So you want to work in College Football?
The annual college football recruiting symposium will be in Nashville from August 5–7 this year. Employed and unemployed alike will be looking to expand their network and rub elbows with anyone they think can get them a better opportunity.
Constantly looking for the next job is a necessity, because the only constant is that nothing is permanent. Season to season coaches deal with hot seats and fans calling for their jobs. With that, comes a cascading effect of turnover and moving boxes.
This past December I was a casualty of turnover at the University of Houston. After three seasons on Dana Holgorsen's staff, I was let go after my first season as Assistant Director of Scouting when new coach Willie Fritz took over and essentially made wholesale changes.
It wasn’t immediate, however. Following our loss to UCF, the decision was made to let Holgorsen go, and the school would be without a head football coach for a week. That week was the most enjoyable time of my short career.
There’s a weird shift that happens in the building after a firing. You’ll have some staff that start packing up, because they either know where their next home is or have decided that they’re done with where they are.
For myself and my boss, TJ Randall, current Assistant Director of Scouting for Auburn Football, our approach was continuing to attack the transfer portal, now with no restraints. Normally we would watch a player, gather information, and then pass them along to a position coach to ignore. Just kidding they’d like every third or fourth player.
Well, the office was essentially a ghost town outside of the recruiting staff who still had to prepare for visits and Early Signing Day. So, the process was much more streamlined. I watch a player, I tell Randall I like him, he calls to offer. Glorious.
It created a funny response, both with the prospects and we offered and fans on Twitter. The prospects were hoping to talk to position coaches, and fans wondered who was making these offers as the school had no coach.
But for Randall and I, we didn’t really see it as continuing to play as the ship sank. It was all we could do. We were still employed. There would eventually be a new staff, and we needed to be prepared for that. If nothing else, gathering information on players would be helpful if another school was interested in hiring us if we were let go.
“Continue to do what you’ve been doing,” says Harding Harper, Director of Scouting for Vanderbilt. Harper was discussing his time at Missouri, where he was let go by Eli Drinkwitz when he was a GA. At the time of this quote, Harper was the Assistant Director of Player Personnel for Alabama. He was let go by new Head Coach Kalen DeBoer after he replaced Nick Saban. All of that to say, things change fast. Even for the most successful people.
Randall had been through a coaching turnover in the past as well. He was an Operations GA at Liberty University when Hugh Freeze took over in December of 2018.
“He needed us,” Randall said.
When Freeze took over, the recruiting staff consisted of two paid employees. No one knew more about the incoming class of players than them. And being so close to signing day, they were vital in keeping the class intact.
But, its not so simple. Signing Day is important for getting players locked in and putting pen to paper on a letter of intent. And the first half of December is vital for getting players on campus and making your last push to get them signed. This past season at Houston, we had three weekends for Official Visits to close things out.
This is normally a hectic time, throw in staff turnover and controlled chaos is an understatement. Because of the lack of certainty in regard to position coaches, the recruiting staff was even more heavily leaned on.
Picking up recruits from the airport, getting them to meetings or meals. Normally a part of the job, part of “other duties as assigned”, but because they couldn’t guarantee a coach would be available to wine and dine a family, we had to nearly completely cover this aspect.
As all of this is going on, players are still entering the transfer portal and need to be evaluated. The more time passed, the more players were being offered that neither myself or my boss had put eyes on. We weren’t being asked to evaluate, at least, I wasn’t. I was still making regular trips to Hobby and Bush Airport, however.
It reminded me of Survivor. A contestant on the show knows that their time is likely coming to an end because they either see conversations being had without or them, or they’re not being consulted on decisions at all. That was me, still being asked to find firewood and fish, but going to tribal council clueless. With no idol to save my ass.
“Changes only effect the urgency, they don’t really effect the thought process,” says Harper. Success in recruiting almost requires a nomadic approach. Harper has been at four schools in four years and is a fast riser in the industry.
Embracing the change is necessary, which is most likely why my journey in the industry has ended. The transfer portal is another added element to the change. It requires more of the staffs, needing more effort to sift through more players to pursue. But it also puts in perspective the value placed on a staff.
When Randall and I were shooting from the hip, we reached out to offer a player. Many other teams were naturally interested and the inevitable question of money was presented. The player in question mentioned a six figure asking price that nearly totaled the salaries of the six recruiting staff members combined. And this was not a household name.
The grind required and the time away from family, even around holidays, made it feel less worth it. Especially after spending Christmas in the hospital with my daughter. I was still sending transfer portal names to the staff sitting in her hospital room.
I got a phone call one morning that woke me from my sleep on that uncomfortable couch that my journey in college football had come to an end. The University of Houston did me a massive favor and allowed my contract to run it’s course to be sure my daughter had insurance in that time.
It was a great gesture that I will forever appreciate it. But, had I not been in that predicament, I’d likely have my contract terminated early like many of my coworkers. Three of the six of us were let go by the new staff, and the other three eventually moved on to new jobs in the industry. With only the previous Director of Player Personnel left standing after the dust settled.
“You’re literally, just, in it until you’re not,” Paige Smith said. She is currently the Assistant Director of On-Campus Recruiting for SMU, and was at Houston in a similar capacity before being let go.
An obvious statement that really rings true. You’re needed until you aren’t. The way that fans see players discarded by coaches, or coaches by institutions, it’s no different at the bottom of the totem pole.
College football is a tough business. Lame duck doesn’t just apply to coaches. Your alma mater’s recruiting staff has known the feeling as well.
It’s a young person’s game, but I’m happy to have that experience. I didn’t realize how much work went into it, and how many different hats you need to wear to be successful. That itch was scratched and I can move on proud that I took the chance.
I’ll be even happier to watch comfortably at home this season and beyond. Explaining the sport to my disinterested, for now god willing, one year old daughter. Only stressed when my team doesn’t win, but not worried that it could mean losing a paycheck.