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Recruiting Horror Story: A Rumor Cost Me an Offer

By Isaac Haney|Updated on June 27, 2023 (originally published on January 4, 2022)

Recruiting Horror Stories™ are posted every Tuesday to provide athletes' first-hand experiences of what can go wrong during the recruiting process.

As a student-athlete, you focus on what you can control: your effort, the time you put in, and how you interact with your teammates and coaches. However, there are many things you can't control that will heavily impact the course of your athletic career: accidents, coaching changes, or the cancellation of an entire program. This is a recruiting horror story™ of how one of those uncontrollable things, a rumor, cost an athlete their offer.

Alyssa Moreno was a highly recruited rower during high school. She was the captain of her team and earned accolades, such as the Renaissance award. Because of this, there were many schools vying for her to join their team. She had offers from several schools in the Pac-12 and the West-Coast Conference (WCC).

As her senior year began, she began taking official visits, with the plans that doing so would help her narrow down her choices. It's important to remember that the NCAA only allows up to five official visits during an athlete's recruiting process, so each one is incredibly valuable and should be carefully chosen.

Taking Official Visits
She chose to take an official visit at one school in the Pac-12. Prior to doing so, they had offered her. She met with the coaches, knew about the program, and really was interested in attending this school. Upon arrival, she fell in love with the school. The town around the school was beautiful, the campus itself was vibrant and full of life, the athletes and coaches there were warm and welcoming towards her. Everything about the trip was positive. So, when the time came for the coaches to ask what she wanted to do, she verbally committed. She still wanted to check out other schools, but she knew this school was the one for her.

The “Injury”
So, Alyssa went into her senior year knowing where she wanted to go and believing she had a future there. That was, until she began receiving messages from coaches:

Coach: “Hey, are you alright? I heard about what happened.”

Alyssa: “What do you mean?”

Coach: “Your back, I heard you were in an accident.”

One by one, coaches from many schools began reaching out to inquire about a supposed back injury. The only problem was, there was never a back injury in the first place. “I don't know where this rumor came from,” she told us. “I always thought some coach who didn't like me started it.”

The Power of Rumors
Wherever this rumor started, whether it was true or not, it had power. Schools began pulling their offers despite her still competing and putting up great times. At first, this didn't worry her because she was still in good standing with many schools. Then, she got the call: the school she verbally committed to pulled their offer. She pleaded with them, telling them that nothing was wrong and she didn't know where this started, but they still pulled the offer.

“I was devastated. I didn't want to go to college anymore, if I couldn't row there, then I didn't want to row at all.” But somehow, she pushed on. She still rowed her senior year, and schools came from far and wide to watch her. Many of them asked her about her back injury, which she had to make clear was completely fine.

In the end, she landed at the University of San Diego, a school that she loves: “I love it here, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else,” she told us. “I just wish I knew where that rumor came from.” This story, although unusual, is one that shows how something completely unexpected can skew the path of your recruitment.

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