Being a recruited athlete means much more than hitting the winning shot, batting in the winning run or finishing first in the race. Despite popular belief, recruiting isn’t all about having the winning hand, but equally about how an athlete plays his or her cards. With over 800 NCAA colleges and universities that swarm the fields and courts in search of that certain athlete, one must ask, “How do I get noticed?”

It’s hard to tell what a coach is always looking for when he or she evaluates thousands of athletes at once. For some, it might be hard to believe that the person who made the winning shot is just as important as the player who assisted the play and player who congratulated his or her teammate on a job well done. There are many characteristics a marketable athlete possesses that separate thousands of talented athletes from one another. At Binghamton University, a mid-major Division I institution, these portions of recruiting are in no way overlooked. If anything, they are magnified.

Binghamton University: Under the watchful eye of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, coaches at BU are looking far beyond the stat sheet when recruiting. Guidelines are set not only by the NCAA, but various other institutions as well. They map out rules that each and every coach must follow prior to evaluating athletic ability.

“Specific to recruiting, we generally expect each of our coaches to secure the best student-athletes available for his or her program,” interim athletic director Jim Norris said. “As a result, we insist our coaches work closely with our compliance office and our financial operations office to ensure that all recruiting is compliant with the NCAA and New York state rules and regulations.”

The other “A”

Norris, along with his administrative staff, believes coaches at Binghamton have a good understanding of the type of student-athlete they want to represent the University. A criterion that makes the coaches dig deeper than the playing field is provided for them, which leads to one of the most controversial aspects of recruiting: academics.

Of all the people who apply to Binghamton, 33 percent of the applicants are accepted. With NCAA academic eligibility rules in order, coaches have to find athletes that not only meet the requirements to be accepted, but can also maintain eligibility throughout his or her athletic career.

“Academically, we would like people who are motivated to learn and [who] are capable of earning a degree from Binghamton University,” Norris said.

The first thing athletes can do to separate themselves from the crowd is to maintain respectable high school grades. A high school transcript not only provides a coach with numbers, but also has the potential to show a coach how dedicated, motivated and hard-working an athlete is in the classroom.

“As a coach, you don’t want to spend your time worrying about whether or not a member of your team is going to be eligible semester to semester,” BU baseball head coach Tim Sinicki said. “We need to find players who are going to take their academics as seriously as their athletic endeavors.”

The “X” factor

Beyond the books, there are substantial actions that an athlete can take to be noticed. The importance of being a well-rounded athlete is vital to Binghamton athletics. Prospective athletes are being judged on more than just performance during an evaluation period. More often than not, qualities like coachability, attitude, competitiveness and teammate interaction can speak louder than a poor athletic performance.

“The importance of displaying good character and hustle is probably more important than the individual statistic,” said Darryll Peterson, a senior on the women’s basketball team. “When a coach is recruiting, they are looking not only at the players’ abilities but how they can help the team as a whole. Seeing a player that is willing to give the extra effort is attractive to a coach because they want those qualities to rub off on the rest of the team.”

With the amount of athletes that acquire the ability to perform at the collegiate level, coaches have their eyes on every detail. Performance on and off the field can give insight on what type of student-athlete he or she is. Sinicki explained that because of the limits established by the NCAA on hours athletes can spend at practice, coaches must have players who will take what is taught during the allotted 20 hours and have them continue to work on those areas on their own. With that, the baseball staff, along with the athletic department, focus on recruiting responsible, self-motivated athletes.

The Final “OK”

Even after the evaluation and visitations are over, the judging does not stop. Coaches throughout the department heavily rely on their own players for feedback about an athlete that might not be shown to a coach in a formal setting like a visit. Player feedback is one of the last elements that can make or break an athlete’s ticket to the team.

“Our players have a pretty good feel for the kind of kid who is going to fit in with my style and the personality of the team,” Sinicki said.

Knowing how to carry oneself as a talented, determined, coachable prospective student-athlete takes strength and focus. Being aware of a wide range of criteria can only help an athlete achieve the dream of playing at the next level and impacting programs.

“We would like people who are hard-working, unselfish, competitive, coachable and are either accomplished athletes or have the potential to become accomplished athletes,” Norris said. “And therefore can one day make a contribution to our program.”