Jared Zeidman

Zeidman cites transfer players who left winning teams despite getting good minutes, citing unhappiness with team culture, feeling disrespected by staff, talented teammates escaping accountability, and recruiting promises about roles or academic accommodations that went unhonored. They conclude that a decent share of head coaches would fail a say-versus-do comparison.

A Bill Walton clip from his early-1970s recruitment by John Wooden.

• According to the post, Wooden promised nothing of material substance: he described a hard challenge, great teammates and a strong culture.
• The lesson: any promise beyond what Wooden offered cannot be kept, so athletes should stop fishing for one and listen for staff who are honest about the college experience.

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They start with the figure that roughly 20 percent of Division I men's and women's college basketball players transfer each year, treating it as evidence of deeper problems rather than individual greed.

• In interviews with transfer players who already had strong minutes on winning teams, reasons clustered around treatment and trust.
• They acknowledge the counter-case: some athletes regret entering the portal.
• But fewer coaches breaking their word, they conclude, would mean a less crowded portal.

The interview findings: players with good minutes on winning teams transferred anyway because they were unhappy with team culture, felt disrespected by the coaching staff, saw problematic but talented teammates escape accountability, or received direct promises about roles or academic accommodations that were not kept.

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They bring Coach Allison Roberts, a college volleyball recruiting specialist and founder of How to Get Recruited, onto a basketball recruiting podcast because, they say, volleyball and basketball recruiting share a great deal.

• The episode covers common challenges high school athletes face in finding a college, plus myths about competitive divisions and what athletes should look for.
• Roberts's account of her recruiting experience as a former college athlete and coach, and the small assumptions that nearly derailed it, comes through the episode.

The episode pairs a volleyball specialist with a basketball podcast because the two recruiting worlds face the same problems. The conversation is bookended by corrections to common misunderstandings about college athletics and divisions.

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Swoffard prioritizes growth over outcomes, culture fit over talent in recruiting, helping players move from hearing praise to embracing feedback, teaching the why behind every decision, treating non-conference games as preparation for March, and relying on intentional habits rather than results. Zeidman presents it as a behind-the-scenes look at what building a Division I program involves.

The post's proof point: Canisius was picked to finish last in the MAAC in Swoffard's first year and finished tied for sixth. The post ties that result to her emphasis on vision, style and process rather than immediate results.

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Tullo argues that resilience is the true differentiator for athletes, that coaches and parents can help build mental toughness, and that letting athletes fail is part of growth.

• Her approach centers on controlling the controllables and bouncing back faster from mistakes on and off the court or field.
• She challenges traditional ideas of toughness, favoring the ability to respond well to adversity.
• Zeidman presents the material as relevant to athletes and the parents and coaches around them.
• Tullo's background in strength coaching and social work is described in the post.

The post's central claim: toughness is better understood as the ability to respond effectively to adversity than as an inherited trait, with practical strategies for recovering from mistakes.

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Jared Zeidman introduces Coach Allison Roberts, founder of How to Get Recruited, and explains why a volleyball recruiting specialist appears on a basketball recruiting podcast: the two sports share many recruiting challenges. The post says they discuss navigating recruiting with little guidance, small assumptions that nearly derailed Roberts’s own experience, and myths about competitive divisions and what athletes should look for.

For brands planning a campaign

For a recruiting platform, this is a model for cross-sport guidance that broadens the audience beyond basketball, pairing a host’s sport-specific authority with a guest’s adjacent expertise.

The post challenges the idea that all transfer athletes are chasing minutes or NIL money.

• It cites that 20% of Division I men's and women's college basketball players transfer each year, then lists reasons from interviews with transfer players who had good minutes on winning teams: unhappiness with team culture, feeling disrespected by the coaching staff, problematic but talented teammates not being held accountable, and broken promises about role or academic accommodations.
• Some players regret entering the portal, but the post says many head coaches would fail a 'Say vs Do' test.

For brands planning a campaign

Directly relevant to a brief about recruiting promises versus reality. The interview offers a specific argument for an article or episode about transfer-portal decisions and coach accountability.

Jared Zeidman introduces Coach Kristin Tullo, founder of Think Strong Play Strong, a mental performance coach with a background in strength coaching and social work. They discuss resilience as the true differentiator for athletes, how coaches and parents can build mental toughness, how letting athletes fail can help them grow, controlling the controllables, and bouncing back faster from mistakes.

For brands planning a campaign

Shows how recruiting content can extend beyond scholarship logistics to athlete development and parent and coach behavior. Useful for a series helping families evaluate fit and support systems, not just rosters.

It is the most direct entry point for the promises-versus-reality brief.

The post uses a Bill Walton clip about being recruited by John Wooden in the early 1970s.

• Wooden promised nothing of material substance; he said college basketball would be challenging and that if Walton put in the work, he would be surrounded by great teammates and a great culture.
• Jared Zeidman argues that promises beyond what Wooden said cannot be kept, tells athletes not to fish for them, and advises listening for coaching staffs that are honest about the college experience and culture.

For brands planning a campaign

A ready-made segment or article on recruiting promises versus reality. It offers a historical example and a clear rule for advising families on what to trust.

In a two-part episode, Jared Zeidman followed Canisius University Head Coach Tiffany Swoffard through the 2024-2025 season to show what building a Division I program looks like.

• Swoffard prioritized growth over outcomes, valued culture fit over talent in recruiting, helped players embrace feedback rather than just hear praise, taught the why behind every decision, treated non-conference games as preparation for March, and focused on intentional habits.
• Canisius was picked to finish last in the MAAC and instead finished tied for sixth.

For brands planning a campaign

A case study in behind-the-scenes program-building content that shows recruits and families what coaches value and how culture is built. It supports an episode series about fit and development rather than rankings.

Jared Zeidman interviewed transfer athletes who had good minutes on winning teams but left anyway.

• They cited an unhappy culture, feeling disrespected by coaching staff, talented teammates not being held accountable, and direct recruiting promises about roles or academic accommodations that were never honored.
• Zeidman says a decent share of head coaches would fail a say-versus-do comparison.
• A second post offers the constructive half of the argument, recounting Hall of Fame forward Bill Walton’s recruitment by John Wooden in the early 1970s.
• According to the post, Wooden promised nothing of material substance; he described a hard challenge, great teammates, and a strong culture.
• Zeidman’s rule follows: any promise beyond what Wooden offered cannot be kept, so athletes should stop fishing for such promises and listen instead for staff who are honest about the college experience.

The posts offer a practical test: compare what a coach says during recruiting with what the program actually does, and use the Wooden example as a benchmark for a credible offer.

For brands planning a campaign

This is the strongest fit for a piece on recruiting promises versus reality. A campaign can frame transfer athletes’ reasons for leaving as the problem and the Wooden comparison as the standard, giving an article or episode both a concrete complaint and a constructive test for families.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

They cite roughly 20 percent of Division I men’s and women’s college basketball players transferring each year, treating it as a sign of deeper problems rather than individual greed.

• To identify those problems, they interviewed transfer players who already had strong minutes on winning teams.
• The stated reasons center on treatment and trust, not playing time.
• Zeidman also acknowledges the counter-case, noting that some athletes regret entering the portal, before concluding that fewer coaches breaking their word would mean a less crowded portal.

The post acknowledges that regret after transferring is real, framing the argument as a correction to a stereotype rather than a blanket defense of every transfer decision.

For brands planning a campaign

Useful for a debate-style segment or explainer.

• The 20 percent figure and interview-based reasons offer a hook, but the number has no cited source.
• Attribute it to the creator or verify it before publishing as fact.

Examples: Source 1

Zeidman frames the choice explicitly: a volleyball specialist on a basketball recruiting podcast, because the two recruiting worlds share a great deal.

• The episode covers the common challenges high school athletes face in finding a college, Roberts's own recruiting experience as a former college athlete and college coach, and the small assumptions that nearly derailed it.
• The post also notes the episode is bookended by mythbusting about college athletics, specifically the different competitive divisions and what athletes should actually be looking for, plus advice on contacting coaches with confidence.

For brands planning a campaign

Zeidman moves across sports and corrects common misconceptions about divisions, making their work relevant to recruiting beyond basketball. The episode also lends itself to a series format, with a guest specialist extending the audience rather than repeating the host’s expertise.

Examples: Source 1

The discussion covers why resilience is framed as the true differentiator for athletes, how coaches and parents can help build mental toughness, and how letting athletes fail helps them grow.

• Tullo’s approach centers on controlling the controllables and bouncing back faster from mistakes on and off the court or field.
• It challenges a traditional idea of toughness in favor of responding well to adversity.
• Zeidman presents the material as relevant to athletes, parents, and coaches.

For brands planning a campaign

The episode broadens the creator’s appeal to parents and coaches, not just recruits, and offers a natural second content strand alongside recruiting mechanics. A campaign on athlete development or parent education can draw on it without stretching the show’s core subject.

Examples: Source 1

The post describes season-long access across the 2024-2025 season, capturing the challenges and breakthroughs of leading an almost entirely new roster with no shared on-court history.

• Themes include growth over outcomes, culture fit over talent in recruiting, helping players move from hearing praise to embracing feedback, explaining the reasoning behind decisions, treating non-conference games as preparation for March, and relying on intentional habits rather than results.
• Canisius was picked to finish last in the MAAC in Swoffard’s first year and finished tied for sixth.

The episode offers a full season behind the scenes, not a single interview, so it can speak to process and culture as well as results.

For brands planning a campaign

Strong material for a two-part series or long-form case study on culture-led rebuilding. The recruiting angle is explicit: the claim that culture fit matters more than talent is backed by a season of observation, making this a fit for platforms that teach families how programs are built.

Examples: Source 1

The larger is the interview episode: Zeidman brings in a named practitioner, such as a college coach or a recruiting or mental performance specialist, summarizes what the guest covers, then links to the podcast.

• The other is a short standalone post that delivers advice on its own, such as the piece built around the Bill Walton clip, which asks readers to watch the video before drawing out the recruiting lesson.
• Episode posts consistently end with a listen link; standalone posts make their argument without asking readers to go elsewhere.

For brands planning a campaign

A campaign can use either format. Guest episodes suit a partner who can supply a credible practitioner; short standalone posts work better for a single sharp message delivered through the creator’s own argument.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4 · Source 5

The episode drew parallels between volleyball and basketball recruiting and offered advice for high school athletes and their families.

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The episode covered resilience development, building mental toughness, and letting athletes fail in order to grow.

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Garwood makes the case that follower count rarely determines an athlete's value because brands want engagement, authenticity, and trust, and that coaches evaluate habits, accountability, and coachability rather than statistics alone. Zeidman makes a similar point, telling families to weigh what a program does over what it promises.

Garwood writes for a marketing firm from an athlete-branding and NIL education standpoint, focusing on personal brand, content, and monetization. Zeidman focuses on recruiting itself — coach accountability, the transfer portal, and long-form interviews with coaches and specialists — rather than offering a brand-building service line.

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Their blunt, opinionated posts call on adults to protect kids from hype-driven sports culture: Wagner writes against year-round specialization and the attention economy reaching youth baseball, while Zeidman challenges recruiting promises that cannot be kept and a portal crowded by broken word.

Wagner covers youth baseball well before the college stage, writing as a youth coach with detailed guidance on rest days, training hours, and multi-sport play. Zeidman covers the college recruiting pathway and transfer decisions, largely through guest interviews rather than single-sport coaching advocacy.

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The two posts argue that follower counts alone do not create NIL opportunities; engagement, authenticity, and trust do.

• They also say college coaches value habits such as communication, accountability, body language, and coachability ahead of statistics.
• For publishers building practical guidance on athlete branding and self-presentation alongside recruiting content, Garwood reaches the same audience and addresses a compatible decision from the athlete's side of the table.

Garwood's short educational posts promote Elite Legacy Marketing and close with a call to follow the agency, so publishers should separate useful guidance from promotion.

• They do not offer the interview-driven reporting Zeidman provides on why athletes transfer, what coaches promised them, or how families should weigh competing offers.
• For campaigns about the recruiting decision itself, Garwood supplements Zeidman rather than replacing them.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

His posts argue against early specialization: he cites an American Academy of Pediatrics 2024 clinical report for the claim that about 70% of children leave organized sports by age 13, lists rest and training-hour guidelines, and describes what his Hastings Thunder program does differently.

• He also takes public positions, including objecting to a reality television project about youth baseball.
• For publishers whose readers are deciding whether a 10- to 13-year-old should play one sport year-round, Wagner addresses that decision directly.

Wagner's posts are about youth development and baseball, and they stop before college.

• They do not cover the transfer portal, how athletes should evaluate a college program, or what to ask a coach during recruitment — the decisions at the center of a campaign about college recruitment.
• Wagner's posts are advocacy written in a confrontational register, and the statistics are attributed to a report rather than linked, so a publisher would want to verify them.
• Where Zeidman explains the recruiting process to families, Wagner argues about the years before it begins.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2