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Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Evaluation
1/9/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
May 9, 1999
Boca Raton News
For the first time, coaches are fanning out to high schools throughout the Florida Atlantic Territory (formerly the "State of Miami") to evaluate high school football talent for Florida Atlantic University. The early approval from the State of Florida Board of Regents positioned us to take advantage of the one-month evaluation phase of recruitment. Seven coaches and players from my former University of Miami and University of Louisville staffs are committing the month of May to begin recruiting FAU's first team.
Florida is one of the few states allowing 20 days of spring practice, this forms the backbone for the state's high caliber of high school football. Young men are given the opportunity to learn how to play football, improve their skills, and develop discipline without the pressures of a weekly game.
We have targeted 400 high schools to make the introduction of FAU Football. Our goal is is to collect information on incoming seniors. Each of our seven coaches first meets with the high school principal or assistant principal to tell the FAU Football Story that includes an overview of the University and a time line for our program. The coach repeats the process with the athletic director. He spends most of his time with the head coach and assistant coaches. He identifies the best prospects, reviews tapes of the players' junior year, and, watches a portion of spring practice. Finally, and most important, he saves enough time to have a good, long meeting with the counselors at which time he will get a transcript and pertinent academic information, including standardized test scores. Each FAU coach understands that his most important role is to gain insight through the counselors' eyes to each student athlete's desire and ability to handle college level work. This process will last up to two and a half hours.
The NCAA permits 20 days for high school evaluation. Each FAU coach visits the first high school at 7:30 a.m. and leaves the final school at 7:30 p.m., making 4 to 5 visits per day. We'll introduce FAU Football to 400 to 500 high schools, not only in Florida Atlantic Territory but also in other parts of Florida. Traditionally, many regions will host high school football jamborees throughout the final week. With two or more schools scrimmaging a portion of a game, we will be able to evaluate a large number of players in a short period of time.
By the end of day, we will have accumulated more information on more players from Tampa, Orlando, and South than any other university in the country. This is our territory. No other head coach is going to concentrate his evaluating team in this small area. This in turn will enable us to make the best decisions for the people who are most important to us-the citizens of the Florida Atlantic Territory.
We are out there recruiting, and it is too late to back out now. By mid-May, we will have seen 99% of the players who will make up our initial class of 25 players for the year 2000. These big, bad, burly freshmen will explode on to the practice field at Lockhart Stadium in 2000.
My coaches report back to me that the reception from high schools is wonderful and great. The prospect of 25 or more local student athletes having the opportunity to attend an outstanding university and play intercollegiate football not only in Florida, but right here in Boca Raton, is extraordinary. Sometimes I forget that we stand alone as South Florida's only state university with a football team. Because of this, our coaches are greeted enthusiastically.
Football coaches, donned in FAU Football shirts and hats, stride in to the principal's office and announce, "Football has come to Paradise!". Florida Atlantic University Football is alive in human form. Halleleujah!
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