Kirk Herbstreit Offers Insights on the CFB National Championship, Youth Sports Parenting, Recruiting Advice, and More

Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN analyst for College GameDay and Thursday night NFL, joined Greg Olsen on the Youth Inc. podcast this week to break down the College Football National Championship, share youth sports parenting stories, and talk modern-day recruiting.

Watch the full episode here.

CFB Final: Miami vs. Indiana

On the College Football National Championship, Miami alum Greg Olsen applauded Miami head coach Mario Cristobal for building a great program. Ahead of the game Monday night, Olsen said: “you can’t write it up any better” 

Herbstreit added, “Miami has got to find a way to settle into the game, have some success early, and get some confidence like 'we can do this.'”

He also credited both Cristobal and Indiana head coach, Kurt Cignetti, with building “meat and potatoes” teams, something that's been harder to do in the new era of recruiting.

High School Sports and Modern Day Recruiting

Olsen emphasized how much high school sports have changed compared to when he played. Herbstreit, who recently had four sons go through the college decision process, stressed how chaotic the landscape has become.

“It was craziness. It was nothing that felt good to me about true evaluation. It just felt like a money maker”

The advice Herbstreit received from college coaches was to take his sons to camps at the specific schools they were interested in, rather than chasing every big name camp.

Olsen added that his “… advice to them is use athletics to get yourself into a school that otherwise you wouldn’t be able to get into.”

Herbstreit agreed.

Specialization

Today, kids are choosing to focus on one sport younger and younger. Herbstreit recalled Earl Woods showing his son hitting balls and training golf year-round. That young boy ultimately became one of the most successful golfers of all time: Tiger Woods. Many parents took that vision and ran with it.

As a young dad, Herbstreit remembers when this "Earl Woods Syndrome" really took form: “All the dads of my generation thought that’s what you had to do. That’s when playing one sport 12 months of the year took off.”

Olsen added that early specialization may create better youth athletes, but their development often plateaus: “Over long periods of time, early specialization making better youth athletes is actually making worse long-term adult athletes”

Youth Sports Parenting and Advice

Herbstreit admitted his shortcomings as a youth sports parent:

“I’m so competitive. When my twins were 8 or 9 playing youth baseball, I almost couldn’t control myself.”

By the time his youngest sons were playing sports, he realized that he had to reel it in. Ultimately, taking to the stands as a cheerleader was the best route for him.

Herbstreit emphasized that a child's heart has to be in it first. His hope for youth sports is a shift away from winning and toward development:

“How do we develop kids and teach them about sportsmanship? Or about the rules of the game and how to get better, how to be a good teammate?”