July 14, 2025 • 13 mins
🎙️ This Week on the Significant Recruiting Podcast
What do college presidents really think about athletic recruiting?
In this short but powerful episode, Matt sits down with Dr. James Troha, President of Juniata College and Chair of the NCAA Division III Presidents Council, to discuss how colleges are rethinking the recruitment process—and why families, coaches, and administrators must lead with empathy, honesty, and accountability.
Matt also opens the episode with a deep dive into what true commitment looks like from student-athletes and parents in the recruiting journey, plus practical advice for coaches on how to handle communication with every recruit who reaches out.
🎯 Whether you're trying to understand your recruiting reality or build better habits in your outreach, this episode delivers high-impact insight in just a few minutes.
📍Learn more, grab the books, or schedule your free strategy session at 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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
And when I bring in new coacheshere, I've got a little
(00:02):
whiteboard over here.
I say, go right on my board.
What's your identity?
Is it about winning?
Is it about retention?
Is it about campus engagement?
If somebody were asked me todefine men's lacrosse at Junior,
what are they gonna say?
What is it about?
And I'm shocked at how manycoaches don't really know what
(00:23):
they should be about.
Hey everyone.
Welcome back to this week'sepisode of the Significant
Recruiting Podcast.
I'm coach Matt Rogers, and eventhough today's episode is a
short one, it's one of the mostinsightful conversations I've
had with a college president.
I.
About what really matters inrecruiting and college
(00:45):
athletics.
You just heard a quick clip fromDr.
James Troja, president of JuniorOUTTA College and chair of the
NCAA Division three President'sCouncil.
In just a few minutes, we'll getinto our full conversation on
recruiting, where he offers apowerful perspective on what
colleges are really looking forin student athletes and what he
expects from his head coaches asthey talk to new families about
(01:08):
coming to his college.
But before we dive into that, Iwant to give some extra context
for our listeners, especiallythe parents, student athletes,
and coaches who tune in eachweek for real direction in this
recruiting space.
Because here's the truth.
Recruiting is not about waitingto be discovered.
It's about commitment andaccountability that starts in
(01:29):
your household, and it startsnow.
So let's break that down.
For student athletes.
Commitment means you don'tsettle for the minimums, you
chase your personal potential.
Can you raise your GPA to a 3.5or higher?
Can you commit to basic physicalroutine skill development,
conditioning strength trainingfor 30 minutes, four to five
(01:51):
days a week without needing acoach or a parent to remind you.
That's called owning youreffort, and that's the kind of
mindset college coaches notice.
I.
Second, build what I call yourattack list.
Don't wait for a dream school toappear in your inbox.
Build a list of 50 to a hundredschools across all levels.
JUCO n, ai, ncaa, D three, Dtwo, and D one, because here's
(02:15):
the truth.
At least half of those coacheswon't respond and another chunk
won't see you as a good fit.
That's okay.
The goal is to get at least onecoach at every level to give you
a real evaluation so you canunderstand where you truly stand
and where you might best fit.
I encourage you to email andcall college head and assistant
(02:36):
coaches at 10 different schoolsat each division level.
Thirdly, reach out consistently.
Not constantly, butconsistently.
This doesn't need to be hoursper week.
One email and one phone calleach week to a new college
coaching staff takes just fiveto 10 minutes.
(02:57):
That means you'll contact 52coaches over the next year.
That's a huge step forward invisibility, and it's built
entirely on your consistency.
Now, college coaches, I've gotsomething for you too.
If you get an email or a callfrom recruit, and I know some of
you are getting hundreds ofthese every week, and you know
(03:19):
you can't respond personally,delegate it.
Teach your assistants to handlethese inquiries with
professionalism and a little bitof heart.
It doesn't take long to change arecruit's life.
Give them a 32nd evaluation.
Here's an example.
Hey, thanks for reaching out.
You've got some solidfundamentals, but right now your
(03:39):
speed and your strength don'tfit where we need them to be.
Keep working and send us anupdate down the road.
That kind of response, it buildsyour program's brand, it builds
trust, and it buildsrelationships even with players
you don't recruit.
I.
And families.
If this all feels overwhelming,I've got you.
(04:00):
You can schedule a free strategysession with me
anytime@coachmattrogers.com.
I also encourage you to checkout my book, significant
Recruiting, our Sports SpecificRecruits journals, and the full
online course, the SignificantRecruiting Launchpad.
For those of you who want towork through this journey step
by step on your terms.
Now let's jump into today'sconversation with Dr.
(04:23):
James Troja, his insights aroundleadership, D three, recruiting,
and just doing what's right, notjust what's expected, are things
every family coach andadministrator should hear.
Here's part two of myconversation with Dr.
James Troja.
President, thanks so much forbeing on the Significant
(04:44):
Coaching Podcast.
Thanks for coming back andtalking a little bit recruiting.
We're gonna do a really shortone today.
Really what I want from you,from a resident's perspective,
what advice would you give tofamilies that are in high school
right now?
They have a student athletewho's got great potential, has a
big passion to continue playingtheir sport in college.
(05:05):
What advice would you give tothose families about that
journey to get to re recruitedby a coach at Tata i, for me,
it's.
And because I didn't both at thedivision one level and division
three level where I coached Ihad some of these experiences.
And I'll just say that, there,there's a lot of I, I think of
(05:27):
homework that needs to be doneahead of time about both the
institution and also the coach.
What was that coach's journey?
How long have they been there?
What are the values that coachhas?
These are some things.
It's not just about saying, Iwanna play golf, or tennis or
football at the next level.
It's about aligning the valuesthat you have as a student
(05:51):
athlete, as a family, with whatyou want to do as a student
athlete, and making sure thatthose things align
appropriately.
I think too many just say.
I wanna play football and theydon't really and oh, I wanna
play football here at thisinstitution when that may be the
wrong institution and the wrongcoach and coaching staff for a
(06:13):
variety of reasons.
So I think not enough, spendenough time looking at, I.
The type of institution it is,what's the ethos at that
institution?
What does that institutionreally care about?
What are the academicrequirements?
What are the academicexpectations?
And at the end of the day, thatstudent athlete playing for that
head coach is, it's probablygonna shape more of their
(06:37):
experience than anything else.
And so you gotta do some duediligence and some homework
about who you're gonna go playfor.
So looking at that coach'sbackground, what do they really
care about?
What's the retention rate ontheir team?
Watch them play.
You can go back and look, mostof these, there's film to be,
how is that coach treating theplayers?
(06:58):
What's their sideline demeanor?
What you know?
I think all of those things canbe found out in today's world
and I just don't see a lot ofthat homework being done on the
front end, Matt.
It's not by both the coach andthe athlete.
Yeah.
It's just okay, I want to be ata small school in this
geographical area and here's theschools I can afford.
(07:19):
Ooh, they got my academicprogram, let's go visit.
And they're let around campus bythe coach or assistant coach,
and hear from the coach'sperspective, all that.
I think it's gotta be the otherway around.
I think the athlete and thefamily has to drive more of that
if they want a positive result.
(07:40):
I'm hearing a reoccurring themeabout families and time and what
we put into it.
I, my bias is that not everybodyhas.
A mom and a dad, they typicallyhave s some support in this
journey.
And all my all I'm suggesting isthat some of the families,
(08:01):
parents might have something tooffer in this space.
And student athletes and coachesthey should come together more
on what might be the best fitfor a student athlete.
Because if it's not a great fit.
Then you're talking about thecoach not being happy, then the
student athlete not being happy,then retention suffers.
(08:22):
And oh, by the way, if I got atransfer now, I might have lost
some credits.
Now I'm going five years, sixyears.
That's not good for anybody.
And so taking that little extratime to try to find that fit is
so critical and.
And it needs to happen on bothends.
The coaches finding that rightfit, but the student athletes
(08:44):
and families, trying to findthat right fit, not just
athletically, but academicallyas well is really important.
I'm 100% behind you on there andI'm thankful to hear that'cause
I do those exact same thingswith my clients and the families
I work with.
Really quickly, I'm gonna turnthe tables on you.
You're in front of your, allyour head coaches and you're
telling them a piece of adviceon the type.
(09:07):
Student and how you want them torecruit for your campus.
What do you want your coacheslooking for?
What are there, is there a redflags?
Are there things that you want'em concerned about?
No.
We talk about a couple things,Matt.
We of course want to we wannawin, but I, it's not about
winning.
It's about.
Having a program that has allthe right elements to it and the
(09:31):
end result is winning.
So you want you want a valuesystem for your particular
sport.
What's important to you, coach?
And when I bring in new coacheshere, I've got a little
whiteboard over here.
I know it's surprising to them,and they look at me a little
oddly, but I say, go right on myboard.
That if somebody were asked meto define men's lacrosse at
(09:52):
Junior, what are they gonna say?
What is it about?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Is it about effort?
Is it about effort?
Yeah.
Is it about winning?
Is it about retention?
Is it about campus engagement?
What is, what's your program?
What's your identity?
That's right.
And I'm shocked at how manycoaches don't really know what
(10:12):
they should be about.
Yes, because that should driveeverything.
And if you do those thingsright, winning happens.
And I'll use Heather Pavlik ourvolleyball coach, like I, she'll
tell you what's important to herand it's been important to her
for, a long time here at Junior.
(10:33):
And it's why she has asuccessful program and she won't
recruit kids that don't fit intothat.
Model.
Even though they might be supertalented, we've had super
talented teams here that didn'tget outta the final eight.
And it's because of chemistry.
Yeah.
It wasn't because of talent, itwas'cause of chemistry.
Yep.
And sometimes you might take aswing at a really talented kid,
(10:56):
but you might know that theymight not fit in and it ends up
coming to haunt you.
Yes.
You know this.
I do.
I know this.
And as a coach, I think you'vegotta look at what defines your
program.
And so I just ask my coaches tomake sure that they know what
they're about.
What is your identity?
What is, what are your corevalues as a team?
(11:17):
I don't care that they'redifferent from one coach
another, but you need to havesome identity.
Yeah.
And that identity then betterresult in a program that we
would deem successful.
Yep.
Full rosters.
Students are engaged outside ofathletics.
They're retained.
They're doing well academicallyand oh, by the way, they're
(11:37):
competitive.
Yeah.
I don't need to win nationalchampionships across the board.
Matt, what I do need is to havestrong programs that our
students would walk out in fouryears and say, I had a great
experience.
That's important to me.
Yeah.
Moms and dads, if you'relistening, that is a great
question to ask every coach.
When you're sitting in theiroffice and you're talking to
(11:57):
them, what is the identity ofyour program?
Yep.
What is the vision of program?
That's culture.
Yes.
What is your, how would youdefine your culture?
Thank you so much, presidentTroja.
I could talk to you all day.
Thank you so much for the timeyou've given me, and thank you
for sharing so much wisdom withus.
I look forward to futureconversations.
I hope we get to have more.
But thank you for being a voiceat the NCAA level and being so
(12:21):
authentic with it.
So thank you for your time.
You bet.
Thanks, man.
Appreciate it.
Thanks again to Dr.
James Troja for joining me todayand for the leadership he
continues to show on behalf ofDivision three student athletes
across the country.
His perspective is a powerfulreminder that the college
journey isn't just about whereyou go, it's about who you
(12:42):
become.
If today's episode sparkssomething for you, whether
you're a parent, student,athlete, or a coach, please
visit coach matt rogers.com toschedule a free recruiting or
coaching strategy session.
Grab a copy of significantrecruiting or dive into the
online course that helpsfamilies build a smarter,
healthier path to college.
(13:03):
And be sure to subscribe so youdon't miss.
Next week's episode, I'll bejoined by one of the top
division three men's basketballcoaches in the country, a leader
who's built a nationalpowerhouse by focusing on player
development, program culture,and honest recruiting.
Until then, keep working withcommitment, lead with
significance, and I'll see youback here next week on the
(13:25):
Significant Coaching andRecruiting Podcast.
And when I bring in new coacheshere, I've got a little
(00:02):
whiteboard over here.
I say, go right on my board.
What's your identity?
Is it about winning?
Is it about retention?
Is it about campus engagement?
If somebody were asked me todefine men's lacrosse at Junior,
what are they gonna say?
What is it about?
And I'm shocked at how manycoaches don't really know what
(00:23):
they should be about.
Hey everyone.
Welcome back to this week'sepisode of the Significant
Recruiting Podcast.
I'm coach Matt Rogers, and eventhough today's episode is a
short one, it's one of the mostinsightful conversations I've
had with a college president.
I.
About what really matters inrecruiting and college
(00:45):
athletics.
You just heard a quick clip fromDr.
James Troja, president of JuniorOUTTA College and chair of the
NCAA Division three President'sCouncil.
In just a few minutes, we'll getinto our full conversation on
recruiting, where he offers apowerful perspective on what
colleges are really looking forin student athletes and what he
expects from his head coaches asthey talk to new families about
(01:08):
coming to his college.
But before we dive into that, Iwant to give some extra context
for our listeners, especiallythe parents, student athletes,
and coaches who tune in eachweek for real direction in this
recruiting space.
Because here's the truth.
Recruiting is not about waitingto be discovered.
It's about commitment andaccountability that starts in
(01:29):
your household, and it startsnow.
So let's break that down.
For student athletes.
Commitment means you don'tsettle for the minimums, you
chase your personal potential.
Can you raise your GPA to a 3.5or higher?
Can you commit to basic physicalroutine skill development,
conditioning strength trainingfor 30 minutes, four to five
(01:51):
days a week without needing acoach or a parent to remind you.
That's called owning youreffort, and that's the kind of
mindset college coaches notice.
I.
Second, build what I call yourattack list.
Don't wait for a dream school toappear in your inbox.
Build a list of 50 to a hundredschools across all levels.
JUCO n, ai, ncaa, D three, Dtwo, and D one, because here's
(02:15):
the truth.
At least half of those coacheswon't respond and another chunk
won't see you as a good fit.
That's okay.
The goal is to get at least onecoach at every level to give you
a real evaluation so you canunderstand where you truly stand
and where you might best fit.
I encourage you to email andcall college head and assistant
(02:36):
coaches at 10 different schoolsat each division level.
Thirdly, reach out consistently.
Not constantly, butconsistently.
This doesn't need to be hoursper week.
One email and one phone calleach week to a new college
coaching staff takes just fiveto 10 minutes.
(02:57):
That means you'll contact 52coaches over the next year.
That's a huge step forward invisibility, and it's built
entirely on your consistency.
Now, college coaches, I've gotsomething for you too.
If you get an email or a callfrom recruit, and I know some of
you are getting hundreds ofthese every week, and you know
(03:19):
you can't respond personally,delegate it.
Teach your assistants to handlethese inquiries with
professionalism and a little bitof heart.
It doesn't take long to change arecruit's life.
Give them a 32nd evaluation.
Here's an example.
Hey, thanks for reaching out.
You've got some solidfundamentals, but right now your
(03:39):
speed and your strength don'tfit where we need them to be.
Keep working and send us anupdate down the road.
That kind of response, it buildsyour program's brand, it builds
trust, and it buildsrelationships even with players
you don't recruit.
I.
And families.
If this all feels overwhelming,I've got you.
(04:00):
You can schedule a free strategysession with me
anytime@coachmattrogers.com.
I also encourage you to checkout my book, significant
Recruiting, our Sports SpecificRecruits journals, and the full
online course, the SignificantRecruiting Launchpad.
For those of you who want towork through this journey step
by step on your terms.
Now let's jump into today'sconversation with Dr.
(04:23):
James Troja, his insights aroundleadership, D three, recruiting,
and just doing what's right, notjust what's expected, are things
every family coach andadministrator should hear.
Here's part two of myconversation with Dr.
James Troja.
President, thanks so much forbeing on the Significant
(04:44):
Coaching Podcast.
Thanks for coming back andtalking a little bit recruiting.
We're gonna do a really shortone today.
Really what I want from you,from a resident's perspective,
what advice would you give tofamilies that are in high school
right now?
They have a student athletewho's got great potential, has a
big passion to continue playingtheir sport in college.
(05:05):
What advice would you give tothose families about that
journey to get to re recruitedby a coach at Tata i, for me,
it's.
And because I didn't both at thedivision one level and division
three level where I coached Ihad some of these experiences.
And I'll just say that, there,there's a lot of I, I think of
(05:27):
homework that needs to be doneahead of time about both the
institution and also the coach.
What was that coach's journey?
How long have they been there?
What are the values that coachhas?
These are some things.
It's not just about saying, Iwanna play golf, or tennis or
football at the next level.
It's about aligning the valuesthat you have as a student
(05:51):
athlete, as a family, with whatyou want to do as a student
athlete, and making sure thatthose things align
appropriately.
I think too many just say.
I wanna play football and theydon't really and oh, I wanna
play football here at thisinstitution when that may be the
wrong institution and the wrongcoach and coaching staff for a
(06:13):
variety of reasons.
So I think not enough, spendenough time looking at, I.
The type of institution it is,what's the ethos at that
institution?
What does that institutionreally care about?
What are the academicrequirements?
What are the academicexpectations?
And at the end of the day, thatstudent athlete playing for that
head coach is, it's probablygonna shape more of their
(06:37):
experience than anything else.
And so you gotta do some duediligence and some homework
about who you're gonna go playfor.
So looking at that coach'sbackground, what do they really
care about?
What's the retention rate ontheir team?
Watch them play.
You can go back and look, mostof these, there's film to be,
how is that coach treating theplayers?
(06:58):
What's their sideline demeanor?
What you know?
I think all of those things canbe found out in today's world
and I just don't see a lot ofthat homework being done on the
front end, Matt.
It's not by both the coach andthe athlete.
Yeah.
It's just okay, I want to be ata small school in this
geographical area and here's theschools I can afford.
(07:19):
Ooh, they got my academicprogram, let's go visit.
And they're let around campus bythe coach or assistant coach,
and hear from the coach'sperspective, all that.
I think it's gotta be the otherway around.
I think the athlete and thefamily has to drive more of that
if they want a positive result.
(07:40):
I'm hearing a reoccurring themeabout families and time and what
we put into it.
I, my bias is that not everybodyhas.
A mom and a dad, they typicallyhave s some support in this
journey.
And all my all I'm suggesting isthat some of the families,
(08:01):
parents might have something tooffer in this space.
And student athletes and coachesthey should come together more
on what might be the best fitfor a student athlete.
Because if it's not a great fit.
Then you're talking about thecoach not being happy, then the
student athlete not being happy,then retention suffers.
(08:22):
And oh, by the way, if I got atransfer now, I might have lost
some credits.
Now I'm going five years, sixyears.
That's not good for anybody.
And so taking that little extratime to try to find that fit is
so critical and.
And it needs to happen on bothends.
The coaches finding that rightfit, but the student athletes
(08:44):
and families, trying to findthat right fit, not just
athletically, but academicallyas well is really important.
I'm 100% behind you on there andI'm thankful to hear that'cause
I do those exact same thingswith my clients and the families
I work with.
Really quickly, I'm gonna turnthe tables on you.
You're in front of your, allyour head coaches and you're
telling them a piece of adviceon the type.
(09:07):
Student and how you want them torecruit for your campus.
What do you want your coacheslooking for?
What are there, is there a redflags?
Are there things that you want'em concerned about?
No.
We talk about a couple things,Matt.
We of course want to we wannawin, but I, it's not about
winning.
It's about.
Having a program that has allthe right elements to it and the
(09:31):
end result is winning.
So you want you want a valuesystem for your particular
sport.
What's important to you, coach?
And when I bring in new coacheshere, I've got a little
whiteboard over here.
I know it's surprising to them,and they look at me a little
oddly, but I say, go right on myboard.
That if somebody were asked meto define men's lacrosse at
(09:52):
Junior, what are they gonna say?
What is it about?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Is it about effort?
Is it about effort?
Yeah.
Is it about winning?
Is it about retention?
Is it about campus engagement?
What is, what's your program?
What's your identity?
That's right.
And I'm shocked at how manycoaches don't really know what
(10:12):
they should be about.
Yes, because that should driveeverything.
And if you do those thingsright, winning happens.
And I'll use Heather Pavlik ourvolleyball coach, like I, she'll
tell you what's important to herand it's been important to her
for, a long time here at Junior.
(10:33):
And it's why she has asuccessful program and she won't
recruit kids that don't fit intothat.
Model.
Even though they might be supertalented, we've had super
talented teams here that didn'tget outta the final eight.
And it's because of chemistry.
Yeah.
It wasn't because of talent, itwas'cause of chemistry.
Yep.
And sometimes you might take aswing at a really talented kid,
(10:56):
but you might know that theymight not fit in and it ends up
coming to haunt you.
Yes.
You know this.
I do.
I know this.
And as a coach, I think you'vegotta look at what defines your
program.
And so I just ask my coaches tomake sure that they know what
they're about.
What is your identity?
What is, what are your corevalues as a team?
(11:17):
I don't care that they'redifferent from one coach
another, but you need to havesome identity.
Yeah.
And that identity then betterresult in a program that we
would deem successful.
Yep.
Full rosters.
Students are engaged outside ofathletics.
They're retained.
They're doing well academicallyand oh, by the way, they're
(11:37):
competitive.
Yeah.
I don't need to win nationalchampionships across the board.
Matt, what I do need is to havestrong programs that our
students would walk out in fouryears and say, I had a great
experience.
That's important to me.
Yeah.
Moms and dads, if you'relistening, that is a great
question to ask every coach.
When you're sitting in theiroffice and you're talking to
(11:57):
them, what is the identity ofyour program?
Yep.
What is the vision of program?
That's culture.
Yes.
What is your, how would youdefine your culture?
Thank you so much, presidentTroja.
I could talk to you all day.
Thank you so much for the timeyou've given me, and thank you
for sharing so much wisdom withus.
I look forward to futureconversations.
I hope we get to have more.
But thank you for being a voiceat the NCAA level and being so
(12:21):
authentic with it.
So thank you for your time.
You bet.
Thanks, man.
Appreciate it.
Thanks again to Dr.
James Troja for joining me todayand for the leadership he
continues to show on behalf ofDivision three student athletes
across the country.
His perspective is a powerfulreminder that the college
journey isn't just about whereyou go, it's about who you
(12:42):
become.
If today's episode sparkssomething for you, whether
you're a parent, student,athlete, or a coach, please
visit coach matt rogers.com toschedule a free recruiting or
coaching strategy session.
Grab a copy of significantrecruiting or dive into the
online course that helpsfamilies build a smarter,
healthier path to college.
(13:03):
And be sure to subscribe so youdon't miss.
Next week's episode, I'll bejoined by one of the top
division three men's basketballcoaches in the country, a leader
who's built a nationalpowerhouse by focusing on player
development, program culture,and honest recruiting.
Until then, keep working withcommitment, lead with
significance, and I'll see youback here next week on the
(13:25):
Significant Coaching andRecruiting Podcast.
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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 won’t 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, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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