NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL

Recruiting Intern

Carl Churchill IV

Summer 2016

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Contact Information

Internship Supervisor

Cullen Homolka – Director of Player Personnel

Phone Number – (919) 815-0798

Email – cjhomolk@ncsu.edu

Address – Wendell H. Murphy Center, 4600 Trinity Road Raleigh, NC 27607

Internship Requirements

Basic knowledge of football

Willingness to learn

Flexible schedule

Ability to commute to the Murphy Center

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Table of Contents

Internship Work Plan 3

Detailed Internship Agency Analysis 4

Special Project 18

Internship Artifacts/Photos 20

Evaluation/Reflection 23

Weekly Discussion Board Posts 24

Evaluations 45

Community Description 4

Marketing Plan 5

Organizational Structure and Culture 9

Personnel Practices 10

Financial Management Summary 11

Facilities and Areas 12

Programs/Events 16

Job Description 46

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Internship Work Plan

Internship Responsibilities

Input information regarding recruits in Arms Software Search for and evaluate new potential recruits Update the status of recruits regarding commitments and shown

preferences Perform day to day tasks given to by recruiting staff/coaching staff/football

operations staff Monitor recruits on Social Networks Prepare letters to be sent to recruits and coaches Assist in the operation of Dave Doeren Football Camps

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Community DescriptionRaleigh the Capital of North Carolina is located in the middle of the state

with an estimated population of 439,896, coming in as North Carolina’s second most populated city, only behind Charlotte. Raleigh is one the nation’s fastest growing cities. From 2001-2014, there has been an estimated 49% growth in population.

Raleigh is 51.3% female and 48.7% male, with a median age of median age is estimated at 32.4. Raleigh is 61.3% white, 27.2% black or African American, 12% Hispanic or Latino, 3.7% Asian, 2.6% two or more races, and 5.3% of another ethnicity.

Raleigh is a well-educated city, with 91% of adults having a high school degree, and 47% of adults having a Bachelor’s degree or higher.

Raleigh is a fairly wealthy city, with a median household income of $60,319 and a median family income of $74,901.

Raleigh is among the average when it comes to poverty. In Raleigh 16.4% of people live below the poverty, which is on line with the 15.9% national average according to http://www.census.gov/

Raleigh enjoys outdoor activities, including sports, hiking, and outdoor concerts. Raleigh offers many different sporting venues such as Carter Finley Stadium, PNC Arena, WakeMed Soccer Park and many others, trails such as the Raleigh Greenway Trails, and the trails at Umstead Park, and amphitheaters such as Red Hat and Walnut Creek.

All figures taken from https://www.raleighnc.gov/government/content/PlanDev/Articles/LongRange/RaleighDemographics.html unless noted otherwise

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Marketing PlanNCSU Football mainly markets through social media with 2 hashtags #1Pack1Goal and #PackPros. The message behind #1Pack1Goal is to emphasize that we work as a team, and that our goal is to be the best team that we can be. #PackPros is great hashtag that helps in recruitment. We want for the recruits to see our former players excelling in the NFL, and then think to themselves that if they come to NCSU they can play in NFL too.

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NCSU Football has also been promoting our #CF50 jerseys what we will be wearing against Notre Dame this upcoming season to celebrate 50 years of playing at Carter Finley Stadium. Both recruits and fans have taken a liking to these throwback jerseys.

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S.W.O.T. Analysis

Strengths

We have great facilities at the Murphy Center. The addition of our brand new locker room can be a big selling point to recruits

We have had recent success, making a bowl game 5 out of the last 6 years, winning 3 of them.

We have attractive jerseys, and a brand that is widely recognized Our players are often drafted, and excel at the NFL level

Weaknesses

We have never won an NCAA Football Championship We haven’t won an ACC Championship since 1979

Opportunities

Being in the ACC allows us to go after big time recruits because we offer national exposure

New Offensive Coordinator Eliah Drinkwitz will bring a fast paced attack and excitement to NCSU Football

A solid 2016 and 2017 class provide a future

Threats

Tough competition in the ACC makes obtaining an impressive record hard

Having 3 other ACC teams in the state (UNC, Duke, and Wake) makes recruiting in state talent a challenge

Competitors

The entire ACC and all other football programs along the east coast and south east are competitors to NCSU Football Recruitment. Recruitment can be a rat race. 20+ plus teams often suit to one recruit, trying their best to persuade that player to come to their program. In the big scheme, all other college football teams are a competitor in recruitment

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Target Market

Over 85% of our football team is from the states of NC, SC, GA, FL, and VA. Those are the states that our coaching staff visits, because we like the talent in those states and know we have success recruiting in those states.

Marketing Goals

NCSU Football and the recruiting office would like be the most respected Summer Football Camp in North Carolina.

Marketing Strategy

To achieve our goal we would like to increase the attendance of 4 and 5 star prospects by 20% from the 2016 Dave Doeren Football Camps the to 2017 Dave Doreren Football Camps.

Marketing Tactic

To execute our strategy, the coaching staff must actively and frequently reach out to the prospects and their coaches requesting them to attend our camps.

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Organizational Structure and CultureDr. Debbie Yow is the Athletic Director at NCSU and oversees all of

athletics. Dave Doeren is the Head Coach and in charge of all activities that directly involves the team and has authority over the entire staff which includes coordinator's, position coaches, as well as the recruiting staff. The coordinators then have authority over the position coaches, and the director of player personnel has authority of the rest of the recruiting staff.

The organizational structure I have the most experience with in the “Evaluation Pipeline” in Arms Software. The Evaluation Pipeline is used for prospect, where the coaching staff and the director of player personnel evaluate them. The “Area Coach” (coach that recruits the player’s area) is the first to evaluate the prospect. If the Area Coach approves the player’s film is then sent to position coach. If the position coach approves the prospect is then sent to the director of player personnel for approval, then the coordinator, and lastly the head coach. If all parties approve, the prospect is then offered.

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Personnel PracticesMission

“Our goal is to continually identify and distribute information to student-athletes on the value of joining the NC State University football program. By building a tremendous yet unique recruiting brand based on relationships, detail, creativity and production that seeks the very best student-athlete for NC State Football. Recruiting is a prime contributor in assisting our coaches to build a CHAMPIONSHIP caliber team. However, we cannot be successful unless we are compliant, urgent, diligent and collectively taking ownership of the process.”

Orientation

All interns are required to meet with compliance to go over NCAA regulations before they are given a full go in the recruiting office. It is crucial all members of the staff including the interns are up to date and informed of all the rules and regulation because a mistake in the recruiting process could bring on punishment from the NCAA. Most regulations deal with the limitations given when interacting with a recruit, making sure no improper benefits are given, and all communication is appropriate.

Policies, Rules and Regulations

Dress in attire you are comfortable being active in NCSU Adidas gear is highly recommended NEVER WEAR BLUE Be timely Complete all tasks given to you Follow all NCAA Regulations and Policies while in and out of the

office

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Financial ManagementEconomic Environment

The NCSU Football program has no shortage of income. Being a part of the ACC makes the university a lot of money. I 2013-2014 NCSU brought in $18.2 million in revenue. That money is split several ways throughout the athletic departments but the football program is given a large part of that considering it makes a large amount of money for the university. NCSU recently made a 6 year deal with ADIDAS that guarantees over 6 million dollars a year with a gear allowance given to each team as well. The football program as a whole has no problem when it comes to finances.

I have more knowledge of the finances in recruiting operations. My supervisor told me that the recruiting department almost always goes over budget. The department is given a budget allotted for travel. The coaching staff travels all across the east coast (primary in NC, SC, GA, FL, and VA) visiting high school, meeting with the coaches and their athletes. This is a crucial part of recruiting, allowing the coaches to interact face to face with the prospects.

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Facilities and AreasThe NCSU football program uses 4 facilities for training, practicing, recovering and playing. The Wendell H. Murphy Center, Carter Finley Stadium, Close-King Indoor Practice Facility, and Dail Practice Fields. All the facilities are managed by the NCSU Athletics Grounds Crew, who do an excellent job of keeping everything in great playing condition

The Murphy Center is the main facility of the football program. The Murphy Center has the team locker rooms, coaches and other staff’s offices, a weight room, training room, and dinning hall. I spent a lot of time in the Murphy Center. This is where I did all of my data entry, research, and player evaluation.

Carter Finley Stadium is where the NCSU football team has all of their home games. Carter Finley has a capacity of 57,583, which often occurs several times during the season when the wolfpack sell out a game. During my internship I

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didn’t spend much time in Carter Finley because they try to stay of the field as much as possible to keep the field in its best condition for the start of the season. Yet we did use Carter Finley for our Alpha Wolf Showcase, and 7 on 7 tournament.

The Close-King Indoor Practice Facility was a $14 million project completed in 2015 to give the football the ability to practice indoors. The facility offers protection from the sun, and gives the players the ability to practice inside in preparation for playing in a dome. Over the summer, I spent time in the Close-King, mainly during the Dave Doeren Football Camps, where we would use the indoor to record measurables such as height, weight, vertical, 40 yards dash, and the pro shuttle.

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The Dail Practice Fields is where the NCSU football team has the majority of their practices, as well as their camps. The Dail has 2 grass fields and 1 turf field, giving the team plenty of room and the ability to rotate field use to ensure one field doesn’t get over used. I’ve spent a fair amount of time on the these practice fields, battling the heat during both camps and practices.

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Programs and EventsDave Doeren Football Camps

The Dave Doeren Football camps took place from June 10 to June 24. We hosted 6 one-day camps for high schoolers, and 1 one-day camp for K-8th. The one-day camps are intended to help the coaching staff evaluate prospects in attendance as well as introduce high school athletes to our facilities. The target market for this events are the top tier football players all along the east coast, but first time players also participate. We had athletes from Texas to New York attend camp, as well as athlete from Latvia. With over 2,000 players in attendance, this year's camps were a major success. In addition to the large attendance we also had several prospects commit to NCSU while in attendance, which was awesome.

The “Wolf Puppy” camp for K-8th is meant to introduce young people to the football, teaching them the basics allowing them to play safely as they continue to play the sport. The coaching staff doesn’t actively evaluate these kids, they are simply there to give their expert knowledge to the young players.

Alpha Wolf Showcase

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The Alpha Wolf Showcase is an invite only camp for our top prospects that took place on July 22. These prospects get to play in Carter Finley Stadium in front our coaching staff. The majority of these prospects have already been offered scholarships here, so we give them a taste of what it would be like to play here for us. The Showcase was a big success for us. Shortly after the event, four prospects in attendance committed to us. The target market is primary players we have already offered and we believe to have a chance of signing them.

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Special ProjectI completed many projects for the recruiting department as well as the coaching staff, but this one is the most “special” to me.

Since my time working with the recruiting office, I have enjoyed finding and evaluating new prospects. Whenever I wasn’t working on a specific task given to me, you could bet I was looking for new players to put into Arms Software. Even when I have some free time outside of the office, I’m looking for new prospects. I often In the 6 month span I have put close to 200 new prospects into our system.

I have compiled a list of my favorite prospects (about 40) and organized it my graduation year and position. Attached with each prospect is their height, weight, and any other measureable that I have access to. Along with the measurables, I have attached their Hudl account. A online software players and coaches can use to cut up film and compose a series of plays that showcases their abilities. Many of these players have been highly praised by the coaching staff as they make it through the evaluation pipeline. Yet, several of the players haven’t made it into the pipeline yet because we have several thousand players in our software.

Populating Arms Software with new prospects in crucial in the recruiting process. There are thousands and thousands of talented high school players across the east coast and our coaching staff doesn't have the time to visit each school and evaluate each player in person. So it’s important that myself and the other interns research and evaluate players that we believe have a shot to play on our team. If the coach likes a player we have found they begin to communicate with the athlete (under the regulations set by the NCAA) and from their the recruiting process begins.

During the process of compiling this prospect list I learned a lot about player evaluation and what college coaches are looking for in high school athletes. Before I started this process I knew that measurables played a big role in the evaluation. I understood that the coaches believe they can coach a good athlete to be good player, but they can’t teach a good player to be a good athlete. What shocked me has how much our defensive backs coaches value height. A taller and longer player can usually cover more ground and contest more catches which is obviously an advantage. I often would add a player that most people would consider to have average to maybe slightly below average height but still had great film do to other traits such as quickness speed and physicality, and the

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coaching staff would hesitate in approving him as an offer due to his height. There was a learning curve at first, but I quickly cleared it.

It was very valuable for me when I sit down with the Director of Player Personnel and watch film. He teaches me what he is looking for and what each position coach likes to see out of their players. It was great doing that because I love player evaluation and this time helped me hone my craft.

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Artifacts/Photos

Myself and the other interns

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Evaluation/Reflection

My time working with the NCSU Football Recruiting Office is a time I will never forget. I gained valuable insight and meet people I will stay in contact with for years to come. I had a great supervisor who was understanding and a great resource. I meet some of the best coaches in the ACC and interacted with some of the top recruits in the area. I learned so much more than I anticipated, and work harder than I thought I would. I worked some extremely long days and drank a ridiculous amount of coffee. It was a great internship, that let me experience college football recruiting, showing me this is definitely what I want to pursue upon graduation.

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Discussion Board PostsWeek 1I'm interning with the NCSU Football Recruiting Office located in the Murphy Center off of Trinity Road. The Murphy Center is the home of the NCSU Football Team. It's a state of the art facility, with a training room and equipment room on the 1st floor along with the locker room. The 2nd floor has a weight room that overlooks the Carter Finley Stadium. The 3rd floor has the team room, positional rooms, and a computer lab. The 4th floor, where I spend most of my time, has the offices for the coaching staff as well as the recruiting staff. I'm working directly under the Director of Player Personnel as well as the Director of Recruiting Operations. I will also often help the 11 coaches that work in the Murphy Center.

During my first week as an intern, I was surprised by how often the coaches are on the road visiting high schools all along the east coast. The coaches visiting the high schools does plan a crucial part in the recruiting process by building relationships with both the coaches and the athletes. I've been helping out on the office since February and the coaches seem to be on the road very often usually for close to a week at a time. I was also surprised by how involved the Director of Player Personnel was involved in the travel plans of the coaches. He received several calls throughout the week from multiple coaches asking him if he could change their flight. He almost acted as a travel agent, planning out there trips so they could visit as many high schools as possible in a day.  

During my next two weeks, I anticipate to work more closely with the coaching staff as the return from their recruiting trips. I'm sure they will have me update their players profiles as we prepare for our recruiting camps which start June 10th and continue until June 24th. We will host several hundred players over this time period. The coaches and staff will use this time to evaluate these players by recording measurable such as height, weight, 40 times, verticals and other combine like drills. At these camps the athletes will also be evaluated during more positional specific drills. From my understanding, these camps often mimic what is done at NFL Combine, an event NFL personnel use to both evaluate players, and also get to know the athletes as people. The staff here at NCSU try to do the same thing during these camps.

I have received the following types of orientation so far... Back in February when I first started helping out, other volunteers and interns had to have a

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meeting regarding compliance with the NCAA regulations regarding recruitment. The following weeks I was introduced to the coaching staff. Often assisting them with their everyday tasks in the office. I was also introduced to "Arms Software" which is the database the staff uses for all of the information they have complied on athletes as well as where they evaluated and rank prospects. After being taught the ropes of the system I was given my own account in "Arms Software" and began updating profiles and adding new prospect which is actually what I spend most of my time doing. I now know have great understanding of how to operate within the database.

Week 2The biggest issues I've dealt with so far while at the NCSU Recruiting Office have been technology issues. On Wednesday, our database, Arms Software, was slow all day and even completely shut down several times throughout the day, making work a little more frustrating, when I would have to start-over on several little projects given to me throughout the day. Myself and others working in with Arms Software that day, all just needed to be a little more patient than normally but we didn't allow it to ruin our day and completely kill our productivity. We believe that the database was having problems that day because the University of Michigan and the University of Tennessee very recently began using the software, meaning many more people using on the servers. Besides the issues with Arms Software on Wednesday, my biggest problem has been my laptop. It has been randomly shutting down (it actually shut down while I was typing this). It is similar to the issues with the Arms Software, it just takes some patience.

During my first 2 weeks here, I have been primarily adding new prospects into our database. I use several different websites to search through statistic leaders in the areas we typically recruit players. When looking through the statistic leaders the first thing I look for is size. If the athlete has the size we are looking for I then try to find the players film. While watching the film I look for athletic ability and positional skills. If the player meets all of my expectations, having the athletic ability, size, and production, I then add the athlete into the database to be evaluated by the coaches and other staff members. In my first 2 weeks I have probably added about 100 prospects into our database.

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I also often add players into the system that our coaching staff has meet while visiting high schools on the road. My supervisor will send me prospect lists from the coaches and I then add them into the database and find as much information on the players as possible, usually adding their twitter and Instagram handles to their profile in Arms. I have added around 50 prospect in this fashion over the past 2 weeks.

Another thing I have been doing over the past 2 weeks is stuffing envelopes. We have hundreds of players we'd like to have attend our camps, and reach out to them via these envelopes we send out in the mail, inviting them to attend our camps. This is tedious work, but I needs to be done to make sure our camps are well attended.

Week 3

Policies that stands out to me aren't necessarily organizational policies but NCAA policies. The NCAA Recruiting and Compliance Policies are stressed here in the office. The policies are rather long and extensive but the main point and idea is that we cannot give any recruit special treatment. When a recruit comes on a visit or is given a tour of any sort, we cannot change the way our facility would be set up on a day to day basis, meaning no special signs or decorations. Several times during tour players have asked for gear, but we always have to say no, because giving any recruitable athlete anything for free would be a violation of the "Improper Benefits" policy. One specific example of this I have noticed, is that during tours, we are able to bring recruits down the tunnel that the players run out of to go onto the field, but all the lights are on and the big door at the end of the tunnel is always closed. On game days, the tunnel is only lit by red lights on the ceiling and the big door is open with smoke machines running setting the tone for both the players and the fans. I'm sure our staff would love to let the players run down the tunnel like the players do on game day but that of course would be a recruiting violation. Another situation I have seen occur several times, is recruits asking for free gear. When giving tours of the equipment room, recruits often ask for free gear, and we always have to say no, even for used gloves (which many recruits ask for). Violating a NCAA policy could mean big punishments for the NCSU Athletic Program as a whole. During visits, tours, and any interaction with recruits, I must be on my toes, making sure I don't violate any of these policies.

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While interning I have noticed two main things about my interpersonal skills. I believe I have improved my verbal communication skills. I have learned to ask more questions and give my opinion on things, especially when it comes to how I feel about certain player's talent levels. I have become more confident in my own opinion which has led to me being more vocal of my opinions. I have also realized that listening abilities aren't where they should be. I have catch myself having to ask for the same instructions multiple times. I believe it is mainly a problem of my attention, and I then don't take in all the information the first time. I'm now working on trying to be more attentive while listening and also trying to be a more active listener.

The organizational structure of the office seems to be relatively flat, with only four levels. Dave Doeren the Head Football Coach sits at the top of the organization. The position coaches and recruiting staff are then directly under coach Doeren and make up the second level. Many of the coaches have their own Graduate Assistance and they make up the third level. Then the fourth and final level is the interns, as we assist everyone else in the organization complete their tasks.

We have started camps now so my duties have changed. My main duties are recording 40 yard dash times and rounding up certain players for tours and then escorting them before they meet with Coach Doeren. Recording 40 times can be very repetitive, and I often record very average or below average times, but when a good time pops up, I notify the coaches and they then watch that player closely through the rest of his drills. Camp days are very long days, I come in early to set up, and stay late to break it down. I was told this would be the hardest part of my time here, and I am beginning to see why.

Week 4Camps, were pretty brutal. Long, hot days, but they were very rewarding. During camps, I learned a lot about the operations and equipment side of college football. The preparation put into this camps by the operations staff and us interns was very stringent. During camps I had duties of a recruiting staff member, an operations staff member, as well as an equipment staff member. I spent lots of time interacting with prospects and recording measurable. I spent lots of time setting up for camps, and I also spent lots of time setting of drills during the camps. During Camps we picked up several commits for the 2017 class. One commit, a local LB, I believe will

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be very good for us. As of now, my special project will a composition of some of my favorite prospects that I have added into our database.

The leadership styles I learned in Sport Administration have been helpful throughout this internship. I have experienced all three of the leadership styles, authoritarian, democratic, and laissez faire. Out of all of the staff I believe the majority of them have a democratic styles, but several have authoritarian, and laissez faire. You must learn to work with all different people and personalities and Sport Administration has prepared me for that.

The leadership styles I learned in Sport Administration have been helpful throughout this internship. I have experienced all three of the leadership styles, authoritarian, democratic, and laissez faire. Out of all of the staff I believe the majority of them have a democratic styles, but several have authoritarian, and laissez faire. You must learn to work with all different people and personalities and Sport Administration has prepared me for that.

The two personnel policies I choose to highlight are both dress code related. When working in office or at other the facilities, any shade of blue is prohibited. Red and other NCSU apparel is highly recommended. This policy creates a sense of pride and unity, which I believe is important for any organization, especially a sports organization. The other policy I believe to be important is the footwear policy. We must always wear sneakers or another form of active footwear. At camp is it extremely important because of how active we are. Around the office, you never know when you will need to help move something heavy, so having the right footwear is important because it allows us to be more efficient.  

The organization motivates high performing employees in the form of a check. At the end of camps, the money made from the camp fees are given to the staff. The money is divided up between the full time staff based on their time put in as well as the number campers they were responsible for getting pre-registered. The staff member with the largest check this year was our Director of High School Relations, which makes sense considering all the times he spends of the high school coaches.

I don’t have any questions about the portfolio. Dr. Casper addressed all of my concerns during my site visit.

Week 5

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An evaluation can be very valuable, but I don't believe to be that case. I don't think my supervisor was completely honest with me. I was given all 3s and 4s which made me feel pretty good about myself, but I know it's not true. My supervisor was too lenient. I should have received at least a couple 2s or even some 1s. I know that I am "average" at some of the things I do, and would like to know which things I can work on. It's tough to figure out what I need to actually work on when I was given all 3s and 4s. I think I know what I need to work on, but I would've appreciated it if my supervisor had been harsher in my evaluation.

I believe my appearance is an area in professional growth I need to work on. I often go in wearing a wrinkled t-shirt, athletic shorts, and a hat because my hair is a mess. We are encouraged to dress in athletic attire so the t shirt and shorts aren't a problem. It's the laziness that comes along with the wrinkled shirts and hats I tend wear a couple times a week. It an easy fix, I just need to get up a little bit earlier so I can make sure I look more professional.

One interaction that stands out to me is a tour I helped give to a group of prospects from Wake Forest High. A fellow intern and I gave them a tour of the Murphy Center, which is an awesome place to tour. We took them all over the facility and answered any question we could. The next day, we received my favorite commitment, a Wake Forest LB, who was in that group we gave a tour to the previous day. Another interaction that stands out to me was from the Specialists Camp (Kickers, Punters and Long Snappers) we ran. One of the coaches there assisting for that camp was a former special teams coach at NCSU from I believe the 70's. He was a living history book. Myself and the other intern picked his brain for a while and listened to many stories. It was amazing to hear how much not only football has changed since then but as well as the world as a whole.

The largest revenue from the recruiting aspect, are the camps. The prospects pay to come and compete, and with over 2,000 campers this year, some money was made. The largest expense from the recruiting aspect is easily the travel arrangements for the coaches when they go on their recruiting trips. They travel all over the east coast, often for a week at a time, and with 6 coaches doing that, it adds up quickly.

"I enjoy interacting with clients/customers/consumers because..." I like to know how the recruits are enjoying their time here. We obviously want them to love it here so they decide that they want to enroll here and play for

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us. We try our best to be friendly and helpful at all times because you never know which kid it might be that decides he wants to run with the wolf pack.

"I enjoy interacting with fellow staff because.." we all have similar interests which conversations easy and interesting. We all have similar senses of humor as well so it's always a fun time around the office.

In terms of cognitive self care, I just keep telling myself that all of this hard work is going to pay off in the long run. All the networking I'm doing, will surely lead to a potential job.   

In terms of physical care, I don't have to do anything extra. Between all of the random physical actives that happen at the office and all the work from camps, I've gotten my exercise in from that.

In terms of emotional care, I sometimes get overwhelmed from the internship and summer school, but I have great family and friends that I can lean on for emotional support.

Week 6A memory from camp that will always make me laugh is the "DJ KRAY" story. Nick Kray is the Assistant Director of Football Operations here at NCSU. Just looking at him and after spending some time with him he seems like your average guy with a goofy side. On the first day of camp I was in for a surprise. As I walked out to the field I could rap and hip hop blasting. When I got closer. I could see "DJ KRAY" behind a DJ stand, wearing a tank top, giant headphones only on one ear, dancing and bobbing his head to the music. My jaw dropped to the ground. At least once a day he would play the song "That Sh*t Cray" and I always got a kick out of that. For the rest of camp we got to experience "DJ KRAY" everyday keeping the players hype.

I haven't necessarily learned any technical "programming skills" but I have learned to use "Arms Software" sufficiently and become more proficient with excel. When I first started volunteering with the recruiting office back in January (before I started my official internship) I had no clue what Arms Software was. It took me a week or two to get a hang off it, and even yesterday I learned a new function it has. Many different college athletic programs use Arms, so knowing how to use it should be very helpful to me. Before this internship I would say that my ability to use excel was below average for a college student. Now I believe that I am now average or

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above average. I've been creating huge lists of prospects recently and I have been using excel to do this. I have become much more efficient in inputting data into excel, a skill that should serve me well.

The pressure put on me during camps was the most of felt so far. The staff wanted us to get all of the measurables taken at the beginning of each camp, put into a google sheets by a certain time each day. We often had over 200 players at camp each day you can imagine all the information that we were responsible to entering. Luckily I had a few other interns and other volunteers there that I could lean on to complete this task. We evenly distributed the work and almost always got the work done with time to spare. Having other people to lean on is how I handled the pressure.

We use Arms Software, which I have talked about the in past, but I'll try to go into more detail this time. Arms allows us to store our several thousand prospects in a variety of ways. Prospects can be sorted by "Stars" or by "Offers" and several other categories. It also allows us to but prospects into "Camp Groups" which was very helpful, allowing us to know which prospects were coming on which day. Arms is also crucial in our evaluation process. Once a coach or staff member starts an evaluation, the prospect is first evaluated by his "Area Coach", then his "Position Coach", then the "Recruiting Office", then his "Coordinator" and if he was evaluated highly by everyone, then he evaluated by our head coach and they make a decision to offer him or not.

My personal preferences at work include... finding new prospects, and watching film with the director of player personnel. I enjoy evaluating talent, and believe that I'm good at it, so it always feels good when the director of player personnel and the coaches give the players I have found good reviews.

Two of my professional strengths include my respect for others and work ethic. I will also have respect for other people, whether they be my superiors or even people working below me. I treat everyone with respect because everyone should be treated that way in a healthy working environment. I have always had a good work ethic. I believe it comes from my Pop Warner Football days. My first coach pushed us hard and showed us we were capable of more than what we thought we were. I still hold this with me today, and will tackle any task given to me.

Two things I need to work on are my communication skills and my organization. I don't always do a good job of voicing my opinion, and I

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believe it's a matter of confidence. I have become more confident in myself but there is still more room for growth. My organizational skills have never been good, and it probably plays a factor in my chronic procrastination. I often forget about a responsibility or assignment, until the last minute and then stress out about getting it done in time. Becoming more organized is something that would help me tremendously.  

Week 7

I helped "John" go through our board and find all the players that have committed to other schools. We don't take the player completely off the board, but we change their "tag" and more them down in priority. De-commitments do happen, our 2016 class actually benefited from 2 de-commitments. So for this reason we don't completely remove the player from our board.

Related to the commitments from other schools, I helped the organization by creating new tags for the players that have committed to other schools. We categorize our board by using different color schemes. Different combinations of colors mean different things. So I basically change a few colors on their tag, which then makes it easier for coaches and other staff to look at our board and see that these players are committed to another school. A template is already set up for the basic board tag, you then make the players tag and make any adjustments that indicate a change. The tags are printed out on a thick paper, then cutout, and finally magnets are added to the back so they will stink to the board.

"Tom" has helped my learning over this internship by showing me the ropes of recruitment. I have learned the many of the details in the process of recruiting, which is much more complicated than I had originally thought. What I appreciate most, is when "Tom" will watch film with me and some me little things he looks for when evaluating talent. I have learned a lot from "Tom" during this internship.

"Fred" has been a positive role model for me this summer. "This person helped create change in my by..." showing me that hard work pays off. "Tom" shared with me that he started out in my position, a recruiting intern. He now has an important role within our football team. "Fred" is almost always the first person into to the office. I can only think of one or two time when he wasn't. It's things like this that show his hard work and work ethic, and it motivates me to be better.

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Week 8When thinking of an ethical dilemma that I have been involved with nothing came to mind. The only thing that came to mind was a situation that occurred when I first started volunteering at the recruiting office. At the beginning of the spring semester, the recruiting office had to let an intern go. It is my understanding that the intern leaked confidential information in some manner on the internet. The staff had to make a decision that tested their ethics, what they thought was wrong and right. I'm not sure the intern thought what he did was innocent or not a big deal, or if he leaked for other reasons. All I know is that he was asked to leave and not come back. I'm not sure if I have been affected by the interns decision because I find myself around information that shouldn't be shared with the public almost everyday, so my guess should be that they didn't limit future interns responsibilities based on the ones poor decision.

To be a successful intern at the NCSU Recruiting Office you must be timely and dedicated. We need things done by certain times on a weekly basis, so this often means coming in early and staying late. You must be willing to work LONG days (I know I've easily gotten my 400 hours already). The work can get repetitive you have to realize that what you're doing is helping the NCSU Football Program succeed, and just keep on grinding.

A good attitude is crucial while working at the recruiting office. The long days can be brutal, both physically and mentally, especially during camps. It would also be nice if you are proficient in typing (which I am not) because as an intern we do LOTS of data entry into both Arms Software and Excel. People skills are also needed because you will be interacting face to face with all sorts of people.

For my special project I will be making a list of my favorite prospects that I personally found. The list grows by the week, but I'm pretty much done for the most part.

Week 9All in all, my supervisor was great. He is a really good guy and a nice person to work under. I think what made him such a good supervisor was

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that he was once in my shoes. He asked a lot out of me but understood if I needed more time or some help from another intern. I especially liked how open he was to answering questions. I could ask him anything football or recruiting related and he would answer truthfully. I learned a lot from him and have gained experience I thought I would never gain. There is only one thing I would ask him to do differently. He was too nice on my evaluation. He gave myself, as well as the other intern all 3s and 4s but I know we weren't all above average at everything, and would like to know what I try to improve upon.

At some point in the near future I'll tell him that I've enjoyed working with him but that I think he was too nice on my evaluation. I'm going to continue working with the recruiting office up until graduation so I'll have plenty of time to let him know.

A memorable interaction I had was on the second day of "Fall Camp", when Gary Hahn, the voice of NCSU Football and Basketball signed in. We briefly talked and then he went along to enjoy watching practice. It was really neat to meet the man whose voice I've been hearing on the radio since I was a little kid.

My supervisor has been a great influence on me. He has talked me through what I need to do to get a job in college football, and been a great mentor this summer. I've really appreciated all that he's done for me, and I hope he can say the same about me.

Week 10The positive aspects of my internship included interacting with our current players and prospects, as well as watching lots of film. It was neat being in close contact with our current players that I've seen play from the stands over the past few years and the prospects who may be playing in Carter Finley in the near future. I also enjoy watching and breaking down film, so all the film I got to watch was really fun for me.

The most beneficial thing from my internship was learning directly from the Director of Player Personnel. It's a position I'd like to hold someday, so I really value learning from him as he taught me all the nuances of the recruiting process. I know what he did to get to this point so it gives me a rough outline of what I need to do to get to my goal.

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I would definitely advise future students to accept an internship with the NCSU Football Recruiting Office. It's been a great experience. They should expect to meet lots of cool people, network, spend lots of time in the summer heat, be prepared to input lots of data into excel, and be ready to laugh a lot.

The internship fully meet my expectations. I was prepared to input lots of data and work hard during camps but also have some chill days working on more casual things in the office. It exceeded my expectations in the fact that I got to spend lots of time with the coaching staff. I helped many of the coaches throughout and summer and that was really cool.

I pulled bits and pieces from each PRT class I took. No one class stood out to me as being more helpful than another. I did feel prepared and never felt like I was asked to do something I wasn't capable of. All in all, I had a great internship.

   

Evaluations

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Job DescriptionInternship Responsibilities

Input information regarding recruits in Arms Software Search for and evaluate new potential recruits Update the status of recruits regarding commitments and shown

preferences Perform day to day tasks given to by recruiting staff/coaching staff/football

operations staff Monitor recruits on Social Networks Prepare letters to be sent to recruits and coaches Assist in the operation of Dave Doeren Football Camps

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