PETE CARROLL: RECRUITING IS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO COMPETE

With July recruiting hitting full stride, I thought it would be appropriate to post this passage from Pete Carroll and his book "Win Forever."  Coach Carroll states it in a way that tells you why some coaches are great recruiters.  It's not that they are blessed by the "gift of gab" or they have some special people skills.  Great competitors are like great players -- they know it is important to be the best you can be and they work hard at developing all the components that go into recruiting such as organization, communication skills, and perseverance.  Here is what Coach Carroll says:

It’s a common misconception that coaches dislike hitting the recruiting trail, traveling around the country, and driving from high school to high school. The truth? Some like it and some don’t. Before I went back to college football, other coaches told me that recruiting was a burden. However, for me recruiting was just another way to compete. One again the philosophy came trough as we found ourselves immersed in just another competitive arena. We found ourselves in a “relentless pursuit of a competitive edge” in recruiting and it took us right back to our central theme of competition.

My favorite part of recruiting at USC was sitting in a player’s living room, learning about his family and how he was raised. It was extremely important for me to meet our recruits’ families, but even more important was that a recruit’s family had the chance to meet our staff and me.