Special Episode – Mike Robinson, SportsRecruits

On today’s episode, I speak with Mike Robinson, COO of SportsRecruits. We talk about what makes their platform different than other recruiting platforms. Then we discuss his top tips for those going through the recruiting process. Learn more about SportsRecruits.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today, we’ve got a special episode here. I’m lucky enough to be joined by Mike Robinson, uh, with Sports Recruits, uh, one of the online recruiting platforms you, you’ve probably seen out there. So welcome, Mike. 

Mike: Thanks. Happy to be here. 

Matt: Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for being on.

I, uh, I wanted to talk to you because I think folks probably saw, I did a survey a month or two back asking coaches, which, which recruiting platforms, if they use them, you know, which ones they prefer, which ones they, they, uh, like the best, I guess, in terms of getting stuff from students and looking at them and just the whole thing.

And, and you guys were, were definitely up there as one of the ones that the coaches like the most. And, and I always get questions from, from parents and players and things of. Hey, you know, I I’m getting calls from NCSA. Do I need to do that? I, do I need to put together, do I need to use one of these services or how often are they used?

So I thought it’d be valuable to, to get somebody, you know, straight from the horse’s mouth here and, uh, and we’ll get you on. So, uh, the first question though, I’m going to, I’m going to start out on the personal side of things. Folks, folks know my, uh, college sports, uh, background, but we don’t know yours.

So, so how did you get interested in this? Uh, what’s your, your sports background? 

Mike: Sure. So I played lacrosse at Wesleyan University, um, for years, had the opportunity to become a captain. And, you know, that experience for me was just so formidable in my life. [00:01:30] Um, the skills you learn, leadership, teamwork, overcoming adversity, all of those things, like I’ve just played such a critical part in my life.

So, you know, the opportunity that came to join sports recruits. Help other student athletes have that experience and, you know, be able to learn and, you know, have that opportunity that I had, like, that’s really the passion that drives everything that we do here. 

Matt: Uh, that’s awesome. Well, and yeah, I mentioned, you know, you guys as a recruiting platform, but I don’t want to undersell it or say anything incorrectly.

So I’d rather hear directly from you. So how would you describe sports recruits? What exactly is it that you guys do? 

Mike: Sure. So sports recruits is a network. That connects high school athletes, college coaches. youth coaches, club and high school and event organizers in the recruiting process, bringing together all the stakeholders, um, to help create a more efficient, more transparent, more accessible recruiting process.

There are thousands of opportunities for student athletes to play college sports at every level from division one to club to two year universities, and we want to help people find those opportunities. 

Matt: Okay. Well, and I’m excited. It just so happens that, uh, last week we, my club had a, had a meeting as we’re, we’re have a new partnership and affiliation with another club here in Florida.

And they had a college meeting and they brought up, uh, how, how they are a partner with sports recruits and that our club will now have access, [00:03:00] uh, to, to sports recruits. Although I know you don’t necessarily have to have a club, uh, account to, to use sports recruits. Um, but. 1 of the things you just mentioned was interesting to me, and the fact that you talked about all the different stakeholders, right?

Because in the college recruiting process, there are a lot of people involved, right? The players, the parents, the college coaches, the club coaches, the high school coaches and everybody else. Uh, so when you’re. You know, trying to design something like sports recruits, a platform for people to use to have multiple stakeholders, you know, how do you decide who to prioritize or what in the process to prioritize and that sort of thing?

Mike: Yeah, definitely. It’s a challenge, but I think it really in order to. Solve this problem and really address the recruiting process. You need to have everybody involved together on one network. And that interconnectivity is really the strength and what powers the millions of interactions that happen every year on the platform.

But, you know, there are constantly times where you’re trying to solve problems for each of these different groups and everyone has. different feature requests and things they want to build. And, you know, sometimes you’re building things that, you know, prioritize one group over another. And, but for us, like, whenever we’re trying to make that decision of like, what do we build?

If it’s maybe creating a challenge for one group, But solving a problem for another, it always comes back to like, what’s in the best interest of the student athlete. And I think that really resonates [00:04:30] with everybody because if you’re a club coach, you’re a college coach, that’s why you’re in this as well.

And so like, it ends up being one of those conversations that you can have with all of those stakeholders and say, here, here’s why we made this decision. And here’s why it’s in the best interest of the student athlete. 

Matt: No, that makes a lot of sense. Well, we, we, I mentioned before the survey that. That I put out and, and, you know, kind of talking about all the different recruiting platforms, but I guess most specifically, what do you think makes sports recruits stand out?

Why do you think, uh, maybe college coaches, you know, rated you guys so high out of out of all the different platforms? 

Mike: Sure. Yeah, I think it really boils down to two things, technology and ethos. So on the technology side, we talked about bringing together all the stakeholders. That’s really unique, um, solving problems and bringing them all together on one network.

The interactions and the volume of interaction. So, you know, every year we put out a year in review with all of the data and statistics about interactions on the network. Last year, six and a half million times athletes ran searches to find a fit. For schools. They added a million schools to their favorites list.

College coaches viewed athlete profiles over 4 million times. Like, those are the success metrics for us, and we’re so focused on those. And so there’s more recruiting activity happening on Sports Recruits than anywhere. And, you know, that’s because of all the different pieces we’ve put together. Um, an example, our EventBeacon app is used at over 500 tournaments and [00:06:00] showcases where college coaches can access schedules, rosters.

athlete profiles, make evaluations, connecting what happens on the field with what’s happening on sports recruits off the field. So again, we continue to push the envelope on the technology side. Something we’re really excited about is all of our video tools and solutions, club video sharing, highlight real building as well as integrating with.

Tools in the streaming space in the space. So continuing to push that envelope forward. So on the technology side, like leaders in all of those categories, but then I think most importantly is on the side. Um, we believe that technology can help make the recruiting process more transparent and more accessible for student athletes and we’re a mission driven company.

And I think, like, anybody that interacts with anyone on our staff really feels that. And again, that also is very measurable for us. So, you know, an example for the last seven years, we’ve been measuring net promoter score, which if you’re not feeling familiar with the term, you’ve definitely answered the question, like, how likely are you to recommend this product to a friend?

And so when we started measuring that back in 2017, I think our score is around a 50, which is the top 20 percent for software. Now, last year, we were 73, which is the 100th percentile for the software industry and, you know, every year taking steps forward any student athlete that leaves a comment receives a reply from us.

And we take all of that feedback to help us make decisions for the [00:07:30] future. So, you know, last year’s feedback is this year’s actions. And so like, that’s really what drives all the decisions at the company. And then you talked about, you know, your club coming on to the platform. For us, like it’s all about retention.

Um, if your club renews again and again, like that’s how we know we’re doing a good job last year’s retention, 97%. We have clubs that have now been on the platform for nine years. So again, when it comes to like ethos, it’s all about like doing the right thing, transparency, accessibility for student athletes, and making sure that we have customers that are, that are really happy.

Matt: [00:00:00] So, Mike, I know some, a lot of the recruiting platforms are, you know, you can create a profile for free, but then they might have a paid version or some are paid from the get go. I mean, it’s kind of all over the map, but for you guys, is it free? Is there a paid version? Is if it’s, or is it both? Is there a difference?

Kind of give me what that looks like 

Mike: for sure. So, for a student athlete, You can create a profile for free, upload unlimited video or embed for free, use the highlight reel editor for free. And I think most valuable is use the school search tool to find schools that are the right fit for you and build your target list.

All of those things are free. And then our model is very similar to think like LinkedIn premium. So you want to see who views your profile and use the messaging system. You can upgrade to a pro subscription, but you know, it’s really important to us that, you know, all of those features. that student athletes have access to are free.

And then the other piece that’s important is that college coaches don’t know who is paying and who is not. And you don’t show up any differently in a search from a paying athlete. So everyone is treated equally, which is also, I think, really important to us as a part of the process. 

Matt: Yeah. I mean, it sounds like it would still be, you know, for folks who just don’t have the money or don’t, you know, maybe want to spend the money.

I totally get that. I mean, it’s one of the reasons we have some of the stuff we have on my site, but, um, it still sounds like it would be worthwhile. So like I said, I’m, I’m, I’m looking forward to seeing what we do with it, uh, through our, our club subscription. So awesome. Thanks. 

Mike: Absolutely.

Matt: So you mentioned highlight videos, which, you know, I think is almost the key to getting the ball rolling these days when you’re, when you’re sending out, uh, information to coaches, that’s the first thing they’re going to want to see. Uh, I’ve talked to a lot of, of the camera companies and things of that nature to try to talk about getting those videos.

So specifically for sports recruits, how do you guys, uh, handle, uh, Highlight videos. You mentioned having some tools. What’s that look like? 

Mike: Yeah, definitely. So we try to cover that from a few different angles. So from a student athlete perspective, you can upload unlimited video embed from sources like YouTube and video.

You can cut highlights with our highlight real editor. Um, and then our newest initiative is building integrations with the best in class technology that’s out there in the streaming space, the AI space. So I know you did an episode with pixel art. [00:09:00] Like that’s an example of a partner of ours. That’s building into the integration ecosystem, sideline HD ball time.

There are all these companies now that are out there doing live streaming and scoring AI breakdown. And so, you know, our feeling is that. You know, we’re a network and that network is powered by the video, the content that drives those evaluations from college coaches. And we want to work with the tools that you work with.

And so like having those integrations in a collaborative environment with these other companies that are doing really amazing work out there, like that’s our philosophy around the video space. 

Matt: Okay. No, that makes a lot of sense. Um, well in terms of just your, your, uh, Platform specifically for the kids that you qualify as having the most success, right?

The ones who really got the most out of the platform, got the most out of their recruiting process, got the, the offer that the school they wanted, et cetera, et cetera. You know, what, maybe what are they doing that others either on your platform aren’t doing or folks who don’t use a platform, uh, aren’t doing like what, what helps them stand out in terms of their recruiting activities.

Mike: Sure. So video is definitely a big piece. More and more video is playing such a critical role in the recruiting process. And that’s also just been an evolution of the technology. You think about 10, 20 years ago, back when I was going through the recruiting process. There was such limited access to video.

So it played a limited part. Now [00:10:30] there is so much video, the quality gets better and better every year. And so a lot of coaches are now transitioning to more of a video first recruiting model. Um, and that’s existed in sports like football for a long time for decades. That was the only way that recruiting happened, but now more and more sports are moving down that path.

And so again, video is a big piece, but then I would say Being proactive is the most important thing. So don’t let the recruiting process happen to you. You should be in the driver’s seat of your own process. So identify the schools that you would be happy at that are the right fit athletically, academically, geographically, socially, financially, cast a wide net, be honest with yourself about what is a reach and what is a good fit and put yourself out there.

Introduce yourself. Get on the radar of those coaches. And if you’re in the driver’s seat, you’re going to be much more successful as opposed to kind of waiting to see what happens, maybe running around to a lot of events and crossing your fingers that someone reaches out and making a decision based on who came to you.

Um, so that would be the biggest thing is I think like making sure that you’re in the driver’s seat, being proactive in the process. 

Matt: Yeah, I couldn’t agree more with that. Um, well, in terms of just the overall recruiting process, um, any, any top tips besides what you just mentioned, anything you, you think kids should be focusing on and maybe even from a timing [00:12:00] perspective, right?

Obviously what a senior needs to be doing is different than what a freshman needs to be doing. So any other things you’ve seen there maybe from a timing aspect? 

Mike: Yeah, I think from a timing perspective, um, realize that this is like a, A process that should not take over your life. You should be enjoying your high school sports experience.

Like that is one of the most amazing experiences in my life. But if you’re doing the right things and prepared, it won’t be as stressful. And so you should be thinking about the next steps in preparation as early as freshman year. But at that point in time, it’s about understanding like, Where might I want to go?

What are the opportunities that are out there? What are the requirements, even from an academic perspective? Because like, I think one of the things is if you start thinking about the process too late, then you can put yourself at a disadvantage. An example would be you’re doing well in biology your freshman year, you should take that SAT subject test.

After you study for your finals, because you realize that the school that you want to go to has that requirement, like if you’re starting to think and prepare ahead, you can start to do things that make the process easier, and you’re able to get out in front of it. So I think like that planning preparation starting as early as your freshman year.

As you get into your sophomore and junior year, making sure that you’re capturing video, that you’re staying on top of your classwork and your grades, and like start introducing yourself to college coaches. You can’t have the back and forth recruiting conversations where coaches are, you [00:13:30] know, expressing their interest in you until you get past those key dates at different divisions, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t introduce yourself and You know, have a cadence of you get your semester grades, send those over to the coaches that you’re interested in.

And so, again, like there’s kind of like following the process takes a lot of the stress out of it. But then I would say like there historically was a problem with early recruiting where athletes were asked to make a decision at the ages of 14 and 15 about where they wanted to play. And where they wanted to go to school and the second largest financial decision in your life besides a house like that was insane.

And I think what the NCAA has done to help with that and push some of that conversation back has been really, really healthy. And so I think it’s balancing like those decisions should come at the end of the process. No one should rush you into making those decisions, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared in your freshman, sophomore, junior year doing the right things leading up.

And so that’s what I would say from like a timeline perspective. And then I’d say like, just from a philosophical perspective. There’s no such thing as the best school, only the best school for you. And think about that when you’re thinking about all of those different factors of what makes it the best school for you.

And don’t get caught up in the comparisons that happen on the sideline and parents talking about who might be getting recruited by who, like. That’s just not healthy. And honestly, it’s not going to make you any happier. Think about what is the right school for [00:15:00] you, not just for the next four years, but the next 40 years of your life.

Um, you know, this job that I have here at sports recruits came through a connection through the Westland lacrosse network. Um, our founders also played across at Wesleyan eight years ahead of me. My wife played college athletics at Westland. There’s so many aspects of your life that are impacted by this decision that can be so positive if you make it for the right reasons and find the right place for you.

Matt: Yeah. Well, I too, uh, married a fellow college athlete from my alma mater. So, uh, I’m right there with you. I get it. Well, Mike, really appreciate it. Really, uh, happy to hear all the cool things sports recruits is doing. I’m excited to, uh, to jump on the platform here very shortly. Once we get all the information from our club, uh, and use it and, uh, make sure you stay in touch as you guys add new features and do more things love to, to keep you guys, uh, as you know, Part of the discover college soccer podcast, get people more information as it comes in.

All right. 

Mike: Yeah. Thanks again. And yeah. And also you like the content that you’ve been putting out has been awesome. I’ve been watching your interviews with college coaches. And again, I think it’s just that other opportunity for athletes to learn about the right place for them. And it’s really unique. And so, you know, keep doing what you’re doing.

I love all the content you’re putting out. 

Matt: I will do. All right. I appreciate it. Thanks, Mike. Take care. 

Mike: Thanks. Take care.