The Rising Cost of College Football Recruiting

College football recruiting has evolved over the years, becoming a highly complex and competitive industry. Universities and their coaching staffs must navigate a rapidly changing recruiting landscape, which requires significant financial investment. This includes both direct expenses related to recruiting and indirect costs tied to keeping up with recruiting trends.

a. Travel Costs and Staff Expansion

One of the primary reasons for the increase in recruiting spending is the rising travel costs. Recruiting efforts often require coaches to travel across the country — and in some cases, internationally — to evaluate prospects. These trips can involve significant expenses, including airfare, lodging, transportation, meals, and other travel-related costs. In addition, the growing emphasis on in-person evaluations, camps, and unofficial visits has resulted in more frequent travel.

Alongside the travel costs, many universities, including Tennessee, have increased the size of their recruiting staffs. These staffs include not only assistant coaches but also support staff, analysts, and video coordinators, all of whom contribute to the recruiting effort. Larger staffs require more financial resources to support their salaries, travel, and other expenses related to the recruiting process.

b. Technology and Data Analytics

Another contributor to increased recruiting spending is the growing reliance on technology and data analytics. With the rise of recruiting databases, film breakdown software, and performance analysis tools, programs now invest more heavily in technology to gain a competitive edge. This includes subscriptions to recruiting services like 247Sports, Rivals, and other scouting networks that provide in-depth data on high school athletes.

Additionally, technology plays a role in the communication between recruits and programs. With the advent of social media, video conferencing, and digital recruiting platforms, schools are able to maintain constant contact with potential recruits, but these technologies come with associated costs. The production of high-quality videos, virtual tours, and branded social media campaigns requires an investment in both time and money.

2. Tennessee’s Strategic Shift Under New Leadership

The Tennessee Volunteers football program saw significant changes in leadership and strategic direction around the time of the increased recruiting spending. In particular, the arrival of head coach Josh Heupel in January 2021 marked a shift in recruiting priorities and efforts. This section explores the factors that led to this shift and why it had financial implications.

a. Heupel’s Vision for the Program

Josh Heupel, who came to Tennessee after successful stints as the head coach at UCF and as an offensive coordinator at Missouri, brought with him a clear vision for revitalizing Tennessee’s football program. A significant part of this vision involved improving recruiting to build a stronger, more competitive team. To do so, Heupel and his staff needed to make strategic investments in various areas of the recruiting process.

b. Recruiting at a National Level

Heupel emphasized the importance of recruiting at a national level, broadening Tennessee’s recruiting reach beyond the traditional Southern pipeline. Historically, Tennessee had focused heavily on recruiting talent from Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. However, with the rise of SEC competition and the changing landscape of college football, Heupel’s staff aimed to broaden the scope of the program’s recruiting efforts, expanding into new regions such as the Midwest, West Coast, and even nationally for elite prospects.

This shift necessitated increased travel and greater financial investment in scouting and recruitment efforts. In addition, recruiting nationally meant competing against other powerhouse programs that had established recruiting dominance in those regions, making the need for Tennessee to invest more in resources and staff even more pressing.

c. Commitment to a Stronger Recruiting Infrastructure

Under Heupel, Tennessee committed to building a stronger recruiting infrastructure. This included not only increasing the size of the recruiting staff but also making significant improvements to the program’s facilities and resources aimed at attracting recruits. These upgrades included renovations to the football program’s administrative and recruiting offices, as well as investments in training and meeting spaces for recruits.

Facilities are a crucial element in college football recruiting. Top-tier recruits are often drawn to programs with state-of-the-art facilities that can help them develop as athletes. Tennessee recognized this and allocated funds to improve its facilities, which in turn led to higher recruiting costs in the short term.

3. The Impact of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) on Recruiting Spending

One of the most significant factors affecting recruiting expenditures in recent years is the advent of NIL rights for college athletes. The ability for athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness has dramatically changed the college sports landscape, particularly in recruiting.

a. Increased Competitive Pressure

With the introduction of NIL, schools are now competing not only for top talent but also for the ability to offer the best NIL opportunities to recruits. Tennessee, like many programs, understood the importance of offering recruits opportunities to capitalize on NIL deals. To remain competitive in the SEC, which features high-profile programs such as Alabama, Georgia, and LSU, Tennessee had to invest in the development of NIL opportunities.

This meant allocating funds to create NIL-related programs that could help recruits secure deals with local businesses, boosters, and national companies. To execute this strategy effectively, the university needed to establish a dedicated NIL team and build partnerships with local and regional businesses. This requires financial resources that contribute to the overall increase in recruiting spending.

b. The Rise of Collective Groups

In response to NIL, a number of schools — including Tennessee — saw the emergence of “collectives.” These are organizations that pool resources from alumni, fans, and other supporters to fund NIL deals for recruits and current players. Collectives have become a critical part of recruiting strategies, as they can offer recruits tangible financial incentives to commit to a particular school.

For Tennessee, this meant increased investment in managing and coordinating the collective efforts. Collectives often require a significant infrastructure, including legal teams, marketing departments, and communications staff, which adds to the overall cost of recruiting.

4. The Importance of Securing High-Profile Recruits

The financial commitment to recruiting also reflects the program’s efforts to secure high-profile recruits who can make an immediate impact on the team’s performance. Top-tier recruits can transform a program’s fortunes, making it essential for Tennessee to invest heavily in recruiting to land these players.

a. On-Field Success and Recruiting Momentum

Tennessee’s football program was in a rebuilding phase under Heupel, and securing top-tier recruits was key to accelerating that process. By investing in recruiting, Tennessee sought to build a team that could compete at the highest levels of college football. The potential for future on-field success was tied directly to the caliber of recruits the program could secure.

In the SEC, which is home to some of the most competitive programs in college football, recruiting top-tier talent is crucial to success. Teams that fail to recruit effectively risk falling behind in the arms race of college football talent acquisition. This is particularly true for a program like Tennessee, which had fallen out of national contention in recent years and needed to rebuild its roster.

b. Impact of Early Recruiting Success

Tennessee’s increased recruiting spending began to pay off in terms of commitments from high-profile recruits. In 2022 and 2023, the Vols landed several top-50 recruits and were able to maintain strong recruiting classes despite the challenges posed by NIL and the intense competition in the SEC. This success, in turn, reinforced the program’s commitment to spending on recruiting, as the return on investment was becoming evident in the form of highly ranked classes.

5. The Role of Recruiting Events and Camps

Another area where recruiting spending increased was in the hosting of recruiting events, camps, and official visits. These events allow coaches to evaluate prospects in person, build relationships, and assess their athletic ability. The cost of hosting these events — including facility rentals, travel and accommodation for staff, meals, and other logistics — is substantial.

Tennessee made a concerted effort to host a variety of recruiting events, including camps, elite prospect visits, and unofficial visits. These events are crucial for creating a strong connection with recruits and their families, and they provide an opportunity for Tennessee to showcase its facilities, staff, and overall program culture. As the program sought to attract top talent, these events required increased spending on logistics and personnel.