James Vondra is a high school football coach at Antelope Valley High School. He has coached at multiple different high schools in the Antelope Valley and the junior college level. He won two CIF championships with Quartz Hill High School and has a wide range of experience in the coaching world. Today, Coach Vondra talked to us about all things college football recruiting:

What is your advice for parents going through the recruiting process for the first time?

I always tell athletes to take football out of the equation when schools are looking at them. If you get a scholarship to go to a school and all of a sudden you get injured, you want to be somewhere where you would stay even without football. The end line is that we want you to get your degree.

How can athletes find their best fit?

The graduation rate is important. You also want to look at what alumni do after college. You want to be able to put your degree to work right away so that you aren't in debt. Look at schools that fit your personality, academic standards, and athletic ability. 

Not getting playing time in college can really negatively affect athletes' psychological well-being. You need to have the grades for DII and DIII, but at those schools, you might get on the field sooner. 

What do athletes struggle with the most during the recruiting process?

For some reason, some of these kids are told that their freshman year doesn't count. They come into high school and bomb all of their classes and then all of a sudden they're ineligible. I had one of my top players have a lot of scholarships put on hold because of a D that he had in one of his classes freshman year. 

How has the transfer portal affected high school recruiting?

When I meet with college coaches, the first thing I ask is about how many kids they are looking to pull out of high school and how many they are looking to go to the portal for. It definitely hurts the high school recruits because you are going to pick the kid with experience at the college level. 

What makes a good highlight reel?

We film everything. I tell them to select their own clips and then we sit down together to go over it. We try to keep it brief; two or three minutes tops. Kids always feel like any play they have where they did something might be a highlight, but college coaches want to see what you can do in your specific position.

What do you do if you aren't getting the playing time you think you need to get recruited?

A lot of times, athletes think they have to wait around for coaches to send information to them. But, they need to be more proactive and reach out to the schools and request information themselves. 

When I meet with my players, I tell them to give me their top five. I have a prospect sheet that I put together for each player that has a link to their Hudl highlights and contact information. When it's time for coaches to reach out and make contact and you don't get any interest, then that means you probably aren't on their board. That just means we might have to get better highlights, grades, or stats.

What has been your proudest accomplishment as a football coach?

The first championship we won was after I took over the program at Quartz Hill High School. I made an effort to start with the freshman class and build the program with that class. My goal was to keep as many kids in the program throughout their high school career. We started with 70 freshmen, and by the time they graduated, 66 of those kids were on that championship team. That created a lot of pride for me as a coach. That was my group of kids and I wasn't trying to be the former football coach for those returning players. 

What is your advice to first-time coaches?

On my staff, coaches need to understand their role as a coach first. What does being a coach mean? Why are they getting into coaching? In high school, you have to remember that you're dealing with kids. They come to us at 14 years old and there are things about life that we have to teach them. We don't argue with our kids because they aren't adults.

Be authoritative, build relationships, and understand your role and know you are developing kids to be better people when they leave us. 

Most of the time, kids come to us never having played before. Even if they come to us with experience at the youth level, it's not the same. They aren't learning the fundamentals of football. It's really important to teach these kids the basics of tackling and how to fall. Safety is one thing that we keep at the forefront of our program. 

You also want to create a positive environment. These kids have to like the experience they are going through. As coaches, we control a lot of that.