Survey: High school coaches chime in on needed recruiting changes

The role of the head high school football coach is vital to recruiting, but with more outside forces than ever involved it’s ever evolving.

Several recruiting rule changes are in the works, including a new official visit period and an early National Signing Day. But what are the changes that high school coaches would like to see? We surveyed some of the country’s most notable head coaches to get their opinions on what they would like to see changed about the process.

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"I would like for them to allow the kids to take official visits earlier, maybe at the end of summer. I know a lot of coaches usually take the month of July off, but maybe the last two weeks of July they could have an early visitation period for the kids who will be in the early signing period. Most of the kids are like (Class of 2017 Rivals100 WR) Danny Davis for us. Danny wasn't able to make his official visits until November because he did so many things during the season for us that he didn't have the time and his mom had things to do. The only thing I could see as a drawback would be for the coaches not to have enough time away with their families and enjoy that. It would be great for the kids so they could get it out of the way before the season starts.” - Maurice Douglass, Springfield, Ohio

"From the players’ standpoint I think they’re in a tough situation where the process is so sped up and they can’t take official visits until they’re seniors, but some are making their decisions going into their junior year or during their junior year, which is very difficult. From the players’ standpoint, it would be great for them to get to know the coaches a little more and have a little more interaction with them. I think that would be helpful." - Nunzio Campanile, Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic

“I think a major problem that is faced by the players and the high school coaches today are the non-committable offers that college coaches throw out to players. It's a confusing process enough for a 17-, 18-year-old high school student, and then when you throw these type of offers around it makes the process worse on our end. I'm not sure what the best solution is, maybe something like making an offer binding for the university. This would make colleges slow down the process and evaluate everything better, lead to better relationships which would help all the decommitting and colleges pulling offers, but also make it so that a player knows when he gets that offer it is a true offer.” – Chip Walker, Newnan, Ga.

“I think recruiting right now overall is fine. Satellite camps have given more exposure to some colleges that don’t normally recruit our area. But I would limit the early offers to student-athletes that have played high school football” – Gerald Cox, Coconut Creek, Fla.

"I don’t know how they could reign in early offers, but I think that guys getting offers before they’ve proven to be good players is very detrimental to the kid’s growth as a player. You see more and more kids getting offers going into their sophomore year and some going into their freshman year and they haven’t really developed as players. I understand they see that these guys have the talent level that they should develop. I would love to see a way for them to make it where you actually have to prove it on the field, that you can do the work, and understand what the commitment is to be a great player that could be successful in college. – Nunzio Campanile, Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic

“I just think that there needs to be some commitment from both sides. The kids can commit, de-commit; the colleges come in and offer a kid and then they pull the scholarship and it gets frustrating as a coach. You see a kid who is excited about a place and then they pull an offer. If you’re not ready to offer, just don’t offer. And if a kid isn’t ready to commit to a school, don’t commit. I think there needs to be something done in that phase of it. You can see the pros and cons on both sides. Of course the colleges have to get their recruits and be ready if they miss on one to have a back-up plan. But I think them offering kids in eighth or ninth grade, I think something needs to be done about that because that can hurt a kid in the long run.” – Keith Etheredge, Pell City, Ala.

“Not happy about the offering because others offer. Some get offers without coaches ever looking at film. Also, lower-tier Division I schools chase and offer all the kids who have Power Five offers and know they don't have a shot at them, but they offer and don't offer under-the-radar kids who deserve offers. Also, they tell kids to camp in the summer, then offer a kid who is not camping and not coming to that school.” – Stephen Dixon, Houston (Texas) Heights

“We need to have a early signing period; the first Wednesday in August, with official visits being permitted from March 15 until April 15. Then start back with official visits June 1 until June 15. This would help the high school coach tremendously and the four- and five-star players could concentrate on playing football for their schools.” – Rush Propst, Colquitt County (Ga.)

"I know there has been a lot of talk about different signing periods. There are a lot of kids we see over the course of our schedule that we say, ‘He’s not playing very hard anymore. He was a really great player and he’s accomplished something but he’s not being held to it anymore.’ I think that's a very difficult situation that early recruiting has certainly changed. I don’t know if you can put the genie back in the bottle on that. You see a lot of seniors that are kind of coasting through their senior seasons rather than playing hard for their team. I think the December signing period would make sense (as opposed to an August signing period) because at least the college coaches could hold the players to task on their effort.” – Nunzio Campanile, Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic

"I would like for college coaches to be able to attend more high school functions because everyone doesn't have spring ball like some states do. There needs to be some process for those states that do not have spring ball. At least give colleges that opportunity to watch kids in the northern states. They should probably have extra time, an extra day to (evaluate) those kids." Thomas Wilcher, Detroit Cass Tech

If I could change one thing at the major level is the constant badgering of the kids after they commit. How can we expect the kids to understand the word commitment, preach being a faithful husband and father, and yet act like a mistress when it comes to recruiting? This is hypocrisy at its finest. Another thing I would change is the amount of celebrity these kids receive. They're children at the end of the day. Then, when they get to the NFL and make critical mistakes in life, we crucify their character. We create these monsters. The next thing I would change is the middleman. The recruiting process should go through the head coach. Unfortunately, not enough head coaches are invested enough, therefore rendering the middle man a necessary evil.” – Brian Waite, East Nashville (Tenn.) Magnet

“Social media is great, it's helped me connect with a lot coaches and push our athletes to a bigger audience, but sometimes we get cut out of the picture, or not made aware of what's going on. A coach will follow a player or be talking to them, even maybe offer them, and I could be left in the dark if it's not for our kids filling me in.” - Matt Riordan, Crosby, Texas