Remember our college baseball prospect, Alex? If not, refresh your memory by reading our first story about him HERE.
Alex is an infielder in his junior season of high school. He is being recruited by several schools, but today a new coach is coming out to see him play. Coach Barnes is making the two-hour drive to see Alex’s team play against a district rival. Both teams have sent quality players to college baseball programs in the last few years, so Coach Barnes is excited to watch Alex and the other players.
So What Does Coach Barnes Do?
When Coach Barnes gets to the game, he picks up a program and sits down to watch each team take pre-game warm-ups. During the pre-game infield-outfield, the third baseman on Alex’s team shows off a good glove, great athleticism, and a cannon for an arm. His movements, tools, and size immediately capture Coach Barnes’ attention. After the impressive pre-game, Coach Barnes heads over to the dugout to confirm the player’s name and ask the coach a few questions about Jason.
After talking to the high school coach, he finds out that Jason, the third baseman, is a transfer student and has immediately shown himself to be one of the better players in the conference. As a new student, the high school coach cautions Coach Barnes that he doesn’t know him too well off the field, but hasn’t had any problems with him at baseball.
Coach Barnes returns to his seat and immediately pulls out his phone for some social media research on his newly found prospect. Looking at a recruit’s social media presence is standard procedure for Coach Barnes and one of the first things he does. He looks up Jason’s name on Twitter and finds a profile with his information and a picture of him in his baseball uniform. It’s unmistakably the right Jason, but there are several things that are immediately disappointing. The first tweet Coach Barnes sees is profanity laced, as are several others. A red flag, but not necessarily a deal-breaker. But as Coach Barnes digs deeper in the profile, he sees lots of activity during class times and some derogatory remarks. Coach has seen this type of behavior lead to off-field problems or character issues too many times before and has made the conscious decision to remove kids with poor social media presence from his recruiting pool.
During the game, Jason lives up to his pre-game hype on the field, but nothing will sway Coach Barnes, he’s already crossed Jason off his list.
Lesson Learned:
Coaches ARE looking at your social media presence and most coaches are using poor profiles or poor online behavior to eliminate potential recruits like Jason from the pool of players they are considering. Coaches can learn a lot about players through their social media accounts. Beyond profile content, frequency of use, times of use, shared or retweeted content, and many other things are being judged by coaches. As we explain in Being Smart About Social Media, a clean profile can actually help your cause as a recruit. In today’s day and age, making sure you are smart about social media is a must. Here is another great article to keep you out of social media trouble with college coaches and recruiters. Both the linked articles are must read for serious recruits. Learn from Jason’s mistakes and get smart about your social media use!
Want to hear more about what college coaches are looking for and how they evaluate recruits?
Just click on the links below and learn from Alex and his teammates’ mistakes!
Even Little Things Matter To Recruiters
Recruiters Want Players Who Stay Focused
Recruiters Want Players With Tools: Always Run a Hard 90
Recruiters Want Players Who Can Handle Failure
Your Appearance Matters to Recruiters
Your Transcript Tells Coaches More Than You Think
Emotional Versus Rational Decision-Making in the Recruiting Process
Recruiters Want Players Who Respect Others
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