Recruiting Issues Addressed by ACF:

Examining the Value and Purpose of Private Scouting Companies

By Joseph Rigney – ACF Director

Author's background

After attending Samford University I was married to my present wife in 1961. We have three children and several grandchildren. My early professional life revolved primarily around sales, marketing, and the printing and publishing industry. I did some professional athletic scouting and I was heavily involved in amateur sports as a coach, official, and administrator.

In 1980 I started the first ever private scouting company whose purpose was to help deserving high school student-athletes get exposure and recognition by college coaches. These prospect promotions also helped college coaches evaluate and recruit prospects that they may not have otherwise known about. I had a background of helping kids get college athletic scholarships even before I started the business. I had developed many relationships with college coaches which allowed me to have some personal credibility in the business from the beginning. The original company was known as "Scouting Report" and many colleges still refer to it as "Scouting Report". When the company expanded nationally the name was changed to "National Scouting Report". I served as CEO of the corporation until I retired in 2002. At that time I formed a non- profit coaches association, "American Coaches Federation (ACF)". I am presently the director of ACF and no longer have a working or ownership relationship with National Scouting Report.

What is the value of a scouting service to college coaches?

A golf caddie, an Indian scout in the old Calvary days, a detective, a research scientist, an accountant – what do all these people have in common? They are all scouts in some respect even though they are not thought of that way. A scout is someone who seeks out, observes, and gathers information. Then this information, often along with personal recommendations and advice is turned over to someone else. This is exactly what a private scouting company does – or at least it's what they should do. They look for and observe young athletes, gather information on the athletes who may be projected as future college prospects, and then they provide this information and their recommendations to college coaches.

Unlike the general perception, by some, a scouting company does not get involved in the actual recruiting process. In fact, they are not allowed to by NCAA rules. However, some companies will lead prospects to believe that they actually do have a major influence in getting them personally recruited. College coaches may consider recommendations from a trusted source but they make their own decisions about who they are going to recruit and who they are going to eventually make an offer to. These decisions are based on the information and evaluations that they have. A lot of this information often comes from private scouting sources, or specifically, a good private scouting company. Most colleges will use a good, proven credible, scouting company because the college coaches are very restricted in the amount of scouting that they can do – especially on a national level.

The scouting company will have their local scout(s) in a specific area where the athlete lives, watch the athlete play, watch him practice, talk to the coaches about him, and most importantly, keep up with his statistics and progress on a weekly basis. All scouting information, videotapes, etc., is turned over to the coaches constantly and therefore these coaches are able to make a more qualified decision as to whether or not they want to recruit the athlete. The information should be turned over to and made available to every college, and the scouting company should not try to determine which colleges the prospect may qualify for – this is the job of the college coaches at each individual school. In fact, NCAA rules require private scouting companies to provide their services equally to all colleges and not to just certain ones that they want to provide it to. Some scouting companies do not abide by this rule and they pick and choose the colleges that they promote the athlete to. It is obviously cheaper for them to do this but it's not the best thing to do for the athletes or for the colleges that are left out.

Obviously, the scouting companies that are the most valuable to the colleges and to the athletes are the ones that offer the most thorough scouting services and the kind of services that are truly useful to college coaches. There are still some college coaches who claim that they don't use any private scouting company. They say that they have identified all the prospects that they would be interested in and they don't need referrals and recommendations from a scouting company. Unfortunately, most of these coaches are living in the past and they don't really understand the role of a good established scouting company. It's not about finding players that you don't know about – even though scouting companies often find out about very young prospects long before the colleges do. It's about getting good qualified information, including videotape, on players that the colleges already know about and may be interested in recruiting.

Of course, not all scouting companies are equal. Some are no more than sales and telemarketing organizations that make exaggerated or deceiving claims about themselves. They seem to be strictly money-motivated and very short on meaningful services for the prospects and for the college coaches. Having been involved in this industry since its inception thirty years ago, I have seen many private scouting companies come and many eventually fold their tents – often leaving a bad taste and a tarnished reputation that reflects on the entire industry. And today, it's very easy to start a private scouting company. All you have to do is have someone design a flashy Web site, make it look as impressive as you can, make a bunch of exaggerated claims – true or untrue – and you're in business ready to take peoples' money. Fortunately, there are some good companies that do provide a valuable service to both college coaches and to prospective student-athletes who want to pursue their best chances to be recruited and maximize their educational opportunities.

There are several legitimate scouting companies and, in my opinion, the best of these private scouting companies are: National Scouting Report (NSR), College Prospects of America (CPOA), and Collegiate Scouting Association (CSA). Each one of these companies has an established reputation and credibility in the recruiting industry that spans more than twenty years. While each company offers some services that differ they all provide something meaningful to the prospects that they represent, and to the college coaches. These companies' claims are reasonable and honest and their scouting procedures and business practices are honorable and ethical. All three of these companies have offices and representatives throughout the U.S. – NSR and CPOA both have several International offices and also deal with foreign student-athletes.

Things to be cautious of:

Companies that solicit you by phone from out of state. High-pressure scouting company telemarketing salespeople often work from a "boiler room" at some central location.

Companies that try to sell you their program even though they have never scouted you personally. This kind of policy carries no credibility with college coaches.

Companies that do not consider your academic status when trying to enroll you in their program. Some companies just don't care whether or not you qualify – they just want your money.

Companies that make grossly exaggerated and unsubstantiated claims about their credibility and success.

Companies that guarantee you a scholarship – this is against NCAA rules.

Companies that put you on their service for free. This is against NCAA rules unless they put everyone in your same situation on their service for free – which they don't. It's the same as receiving money. The NCAA has no legal recourse with a private scouting company but they can take away your college eligibility forever. Colleges will steer clear of you if they know that you received something for nothing and you could be declared ineligible for college sports later when someone blows the whistle on you. A scouting company that does this is probably just using you for bait so that they can enroll other paying customers. This is a scam – don't fall for it!