Latest / Scouting the League / Day 3 Wrap - Personnel and Recruiting Symposium
Transcript
- Rodrik David: Everybody and welcome to Scouting the League. This is the day three Personnel and Symposium drive home episode. Yes, I am on the road from Nashville back to North Carolina. Don't worry, I'll be safe. Eyes are on the road. I can do a little bit of talking and driving at the same time. Multitasking, a beautiful thing. Yes, I was a part of a much smaller contingent at day three of the twenty twenty six personnel and recruiting symposium brought to you by Teamworks. It was a fantastic three days, a lot of really good sessions, but you could really see the numbers cut down today as people either got home for camp, scouts got on the road for visits, or people just decided, hey maybe nothing on day three that they wanted to pay attention to Hopefully good decisions were made and nobody was just stuck in their hotel room after bad decisions from last night. But we will talk about three really big bullet points that I came away with after three days at the symposium. Let me remind you though, head over, like, subscribe, share wherever you're listening and watching, whether it's on Apple Podcasts, Spotify that video portion on YouTube. Kevin Kelly spoke this morning, great episode with him. Head back to the archives, listen to all of those. Guys could crowdly Check the archives. A bunch of our guests were panelists, members that talked up there on the different events and sessions this weekend. So again, make sure you head back and listen to those. Follow me on Twitter. I am at right step ADV. Of course, I am Roderick David, former NFL Scout. Neil Stratton joined us yesterday. He is at Inside the League. He is probably on a plane right now, headed back home to Houston. Make sure you hit Neil up if you didn't see him, didn't talk to him in Nashville. Do follow him, follow Sign up for his Friday rap over at inside the league.com for everything you need to know there. For agents, schools, anybody out there that is interested in reports coming this fall. Brand new website I have out now, rightstepscouting.com. You can get reports, one-liners information on players, teams, anything report-related, video reports, it's all going to be part of it. I have a small team of evaluators I'm going to bring in. along with myself to do this. So write stepscouting.com. Make sure you check out that out. If you're a scout or aspiring scout, of course the spot is the scouting community.com. Really had some great conversations continuing to push the scouting industry forward as again a bunch of really good people in Nashville want to continue to do. So check that out and then check out our partners over at BlueMaca dot com for the insoles that will upgrade every pair of shoes you have. Code Scouting 20. We'll let them know we sent you and get a little discount on that order. So that's bluemaka.com. So let's get to these three big points that I'm going to take away from this week. And number one, it's going to be technology. A lot of sessions centered around technology, whether it was AI, whether it was just data tracking. We've had data for a while now. How do you manage it? How do you input it? How do you apply it to the portal? How do you apply it to recruiting? How do you apply it to advancing? Again. Data and technology is a part of every front office. It's growing. A D's, presidents, decision makers are asking about it. How GMs, head coaches, football programs, offices are integrating it is something everybody is trying to figure out. There are some really cool products, but you have to utilize them. You can't use everything. You're might gonna have to pick one or two. There is a huge Opportunity for some of these companies. Some are gonna get left behind, some of them are gonna disappear. The teams that can efficiently manage all that data into one spot to use it effectively for roster building, cap management, recruiting, whatever it is, the teams, the programs, the organizations that have that plugged in in the right spot are going to be ahead of the curve. You will get caught, you can't just stand pat technology's changing. It's going to continue to need to change, but technology is not going anywhere. It's going to be further apart of every front office. And so you have to invest in it. You at least have to have the conversation. You need to know what's out there. And you've got to decide how and what are we going to use as a program to operate the way we as a program want to operate. Again, Arkansas, Alabama, Ohio State, USC, Cal. may operate five different ways, they need to find how they are going to operate. Don't have to just copy, don't have to just add it because it's up there, but you've got to figure out how you're going to operate. So technology, it's not going anywhere, but you have to spend time getting to know it, investing in it, and probably having somebody on your staff that that is what they do. Technology management, whether it's in internal data, internal analytics, Maybe you're not building everything out yourself. Maybe you are. Maybe you're making it proprietary. Maybe you're paying somebody else. But there has to be a piece of your staff that is solely focused on making sure that data and technology piece is right. And that kind of leads me to my next spot. Man, a ton of young individuals in decision-making titles, decision-making locations who They may be very smart, they may be detailed, but they may have a lot going for them, but experience is experienced. There were a ton of late 20s, mid-20s people, men, women in decision-making spots that are going to have to gain experience on the job. Now, for the young people that have grown up with technology, maybe that technology piece is a little bit simpler. Maybe it is one of those pieces that hey comes a little bit more natural. Maybe it gives you a little bit more of an advantage as opposed to some of the we'll say more experienced, more veteran, older individuals in any of those spots that maybe technology's not natural. So again, there's that spot warm, but experience is experience. You better make sure you have good mentors. You better make sure. You've got good people in your life that you can lean on for experience questions. There is no substitute for experience. There is no substitute for reps. And for a lot of the young individuals, young decision makers, GMs, directors of player personnel, fold liaisons, experience cannot be bought. You can't rush it. Experience is going to be important. Stay humble, stay hungry. But do not forget who you are, who the has been there before you, and who you can ask questions because strong leaders, strong decision makers are going to be what takes the game forward. Inexperience can lead to decisions that are not always the best and therefore could hurt an organization. Make sure you are relying on those people, young decision makers. Develop, learn, and Ask the right questions. Don't ever think you've got all the right answers. Continue to grow. Continue to grow in your role. Expand that circle of what you are doing. But for programs and organizations across the country, you have got to be careful just plugging in, again, really smart, really energetic, really organized people into some of these roles because a lot is at stake. Jobs are at stake, wins are at stake, and you've got to have the right people in those spots. So, technology, we got young people needing to take that step up. And this last one, I don't want to be creepy. I don't want it to come across the wrong way. As I said on Monday, there were a lot of young ladies, a lot of women in football, which is fantastic. If you're hungry, driven, doing the right things, there is a spot for you. Now you've got a larger hill to climb. You've got more to overcome already because the way Women in football is viewed. That is just flat the reality. It is it's hard near impossible. I would argue not safe for women to play football with men, but you can absolutely work in a wa front office. You can absolutely be an evaluator, be a scout, be somebody really organized and off or whatever department. But with all of that, one of the things that perhaps is overlooked. Perhaps isn't talked about is dress code. Style is style, fit is fit, all of that goes into me saying what you wear, the way you appear, absolutely matters. There should be a dress code for every football building, and that should apply male and female. And I'll say this to young ladies out there, do not put yourself further behind the eight ball. By dressing in a way that perhaps suggests style, sexuality, attractiveness and is more important than my credentials. Men are men, football's football, style style. By dressing a certain way, you will put yourself behind an eight ball because you will have a larger hurdle to overcome to show credibility. You're not just in the football office to be a pretty face. You may be. You may be a pretty face in the office, but don't let that be why you are there. And don't let the way you dress be viewed in that way. There were a lot of styles, a lot of dress code, a lot of tire that I running a football office would not allow, would not want to see in the day-to-day football office around the players, around young men, around anybody that's in my football office, whether you decide whether society has decided it is professional or not, that's neither here nor there. Apologies right now, we've got a little bit of rain here on the Nashville, Tennessee Road. But again Don't put yourself further by behind the eight ball by what you choose to wear. Be professional. You can be fashionable, but still not suggest anything too much with your dress code. Be aware of that. Be cognizant of that. Think about what your dad, what those individuals that you trust, those mentors would say. Maybe that's just me coming from my standpoint as a dad of two daughters, but again, make sure you are aware of what message you are sending with the way you are dressing. Be a professional, be really good at what you do, be aware of what you are wearing. So those are my three hits from the 2026 personnel and recruiting symposium brought to you by Teamworks. It was a fantastic experience. Definitely Room for growth, room for improvement, but that's the game of football. Always going to be looking to get better. I know I'm going to be hitting submit on that survey. If you have questions, thoughts, comments, anything, hit me up. We'll talk about it on here. We're going to have some great guests lined up. We've got Tyler Barnes, GM of the Iowa Hawkeyes on next Wednesday. Make sure you tune into that one. A number of really good guests coming up in the following weeks. If you have questions, if you have comments, thoughts, let me know at right step ADB is where you can hit me. Throw it in the comments over on YouTube. Whatever you need, I am here for scouts, I am here for front office, I am here for football. I want to move the football game forward in every way I can. Let's find a way to work together. Agents, players, anybody in the business, let's do it. Head over to right stepscouting dot com for anything report. That's and head to my website website, RSA Football.com for everything you need. Travel safe. Enjoy camp. Good luck to everybody this fall and as I always wrap up with saying, keep scouting.