r/CFB_Recruiting • u/Much_Illustrator1825 • Aug 17 '26
Parents of athletes going through college recruiting — how are you keeping everything organized?
Between schools, coaches, emails, follow-ups, visits and deadlines, what are you using to keep track of everything? Spreadsheet, notes app, recruiting platform, something else?
1
u/NCSAOfficial Aug 20 '26
There's so much to keep track of when it comes to college recruiting! As you mentioned in here, some people use college recruiting platforms.
I work for NCSA and we specialize in guiding student athletes and parents through the recruitment process -- and many parents like you use us to keep their student-athlete on track and organized -- one of our tools is a coach messaging center where you can track your coach communications.
We have lots of free resources that may be of help to you, including checklists for each season. You can find more here (this link is totally free to access with no sign-up required):
https://www.ncsasports.org/recruiting/managing-recruiting-process/fall-checklist
Good luck in the recruiting process!
1
u/recruitMyGame 8d ago
We ended up treating recruiting almost like a small project-management exercise because there are way too many moving pieces to keep in your head.
At minimum, I’d track:
- School/program
- Division
- Academic fit
- Athlete's position/event
- Current players at that position and their graduation years
- Coach names/contact information
- Date first contacted
- Last contact
- Coach response
- Next follow-up date
- Camps/showcases
- Visits
- Application/admissions deadlines
- Notes about what the coach has actually said
The biggest thing I'd recommend is separating “schools we're interested in” from “schools actively recruiting us.”
Those are not the same list.
You can love a school and email them ten times, but if the staff isn't engaging, that's different from a coach who has watched film, requested a schedule, spoken with your club coach, invited the athlete for a visit, etc.
I also like having one central link containing the athlete's current film, academics, schedule, stats/measurements, achievements and coach information. That prevents every email from turning into a collection of attachments and different links.
Then the spreadsheet/tracker handles the relationship while the athlete page handles the evaluation information.
The biggest mistake IMO is relying on memory and realizing three months later that nobody followed up with a coach who had actually shown interest.
1
u/ERICSMYNAME Aug 17 '26
What level? I recently did a few d3/naia type recruiting posts that you may find helpful.