do college coaches use recruiting portals?
The world of college athletics recruiting can feel a maze, especially for high school athletes and their families trying to navigate it for the first time. You’ve likely heard of recruiting portals and platforms—digital tools designed to connect athletes with college coaches. Common examples of these portals are NCSA, FieldLevel, and SportsRecruit. These platforms often charge several hundred dollars if not thousands of dollars. But a fundamental question remains: are coaches actually using these platforms to find their next star player?
It’s a question that gets at the heart of how college recruiting works, and the answer isn't a simple "yes" or "no." The truth is, it depends heavily on the school, the athletic program, and most importantly, the division. As a general rule of thumb, the smaller the school or athletic program, the higher the chance they use a recruiting portal as a key part of their process.
The D1 Recruiting Reality
Let's start at the top. When it comes to Division 1 (D1) college coaches, the reality is that they are much less likely to rely on recruiting portals. This isn't because they're ignoring digital tools altogether; it's because their recruiting ecosystem is fundamentally different.
Division 1 programs have a massive advantage: brand recognition. A school like The Ohio State University or the University of Alabama doesn't need a platform to get their name in front of aspiring athletes. Their inboxes are overflowing with interest from high schoolers around the country who have been dreaming of playing for them since they were kids. A D1 coach’s primary challenge isn’t finding athletes—it’s sifting through the thousands of interested candidates who are already knocking on their door.
Furthermore, D1 coaches have extensive budgets and resources dedicated to recruiting. They can travel to national camps, showcases, and tournaments, where they can see the top-tier talent in person. They have dedicated recruiting coordinators, vast networks of high school and club coaches, and the ability to fly a top recruit to campus for an official visit. For them, a recruiting portal is often seen as a supplementary tool at best, and at worst, another inbox to manage. One D1 coach, for instance, once confided that she looks at messages from a major recruiting platform like NCSA with "less priority" than direct communication. To her, those messages feel like a mass email, lacking the personal touch and genuine interest that a standout recruit would demonstrate.
Some of these recruiting portals share statistics on where their athletes land. One platform saw less than 15% of their athletes go Division 1, and less than 40% went D1 or D2.
The Power of Portals for Smaller Schools
This is where the narrative shifts dramatically. For small Division II, Division III, NAIA, recruiting portals are often a game-changer—a powerful equalizer in a resource-strapped environment.
These coaches don't have the luxury of a national brand that attracts top athletes from every corner of the country. They can't always afford to fly across the country to a national camp to see one or two athletes. For them, recruiting portals serve as a vital discovery tool, helping them find dedicated athletes who might otherwise be completely off their radar. A coach at a Division III school in New England can use a portal to find a talented player in Southern California who is a perfect academic and athletic fit for their program. The portal helps them discover athletes who are serious about competing at the next level, regardless of where they live.
The pros of these portals for smaller schools are clear:
Wider Reach: They can scout athletes from anywhere in the country or even the world.
Efficiency: The platforms provide a centralized database of verified stats, videos, and academic information, saving coaches countless hours.
Discovery: They help coaches find hidden gems who may not be attending the big national tournaments.
The Downside: The "Athlete-Only" Conversation
While recruiting portals can be effective for discovery, they have a notable downside: they often limit the depth of engagement between a coach and an athlete.
A platform is designed to showcase an athlete’s sport-specific abilities—their highlight reel, stats, and awards. This is all crucial information, but it doesn't tell the whole story. It can feel transactional and impersonal, like an athlete is just a collection of numbers and video clips. This approach often limits the ability for an athlete to share genuine enthusiasm about why a specific school is of interest to them. With the transfer portal booming these days, college coaches are looking for athletes they believe will be sticking around for their full eligibility and that means creating relationships with high school athletes who are enthusiastic about joining their school.
The most successful recruiting stories are about more than just athletic ability. They’re about finding the right fit—academically, socially, and culturally. They are about an athlete saying, "I've been following your program for years," or "I love that your school has a strong engineering program and that’s what I want to study." These nuanced, genuine conversations are what build a true connection with a coach
The RecruitReach Difference
For many athletes, a recruiting portal isn’t the difference between competing at the college level and not. There’s more than 500,000 roster sports in the NCAA D1-D3. meaning there’s more than 125,000 every year for incoming freshman. Being able to compete in college is about understanding where your skill level places, understanding the NCAA eligibility center, and effectively communicating with programs that are an athletic and academic fit.
This is where RecruitReach comes in. We provide you the information on schools that you need to find opportunities you’re excited about. From the average SAT/ACT scores you need for admission to undergraduate population size to tuition costs, it’s easy to find schools in RecruitReach that match what you’re looking for. Once you’ve discovered your favorites, RecruitReach can help you create personalized messages and organize your communication so whether you’re reaching out to 10 or 50 schools, you feel in control of your process.
