No coach wants to turn prospective players off to their program — but are you unintentionally ticking off a player? Read more to see three common oversights that prospects read into.

High school student-athletes are a temperamental bunch, and there’s no exception when it comes to basketball recruiting. We often tell basketball players how to keep their cool and demonstrate nothing but great character, particularly online, but we thought it would be interesting to turn the tables and talk about some ways basketball coaches might be unintentionally causing friction with prospective players.

Do any of the below apply to your coaching staff? If so, in addition to diagnosing the problem, we have tips to smooth the road between you and filling your next roster openings.

It’s hard to find your staff’s contact information

In any given year, there can be a lot of turnover, particularly in your junior staff, that even the best athletic department can’t always track on your program’s pages. So if a prospective player wants to send your program information about themselves, they’d find themselves unable to find where to direct their email.

Use simple products like Recruit Spot to make it simple for athletes to signal interest in your program.

Make sure common or shared inboxes are included on your department’s pages, and that your staff all know the passwords to the accounts. (No one wants an inactive Twitter account!)

On that note…

Your staff is replying publicly to some prospects

We’ve spoken previously about how the NCAA’s new “Click, Don’t Type” regulation has impacted recruiting at programs all around the country.

We get it — and we know you understand the regulations and guidelines that keep you in compliance with the NCAA, particularly when it comes to electronic written communication with prospective basketball players.

Unfortunately, the student-athletes don’t always know those rules. And it would be terrible to have a top-notch sophomore prospect feel snubbed by your program because he thinks you’re responding to other athletes, but not to him.

One solution to this problem could be to pin a tweet or write a short note at the top of your social media profile explaining that the NCAA has rules about what athletes you communicate with.

Or you could direct staff to follow “Click, Don’t Text” to the letter of the law. If athletes message you on social media accounts, you can always direct them to your preferred method of communication, like your centralized message center in NCSA for coaches.

 

Your staff isn’t replying to prospects you’re trying to engage

We know how busy you and your staff are, particularly in-season. But while seeing how a prospect deals with disappointment is a great exercise in how they demonstrate character, it would be awful if missing messages from your top prospects caused them to choose another program over yours.

Make sure staff check your shared inboxes and message center regularly, and have well-documented lists of your top prospects, so everyone’s on the same page.

Bonus: If you’re experiencing a deluge of emails from interested athletes, use preferences in your NCSA for coaches message center to filter down what kind of communication you’re receiving from prospective players, so your inbox is always manageable.

Whether it’s reaching out to your next basketball players or managing your searches, favorite filters, and lists of prospects in one place, NCSA – Next College Student Athlete for coaches can help. Create a free account or learn more about how NCSA helps coaches.