College Soccer Recruiting Funnel
*The information below is courtesy of college soccer recruiting expert, Stewart Flaherty, who is an agent for SRUSA.
This is the college soccer ‘funnel’ distilled into an easy-to-read format:
LEVEL 1 – IDENTIFICATION
Player has a base level of ability to be interesting to a coach. Highlight tapes, tournament viewings, camp viewings, all these things are part 1 of the funnel.
Communication lacks depth not because you are good or not good, but because you’re in there with thousands of kids.
Make no mistake, whether D1 or D3, there’s lots of options for every school in this phase and you need to not be stuck here for long periods. If you are, most times moving on to a school you can go deeper into the process with is the answer.
LEVEL 2 – DEPTH CHART
This is the stage where it’s not just about being “good enough.” Maybe you’re a striker. Maybe there is a sophomore starter, junior backup and freshman project the staff likes on the depth chart. If this is the case, you may find yourself a low priority as focus and resources are elsewhere on the depth chart.
Important to remember that many schools recruit to four year plans, they work to their needs and their timeline; you won’t talk them away from that. If you are so good that all this is rendered irrelevant, you will be told in this stage of recruiting. If you are left in doubt, you are not that player in the eyes of the coach.
A common mistake here is to disagree, debate, try and sway or persuade. You’re not going to bully people into changing their mind and in most cases you will find a school that you get more positive feedback from at this level. Months running into a locked door is months not finding an open one.
LEVEL 3 – LOGISTICS
Main factors here are grades and money. Can you get in? If an admission department does not believe you can graduate, you are not a recruitable prospect. Coaches loving your game is not as powerful as people think in these cases. Even among those who can ‘get in’, there are levels to it. The school may have an academic banding system or academic index at play. In these cases, if you need more academic support you are looked at through a harsher lens. You no longer have to be a player with ability, you have to be an impact player immediately.
If you’re a good player who will develop over time, you players must come in at or above the admission standards. At times good players that coaches rate highly will lose out as they are a level that the coach can only help one player per year in admissions and that spot is already allocated. Players ranked below you on the playing ability depth chart could now be signed over you, this is reality.
As far as money goes, people like to say that the Men’s side has 9.9 scholarships. Understand that most of that money is already tied up with returning players, some may be used to persuade a player to stay away from the portal with more money. The number of freshman recruited with scholarships is low. Qualifying for academic money, or being able to pay the difference without athletic money can be another factor at play.
Some players can have multiple offers with the ‘better’ teams coming with higher price tags. Most kids find the same schools attractive and those coaches can therefore sign players for less money coming from the program and school. As such, you may find an option that is very affordable but not necessarily first choice.
LEVEL 4 – DECISION TIME
When you’ve reached this part of the funnel it’s a decision on both ends. You start to decide if you want the school and the school decides if you are the one player for the allocated slot. Deadlines come with this territory; often people recoil at a deadline but it’s not always ‘pressure sales’ from the coach.
A first choice player at a given position can be extended an offer and a deadline. This is necessary as that player may want to go and explore all of D1 and come back later if needed. The deadline allows the coach to move on and offer the second best player, rather than lose out on the next 10 options waiting for a kid who is only a ‘maybe’.