We held the inaugural Recruiting Summit virtually on February 16th featuring three prominent thought leaders throughout the college football recruiting industry. Billy High, Erin Dunston and Dann Kabala joined us to discuss personnel, on-campus recruiting and Name, Image and Likeness in today’s recruiting landscape.

The goal of the Recruiting Summit is to help attendees learn from the best in the industry, grow professional contacts, and change the future of recruiting for the better. Don’t miss the next Recruiting Summit meeting on May 16th “ REGISTER NOW!

Billy High: Personnel & Scouting

Currently the Director of Internal & Advance Scouting at the University of Tennessee, Billy also served in recruiting leadership roles at North Carolina Auburn. He joined the Recruiting Summit to discuss personnel evaluations and building your own recruiting office.

Key Takeaways:

• Implementing your own systems and methods is important, but it has to make sense for your staff and program
• Football is simple, people are complicated
• Always be preparing to lead your own department – question everything
• Communication is the most important piece to a successful recruiting department

“As the head of your department, it’s important to be able to do things that you believe in. But if the staff doesn’t buy-in, it doesn’t matter. It’s no different than calling plays.”
– Billy High, Director of Internal & Advance Scouting, University of Tennessee

Erin Dunston: On-Campus Recruiting

For the on-campus recruiting session, Erin Dunston of Ohio State presented some excellent tips and ideas to stay ahead of the curve. Erin will be entering her third season in Columbus this fall. Prior to her arrival at Ohio State, Dunston was the director of on-campus recruiting at Kansas for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

Key Takeaways:

• Always be open to feedback and practice self reflection
• Reach out for help to battle burnout – find what works for you
• Attract student interns by getting involved on your campus
• Stay organized and efficient by using lists and delegating tasks

“Reach out for help. There’s so many of us in this industry and what we fail to realize is that we’re all going through the same things, just at different institutions.”
– Erin Dunston, Director of On-Campus Recruiting, Ohio State University

Dann Kabala: Name, Image & Likeness

Dann has served many roles while working in football for the last 20+ years, but has most recently been tasked with overseeing Penn State football’s NIL efforts. In this presentation, Dann provides a great framework for developing your NIL program and insight into what he would do if he had a do-over.

Key Takeaways:

• Educate your alumni, fans, staff and players
• Challenge your donors and alumni
• Use LinkedIn to identify alumni network
• Brand building and networking is work

“Successful people are competitive, put the challenge out to them and they will respond. Have them work for you.”
– Dann Kabala, Director of Player Relations, Penn State University

Don’t miss the next Recruiting Summit on May 16th!