certain athlete.
The first one, which is no surprise, is your athletic level. Obviously every coach will be looking for a certain scoring average in golf, certain times in swimming or track and field, and a certain playing style in team sports such as soccer. Depending on their current roster situations, coaches might be looking for slightly different players from one year to another or might mainly be looking for certain positions for a specific recruiting class. However, the level that each coach is looking for, typically remains the same each year and it is important to be realistic about your own level in order to find the best possible team.
The second attribute, which very often gets overlooked, is your academic level. There are a couple of reasons why this is also very important for coaches. First of all, someone with solid academics just won’t cause the coach any issues as the coach won’t have to constantly stay on top of the athlete to make sure he or she gets the grades they are supposed to. Furthermore, a coach might have difficulties getting you into the school if your academics are below average, making it a bit of a gamble for a coach to recruit you. Lastly, with strong academics you might qualify for an academic scholarship, making you much more attractive to a coach because that scholarship money does not come out of his or her budget, which helps the coach out tremendously. So as a rule of thumb, if a coach has to choose between two athletes, typically the one with the better academics will get the scholarship offer. So keep that in mind and do not neglect your academics!
The last attribute is also one that seemingly gets forgotten by a lot of athletes. Coaches always look for athletes with good character in order to avoid any drama and issues within the team. Having a good team spirit is very important in college sports, so coaches will look for athletes who are good teammates, who are polite, and who are unselfish. So try to show that to coaches in your emails, messages and in your phone calls with them, and we promise you that it will go a long way!