Back to School, Back to Recruiting: 7 Things Every High School Program Should Update Before the Season

As a new school year begins, coaches and athletes are preparing for another busy season. Between practices, games, team meetings, fundraising, and everything else that comes with the fall, recruiting can quickly become something that gets pushed to the side.

But the start of the school year is actually one of the best times to make sure your program’s recruiting information is accurate, organized, and easy for college coaches to find.

Here are seven things every high school program should update before the season gets underway.

1. Update Your Team Roster

Start with the basics.

Make sure your program website includes the most current roster with accurate names, graduation years, positions, jersey numbers, and other important player information.

College coaches are constantly evaluating prospects, and outdated rosters can make it difficult for them to identify the athletes they are looking for.

A current roster also gives your athletes a professional place to direct college coaches, family members, and others who want to learn more about the program.

2. Refresh Player Recruiting Profiles

Your athletes’ recruiting profiles should evolve throughout their high school careers.

Before the season starts, have players review and update information such as:

• Height and weight

• Position

• Graduation year

• GPA

• Contact information

• Highlight film

• Athletic measurements

• Offers, honors, or achievements

Even small changes can matter.

An athlete who has grown two inches, added 15 pounds, improved their academics, or posted new film should have that information reflected on their recruiting profile.

3. Make Highlight Film Easy to Find

College coaches should not have to search through multiple websites and social media accounts to find an athlete’s film.

Make sure each recruitable athlete has their most recent highlight video linked directly from their profile.

As new games are played throughout the season, encourage athletes to continue updating their film so college coaches always have access to their latest performances.

4. Update Your Coaching Staff and Contact Information

Coaching changes happen every offseason.

Review your program website and make sure the correct coaches, titles, email addresses, and phone numbers are listed.

College coaches frequently contact high school coaches when evaluating prospects, so making that information easy to find can remove unnecessary friction from the recruiting process.

Your coaching staff page should make it simple for a college recruiter to know exactly who to contact.

5. Give Athletes the Tools to Be Proactive

Recruiting should not depend entirely on college coaches discovering an athlete.

Players should also be able to identify schools they are interested in and proactively introduce themselves to college programs.

Give your athletes access to tools that help them research colleges, find coaching staffs, and easily share their recruiting profiles.

The easier you make this process, the more opportunities your athletes have to create meaningful connections with college programs.

6. Make Your Program Website the Central Hub

Recruiting information often gets spread across social media, Hudl, spreadsheets, PDFs, school websites, and other platforms.

That can make it difficult for athletes, parents, and college coaches to know where to go.

Your program website should serve as the central hub for everything related to your team, including:

• Rosters

• Recruiting profiles

• Coaching staff

• Schedules

• Camps

• Sponsors

• Booster information

• Recruiting resources

One organized location creates a better experience for everyone involved with your program.

7. Start Recruiting Outreach Early

One of the biggest mistakes athletes can make is waiting until late in the season—or even senior year—to begin communicating with colleges.

The beginning of the school year is a great opportunity for athletes to introduce themselves, send updated profiles, share film, and begin building relationships with college coaches.

Recruiting is rarely about one message or one highlight video.

Consistent communication and visibility over time can make a major difference.

Make High School Recruiting Easier This Season

Coaches already have enough responsibilities during the season. Managing recruiting information should not have to become another full-time job.

The Athletic Academy helps high school programs create a centralized recruiting website featuring customizable player profiles, college search and outreach tools, coaching information, recruiting resources, and more.

Our goal is simple: help programs better showcase their athletes and give players, parents, and coaches the tools they need to be more proactive throughout the recruiting process.

As the new school year begins, take a few minutes to review your program’s recruiting presence.

A few simple updates today could help create opportunities for your athletes throughout the entire season.

Ready to better showcase your athletes and simplify the recruiting process?

👉 Schedule a Demo with The Athletic Academy