“You’re 5 foot nothin’ and you have barely a speck of athletic ability….and you’re gonna walk outta here with a degree from Notre Dame.” Rudy, 1993
"Guess Who is Coming to Dinner": Recruiting. Does the coach consider your son a “fit” or a “fill” at wide receiver for his program? In football, coaches fill the depth chart 3-deep. And coaches are always hedging their bets for fall-outs in recruiting. So expect them to oversell how much they want your son to sign with his program. Who is sitting in your living room – the head coach, position coach, or low-level assistant? The person sitting across from you in the living room shows how much the program wants to sign your son as a “fit” rather than a “fill.”
And keep in mind, verbal commitments by a high school athlete to a university and a college coach to a high school athlete are not binding. A coach may accept a non-binding verbal from a 14-year old all-star quarterback and then back out of that commitment years later on signing day if the coach finds a better fit for the position. Is your son a fit or a fill?
Also remember that your son will be signing a binding national letter of intent with the school, not the football program. The college coaching profession is a vagabond, mercenary life. It is a brutal, ladder-climbing scramble for these guys and coaches move programs frequently. The head or position coach you develop rapport with in your living room may not be with the program once summer practices start. Ask your son, “If the coach moves on, if you didn’t play football, would you still select this school?”
