NC State’s expanded recruiting department another sign of the times in college football

In March, NC State announced the addition of four new staff members, all of whom will work to bolster the Wolfpack’s recruiting efforts. The recruiting department has grown to six people specifically dedicated to establishing good relationships with high school coaches and players—there’s even a Director of Creative Media tasked with creating marketing materials. Kinda like this:

Schools have been sending mailers to prospective high school recruits since forever, but as more and more money flows into football programs, they’ve allocated more and more resources to the administrative side of recruiting, which has become a mini cottage industry all of the sudden.

As schools have recognized the importance of making a big ol’ shiny impression with their recruiting materials, it’s opened the doors for guys who speak Photoshop fluently and know how to make a cool-looking video. New assistant director of player personnel Merci Falaise’s job at Tennessee was basically to run the football program’s social media accounts.

This is the new normal in the sport; gone are the old days of a nice hand-written letter on school letterhead.