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Recruiting Players Former standout builds business By George Schwarz A former Randall High School football star who served as general manager of the Amarillo Dusters af2 team has started a new foot-ball-oriented business. Warren McCarty announced last week the expansion of his "My Passion Is Football" moniker for his Web site into a real world effort to help high school athletes and their families connect with colleges, coaches and the chance for football scholarships. At his news conference at the Ambassador Hotel, he said colleges aren't recruiting high school football players. "I think that's unfair and wrong and certainly not our coaches' fault and not the kids' fault," he said. If no one is working on a problem, it's an opportunity to fix it, he said. The idea behind his business is to help high school football players get college scholarships and play at the next level. Many parents don't know how to get their child into college if he's a good athlete, and, while coaches try to do everything they can, they are educators. In other states, coaches devote full time to their sports, he said. "There's only so much coaches can do." Part of the problem with colleges recruiting players is that they have limited dollars and can only do so many trips. They get more bang for their buck flying to Dallas or Houston than spending the same amount of time in the Panhandle. The plan to bring them to Amarillo would give them a chance to see "the best" the area has to offer at one time, he said. McCarty has a plan to bring in current and former professional football players to evaluate high schoolers playing at specific positions. The evaluation will be based on drills and exercises the players will run with the experts looking on. Those evaluating the high school players will provide them and their families with a written evaluation, and the reports will be sent to all 848 schools in the United States that play football, he explained. The first such set of exercises will be in April at Bushland High School, he said. "Ultimately, my goal is to help kids move up and to get them exposed (to colleges)." McCarty said there would be a charge for the services. He said he has always dreamed of a career in football, and he thought about this plan for some time. "When you stop pursuing your dreams, your dreams don't come true," he said. "Ultimately, this is kind of a leap of faith for me and my family because I'm going to be running a business on my own," he said. "I believe in this area. I believe in the athletes and the coaches we have in our region, the administrators, who care about high school football in the Texas Panhandle, eastern New Mexico and the Oklahoma Panhandle." He said he knows how parents and coaches care for their kids. "The support is there; we're just going to try to take it to a higher level." On the Web: www.mypassionisfootball.com E-mail
comments about this story Posted: January 24, 2008
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