Becoming a Badger: A great place to visit
February 02, 2009 | Football
With Signing Day right around the corner (Feb. 4) UWBadgers.com decided to try and give fans an inside look at the recruiting process, from the time a player pops up the radar, through his recruitment (evaluations, home visits, visits to campus) right up to Signing Day. Today we examine a very important part of the recruiting process for both players and coaches: the official visit.
Who and When'
Recruits get to take one official visit to each school during their senior year of high school. They can 'unofficially' visit a school any number of times but what makes a visit 'official' is that the school foots the bill for certain things, like travel, lodging and meals. There is also a very regimented program set up for the recruit to try to expose them to as much of the university and the team as possible in their limited time on campus.
Some official visits occur during the season. Usually the recruit and the recruit 's parents or legal guardians (if they are able to attend) arrive on Friday. On Saturday they will have a breakfast, meet with some people from the school and the athletic department, then go to the game. After the game, there is dinner and then they have some free time with their host, a current member of the team. On Sunday, they usually have a breakfast again and then are on their way back home.
'We love to have them come in on game weekends because of the atmosphere, ' Sharon Betlach, a member of the football office staff that assists with a lot of the responsibilities related to arranging recruiting visits.
However, because a number of recruits have their own games to play during the season, UW also holds big recruiting weekends in December. One of those weekends involves the annual end of the year Football Banquet while the other usually involves a basketball game.
'Anybody that commits to us during the summer, we do a big official visit on our banquet weekend,' assistant coach Randall McCray, UW's recruiting coordinator, said. 'Then any of our other top recruits that aren't committee yet and haven't come on an official visit, we bring those guys in that same weekend.'
Freshman quarterback Jon Budmayr, who is a part of the Badgers' class of 2009 and is currently taking classes at UW, was one of those who took his official visit this past December.
'I came up for the banquet,' Budmayr said. 'That was really neat. I got to see how that was run. It was a great event.'
Setting the stage
Before a recruit comes on campus, each one receives and invitation and a letter from Coach Bielema.
'When they are invited to come for an official visit, they receive letters from Coach Bielema and the coaches inviting them,' Betlach said. 'There 's a letter specifically stating, an itinerary of sorts, what's going to take place that weekend, who they are going to meet with, the professors and academics. '
In addition to the invitation, the recruits get a letter advising them of the behavior that is expected from them during the visit.
'There's also a letter setting the expectations and behavior we expect when they are here,' Betlach said. 'They have to sleep in the hotel, they can't stay at their hosts. They have a curfew of 1 a.m. and we have a staff person who stays at the hotel at night.'
What goes on'
During an official visit, a recruit can be on campus for 48 hours. During those two days, their schedules are usually packed with meetings, tours, meals and other things that keep them busy.
'They meet with, not necessarily in this order, their position coach, their recruiting coach, the head coach, an academic advisor from the Fetzer Center, and a professor or staff member from the college that they have indicated to us that they are interested in,' Betlach said. 'They also meet with our strength and conditioning personnel, our sports medicine personnel, the equipment people. They see the locker room, tour all the facilities, tour campus, see a dorm room, and eat.'
An integral part of the official visit is the academic component and educating the recruits to the expectations of university life.
'A professor can talk to them about what it means to be a student, what the expectations are, go over a curriculum,' Betlach said. 'Our advisors from the Fetzer Center also meet with them so they know what kind of assistance is available for them in the way of advising, tutoring, computer labs and such.'
While the recruit gets a taste of what UW, both athletically and academically, is all about, they also get a chance to see how the team interacts and get to know the players a little.
'Many times when we have a larger group in, we'll have a player panel for them,' Betlach said. 'Their parents come with them too, one parent or both, or a legal guardian and if we have the panel, we have the parents sit in with them. The coaches leave the room and whatever you want to ask, the team members meet with them and answer their questions.'
Budmayr, whose host was freshman running back Bradie Ewing, said his official visit was a great way to get to know the players.
'I just had fun hanging out with the players and meeting some of the guys on the team,' Budmayr said.
Student hosts
In addition to meeting with some of the team members, each recruit is assigned a student host for the weekend. The host is must be adept at making the recruit feel comfortable.
'We choose the hosts based on geographical regions, based on positions, personality,' McCray said. 'We try to put a Milwaukee recruit with a Milwaukee kid we already have, whether it's the same position or not because as soon as they step on campus they have a lot of things in common right off the bat. So there 's a lot of things to talk about, it brings out conversation, there's not a lot of dead time.'
The coaches also like to get the host's feelings towards a recruit once the official visit is over.
'I think that's the best report we get,' McCray said. 'The kids that host these young men have a vested interest in having the best players and the best people on this team. We tell our kids, the recruits aren't going to lie to you. Ask them questions. And when we ask our kids questions about the trip, they don't lie to us.'
What a host tells the coach definitely is part of the recruiting equation.
'What they think about a young man, carries a lot of weight,' McCray said. 'Now, we have the final say, but if they feel like a young man comes up here and doesn't fit in, doesn't have the type of character we're looking for here at Wisconsin, then we're definitely going to listen. Because our kids are family already. Those are the kids that are looking out for the best interests of the entire football program and the entire university.'
Decision time
Once all the visits, evaluations and decision-making is over, it's time for both sides to consider a scholarship offer. Exactly how does an offer get made' What are the emotions on both sides' What is the excitement of Signing Day like from a coaches' standpoint' Find out all those answers and more in sportid=111&storyid=16668"> --> our final installment of 'Becoming a Badger.'
