Come back every Tuesday for Recruiting Horror Stories™, athletes' first-hand stories on what can go wrong during the recruiting process. 

Everyone tells you to work hard during your recruiting process, but what happens when giving your all just doesn't cut it? For this Recruiting Horror Story, I spoke with a former soccer player who played at the Division I level who spoke to me about his awkward and unpleasant experience at Western State. Prior to committing and attending Western State, he had done his homework. He made sure he was contacting many of his choice schools while also maintaining contact with all the coaches. Although he had his fair share of options, he ended up choosing Western State, as he thought it would work out best for him academically, athletically, and financially.

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Throughout the entire recruitment process his coach seemed to be a modest man.  Every time they spoke on the phone or email he seemed really pleasant. He would almost sound concerned about him, asking and making sure he was doing the right things. When he went on an official visit, he was welcomed by the same nice coach. But unfortunately, that all changed over time. 

From the first day of preseason it was an awkward experience. Usually on the first day the team gets their equipment and team gear from the equipment room. The coach was over the counter and was handing them their duffle bags. Of course he wasn't asking people for their number or name because, well…he's your coach! When it came time for this former player to go everything changed. He asked him for his full name and roster number as if he had never met or spoken to this recruited player ever in his life! This made the player feel like he was a “nobody” already on the first day. 

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Sadly, this feeling extended well into the season and until the end of sophomore year. As a Division I player he knew he would have to fight for his playing time. He would constantly speak to his many coaches and trainers, asking if there was anything he could do to make himself better. This did help on many occasions and he got in some important playing time where he got to demonstrate his skill set and slowly but surely,  proved his value to the teams' success.

Although he produced all these positive results, it just wasn't enough for a starting spot. He passed the point of working extra, and was consistently better than his competition. On many occasions he tried to speak with his head coach but the coach would give him very vague answers or wouldn't even answer the questions. Sometimes he would just advise the player to keep working hard as if that meant anything. 

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To make a long story short, the man that recruited this player was no longer in the picture. He made his player feel like his efforts were worth nothing. This became a cycle, which then resulted in the player transferring institutions and having a successful career elsewhere. The point is the coach was not good at communicating with his players, which ended up costing him a star athlete. 

However, not all was lost. After transferring, the soccer player believes this experience helped him in a big way as well. He learned many do's and don'ts  that he can reflect on if he ever coaches. He also learned that communication between coaches and players is vital, a valuable lesson for all athletes in the recruiting process.

Have a horror story of your own? Email us at [email protected]

* Originally published on September 20, 2022, by Michael Pizzuti