Paul Putnam
Director of Recruiting Education | NCSA College Recruiting
In addition to helping my high school football team win a state championship, I was named MVP at the 1981 Utah State Track Meet. Highlights of my high school career include winning the National All-Sports competition sponsored by Mountain Dew and being awarded the Most Versatile Athlete of 1980–81 in Utah.
My success led to a collegiate football and track & field career which began at Bakersfield College in California where I earned all-conference honors. After completing a mission for the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to England, I returned to collegiate athletics and was awarded a track and field scholarship at Weber State University where I also competed in the decathlon.
My passion is working with high school athletes and their families and teaching them about the college recruiting process. In 2008, I started presenting Recruiting 101 and NCAA Eligibility classes to local high schools as a result of my own son being an academic non-qualifier with the NCAA. Although he graduated high school with a cumulative GPA of 3.3, he fell short of the core GPA and minimum ACT requirements and missed out on an opportunity to play for his dream school.
Through this experience, I found that most parents lacked knowledge of the NCAA rules and requirements and how college coaches identify and evaluate prospective recruits. As a result, thousands of qualified and talented athletes fall short of their dreams to play college sports. After much research on recruiting services and organizations, I identified NCSA as an organization that I wanted to be affiliated with.
In the spring of 2009, I joined NCSA as a National Speaker. Since that time I have presented at hundreds of high schools, camps, combines, and showcases. I have been a keynote speaker on the subject of College Athletic Recruiting, written blogs, and articles and have hosted worldwide webinars.