November 10, 2025 ⢠17 mins
đď¸ Dr. Greg Lott: How to Find the Right College Fit
In this episode of the Significant Recruiting Podcast, Matt Rogers sits down with Dr. Greg Lott, Director of Athletics at Otterbein University, to break down what families and athletes really need to understand about the college recruiting process.
Dr. Lott explains how Otterbein approaches recruiting through both a human development lens and a roster strategy lensâhelping coaches identify the âsweet spotâ roster size for their program, protecting athlete development, and ensuring every athlete has meaningful opportunity to grow. He shares how recruits can stand out by demonstrating self-awareness, initiative, and a clear understanding of why they want to be part of a programânot just that they want to play.
If youâre a parent, coach, or student-athlete navigating recruiting, this conversation offers clarity, direction, and a healthier framework for making the right decisionânot just the loudest or flashiest one.
Learn more about Dr. Greg Lott and Otterbein Athletics:
 https://otterbeincardinals.com/staff-directory/dr-greg-lott/434
To work directly with Matt on your recruiting journey, or schedule him to speak to your school or club, visit:
https://coachmattrogers.com/
Learn more and connect with Matt Rogers here: https://linktr.ee/coachmattrogers
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeartRadio, and all your favorite podcast platforms.
Did you like what you heard and want more?
New Podcasts every week. Remember to subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
Welcome back to the SignificantRecruiting Podcast.
I'm your host, Matt Rogers.
If you're new here, this show isall about helping families,
student athletes, and coachesnavigate the recruiting journey
with clarity, confidence, andpurpose.
We take out the hype, we takeout the panic, and we try and
remove all the anxiety from thisrecruiting journey.
I believe greatly in helpingevery young athlete become the
(00:33):
CEO of their recruitment.
We want them to be fully incharge and understand why they
have the ability to be incharge.
Today we're joined by Dr.
Greg Lott, director of Athleticsat Otterbein University, and
someone I genuinely admire.
Greg brings a thoughtfulhuman-centered approach to
college athletics.
He believes deeply in developingstudent athletes as people
(00:55):
first, not just athletes.
And as you'll hear, he alsobrings a very clear and
practical framework to rosterbuilding, recruiting fit, and
helping young athletes find theright environment to grow.
Before we dive in, just a quickreminder, if this conversation
helps you today, like, comment,subscribe, and share this
(01:16):
episode with a family coach orathlete who you think might
benefit from it.
Your support helps this mission.
Reach the people who need itmost.
And remember, if you're lookingfor help on the recruiting
journey, or if you'd like tohave me speak to your athlete,
school, club, or organization,please go to coach matt
rogers.com.
That's where you'll also find mybooks, the Recruits journal
(01:38):
series, my online recruitingclasses, and my weekly blog.
Alright, let's get into it.
Here's part two of myconversation with Dr.
Greg Lot.
Dr.
Lot.
I'm so impressed with you andwhat you're doing at Otterbein
and just the way you approachyour job.
I want to talk recruiting withyou a little bit.
(01:59):
Talk to me about your approachas the ad and what you want
outta your staff in terms ofrecruiting.
Sure.
We have the human focused sideand we have the metrics side.
And, I'd be remiss if I didn'ttalk about both, right?
First and foremost I wanna doeverything I can to help our
coaches recruit the studentathletes that are the best fits
for their program that are gonnabe able to impact things between
(02:21):
the lines on the track, so tosay.
And that value the kinds ofthings that are important to
that particular coach in thatprogram.
On the metric side of thingswhat I've done because
Otterbein, like many smallprivates is a tuition dependent
institution.
So it's important that athleticsis part of an overall enrollment
strategy.
And so I've worked with everycoach to determine what I would
(02:44):
say is a roster sweet spotnumber.
And that sweet spot number,we're trying to take a lot of
factors into account.
What's gonna be best for acompetitive outcome, what's
gonna be best for studentathlete development?
What's gonna be best forretention?
All of these kinds of things.
And so we, we try to land on anapproximate number and say, all
right, this is gonna be anideal, healthy, robust roster
(03:05):
size.
I don't want it bigger.
I don't want it smaller.
That's where we're trying toget.
When I came in here, someprograms were already there,
some programs were a little bittoo big, some programs were too
small.
And then it's about just typicalroster management strategies of
if you know this is where youneed to be and this is where you
are, let's get a one year planto get there.
(03:28):
Let's get a three year plan toget there.
Whatever makes sense so youdon't have drastically different
class sizes and things likethat.
For me.
If you care about the studentathlete development, if you care
about the retention, youabsolutely have to have time and
moments where they can be on thefield, on the court, on the
track, competing and tryingtheir craft out.
(03:49):
There are some programs, there'ssome programs in our conference
where the rosters are so largethey're not getting that
experience that's something thatI feel like is an important part
of my job with the rest ofadministration is to be able to
advocate for this is the rosternumber that makes sense for this
team and not get pressured into,or not then pressure my coaches
(04:11):
into just getting bigger andbigger, but to make sure that we
can actually support and growand develop all the people that
are participating in that sport.
What's the collaboration looklike with your coaches to come
to that number, whatever it maybe.
Yeah, it's a lot justconversation.
It's sitting down, it's talkingabout what they think that
number is and why, and have theyhad experiences with bigger or
(04:32):
smaller.
And we look at other peerinstitutions just my background
and experience with, differentprograms and knowing what seems
to work and what doesn't.
And, it doesn't have to be anabsolute.
We can try something out and iffor some reason that sweet spot
just doesn't seem to be hittingright in this environment, then
(04:53):
we can revisit.
But I like having that as atarget for them.
Something that they can justconstantly, have on their mind
and think about.
And, sometimes Otter, ourotterbein might not be right for
every single student.
And so I, I don't wanna saythat, we have to have a hundred
percent retention.
(05:13):
Sometimes the person isn't theright fit for the culture, and
so maybe the coach wants to goin a different direction.
Maybe just, not a right match.
We just talk about it really.
That's great.
And it's really what has tohappen.
'cause every coach is differentand every program's different
and every school's different.
Is there an otter buying kid?
(05:34):
Is there that typical kid thatyou're looking for, maybe from
an academic standpoint, whattheir grades and test scores
look like?
What type of energy you'relooking for or are we always
talking about, let's make thisas diverse as we can let's make
sure we have a melting pot onour rosters.
What does that look like interms of direction?
I know you, you had theopportunity to speak with our
(05:55):
president.
He loves to say that otter bin'sfor everyone.
I really do feel that.
I feel that from his leadership.
I feel that from the type ofenvironment that we all work to
try to create I have in placesthat are more niche, that are
more like, yeah this is reallywhat this fit should be.
So I think it is really justwe're an open and accepting
place and so that's great.
(06:17):
But what I'm, I think reallytrying to develop within
athletics, when you think aboutwhat the Otterbein athlete is
really just buying into thatnotion that I'm probably
sounding like a constantdrumbeat now about learning and
growing and developing throughyour sport experience.
Yeah.
It's a great drum beat if you'regonna have one.
I appreciate that.
I appreciate, I think, but I'mbiased.
Yeah.
But Right.
Like I, if there's someone thatcomes in and they're like, oh I
(06:39):
just wanna win a nationalchampionship, I don't care.
Like whatever.
Okay.
I don't know if this is theright spot for you.
If there're and it doesn't evenhave to just be about winning
versus developing, I think it'seasy for us to make that almost
know two sides of a coin.
But I.
I just feel like that, what Iwant to hear from recruits is
Hey, I realize that I'm not afinished product as a human
(07:01):
being and I want my experiencehere to help me get closer to
that.
Keep moving the needle in theright direction.
I wanna excel, I wanna compete,but I wanna learn about myself
in the process.
I wanna learn how to work withothers in the process.
And that's the kind of kid thatwe really want.
That can be, any race, anycreed, any socioeconomic level.
As, as long as they have that asa driving force, that's
(07:25):
probably, that's most important.
We want every institution tofeel that way, and that's not
always the case, but that'swhere it is.
How important is it to teachyour coaches?
How to build a healthycompetitive roster because some
think they, we're hiringsomebody, they obviously know
how to evaluate talent, but youcan't have 15 shooting guards on
(07:47):
a basketball team.
Yeah.
You may not want you, you maynot want, 15 sprinters on your
cross country team.
You want some strategy, you wantsome people that think about how
they're gonna run a racedifferently to have that melting
pot.
What role do you play in thatand helping that coach figure
out how to build their rohealthy roster?
Yeah, similar to some of thethings we talked about earlier I
(08:08):
just spend a lot of time withthem in one-on-ones and
recruiting is always a big.
Chunk of that.
We talk about it on the back endof their season.
We talk about it at kinda thestart of the year as two natural
points as to what do you gotcoming out the door?
What are your I always ask themthe questions, what are they
prioritizing in this recruitingclass?
(08:29):
It's not always just aboutnumbers.
Yes, they've got that sweet spotthat they're thinking about, but
I really want them to talk tome.
Do I need more athleticism?
Do I need more technicalproficiency?
Do I need more scoring orattacking?
Do I need more defense?
Do I like, what is it that theyfeel like they need and they're
prioritizing?
And, then I take notes and ableto talk to them as they go
(08:53):
throughout that particular cycleand how it's going.
And I really let them.
Steer the ship, so to say, asfar as that's concerned.
And if I've got a basketballcoach, that coach that wants to
figure out how to run an offensewith 15 shooting guards that's
up to them.
If, yeah, I, I will never tellsomeone, what kind of personnel
(09:13):
they need to have, but I do wantthem to be able to tell me what
they wanna have and why, and howthat fits into what they're
trying to accomplish.
Yeah.
And then if I can help them movetowards that, then I feel like
that's my job.
I think that's huge.
And I think that's the onlyapproach you can take if you
want a healthy relationship withyour coaching staff is they've
gotta have a plan.
But can you articulate it?
(09:34):
Can you articulate who you areand what you want?
And what does your program standfor?
So those are great things.
What advice would you give to,and you've got some young kids
coming up, what advice would yougive to parents who are going
through this recruiting journey?
I love this conversation.
So I also I chair the board forour local rec district and in,
(09:58):
in that relationship, I'mtalking with the high school
coaches and the high school adin our area and parents a good
amount.
I think that there's just thismisunderstanding.
About the recruiting processwith pretty much everyone.
I talk to some people that justhave this belief that oh if I'm
good, I'll be noticed.
And I'm just gonna sit there andwait for a coach to just throw
(10:22):
me a scholarship or invite me totheir team or what have you.
I also see this group of peoplethat will like, dive in and pay
for.
Pay out the nose for highlightvideos and recruiting services
and things like that where theyfully just, they dive into that
business and we're gonna investthe farms so that someone can
get my kid placed, so to say.
(10:44):
And I think so many people arejust missing out on this notion
of in most, at most colleges, ifthe kid reaches out and says,
Hey, I'm interested and here'swhy.
Here's what I can bring to thetable that can initiate a
conversation where they can thenget assessed and potentially
(11:05):
find a good landing spot.
But I see so few people thattake that approach.
It's just, I don't know, it'salmost mind blowing.
So if I had advice I would sayokay, do your homework and
figure out what environment youwanna play in and why.
Learn about the coach, learnabout the team, learn about the
(11:26):
school, and figure out why youwould be a good fit.
Why would you be a good fit intheir offense and their defense?
Why would you be a good fit withtheir personnel?
What is it about what the coachdoes or their background that
resonates with you?
What is it about the school?
That draws your attention?
Is it the size?
Is it the environment?
Is it the location?
Is it a particular major?
These kinds of things.
And if you can succinctly stateand reach out, shoot an email,
(11:49):
pick up the phone, whatever itis, and say, Hey, I wanna come
play field hockey at this schoolbecause I really wanna study
this and this program is great.
And I saw that this seems to bewhat you focus in on your team
and that really resonates withme.
And I noticed that you've gottwo attackers that are
graduating and I feel like Icould come at.
Okay, now you've caught thecoach's attention.
They're gonna look at you andsay, that person is self-aware.
(12:11):
That person is mature, they knowwhat they want.
I wanna have a conversation withthem.
So that's my advice.
Do your homework.
Yeah, it's great.
It's initiative, it's greatadvice and go see what can
happen.
Now does that work at a Powerfive school?
In a revenue generating sport?
No.
Then they're, I shouldn't sayit.
It might, yeah, it might.
(12:32):
Yes, it probably carries lessweight because they already know
from, eighth grade that 10people that they might be trying
to recruit.
Or as you've heard, certaincoaches probably heard certain
coaches be very vocal about thisrecently.
I'm not recruiting highschoolers anymore because the
transfer program.
Yeah.
But the vast majority ofathletic situations at the
(12:53):
collegiate level, what I justdescribed could be yeah, very
impactful and could work.
It might be 40 universities thatare not recruiting high school
kids like they used to.
Yes.
But that means there's about1,960 others that are, yeah,
exactly.
So how do you handle the excuse?
(13:13):
I don't wanna burden thecoaches.
I don't wanna, what if I say thewrong thing?
I don't wanna, I don't wanna putmyself out there and fail.
What do you think of thatexcuse?
That's coming from the highschooler that doesn't want to
reach out to the college coach.
Yeah.
When I was doing my master'sdegree at Kenesha College, I had
this professor that loved thephrase smile and dial.
(13:37):
And the whole notion behind itwas like, look, stand up, put a
smile on your face, put yourselfout there.
You may get told no, it may notwork out, but if you don't, it
definitely won't.
So really that's my pushback is,okay, you can, whatever.
It's fear, failure, you don'twanna burden them.
(13:59):
Whatever excuse you wanna wantto use, if you don't reach out,
the likelihood of them findingyou and reaching out to you is
very small.
But if you give it a shot, you'dbe surprised at how many times
in life that seems to work outfor you.
Fantastic.
It's such great advice.
Let's end this with.
Why should people look atOtterbein?
(14:20):
Why should a family and astudent athlete look at your
sports and your coaches?
Sure.
One is, it's in a phenomenallocation.
Westerville is just this.
Unique environment where it'sright on the outskirts of
Columbus.
You can access any of the thingsthat the bigger city has to
offer.
But we're in a very safe, quaintenvironment.
(14:41):
Very cute uptown with nicerestaurants and things to do.
So I think you can't beat thelocation.
I hear constantly, even throughmy interview process and I've
seen it and I've felt it sinceI've been here.
There really is this unique,caring family environment.
Otterbein it's with the faculty,it's with the alum.
You really do feel like you'repart of something bigger and
(15:01):
you've got a whole net of peoplethat love you and wanna help you
grow and succeed.
We have, I'd say, pretty wellbalanced, holistic success.
Athletically, most of our sportshave been.
Really good most of the time.
And so if you come here, you'regonna get a chance to compete
you're gonna get a chance toexcel.
(15:22):
And then for me, what's mostimportant, if you come here and
you're a student athlete, you'regonna be part of a department,
part of a structure, part of asystem that is gonna really
intentionally work to help yougrow as a human being through
your sport experience.
And I think we do that betterthan pretty much everyone out
there.
And so if that's something thatyou value might be the place for
you.
I'll add this.
Since I've gotten to talk to youand your president, I'm not sure
(15:47):
there's a better place to gowhere you're gonna get the help
after you're done there, to gohave the life you wanna lead and
help you with jobs and careers.
Yeah.
And have a support system evenafter you leave, that you can
come back to.
So that's pretty great.
Dr.
La thank you so much for doingthis.
It's been such an honor to talkto you, and I'm so excited about
the future of Otterbeinathletics with you in that
(16:09):
leadership role thank you.
I appreciate the kind words.
It's been a pleasure talkingwith you.
That's a wrap for today'sepisode with Dr.
Greg Lot from OtterbineUniversity.
I'm grateful for leaders likeGreg who are willing to speak
honestly about the recruitingprocess, not just how to get
recruited, but how to find theright environment to grow as a
human being.
His insight today was a reminderthat fit and development and
(16:31):
self-awareness matter far morethan chasing the biggest logo or
the loudest offer.
If this episode helped you,please like, comment, subscribe,
and share it with anotherfamily, coach or athlete going
through the journey.
The more we spread conversationslike this, the healthier college
athletics becomes, and if youwanna help navigating
(16:52):
recruiting.
Whether that's building yourattack list, preparing to
communicate with collegecoaches, or just figuring out
where your son or daughter trulyfits, you can schedule a
conversation withme@coachmattrogers.com.
That's also where you'll findthe recruits journal, my books,
our recruiting classes, and theweekly blog of significance.
(17:12):
Until next time, stay focused onwhat you can control.
Stay humble and keep chasingsignificance.
Welcome back to the SignificantRecruiting Podcast.
I'm your host, Matt Rogers.
If you're new here, this show isall about helping families,
student athletes, and coachesnavigate the recruiting journey
with clarity, confidence, andpurpose.
We take out the hype, we takeout the panic, and we try and
remove all the anxiety from thisrecruiting journey.
I believe greatly in helpingevery young athlete become the
(00:33):
CEO of their recruitment.
We want them to be fully incharge and understand why they
have the ability to be incharge.
Today we're joined by Dr.
Greg Lott, director of Athleticsat Otterbein University, and
someone I genuinely admire.
Greg brings a thoughtfulhuman-centered approach to
college athletics.
He believes deeply in developingstudent athletes as people
(00:55):
first, not just athletes.
And as you'll hear, he alsobrings a very clear and
practical framework to rosterbuilding, recruiting fit, and
helping young athletes find theright environment to grow.
Before we dive in, just a quickreminder, if this conversation
helps you today, like, comment,subscribe, and share this
(01:16):
episode with a family coach orathlete who you think might
benefit from it.
Your support helps this mission.
Reach the people who need itmost.
And remember, if you're lookingfor help on the recruiting
journey, or if you'd like tohave me speak to your athlete,
school, club, or organization,please go to coach matt
rogers.com.
That's where you'll also find mybooks, the Recruits journal
(01:38):
series, my online recruitingclasses, and my weekly blog.
Alright, let's get into it.
Here's part two of myconversation with Dr.
Greg Lot.
Dr.
Lot.
I'm so impressed with you andwhat you're doing at Otterbein
and just the way you approachyour job.
I want to talk recruiting withyou a little bit.
(01:59):
Talk to me about your approachas the ad and what you want
outta your staff in terms ofrecruiting.
Sure.
We have the human focused sideand we have the metrics side.
And, I'd be remiss if I didn'ttalk about both, right?
First and foremost I wanna doeverything I can to help our
coaches recruit the studentathletes that are the best fits
for their program that are gonnabe able to impact things between
(02:21):
the lines on the track, so tosay.
And that value the kinds ofthings that are important to
that particular coach in thatprogram.
On the metric side of thingswhat I've done because
Otterbein, like many smallprivates is a tuition dependent
institution.
So it's important that athleticsis part of an overall enrollment
strategy.
And so I've worked with everycoach to determine what I would
(02:44):
say is a roster sweet spotnumber.
And that sweet spot number,we're trying to take a lot of
factors into account.
What's gonna be best for acompetitive outcome, what's
gonna be best for studentathlete development?
What's gonna be best forretention?
All of these kinds of things.
And so we, we try to land on anapproximate number and say, all
right, this is gonna be anideal, healthy, robust roster
(03:05):
size.
I don't want it bigger.
I don't want it smaller.
That's where we're trying toget.
When I came in here, someprograms were already there,
some programs were a little bittoo big, some programs were too
small.
And then it's about just typicalroster management strategies of
if you know this is where youneed to be and this is where you
are, let's get a one year planto get there.
(03:28):
Let's get a three year plan toget there.
Whatever makes sense so youdon't have drastically different
class sizes and things likethat.
For me.
If you care about the studentathlete development, if you care
about the retention, youabsolutely have to have time and
moments where they can be on thefield, on the court, on the
track, competing and tryingtheir craft out.
(03:49):
There are some programs, there'ssome programs in our conference
where the rosters are so largethey're not getting that
experience that's something thatI feel like is an important part
of my job with the rest ofadministration is to be able to
advocate for this is the rosternumber that makes sense for this
team and not get pressured into,or not then pressure my coaches
(04:11):
into just getting bigger andbigger, but to make sure that we
can actually support and growand develop all the people that
are participating in that sport.
What's the collaboration looklike with your coaches to come
to that number, whatever it maybe.
Yeah, it's a lot justconversation.
It's sitting down, it's talkingabout what they think that
number is and why, and have theyhad experiences with bigger or
(04:32):
smaller.
And we look at other peerinstitutions just my background
and experience with, differentprograms and knowing what seems
to work and what doesn't.
And, it doesn't have to be anabsolute.
We can try something out and iffor some reason that sweet spot
just doesn't seem to be hittingright in this environment, then
(04:53):
we can revisit.
But I like having that as atarget for them.
Something that they can justconstantly, have on their mind
and think about.
And, sometimes Otter, ourotterbein might not be right for
every single student.
And so I, I don't wanna saythat, we have to have a hundred
percent retention.
(05:13):
Sometimes the person isn't theright fit for the culture, and
so maybe the coach wants to goin a different direction.
Maybe just, not a right match.
We just talk about it really.
That's great.
And it's really what has tohappen.
'cause every coach is differentand every program's different
and every school's different.
Is there an otter buying kid?
(05:34):
Is there that typical kid thatyou're looking for, maybe from
an academic standpoint, whattheir grades and test scores
look like?
What type of energy you'relooking for or are we always
talking about, let's make thisas diverse as we can let's make
sure we have a melting pot onour rosters.
What does that look like interms of direction?
I know you, you had theopportunity to speak with our
(05:55):
president.
He loves to say that otter bin'sfor everyone.
I really do feel that.
I feel that from his leadership.
I feel that from the type ofenvironment that we all work to
try to create I have in placesthat are more niche, that are
more like, yeah this is reallywhat this fit should be.
So I think it is really justwe're an open and accepting
place and so that's great.
(06:17):
But what I'm, I think reallytrying to develop within
athletics, when you think aboutwhat the Otterbein athlete is
really just buying into thatnotion that I'm probably
sounding like a constantdrumbeat now about learning and
growing and developing throughyour sport experience.
Yeah.
It's a great drum beat if you'regonna have one.
I appreciate that.
I appreciate, I think, but I'mbiased.
Yeah.
But Right.
Like I, if there's someone thatcomes in and they're like, oh I
(06:39):
just wanna win a nationalchampionship, I don't care.
Like whatever.
Okay.
I don't know if this is theright spot for you.
If there're and it doesn't evenhave to just be about winning
versus developing, I think it'seasy for us to make that almost
know two sides of a coin.
But I.
I just feel like that, what Iwant to hear from recruits is
Hey, I realize that I'm not afinished product as a human
(07:01):
being and I want my experiencehere to help me get closer to
that.
Keep moving the needle in theright direction.
I wanna excel, I wanna compete,but I wanna learn about myself
in the process.
I wanna learn how to work withothers in the process.
And that's the kind of kid thatwe really want.
That can be, any race, anycreed, any socioeconomic level.
As, as long as they have that asa driving force, that's
(07:25):
probably, that's most important.
We want every institution tofeel that way, and that's not
always the case, but that'swhere it is.
How important is it to teachyour coaches?
How to build a healthycompetitive roster because some
think they, we're hiringsomebody, they obviously know
how to evaluate talent, but youcan't have 15 shooting guards on
(07:47):
a basketball team.
Yeah.
You may not want you, you maynot want, 15 sprinters on your
cross country team.
You want some strategy, you wantsome people that think about how
they're gonna run a racedifferently to have that melting
pot.
What role do you play in thatand helping that coach figure
out how to build their rohealthy roster?
Yeah, similar to some of thethings we talked about earlier I
(08:08):
just spend a lot of time withthem in one-on-ones and
recruiting is always a big.
Chunk of that.
We talk about it on the back endof their season.
We talk about it at kinda thestart of the year as two natural
points as to what do you gotcoming out the door?
What are your I always ask themthe questions, what are they
prioritizing in this recruitingclass?
(08:29):
It's not always just aboutnumbers.
Yes, they've got that sweet spotthat they're thinking about, but
I really want them to talk tome.
Do I need more athleticism?
Do I need more technicalproficiency?
Do I need more scoring orattacking?
Do I need more defense?
Do I like, what is it that theyfeel like they need and they're
prioritizing?
And, then I take notes and ableto talk to them as they go
(08:53):
throughout that particular cycleand how it's going.
And I really let them.
Steer the ship, so to say, asfar as that's concerned.
And if I've got a basketballcoach, that coach that wants to
figure out how to run an offensewith 15 shooting guards that's
up to them.
If, yeah, I, I will never tellsomeone, what kind of personnel
(09:13):
they need to have, but I do wantthem to be able to tell me what
they wanna have and why, and howthat fits into what they're
trying to accomplish.
Yeah.
And then if I can help them movetowards that, then I feel like
that's my job.
I think that's huge.
And I think that's the onlyapproach you can take if you
want a healthy relationship withyour coaching staff is they've
gotta have a plan.
But can you articulate it?
(09:34):
Can you articulate who you areand what you want?
And what does your program standfor?
So those are great things.
What advice would you give to,and you've got some young kids
coming up, what advice would yougive to parents who are going
through this recruiting journey?
I love this conversation.
So I also I chair the board forour local rec district and in,
(09:58):
in that relationship, I'mtalking with the high school
coaches and the high school adin our area and parents a good
amount.
I think that there's just thismisunderstanding.
About the recruiting processwith pretty much everyone.
I talk to some people that justhave this belief that oh if I'm
good, I'll be noticed.
And I'm just gonna sit there andwait for a coach to just throw
(10:22):
me a scholarship or invite me totheir team or what have you.
I also see this group of peoplethat will like, dive in and pay
for.
Pay out the nose for highlightvideos and recruiting services
and things like that where theyfully just, they dive into that
business and we're gonna investthe farms so that someone can
get my kid placed, so to say.
(10:44):
And I think so many people arejust missing out on this notion
of in most, at most colleges, ifthe kid reaches out and says,
Hey, I'm interested and here'swhy.
Here's what I can bring to thetable that can initiate a
conversation where they can thenget assessed and potentially
(11:05):
find a good landing spot.
But I see so few people thattake that approach.
It's just, I don't know, it'salmost mind blowing.
So if I had advice I would sayokay, do your homework and
figure out what environment youwanna play in and why.
Learn about the coach, learnabout the team, learn about the
(11:26):
school, and figure out why youwould be a good fit.
Why would you be a good fit intheir offense and their defense?
Why would you be a good fit withtheir personnel?
What is it about what the coachdoes or their background that
resonates with you?
What is it about the school?
That draws your attention?
Is it the size?
Is it the environment?
Is it the location?
Is it a particular major?
These kinds of things.
And if you can succinctly stateand reach out, shoot an email,
(11:49):
pick up the phone, whatever itis, and say, Hey, I wanna come
play field hockey at this schoolbecause I really wanna study
this and this program is great.
And I saw that this seems to bewhat you focus in on your team
and that really resonates withme.
And I noticed that you've gottwo attackers that are
graduating and I feel like Icould come at.
Okay, now you've caught thecoach's attention.
They're gonna look at you andsay, that person is self-aware.
(12:11):
That person is mature, they knowwhat they want.
I wanna have a conversation withthem.
So that's my advice.
Do your homework.
Yeah, it's great.
It's initiative, it's greatadvice and go see what can
happen.
Now does that work at a Powerfive school?
In a revenue generating sport?
No.
Then they're, I shouldn't sayit.
It might, yeah, it might.
(12:32):
Yes, it probably carries lessweight because they already know
from, eighth grade that 10people that they might be trying
to recruit.
Or as you've heard, certaincoaches probably heard certain
coaches be very vocal about thisrecently.
I'm not recruiting highschoolers anymore because the
transfer program.
Yeah.
But the vast majority ofathletic situations at the
(12:53):
collegiate level, what I justdescribed could be yeah, very
impactful and could work.
It might be 40 universities thatare not recruiting high school
kids like they used to.
Yes.
But that means there's about1,960 others that are, yeah,
exactly.
So how do you handle the excuse?
(13:13):
I don't wanna burden thecoaches.
I don't wanna, what if I say thewrong thing?
I don't wanna, I don't wanna putmyself out there and fail.
What do you think of thatexcuse?
That's coming from the highschooler that doesn't want to
reach out to the college coach.
Yeah.
When I was doing my master'sdegree at Kenesha College, I had
this professor that loved thephrase smile and dial.
(13:37):
And the whole notion behind itwas like, look, stand up, put a
smile on your face, put yourselfout there.
You may get told no, it may notwork out, but if you don't, it
definitely won't.
So really that's my pushback is,okay, you can, whatever.
It's fear, failure, you don'twanna burden them.
(13:59):
Whatever excuse you wanna wantto use, if you don't reach out,
the likelihood of them findingyou and reaching out to you is
very small.
But if you give it a shot, you'dbe surprised at how many times
in life that seems to work outfor you.
Fantastic.
It's such great advice.
Let's end this with.
Why should people look atOtterbein?
(14:20):
Why should a family and astudent athlete look at your
sports and your coaches?
Sure.
One is, it's in a phenomenallocation.
Westerville is just this.
Unique environment where it'sright on the outskirts of
Columbus.
You can access any of the thingsthat the bigger city has to
offer.
But we're in a very safe, quaintenvironment.
(14:41):
Very cute uptown with nicerestaurants and things to do.
So I think you can't beat thelocation.
I hear constantly, even throughmy interview process and I've
seen it and I've felt it sinceI've been here.
There really is this unique,caring family environment.
Otterbein it's with the faculty,it's with the alum.
You really do feel like you'repart of something bigger and
(15:01):
you've got a whole net of peoplethat love you and wanna help you
grow and succeed.
We have, I'd say, pretty wellbalanced, holistic success.
Athletically, most of our sportshave been.
Really good most of the time.
And so if you come here, you'regonna get a chance to compete
you're gonna get a chance toexcel.
(15:22):
And then for me, what's mostimportant, if you come here and
you're a student athlete, you'regonna be part of a department,
part of a structure, part of asystem that is gonna really
intentionally work to help yougrow as a human being through
your sport experience.
And I think we do that betterthan pretty much everyone out
there.
And so if that's something thatyou value might be the place for
you.
I'll add this.
Since I've gotten to talk to youand your president, I'm not sure
(15:47):
there's a better place to gowhere you're gonna get the help
after you're done there, to gohave the life you wanna lead and
help you with jobs and careers.
Yeah.
And have a support system evenafter you leave, that you can
come back to.
So that's pretty great.
Dr.
La thank you so much for doingthis.
It's been such an honor to talkto you, and I'm so excited about
the future of Otterbeinathletics with you in that
(16:09):
leadership role thank you.
I appreciate the kind words.
It's been a pleasure talkingwith you.
That's a wrap for today'sepisode with Dr.
Greg Lot from OtterbineUniversity.
I'm grateful for leaders likeGreg who are willing to speak
honestly about the recruitingprocess, not just how to get
recruited, but how to find theright environment to grow as a
human being.
His insight today was a reminderthat fit and development and
(16:31):
self-awareness matter far morethan chasing the biggest logo or
the loudest offer.
If this episode helped you,please like, comment, subscribe,
and share it with anotherfamily, coach or athlete going
through the journey.
The more we spread conversationslike this, the healthier college
athletics becomes, and if youwanna help navigating
(16:52):
recruiting.
Whether that's building yourattack list, preparing to
communicate with collegecoaches, or just figuring out
where your son or daughter trulyfits, you can schedule a
conversation withme@coachmattrogers.com.
That's also where you'll findthe recruits journal, my books,
our recruiting classes, and theweekly blog of significance.
(17:12):
Until next time, stay focused onwhat you can control.
Stay humble and keep chasingsignificance.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you wonât hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, youâve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.