Portal Boasts Large Number of College Subscribers, But Does it Actually Work?
By Todd Hveem, Houston Chronicle Correspondent; Edited by Neil Stratton
Doogie Company has more than 170 Division I, Division I-AA, Division II, Division III and NAIA schools subscribing to its recruiting service. But do the doogiePage Player Profiles actually work?
“I put a 10-second clip out on a local volleyball player,” said Doogie Company co-owner Doug McGown. “The coaches saw her explosion and vertical jump and she was offered a full ride to a Division II school.”
Stephanie Bonura, who graduated from Lutheran North High School in Houston, Texas, in the spring of 2009, is now playing volleyball at Incarnate Word in San Antonio. Bonura said Incarnate Word had everything she was looking for in a college.
“I have been used to private schools my whole life,” said Bonura, who played at the club level for Xtreme Volleyball in Houston, “but I am also a music major. This is the only school I could go to and major in music and play sports. Plus, Incarnate Word has a beautiful campus. Everything fit just perfectly.”
“She could have played at a Division I school,” McGown said, “but this was a good fit for her.”
Bonura said she never would have known about Incarnate Word if it weren’t for the Doogie Company.
“I honestly think this helps the recruiting process become a lot smoother and helps athletes get noticed,” she said. “It is easier for the universities to access on a daily basis. I had never even heard of Incarnate Word, but then coach (Jennifer Montoya) started talking to me and here I am.”
Westfield High School in Spring, Texas, has 56 football players on college scholarship, many of them coming as a result of the doogiePage Player Profile Portal (www.doogiepage.com/playerprofile).
“I have been using the doogiePages for three years and have had a lot of success,” Westfield head coach Corby Meekins said. “It is all about putting together the right package. We don’t have the most Division I players, but I think we had the most at every other level. The whole key is taking the product to them. DoogiePages definitely help do that.
“Football will keep a kid motivated and going to class. That is big. I know what a difference a four-year college education can make for the next 50 years of their life.”
John Owen, co-owner of Doogie Company, said Meekins had a player last year who earned a college scholarship without playing a down of varsity football.
“Corby has a lot of depth and has a really, really talented team,” Owen said. “He had a player who never played a varsity down, but we put a practice video up and the kid signed a majority scholarship to a private school in the Midwest. The kid is going to play football at the next level. His education is going to be mostly paid for that he would have never otherwise had. That is a testament to what we do.”
Meekins said that is not the only non-starter who has received a scholarship. “We just have to get the word out (about these players),” he said.
He’s doing just that, as evidenced by yet another example of a doogiePage success story at Westfield.
“A college coach called Corby,” McGown added. “Corby told him about the portal. (The college coach) looked online at a kid and called and offered him a scholarship the next day without seeing him play.”
Two football players from DeKaney High School, another Houston-area school, also recently landed college scholarships through the Doogie Company. Jeremy Davis signed with Kilgore (Texas) College and James Jackson inked with Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas, according to Dekaney offensive line coach Greg D’Etcheverry.
“They were both looked at through Doogie,” said D’Etcheverry, who puts the players’ height, weight, 40 time and video highlight package together in a doogiePage Player Profile. “I would say it definitely helps.”