Photo courtesy of Tom Woodard via flickr.com

Locker Room Talk is the newest innovation in the college recruiting process, where college athletes can rate their coaches on criteria such as knowledgeable, motivational, and accessibility. For example, Loyola’s most notable coach, Charley Toomey of the men’s lacrosse team, has high marks in directness and intensity.

The website was founded in 2014 by Nick Petrella and Keirsten Sires. According to Petrella, Locker Room Talk is growing at a very rapid pace. With articles ranging from tips of recruiting and inside advice about nutrition, along with the coach ratings, Locker Room Talk has the potential to become mainstream.

The site’s main goal is to give high school athletes who are going through the recruiting process a platform to gather honest information about college coaches. College coaches often tell a recruit simply what they want to hear so that the recruit comes to that particular college.

Sometimes, there is no real and honest discussion coming from college coaches. These coaches simply want the recruit’s signature on the National Letter of Intent and have a disregard for what is in the best interest of the recruit.

This is where Locker Room Talk steps in, by trying to make it so that recruits have another tool at their disposal to help with the recruiting process. Trying to separate the truth from the lies is half the battle for recruits, especially now, when little rumors on the internet can become national headlines. Additionally, recruits are sometimes as young as 15 years old when they commit to a school.

Locker Room Talk is something that any Loyola athlete should look into in order to help recruits throughout the recruitment process.