Before paying a recruiting service, read this first.
Some families get value from recruiting services. Many pay for things they could do free in a weekend. Here is how to tell the difference before money moves.
What the services actually sell
Strip the packaging and most offerings are some mix of: a profile page, a database of college programs, emails sent to coaches, and advice. Each piece has a real version and a theater version. The question is which one you are buying.
What you can do without paying
- Film lives on Hudl or YouTube for nothing, and the tape rules are public.
- College rosters, coach directories and camp pages are on every athletic site, free.
- A short, specific email to a coach from the athlete beats a blast from a third party. Coaches say this plainly.
- Eligibility is handled directly at the NCAA Eligibility Center, not through a middleman.
Questions that sort the market
- Exactly what do you do that we cannot do ourselves, and what does it cost per month, all in.
- Do college coaches actually open what you send, and how would we see evidence of that.
- Who writes to coaches, a person who has watched the athlete or a template.
- What happens when we stop paying. Does the profile and its history disappear.
The school-sized alternative
The quiet problem with per-family services is that they only work for the families who pay. When the school runs its recruiting infrastructure instead, every athlete in the program gets a current profile with film and stats, and college coaches get one trustworthy place to look. That is the model NextLevl builds for athletic departments, and it is worth understanding before any family writes a check.