Jack Renkens Gives 'Reality Check' on College Recruiting

Jack Renkens message came tough-love style, with a booming voice and plenty of finger pointing, as he told the hard truths about college athletic recruiting to a packed auditorium at Arthur L. Johnson High School on May 2.

"It's a game," said Renkens, before he tore into the myths. "You have to know the rules." 

And it's a game Renkens has played, with experience as an athlete (he played basketball for the University of Wisconsin), a coach (at the both high school and college levels) and a parent (his daughter Brooke played basketball for Manhattan College). 

As his daughter became a nationally recruited basketball player, Renkens came to realize how little most families knew about the process. And so in 1995, he founded Recruiting Realities and began touring the country to share his wisdom with eager student-athletes, families, coaches and counselors. This is the second year he's come to ALJ, sponsored by the Booster Club.

Renkens's truisms spanned the spectrum, covering how easy it is for a parent to be bamboozled by college recruiters – "You love your kids. You will believe anything." – how a parent should behave at games – "Let your kids play. Keep your mouth shout." – being proactive – "Don't sit and wait. Create an opportunity." – and his key rules regarding recruitment offers – "You have to be in a position to negotiate" and "If they don't pay, you're not gonna play." 

He told the audience that student-athletes have to be prepared to "let the school pick you" and not be swayed by big names or the belief that they have to play at the Division 1 level. According to Renkens, only 0.08 percent of high schoolers get fully funded D1 scholarships. 

Renkens also spoke of the importance of academics, starting the process freshman year, asking coaches for an official paid-visit to their college and reading "The NCAA Guide For the College-Bound Athlete."

Before the program began, Renkens had chatted with some of the audience members. He used what he learned in his lecture to make examples with – and gently pick on – some of the students and coaches, leaving no shortage of laughter. 

One of Renkens's victims was Johnson lacrosse coach Lou Van Bergen. "He's very straightforward," said Van Bergen. "It's unfortunate reality that a lot of parents and even us coaches don't know all this stuff."

After the program, parents and students gathered to ask Renkens specific questions. "It was very helpful," said Ali Dugan, a Johnson cheerleader waiting for her turn to chat with Renkens. "He was a little scary, but he definitely got our attention."

Dugan's mother, Carol, heard Renkens's message loud and clear. She had already been through this process a bit with two college-athlete sons (Ryan plays football for Wagner and Dan for the College of New Jersey), but after hearing Renkens's advice said, "We approached it the wrong way with them. We thought we knew what we were doing. I was also very impressed with he told the students about being careful with what you post Facebook and social networking. I thought he was a terrific speaker."

When Patch asked Renkens the number one response he gets from the folks he gives his talk to, his answer was a no-brainer: "It's always 'Thank you for waking me up.'"