In The Arena: The best answer is MaxPreps

Submitting stats and data to America's source for high school sports important for many reasons.

Thumbnail image of this articles writer: Eric Frantz
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Apr 19, 2019, 11:00am
Top 25 High School Baseball National Rankings
A look at the country's top prep teams.

Massillon (OH) Washington vs Louisville (OH).
Massillon (OH) Washington vs Louisville (OH).
Photo by Jeff Harwell

Commentary: "How can fans, college coaches and journalists keep up with players and teams across the country?"

As a high school sports website, MaxPreps doesn’t usually send representation to collegiate clinics, but last year I had the opportunity to attend the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Convention in Columbus, Ohio during the Final Four.

The main topic college coaches communicated? Player statistics on MaxPreps and their value as a recruiting tool.

We weren’t talking to Geno Auriemma, Kim Mulkey or Muffet McGraw. We were talking to coaches on other NCAA D-I, II, III, NAIA and Junior College staffs. The common theme was most coaches and programs don’t have exorbitant recruiting budgets and use MaxPreps as their first point of player exploration. Not having individual stats on MaxPreps – they would echo – leaves them looking elsewhere for answers.

Why is this important? In my three-year stint at MaxPreps, the biggest hurdle I’ve heard is getting coaches to submit individual stats online. Why? Not wanting the opposition to see stats for scouting purposes is the most popular excuse. I’ve never understood that stance considering the current availability of information via social media. Neither have others, including my new buddy Bob Corwin.

“Some coaches think by hiding (information), they will sneak up on the opposition,” Corwin recently wrote. "By and large, those days are long over.”

Yep.

Corwin, a girls basketball veteran of nearly four decades who contributes to the MaxPreps National Rankings, published a piece entitled “Why High Schools and Prep Schools Should Post on MaxPreps” on passthaball.com in November.

He made several valid points:

* MaxPreps is FREE.

* Every school team in every sport in the country has a page and team admin.

* Fans, scouting services and colleges can find out when teams play and how they are doing.

* MaxPreps is living and documented history. It can be accessed forever.

* MaxPreps allows each sport to build and contribute to a national network connecting all high schools in the country.

Other positives include populating statewide statistical leaderboards, recognizing athletes as Players of the Game (online and hardcopy) and the ability to send complete box scores directly to multiple media outlets at once. 

“Parents and players should urge their team’s leadership to help grow girls’ basketball,” Corwin said, discussing his sport of focus. “It may only be a small way, but posting on MaxPreps contributes to that cause.”

To make things easy for coaches to enter stats, MaxPreps offers:


2) The ability to delegate the responsibility to someone else on staff or in the school.

3) Over 80 stat partners that make importing/uploading stats a couple-click job.

4) The MP Teams App for coaches and ADs to utilize before, during and after games.

The resources are readily available for all.


“How can fans, college coaches and journalists keep up with players and teams across the country?” Corwin pondered. “The best answer is MaxPreps.”

Hands down.


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