The last handful of years has been hard on NEPSAC coaches – really, any high school at any level – to place their players into a college basketball program. We’ve detailed the reasons for that, most notably the logjam that the NCAA transfer portal has created.
So, in what ways can NEPSAC improve its visibility and help players get recruited by college coaches? We went to the coaches to get their thoughts.
Part 4 of our NEPSAC boys basketball offseason coaches’ survey asked the league’s leaders what change they would like to see to improve college recruitment at the prep level. Coaches were granted anonymity so they could more freely express their opinions.
Let’s dive in.
NEPSAC BOYS COACHES SURVEY: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
The answers to this question were all-encompassing, ranging from creating player databases to increasing event exposure.
Several coaches called for an additional Scholastic Showcase – like the ones that occur in June – to come during the fall, or even allow combined open gyms between programs during the course of the fall.
“Be able to combine open gyms with other programs to make it worthwhile for college coaches to make a long trip to your gym,” one coach said.
Another coach thinks the May live period should be eliminated because they believe college coaches don’t have their full focus on high school recruits yet.
“Push everything to June and July,” the coach said. “College coaches are not prioritizing HS/Prep recruiting until their efforts in the portal have been exhausted. I would then flip the Scholastic period in June with the AAU period in July....(will) never happen because of the sneaker money influence.”
Several coaches want changes to offseason coaching restrictions and called for more practice time. One coach criticized NEPSAC for not staying with the times.
“Classes AA and AAA were born in the spring of 2010. Since that time, we have not made one single change to rules or policies to keep them moving forward,” one coach said. “Working out three players at a time in the offseason is fine, but that is not what families are demanding in today's game. Prep school has become far more transactional than it was 20 years ago. Families used to visit and talk about prep helping their child mature by living away from home, gaining some independence, having a more impactful athletic experience but striking the balance. That isn't it anymore.
“Now it is – how often do you get in the gym in the fall? Do you have a full-time strength coach? What does nutrition and recovery look like? We used to tell them we had a weight room and chocolate milk in the dining hall. Now, we have to talk about hiring a nutritionist, hydrotherapy and sleep chambers. The world has changed in the last 20 years and NEPSAC has not.”
Another coach lobbied for more practice time with their teams in the fall so they can hit the ground running when the season starts.
“Allowing schools to practice so they are prepared in the early going,” they said. “Some of the biggest recruiting events happen early in the year and then colleges are locked into their season. We can't afford to have kids starting the year not knowing concepts, plays or shaking off the rust when that's often the first and only impression they will leave with college coaches.”
One coach thinks there aren’t any hot button issues to change. They praised early-season tournaments like the Zero Gravity Prep Classic – annually held in early December at the Dana Barros Basketball Club – as valuable exposure events. They wondered if NEPSAC could produce similar environments.
“If the NEPSAC was able to run events at that level, it would be a home run for student athletes,” the coach said. “I don’t think the NEPSAC has the infrastructure for that and would likely need to enlist outside help. Working with people like Jason Smith (from Zero Gravity) that have successfully demonstrated the ability to run these tournaments could help.”
Some coaches think there should be increased methods of information sharing. One coach said “the more film we have available it only helps everyone's recruitment,” while another went a step further.
“NEPSAC should make a full database of all players from every team with all their contact info and player highlights that is submitted by their coaches and NEPSAC should send out to every college in the nation — D1, D2, D3, JUCO, NAIA — in a portal format so coaches can go through and take a live look at players, and it should be updated by the coaches in the NEPSAC as the only editors,” the coach said.
One coach kept it simple. With NEPSAC’s rich tradition and history of sending prospects to the highest levels of college basketball and beyond, the coach said to keep the focus on what the league does well.
“I think continuing to tell our story,” the coach said. “While our college placement has dropped in the last five years due to the portal, the success of our players when they get to college absolutely hasn't. The best thing we do is develop and prepare kids for college. So continuing to allow more and more access to coaches with their players so they can keep working with them and spending time with them will only help.
“Coaches complaining about ‘not being able to work kids out in the offseason’ is a little hypocritical (because everyone's doing it) but I think just allowing it would go a long way. The WCAC allows coaches 12 hours per week with their athletes out of season. That can be on court, weight room, film etc. They're producing great athletes, students, multi-sport kids etc. It's really not that serious.”
