Background/Purpose It is critically important that collegiate coaches and athletic administrators are aware of student-athletes' college-choice factors so the staff can better attract and serve their student-athletes. Moreover, it is mutually beneficial if the school, athletic staff, and the student-athlete(s) are a perceived fit for one another. Thus, the purpose of this exploratory study was to examine and compare the most influential college-choice factors of current NCAA Division I FBS football players (n = 77) with the perceptions of their coaches and football support (n = 20) at a southeastern university.
Method A modified version of the Student-Athlete College-Choice Profile (SACCP) was used to survey participants to collect data for this study. Descriptive statistics were utilized to analyze differences between the degree of influence of the individual college-choice factors.
Analysis/Results The results illustrated a disparity between the most influential college-choice factors of athletes and the staff's perceptions of those most influential factors. The staff perceived that nine of the top ten factors were athletically related, but in reality the top two factors for athletes were “Opportunity to begin a good career other than professional football” and “Total academic value of the college's degree.”
Conclusions In today's competitive intercollegiate athletic environment, it is vital that collegiate coaches and athletic administrators use the results of this study to more efficiently recruit student-athletes that are a perceived fit for their sport program, athletic department, and university. Athletic personnel should also strive to foster the academic pursuits and expectations of their student-athletes.