This was a great Q&A with some of the least appreciated staff in CFB, the recruiting staffers.
Helom, an Alabama graduate, started as a student assistant in the Crimson Tide’s recruiting department in 2018. From there, she spent two seasons at Kentucky then was hired by Steve Sarkisian at Texas as the Longhorns recruiting operations coordinator in 2021. Dana Holgorsen brought Helom to Houston in January 2022, and she’s set to start her second season with the Cougars.
Winkle, a Colorado State alumnus, interned in the Rams recruiting department before taking over as director of recruiting upon graduating in 2018. She later moved to USC, where she spent a year and a half as the Trojans director of on-campus recruiting. She spent the last 18 months as UNLV’s director of recruiting before Mike Locksley hired her to join the Terps staff earlier this month.
When we’re not in June, what’s a typical day like for you in the fall or spring?
Helom: In the fall, we’re planning for game day, going through logistics and reviewing things we could improve on from the week before if we had a home game. We’re sending out the game day invitations, making sure we have the RSVP list rocking and rolling, getting with the coaches to make sure these are the guys they’re intending to visit. Making the itinerary for game day. Ensuring parking is right. Making our menu for the event and talking with our vendors that we use for game day meals. Do we want to do barbecue? Is it breakfast?
In the spring, it’s more relaxed, but recruits can show up at any time. January is a busy month because we’re doing official visits and making sure our early enrollees are settling in. February is a dead period, but we’re prepping for spring, making sure graphics are made, that we’re planning our junior days. When March hits, we’re doing a lot of official visits for transfers.
Winkle: There’s never a typical day. With how the recruiting calendar has changed, there’s really never an off time. Maybe one day we have a full day where we can actually plan an official visit for three weeks ahead of time. But realistically, we’re running around. We have unofficial visits coming in the morning. We have staff meetings, we’re trying to answer emails on our phones while we’re at a photo shoot for an unofficial visit. It’s honestly an ever-changing day.
How crazy has June become with visiting recruits?
Winkle: June has become absolutely insane. Official visits are becoming huge for high school kids. Now we’re seeing high school kids commit early and stay committed. (At UNLV) we leaned on June official visits. We wanted most of our kids to come in June when our coaches are here, it’s summertime in Vegas and you can do something at a pool. This is kind of a popular time.
Helom: June is pretty much a grind month. You can get unexpected visitors at 10 a.m. In recruiting, you have to be able to go with the flow and make it feel like every time when a kid steps on campus, they’re getting the best of the best, five-star service. That’s what I focus on. It doesn’t matter if they tell us five minutes before he arrives or 24 hours. We may have one prospect a day. We may have a whole charter bus of kids come on campus. You just always have to be ready and prepared for whatever.
Courtney, when you say five-star experience, what is that in your eyes?
Helom: Making that genuine connection with their family. If grandma is coming, talk with grandma. If they have a little brother or sister, just be a helping hand to that family, whether it’s playing with them, you might be drawing with a little sister or making a TikTok with the little brother. Holding the doors, making sure they have water and Gatorade. I want them to come back and say, “This person made me feel appreciated. I felt like I was wanted there. … Phenomenal customer service. They treated us like family.” That’s what I want to hear.
What is the biggest logistical part of the job?
Winkle: Conceptually, the biggest part is creating relationships with vendors and with people helping us and working with us. Ask any recruiter, any on-campus director or director of recruiting, they’ll tell you there have been times when everything is sold out and the only thing that’s gotten them a reservation or gotten them a rental car is because they have a good relationship with someone. So for me, fostering those relationships is really important and making sure that everyone that helps us out feels like we appreciate them. So I do think, like, as weird as that sounds, that actually takes a lot of time, too.
It does take a lot to do the planning and organizing a visit. After you have your itinerary — it’s easy to get that done — but you have to get official visit forms done, get flights booked, communicating with 10 different recruits and their moms and their dads and their uncles. That takes the bulk of the time.
theathletic.com
Helom, an Alabama graduate, started as a student assistant in the Crimson Tide’s recruiting department in 2018. From there, she spent two seasons at Kentucky then was hired by Steve Sarkisian at Texas as the Longhorns recruiting operations coordinator in 2021. Dana Holgorsen brought Helom to Houston in January 2022, and she’s set to start her second season with the Cougars.
Winkle, a Colorado State alumnus, interned in the Rams recruiting department before taking over as director of recruiting upon graduating in 2018. She later moved to USC, where she spent a year and a half as the Trojans director of on-campus recruiting. She spent the last 18 months as UNLV’s director of recruiting before Mike Locksley hired her to join the Terps staff earlier this month.
When we’re not in June, what’s a typical day like for you in the fall or spring?
Helom: In the fall, we’re planning for game day, going through logistics and reviewing things we could improve on from the week before if we had a home game. We’re sending out the game day invitations, making sure we have the RSVP list rocking and rolling, getting with the coaches to make sure these are the guys they’re intending to visit. Making the itinerary for game day. Ensuring parking is right. Making our menu for the event and talking with our vendors that we use for game day meals. Do we want to do barbecue? Is it breakfast?
In the spring, it’s more relaxed, but recruits can show up at any time. January is a busy month because we’re doing official visits and making sure our early enrollees are settling in. February is a dead period, but we’re prepping for spring, making sure graphics are made, that we’re planning our junior days. When March hits, we’re doing a lot of official visits for transfers.
Winkle: There’s never a typical day. With how the recruiting calendar has changed, there’s really never an off time. Maybe one day we have a full day where we can actually plan an official visit for three weeks ahead of time. But realistically, we’re running around. We have unofficial visits coming in the morning. We have staff meetings, we’re trying to answer emails on our phones while we’re at a photo shoot for an unofficial visit. It’s honestly an ever-changing day.
How crazy has June become with visiting recruits?
Winkle: June has become absolutely insane. Official visits are becoming huge for high school kids. Now we’re seeing high school kids commit early and stay committed. (At UNLV) we leaned on June official visits. We wanted most of our kids to come in June when our coaches are here, it’s summertime in Vegas and you can do something at a pool. This is kind of a popular time.
Helom: June is pretty much a grind month. You can get unexpected visitors at 10 a.m. In recruiting, you have to be able to go with the flow and make it feel like every time when a kid steps on campus, they’re getting the best of the best, five-star service. That’s what I focus on. It doesn’t matter if they tell us five minutes before he arrives or 24 hours. We may have one prospect a day. We may have a whole charter bus of kids come on campus. You just always have to be ready and prepared for whatever.
Courtney, when you say five-star experience, what is that in your eyes?
Helom: Making that genuine connection with their family. If grandma is coming, talk with grandma. If they have a little brother or sister, just be a helping hand to that family, whether it’s playing with them, you might be drawing with a little sister or making a TikTok with the little brother. Holding the doors, making sure they have water and Gatorade. I want them to come back and say, “This person made me feel appreciated. I felt like I was wanted there. … Phenomenal customer service. They treated us like family.” That’s what I want to hear.
What is the biggest logistical part of the job?
Winkle: Conceptually, the biggest part is creating relationships with vendors and with people helping us and working with us. Ask any recruiter, any on-campus director or director of recruiting, they’ll tell you there have been times when everything is sold out and the only thing that’s gotten them a reservation or gotten them a rental car is because they have a good relationship with someone. So for me, fostering those relationships is really important and making sure that everyone that helps us out feels like we appreciate them. So I do think, like, as weird as that sounds, that actually takes a lot of time, too.
It does take a lot to do the planning and organizing a visit. After you have your itinerary — it’s easy to get that done — but you have to get official visit forms done, get flights booked, communicating with 10 different recruits and their moms and their dads and their uncles. That takes the bulk of the time.
Surviving June, making TikToks, 5-star service: Q&A with recruiting staffers
The introduction of summer official visits has made life even more hectic for recruiting operations around the country.
theathletic.com
