[NU Sports] Recruiting

[Jeff Beamsley]

I was just doing a little googling because of Carr's retirement and came
across something that Jim Harbaugh said regarding recruiting at Stanford that
I think bears repeating for this group.  By way of attribution, this was
originally published in the NYT.  
 
I think you can generally do a cut and paste replacing Stanford with NU and
expect that it represents PF's philosophy too.  BTW, Harbaugh estimates that
there are 100-150 kids in this pool of recruits compared to 1000 in the pool
of recruits for most other BCS schools.  The difference is that those 100-150
have already demonstrated by their academic success that they DO value
education.  So schools like Stanford and NU have a leg up in recruiting them.
Because they are going to be spread out all over the country, we have to
focus nationally, and we have to get to them early to make sure that we are
on their list.  We only need 10-20 every year.
 
Jeff
 
Why did you speak out about your academic experience at Michigan earlier this
year, condemning them for steering athletes into general studies?

The whole thrust of that was basically I'd like to see more schools do it
like Stanford does it. I wasn't singling Michigan out. I wish more schools
would have the kind of character that Stanford does as an institution. They
won't significantly cut corners for athletes here. They have a sincere desire
for athletes to improve academically. They're not just interested in how fast
you run and how high you jump. There's a standard to get into Stanford, to
graduate from Stanford and a character that they will not cut corners. 

Your pool is limited here. What surprised you when the reality of who you can
and can't recruit has come up in the last 10 months? 

It's a smaller pool. What's surprised me? I knew that it was a small pool.
That wasn't surprising. But I think the thing is that if you can get the
message out early. This is the key thing, getting the message out to
scholar-athletes when they are freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors. To
get it to them at an early age. What a Stanford degree is worth. What a
Stanford degree can do for you. Let them know what to aspire to, and they
will do it. I think that the problem is that people say, 'You don't have to
do that. You don't have to take an A.P. course or an honors course.' People
will rise to the level that you expect of them. The good news is that you can
get to parents and perspective scholar-athletes at a younger age and get them
to take a rigorous schedule and get them to prepare for the ACT and SAT
testing. B's and A's are what you're shooting for, no C's. D's won't be
accepted. There's a standard to get in and we're not going to bend that
standard. 

How have you got that message out? 

Recruiting the transcript as well as the player. Recruiting the coach, the
counselor, the principal and the parents to let them know what it is that
they're shooting for.