Tom VH, recruitforu.com question.

Submitted by WanderingWolve on

Tom, are you guys only doing certain sports, i.e. football, basketball, baseball or is it for any sport? I ask because I used to play and coach soccer and the biggest struggle for college coaches and prospective players is that there isn't a ranking system like for other sports. If an organization could establish itself as a reputable recruiting service, that could be huge for them. Just a thought if you wanted to pursue that.

uniqenam

January 19th, 2010 at 7:00 PM ^

Not to be a prick, and I know there's a lot of people on this site that like soccer, but I think the problem is that a majority of people find it boring, and hence there's less fanbase/money, and less money translates into a lack of need for a for-pay recruiting service. It's probably pure business.

WolvinLA2

January 19th, 2010 at 7:11 PM ^

Precisely. College football is wildly popular, therefore there is a large desire to know who is going to be playing for your team in the future. Same with basketball, but to a lesser extent. Sports that don't have much of a following (any sport outside of Fball, bball, hockey, and probably baseball) don't have enough of a demand to pay for services to scout the players.

turbo cool

January 19th, 2010 at 7:25 PM ^

It depends on how you market a soccer recruiting site. Soccer in the U.S. is different than football in that the top HS recruits can go pro and sort of like bball in that is very club-based (bball with AAU). And if you look at all the clubs and high profile tournaments in this country I guarantee you that there would be a demand for soccer recruiting service.

Now granted it wouldn't be as large as a fball service like Rivals or Scout. But I remember when I played for a top club (in Mich) and though we were playing against clubs from LA/SD, or Philly, or GA at various tournaments, we knew each person on their teams and they knew all of us. We knew what their past accomplishments were, individually and team, height, weight, strengths, weaknesses. So, i'd argue that there would be a demand for that, particularly from within the soccer community.

seattleblue

January 20th, 2010 at 2:09 PM ^

I'm a soccer fan, but I think the fact that the best players go pro detracts from my interest in following college recruitment. Any player with a real future in professional soccer, has most likely already been discovered and is training in the academy of a top club by age 13 (Arsenal, Barcelona, Boca Juniors, Man U etc).

To me, part of the excitement with college recruiting and the draw of college sports is that we are watching the future pro's develop. We get to see Tom Brady before he's Tom Brady.

In other sports like tennis and soccer, this would not be the case. The best players go pro at a young age and the good players go to college. I'm not saying there isn't an audience among some AYSO players, but I don't think it's a huge audience.

TomVH

January 19th, 2010 at 7:18 PM ^

Yeah, we plan on eventually branching out into different sports. I know nothing about soccer, so that would require more people, resources, etc.

I've actually been in contact with Chad Durbin throughout the past year, who has his own site like this for baseball. We've talked about doing some events together, and expanding.

We'll see how the football part goes first.

JD_UofM_90

January 19th, 2010 at 8:12 PM ^

The annual crew running race through the middle of campus.... Now that is a "non-traditional" sporting event that should be covered...... Females only please....

shorts

January 19th, 2010 at 8:36 PM ^

Tom, I know you've mentioned in the past that you're in Arizona, but which city? Do you get to see a lot of the Phoenix-area recruits or do you do more traveling/national scouting?

TomVH

January 22nd, 2010 at 7:43 PM ^

No, I won't do anything nationally, because that's expensive. I, eventually, plan on doing some things in Arizona. First developing relationships with coaches, and going from there.

I'd like to help Arizona high school football somehow state wide with training camps, and get the coaches association involved. That's further down the road, though.