STRAIGHT LINE RECRUITING

Resource Download: Recruiting Definitions for THSCA Coaches.pdf

1. What is Straight Line Recruiting?

To empower the High School coaches during the recruiting process the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) created the Straight Line Recruiting (SLR) initiative. The THSCA communicates and collaborates with of our high school coaches and collegiate recruiters to maintain the prioritization of the high school coach's role in the recruitment of our student-athletes. It assures the athletes who get recruited have the high school coach’s stamp of approval and will be productive athletes in the college program.

As part of our continued efforts to preach and promote the powerful influence of a coach beyond the game, no one is more responsible for cultivating an athlete's character than his coach. We believe this uniquely qualifies the high school coaches to be a college recruiter's most valuable asset when evaluating an athlete! Outside of giving insight on an athlete’s physical abilities the high school coach is privy to an athlete’s domestic challenges, emotional maturities, academic road blocks, demeanor as a team leader and his responses to adversity. This makes the high school coach one of the pivotal judges when it comes to choosing in which environment the athlete will best thrive. We know if our college coaches prioritize communication with the high school coach over non-scholastic entities in an athlete’s recruitment process, it places immeasurable value on that athlete’s chances for success.

After many meetings with our College and High School Coaches, THSCA has developed a protocol for “Straight Line Recruiting ©” and has distributed it to both groups of coaches.

2. Why has THSCA created and championed the Straight Line Recruiting Initiative?

We realized as an association there needed to be a call to action to address the state of recruiting in our state. Our high school coaches need to be as well educated in the recruiting process as the college recruiters, and our college coaches needed a "Straight-Line" access to student-athletes for proper evaluation and effective communication. The concern that high school head coaches were being circumvented as the entry way to an athlete’s recruitment, prompted our development of the SLR protocols.

THSCA values the opportunity to play a key role in the recruitment of Texas high school athletes as the conduit for collaboration between college and high school coaches. Straight Line Recruiting is a Texas High School Coaches Association initiative created to make the recruiting process and communication as seamless as possible between the College Coach and the High School Coach.

3. What does the Straight Line Recruiting model ask of the college recruiters?

Before visiting the high school campus, contact the coaching staff and make them aware of your intentions.
Please use social media to promote the high school and high school coach. Inform student athletes that your evaluation of them comes directly through the high school coach.
Before making an offer, please communicate with the high school head coach.
If an offer has to be made when the athlete visits your campus, please inform the athlete they have an offer contingent on the approval of their high school coach.
During fall camp, when the media questions you about a newly-recruited athlete, please mention the high school and head coach of that athlete.
Use signing day as a platform to promote SLR as the tool you used to recruit your student athletes.
We understand the high school coach has a responsibility and we would like to be informed of any mishandling of the recruiting process by the high school coach.
We ask that you refrain from photos with third parties – it validates them.

4. What does the Straight Line Recruiting model ask of the high school coaches?

We ask head coaches to make time to meet and visit with the college coaches as they come on your campus.
Take photos with recruiters that come onto your campus and celebrate them on social media with #SLR.
Hold the Division I coaches accountable for a “Committable Offer”.
Use social media to promote those student-athletes who get an offer by mentioning the college coach and school and your athlete’s name with #SLR.
Take responsibility yourself or add a recruiting coordinator to help you manage all recruiting visits and helps you manage recruiting, however we do ask that you always meet with a coach who makes time to come onto your campus.
When you feel a recruitment has been mishandled in any way, please contact us before reacting negatively. All sides would like an opportunity to correct a problem.

5. How has this concept of Straight Line Recruiting Developed?

Our THSCA Executive Staff began this process by visiting with every Texas based Div. I Head Football Coach on their home campus. We expressed to them our mission to empower the high school coach and to keep the high school head coach as the primary point of contact in student-athlete recruitment, and we solicited their experiences as a guide to help us facilitate both parties in maintaining the highest standards throughout the entire recruiting process.

We then sent out letters to all Div. I Head Football Coaches as well as our high school head football coaches outlining the protocols for Straight Line Recruiting and the buy-in from both levels has been very noticeable! In September of 2018, we met with the American Football Coaches Association and the NCAA to discuss the development and implementation of this process throughout the state of Texas. They were delighted with the collaborative efforts of our high school and college level coaches and presented the concept nationally at the AFCA convention and the NCAA convention. SLR is rapidly becoming a nationally recognized concept, and we applaud our Texas coaches for adopting it so quickly and for their commitment to its success.

New for the 2023 THSCA Coaching School and Convention, we will be adding a College Assistant Coaches Panel Discussion. We have assembled a panel of college coaches that used to work in the high school ranks to talk about SLR and what the transition was like from high school to college coaching.