Recruiting is Sales

When I was looking at colleges, I was like every other cocky baseball player. I thought I was talented enough to play and start at a Division 1 school such as North Carolina, Vanderbilt, UCLA, etc., but that I was being passed over for reasons such as being too small. Looking back, it’s laughable that I even thought that was a possibility because I simply did not throw hard enough, run fast enough, or swing hard enough to even have a chance at success at that level. I may be at that level now, but so are a lot of other Division 3 athletes, so that’s a moot point.

Anyways, as I went through the process, two schools came after me the hardest: Hiram College in Ohio and Grove City College. Both of these schools would not have been on my radar if baseball hadn’t been my number reason for picking a school. I proceeded to go through the normal recruiting process of meeting the coaches, touring the school, and doing an overnight. Throughout the process, the Grove City head coach pursued me relentlessly. Now mind you, I was not a good baseball player by any stretch of the imagination, but he made me feel like I was a star that he had to have. He would leave me all kinds of voicemails about once a week and would check in with me during the season to see how I was hitting and would always congratulate me. The Hiram coach once called me to invite me to an event at BW3’s “for all the guys that hadn’t said no to them yet.” That just stuck in my mind because it felt like such a loser mindset. Meanwhile, the Grove City coach asked about needs, answered all my questions with 100% honesty, and, most importantly, made me feel wanted. Obviously, I chose the right place, but it made me realize how important sales is in the college sports recruiting process.