Former Ohio State assistant football coach and recruiting director Bill Conley makes a point during last Wednesday night’s presentation at Bay High School. Conley, who spent 17 years with the Buckeyes, is now an ESPN analyst. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Former Buckeyes coach answers recruiting questions
By Jim Horvath
Sports
Published March 25, 2009

Beginning every February, high school athletes around the country sign national letters of intent to continue their academic and athletic endeavors at the collegiate level. Several Westshore athletes have done just that in recent weeks.

The process in getting to that point, however, can be a daunting one. Parents usually have lots of questions about the various levels of collegiate competition, scholarships and what it takes to even get noticed by a college coach.

Many of these questions were answered last Wednesday night at Bay High School during a two-hour seminar featuring former Ohio State University football coach Bill Conley. Conley, the former recruiting coordinator for the Buckeyes, took an audience of parents and athletes through a power point presentation while interjecting a number of interesting - and sometimes comical – stories of past recruiting adventures.

“Why do I do this?” he asked the audience. “Over the years, I realized just how little people knew about the recruiting process. Last year, I did seven of these presentations. This year, I’m doing an additional 23 presentations and have turned down another 10.

“There are all kinds of opportunities out there for high school athletes who want to move on to college. In 31 years of teaching and coaching, I’ve coached just about every sport there is and have worked to get my players into the right college. At that point, I was the go between for the parents and college coaches. Then once my kids got old enough, it gave me yet another perspective once they went through the process.

“Through it all, the number one goal is this: get an education. You’re always one play away from the end of your collegiate career, whether it be your last football game, your last putt on the final hole or that last shot of a basketball game. It’s going to end, and you have to be ready to move on into a career,” he said.

Conley, who retired from Ohio State in 2004, has been an analyst for Columbus area radio and television sports programs. The past year and a half, he has served as the top recruiting analyst for ESPN. On national signing day last month, Conley spent nearly 10 hours on the air going over the Division I football signings of programs throughout the country.

But Conley’s advice for parents and athletes went well past the well-publicized world of big-time college football.

“Like I said, there are opportunities out there, whether it be in NCAA Division I, or a smaller school like Division III or NAIA,” said Conley. “Athletes: you better have a passion for your sport. If you don’t, you won’t make it. You want to be the best you can be.

“It’s up to you. Nobody else will do it for you. College coaches are looking for those kinds of athletes for their programs,” he said.

Conley went through the different levels of college programs in his presentation, from Division I down through the junior college and prep school ranks. He explained what each level could provide scholarship-wise and what the academic requirements were.

“There are certain realities, no matter what level you participate in,” said Conley. “As far as academic requirements go, a college can always require more, but not less, than the minimum requirements. For example, Ivy League schools or military academies are Division I in many sports, but their academic requirements are much higher than those of many other institutions. They only take a select few.

“Financially, those colleges who can give scholarships can always give less, but never more at their respective levels. A Division I football program has 84 scholarships they can give, for example. They don’t have to fund that many. Some schools play at Division I, but offer fewer scholarships,” he said.

Conley talked about what coaches look for in a player.

“The one thing athletes need to keep in mind is that they’re always being evaluated during the recruiting process,” said Conley. “They look at a lot of things, like how an athlete answers questions. If they answer ‘yes sir’ or ‘yes ma’am,’ that’s a good thing. It also helps if the player doesn’t have enough bolts and piercings in him that he could get picked up by a magnet.

“You want to make a good social impression. That could be the one impression that makes the difference between a coach signing you or someone else,” he said. “Also, be honest with your recruiter, be a good listener and show dedication in the classroom.”

Conley told a number of stories, including how Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George was discovered at a small military prep school in western Virginia. But one story in particular emphasized just how fine the line really is sometimes between getting the scholarship or not.

“One year at Ohio State, we had one scholarship left for a defensive player,” he recalled. “We were looking at one guy from a big high school in the Pittsburgh area, one from the Cleveland area and another from a little, tiny school in western Ohio.

“They were all pretty close, and we looked at a lot of tape on all of them. One night around midnight, I was watching film and I noticed something about the kid from the small school. His team was in a game that was a blow out, like 36-6, 36-7, something like that. It was late in the game, and this guy was still playing hard, even though the game was over.

“After the other team had scored, he got through the line and blocked the extra point. It didn’t affect the outcome one way or another, but it impressed me how he was still playing at a high level. That’s the kid we wound up signing, and he wound up being a member of our 2002 National Championship team,” he said.

Conley answered questions following the presentation, and members of recruiting services were on hand to answer questions as well. Before he finished, Conley gave the answer to probably one of the most-asked questions.

“People ask ‘coach, how do I know a school is right for me? When will I know it’s the right time to make my decision?’ Well, the answer is this,” he said.

“If I can’t play my sport any more, would I still want to go to that school? If the answer is yes, then you’ve made the right choice,” he said.