Indiana University Athletics
Douglas Interview
4/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
What is a recruiting coordinator?
"You oversee the recruiting aspects of a football program. It is our lifeline. We send out about 3,700 pieces of mail a week to potential prospects. Right now, we have 16 scholarships and you can sign up to 25. We are recruiting 3,700 right now for 16-17 spots. I have my assistant, Debbie Thompson, and she handles all the mailing. We also have people from the Meadowood Retirement Community come over and stuff the envelopes on Monday. Between them, and our Hoosier Hosts and secretaries, they handle all the mailings.
The other thing we have to do is follow the rules. We have certain times where we can go out and evaluate, which we have an evaluation period coming up now (four weeks at the institution's discretion from April 15-May 31). There are also times that we can contact, which is going into their homes and talking to them face-to-face. You can have seven recruiters on the road at a time. The recruiting coordinator and the head coach designate the seven people that are out. You have to do all of the schedules for when the contact period comes out. When the head coach goes out on the road, you have to maintain his log. His assistant actually does the schedule for him, but you have to tell her where and when you need him. His assistant coordinates it with the school plane.
The recruiting coordinator also sets the recruiting areas for where you are going to send your other eight assistant coaches along with yourself. You have to place them as far as recruiting, but the problem is that a lot of times people will call you and their area is not listed. All of that funnels through the recruiting coordinator. You have to forward that to everyone.
The recruiting coordinator also handles unofficial visits. What are we going to do when they come here? Are we going to tour? With official visits, you have to set up the whole weekend. We meet as a staff, but you have to think on your feet a bit. There are anywhere from one to 20 kids coming in. You have to schedule the meals, professors and how you are going to set it up. You are responsible for that. You also have to call the hotels and make sure they have rooms. You also call the motor pool to make sure they have vehicles.
Again, I don't do it all by myself. Director of Football Operations Harold Mauro helps a lot. Debbie is tremendous. We actually have an assistant position open right now. That person will help. You also have to coordinate through academics so they can meet their professors in their particular field of study. There is a lot of little stuff. I have a lot of help from the staff. You also have to coordinate the junior days."
What are the different "periods" involved in recruiting?
"There is really an evaluation period that begins in mid-April and goes to the end of May. Evaluation is when you can go two times during that time to each school. You can go to the school and get a transcript. You can watch tape and can watch them practice. Maybe, if they are in a track meet, you can go watch them run there. Everybody has these combines now. You can go to a combine and watch them. Down in Florida, though, they have games and jamborees. They have spring games. You can actually watch them play. States that have spring practice in high school like Georgia and Texas, you can go and watch them practice. You can also go to school one day and talk to the coach and get a transcript. Then, you can go back and watch them practice that next day. As long as everything you do is in the same day, it is considered one evaluation.
Then, in September during our season, you have six days where you can go out and evaluate. A lot of people use their open week. You can go out on Fridays of home games and do the same things. You can go to school and then go to the games that night. You have six days of evaluations then, but you only have one per school in that time. If you are going to go to the school and are going to the game, you have to do it all in the same day. You can't go back. In May, you can because you have two of them per school.
After Thanksgiving, the contact period really starts. There are some dead periods mixed in from Christmas and the American Football Coaches Association Convention, but basically you get one per week per kid. Then, after signing day, it goes from February to April again and you are back at it."
How have you adjusted to the time demands of the recruiting coordinator position on top of coaching the cornerbacks?
"Cornerback is a hard, physical position and you have to have good players and athletes at the position. The safety, however, is a more mental position. You do a lot more coaching. This is the first time that I have ever just coached the corners. I have always had the whole secondary. When we went nickel, I had five guys to coach and when we went dime, I had six. I have a lot easier field job than I have had in the past. Saying that, I do have a little more time. Also, defensively, there is not as much volume as we had been doing. The new staff has a philosophy of keeping it simple. We do some different stuff, but it is not the volume that I am accustomed to. With that being said, there are a few extra things I have to do now as a recruiting coordinator. For example, when recruits come up, I write bios on them. It hasn't really been too difficult as of yet. Obviously, we haven't played any games yet and I haven't been through a game week and still tried to do it."
Since recruits are the lifeblood of any program, how intense is the pressure to compete in recruiting?
"Like Coach (Terry) Hoeppner says, there are three exciting days in the year with signing day, first day of spring practice and the first day of fall camp. Obviously, there is pressure. The thing is, you have to really take people that are good for your program.
The Internet has made it crazy. Just because a guy is rated a five-star, doesn't always mean he is going to be a great player.
The recruiting services don't know everything. We don't always go by that. All-Freshman Big Ten cornerback Tracy Porter was a zero-star when he came in and he is a pretty good player. I would take 11 of him on defense if we could get it. Nobody knew about him. He was recruited a little bit. It is really just like in the NFL, every quarterback taken in the first round doesn't always pan out to be a first-round guy. It is not an exact science. I'll tell you this; the NFL gets a lot more chances to evaluate and a lot more opportunities than we have. It is human nature. You are going to make mistakes. Obviously, the Internet has made it where it is year-round now. You are always hearing about potential recruits. You put pressure on yourself if you are a competitive guy. It is the thrill of the chase.
How do you go about making the contacts you need to be successful in recruiting?
"It is really based upon relationships. You put people in the areas they are familiar with. You might spread them out a bit, but it is going to take time for them to develop their new contacts in those particular areas. For example, Coach (Gerald) Brown was the Michigan recruiter, but Coach (George) Ricumstrict is from Michigan. We switched it out because while Gerald has developed a lot of ties, George is from there. His mom lives there. He has family there. Gerald is from Tennessee. Even though Coach Brown has done a good job and has developed some relationships in that area, we went with Ricumstrict because that is his home. We moved Coach Brown around a little bit. He has some new areas where he will have to build some new relationships. He is going to have a part of Florida in the panhandle and will have Houston. He is going to be in two areas with me, and I know a lot of the people in Houston and in Florida. I can help him. Then we gave him Chicago. He is spread out pretty thin, but he will get it done. I am not asking him to recruit the whole city of Chicago. I just need about two or three guys out of there that can run and play. I know if Houston has like five or six million people, just find me about two or three that can run. That is the whole key. That is all we are looking for, a few good men. Hopefully, we have good enough guys out there that we can find."
What are you looking for in potential student-athletes?
"The two biggest things we have to get are size and speed. We have to get guys that are better in space. We struggled a bit last year when teams spread us out offensively. We have to get better space players. We have 15-16 linemen on scholarship. Hopefully, we did something right in the past recruiting-wise so that some of those guys will be able to help us. If you can't get what you are looking for, don't just sign a guy just to sign him. If I have someone who is marginal or a guy who is an athlete that can run and help us in space, then I will take the guy in space. We need that too. We need all the athletes we can get. Obviously, we need to get some linemen in this class, but still we are looking for Big Ten linemen."
What is the one piece of advice would you give to any prep athlete who wants to make it to the next level?
"Basically, you have to have some ability to play on this next level. Obviously, you are going to have the no-brainer guys, but if I were a marginal kid - I would go to all of the camps of all the schools I am interested in if I could afford it. I would go to camps and let the coaches see what I can do. Like I said, some positions are very hard to recruit in football. When you are looking at tape, most of the time, the high school film just shows the line. You can't see what the defensive backs are doing. You might see them make a play, but you don't see how they made it. You might see them intercept the pass, but you don't see how they back pedal. It is hard to evaluate. You have to make yourself available and be seen as much as you possibly can and that your money allows you. You just need to try to go to as many one-days as you can, then you will be seen and the coach can get an idea of what type of player you are. You have guys that are no-brainers, but the more you can be seen, the more opportunities you will have. That will also improve the number of schools that are recruiting you. It is hard to say that because a lot of people can't afford to pay the money to go to 10 camps. If you do it all on a one-day basis, it is nowhere near the cost. It would equal the cost of going to one big camp. That is what I would suggest."
