written by parents Michael & Gretchen

The college recruiting process is a daunting challenge for any family. Even though there is a mountain of information available through the internet, it can be very confusing. That is why we are forever indebted to Coach Schaefer for his support and guidance. Our son, Harrison, is now committed to play football for Middlebury College next fall.

Our recruiting journey started a couple years ago. Our son was a pretty strong student and wanted to play football at the next level. The summer between sophomore and junior year he attended the Princeton football camp, just to experience the process. We had the good fortune of meeting some parents from around the country whose sons were rising seniors. They were much further along in the recruiting process and gave us some good advice… put together good game film and reach out directly to the colleges your son is most interested in.

We returned home and made a list of 20-30 top colleges, primarily in the northeast, so we would have the opportunity to go to his games. The list included a few Ivy League schools, some of the Patriot League teams and some of the top DIII schools, like Middlebury. As my son’s junior year progressed, his grades were improving and he was a leading tackler in the conference. We sent out game film and emails to those targeted colleges and with few exceptions we started to hear back from them. Good news, right? When a coach reaches out and tells you they are interested in your son, what does that actually mean?

Although we had done a lot of homework ourselves, we were somewhat overwhelmed and turned to Coach Schaefer. As it turned out, Coach Schaefer coached for over 15 year at the University of Pennsylvania, one of our targeted schools. He not only knew the recruiting process inside and out, he also knew the admissions process for most of the schools on our list, including the Ivy’s. We also learned that there is a close knit circle of coaches who know and respect each other’s recommendations.

Coach Schaefer assessed immediately where we were in the process and what needed to be done next. He gave us a road map...when to respond to each coach, how to select which Junior Days to attend and how to maximize our son’s exposure at the football camps the summer between his junior and senior year. When we heard from a coach or met with them at the camps, Coach Schaefer was able to put everything in the right context to manage expectations.

As your son approaches his senior year, managing expectations is everything. With Coach Schaefer’s help, we narrowed our list of colleges down to six schools, 2 Ivy, 2 Patriot League and 2 NESCAC. In truth, there were no bad options, thanks in large part to Coach Schaefer’s guidance. Harrison had a strong senior year, put up some big stats and stirred the interest of four of the six schools. In the end, our son selected Middlebury for all the right reasons, it was a perfect fit for him.

Again, we are forever indebted to Coach Schaefer.

written by parents Todd & Libby

I wish we met Jim sooner!! That’s how I can summarize our experience with Jim and the value he added to our son’s college selection process. Growing up our son excelled at 2 sports – baseball and football. 2 years prior to his high school graduation if you asked me which sport he would play in college it would have been baseball. So like most excellent baseball players their summers are spent from mid-May to mid-July traveling the country side on a travel baseball team spending weekend after weekend at high powered tournaments. Then a funny thing happened the Spring of his Junior year – he decided he wanted to play a D1 sport and was ready to commit. After some self-evaluation he determined football was the path not baseball. While his goal was ambitious, it was by no means a sure thing – Cole is what they call a ‘tweener’. Close to DI size but maybe more suitable for a DII or DIII school. So, 2 weeks into his Junior year baseball season he quit to focus full time on football. With Cole being our oldest we had no experience in the college selection or recruiting process, so we turned to our next best thing and asked our friends who had son’s in college or already graduated from college. Their advice get your highlight film complete and prepare to go to camp after camp the upcoming summer.

So like any good Mom and Dad, we sent his Junior year football highlights to a list of 25 schools he was interested in and felt were a fit both academically and athletically at all levels (NAIA, NCAA DI, DII and DIII). As I reached out to the various recruiting coordinators at the schools it was obvious – they would mostly be interested based upon his attendance to the school’s summer football camp. So, we narrowed down the list and attended 7 camps that summer but a funnier thing happened on the way to camps. There is an OHSAA (Ohio High School Athletic Assoc) rule that says no OH high school player is allowed to wear pads during the timeframe these camps were going on. So there is Cole on the sidelines in the most important part of the camps not able to participate. The camps were mostly a waste of time and money.

But then late in the summer, as Cole began his senior year we met Jim. We were impressed with his background not only from the athletic angle but more importantly from his college selection process. While it was important for Cole to play college sports it was more important his selection ensure success both during and after college. Immediately Jim evaluated Cole’s football abilities and agreed he was a ‘tweener’ and more than anything had to have an outstanding Senior year on the football field to ensure some interest at the D1 or DII level. He very honestly and effectively told Cole what he had to do to impress a Coach at the next level. Cole responded well to Jim’s challenges and had a great Senior year!!

What has impressed us the most about Jim’s services is he developed a relationship directly with our son and keeps us in the loop as he worked with Cole. Jim was always asking us how it was going and how we could work as a team to ensure Cole’s head was on straight as he worked to make the hardest decision he had ever made and easily the biggest financial decision for our family. Jim was always available for a phone call from Cole or ourselves if we had questions or concerns. The great news for Cole, was his success on the football field resulted in interested from numerous schools at various levels and they invited Cole on official visits. As we headed out on official recruiting visits, the information and expectations that Jim provided were second to none. He told us what to expect, what to look out for, what actions would prove concerning, and more importantly an evaluation that Cole could use to identify the positive and negatives of each visit.

The investment we made in Jim’s services were already fruitful before any college decisions were made, his ability to work with Cole and make Cole think long and hard about the pros and cons of each school and what it would take to play at these schools allowed Cole to make an informed decision. Like most 18 years old, Cole knows better than Mom and Dad but even Cole knew he didn’t know more than Jim and was willing to listen each step of the way!!

If you come across this testimonial before making the decision to use Jim and his service, let me set your mind at ease – it will be the best decision you can make in the college selection process. If you come across this testimonial as already a customer, you know exactly how we feel – I wish we met Jim sooner!!