College football has given coaches everywhere a valuable example of the primary way today's recruits make their final decisions.

No, it's not about the stadiums, the conference, or even the academic accolades at the school most of the time. 

First, a quick review of the well-publicized ups and downs of college football these past two weeks: Florida's Urban Meyer resigns, then un-resigns...Texas Tech's Mike Leach is dismissed...USC's Pete Carroll uncovers 35 million reasons he'd be a better coach in the NFL...and Tennessee's Lane Kiffin decides the beaches of Southern California beat sweet tea in the south and leaves the Vols after just one year.  And, you can add dozens of other smaller profile schools' coaching changes to that list.

The result of all this shuffling around?  Prospects are de-committing in droves.  They are re-thinking their decisions, and changing their minds.

And, it doesn't just happen in college football...other sports have the same occurance and the same results: When coaches leave, recruits change their mind.

It illustrates a hard, cold fact of life for coaches that they need to understand about this generation of teenage prospects: Our reasearch shows that one of the two major factors in how they decide if a college is right for them is their view - and their relationship - with the coach at that school.  Take the coach out of the equation, and suddenly the college isn't viewed in the same light as it once was.

Agree with me so far?  Good.  Now that I've established this nearly universal truth about today's college prospect, here's the bad news for a lot of you that are reading this:

The letters, emails and other printed material you send a prospect barely reference you.

What percentage of your mailings talk about you as a coach?  What you are like as a person?  What your coaching philosophy is?  What your plan for them is?  What you'd like them to do next in the process?

When we begin working with a college coach and their program as one of our Total Recruiting Solution clients, one of the first things we do is to establish the coach as the person that is going to be the main attraction to the program.  Sometimes, college coaches are uncomfortable with the idea of not being modest.  I try to make the best case I can for them to get past that feeling.

If it were all about the school, logic would dictate that a coach could leave and the recruits wouldn't care one bit.  But that doesn't happen: When a college coach leaves, it causes the recruit to reconsider.

So, how should you put yourself in the spotlight more effectively?  Here are some ideas that we've found to work well for our clients:

• Make all of your messages centered around you.  As you lay out all of the nice facts about your school, make sure the conversation comes back to you.  Never assume that the school or your program is going to sell the recruit on coming to your campus.
• Talk about the personal side of you along with the professional side of you.  Yes, your impressive win totals count, as do your Coach of the Year awards.  But your prospect is looking for more than that...they want to know the person behind the whistle.  Learn ways to reveal the real you to your recruits.
• Unveil your screw-ups.  Your prospects know you're not perfect.  Don't be afraid to talk about the mistakes you've made, and what you learned from them.  In our workbooks for college recruiters, we make the point that this is one of the best techniques for breaking down walls that might exist between you and your recruit. 
• Get on Twitter.  It's an incredible social networking tool that is paying off for the coaches that are using it to build a following.  Twitter is free, it's easy and it's a great way to reveal the real you to your recruits (and your fans, and your boosters, and other coaches and Athletic Directors that might be looking to hire you).
• Create a fan page on Facebook.  Update your recruits on what's going on with you and your program using the most popular communication tool in the world.  This can be one way communication out to a group that broadcasts the daily pulse of you and your program.
• Write a blog.  The benefits are too many to count.  If you want more ideas on what makes a great blog, and how to get started, click here for a popular article on the topic we did in September 2009.
• Make it all about the conversation.  All of your communication should focus on building the relationship between you and the prospect.  Not the school and the prospect, you and your prospect.  Everything you send out should prompt them to feel more connected with you.

Here's the bottom line, Coach:

Whether you're a Division III softball coach that only won three games last season, or a Division I coach that we see interviewed regularly on ESPN, the facts remain the same: Your prospects are going to pick the program who has the coach they feel most connected to.

Still don't believe me?  Just ask one of the dozens of recently de-committed football prospects who are searching for a new coach they feel connected to...they'll back me up on what I'm saying.

Looking for more winning techniques for connecting with recruits?  Bring the Selling for Coaches team to your campus.  We work with entire athletic departments, or individual sports staffs.  And best of all, it's custom designed especially for your campus. 

For more information or to schedule your session, email Dan Tudor at dan@sellingforcoaches.com.