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Warning to Players - Beware of Guarantees by Recruiting Services
By Coach Randy Brown

My efforts in the game of basketball are intended to primarily help coaches. Indirectly, players become the winner in this process due to the enhanced coaching skills, awareness, and passion that come from their coaches. The internet is full of empty promises made by recruiting "experts" that make unrealistic promises. Don't fall for it!

If players and coaches want to get good advise on the recruiting process, it's doubtful they would seek out someone that has never recruited. Makes sense doesn't it? If you need to get the transmission in your car fixed, do you go to a donut shop or a golf driving range? The best advise I can give you is to find those who have experience with recruiting. Most of them want a few bucks from you, inferring that their "system" will pump letters from all the "big time" schools into your mailbox. Young players, remember that we live in an "instant" society where now, fast, and easy are the words that lure you in. If it was this easy to have North Carolina, USC, and UCONN to recruit you, wouldn't it make sense that all of your teammates would be doing it too?

Ethics in the recruiting process are blow out of proportion in the sports arena. A great majority of coaches recruit the right way and have the interest of the student-athlete and their school as priorities. A much bigger concern is the amount of unqualified recruiting services on the internet that lead young people to believe the lie that for $14.95, $49.95, or $1,500 they will instantly arrive on the national scene. This is where ethics and common sense come into play.

Recently I read about a recruiting service and will share with you what I read, to back my concern.

--One service says, "I can help you get an athletic scholarship and get you recruited by top schools all across the country." and "I will show you exactly how you can start getting hundreds of letters in your mail box within just a few weeks!"

For the same reason Warren Buffett and John Wooden lean on others for advice, you should look to those who can help you in your recruitment the right way. Ask those who have recruited for a living and you will receive the best advice you could ever get. The great thing about confiding in the right people is that it is straight-forward guidance without all of the hype and impossible promises and it's FREE.