A Scout’s Words of Wisdom: Scott Aligo

26 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

We wrap up our conversations with scouts today with a conversation with former Browns scout Scott Aligo, who’s pretty wise for a young scout. Scott worked with us during the ’16 draft helping connect agents and their clients with teams, and his work really made a difference. I knew he’d be willing to help out on this project, and I knew he’d have good things to say.

From here, I’ll turn it over to Scott and Mark.

  1. What is the one thing NFL draft fans don’t understand about the evaluation process, and about how NFL teams scout players, that they should know? 

“The biggest misconception is (that creating a scouting profile for a prospect is not) a 2-3 year process, instead of just the hot name. The time that is invested . . . no one really has a concept of (and) how much digging we have to do on that. Fans are usually like, “how did you not know that?” It’s about building relationships at the schools and getting to know the players without doing illegal activity. It’s underlooked.”

  1. We all know the best advice for a young man hoping to play in the NFL is to play his best football this fall. However, as a former scout, what would you tell a young man’s parents? 

“The agent is not the most important deal. The scout and the agent are going to be embedded with each other, no matter what anyone wants to say. There’s a lot of (agents) who say, “we hate scouts,” and there’s a lot of scouts who say, “we hate agents,” but no matter what, they will always be embedded together. And whether they admit it or not, it’s a beneficial relationship. I think the parents need to know that the evaluation on the field is probably the most important thing. All the other fluff, when it comes down to it, is, can he play?”

  1. If a young person asked you how to break into the scouting business, what advice would you have for him? 

“Quick advice is, you better have thick skin and you better look up the word ‘sacrifice,’ because if you are going to be in this business, you are going to have to sacrifice a lot. Be patient. Everybody says they want to be the GM by 30, and you have to be patient and embrace the grind of it. You might make ($17,000) for five years while all of your other buddies are making $70-80,000 going to happy hour three times a week. Well, you might get to go once a month or you only get one month a year to do stuff. The young group needs to embrace the whole ‘grind’ aspect of it and know that they have to be 100 percent patient and that it is not going to be a quick-and-easy process. You are going to sacrifice everything. Family. Friends. Girlfriends. Where you live. Everything.”

A Scout’s Words of Wisdom: Matt Boockmeier

25 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

If you’ve been keeping up with our current series getting feedback from ex-scouts on some hot topics related to the football business, hopefully you agree that we’ve provided insights you don’t often find. Today, I think we have one of the strongest pieces in our series as we talk to Matt Boockmeier.

Matt not only has been an area scout with two NFL teams (the Packers and Saints), but he’s also been a scout in the CFL (Saskatchewan) and even served at the director level in probably the most successful alternative league in the last 10 years, the UFL (with the Omaha Nighthawks). That gives him perspective that few can offer.

From here, I’ll turn it over to our own Mark Skol and Matt.

  1. What is the one thing NFL draft fans don’t understand about the evaluation process, and about how NFL teams scout players, that they should know? 

“One thing they don’t understand – (though) height, weight, and speed are important, I’m not going to lie – you have to have athletic ability and you better have instinctive characteristics as a player. Fans may not understand that nothing beats what the film shows. I say that prefacing a very important point. How many times have you seen a guy who didn’t fit any characteristics you were looking for but he was a football player? And how many times did those people make it? They’re littered throughout the league. I would say that’s the biggest thing that you have to look at. Finally, the hardest thing to do is look at the guy’s mentality toward the games, his temperament. Everybody thinks they can judge it. Everybody can see he has all the will, but that’s not measurable. Your best scouts understand what that guy brings without even saying a word to him based upon what they’ve seen in the past.”

  1. We all know the best advice for a young man hoping to play in the NFL is to play his best football this fall. However, as a former scout, what would you tell a young man’s parents? 

“Slow down. Be engaged in the process, but don’t necessarily control the process for your son. Be there for guidance as a player would for their son in any situation like this. The most important thing I would tell them is to be realistic and to be prepared for a letdown. I can talk about a player. You can talk about a player. There is all this noise. Get rid of the noise. Be there to filter the noise. Be realistic. Be hopeful. Prepare for the worst but expect the best. Finally, you, your son and the agent are not in control.”

3. If a young person asked you how to break into the scouting business, what advice would you have for him?

“No. 1, research. No. 2, persistence. No. 3, don’t be afraid to think outside the box to develop a relationship with the person who makes the hiring decisions. No. 4, get lucky. And all of this applies across the spectrum. If you were going in for an interview with Apple, you would want to know everything about Jim Smith (the boss). . . You (may not) have the best GPA and you (may not) have that big of an interest in technology on your resume. That doesn’t matter. If you get in front of Jim and you have the charisma, the personality, and you know how to interact with people on a mature level and he’s looking to hire somebody, he’s not going to forget that. It’s not about the degree, it’s not about the GPA, it’s how you fit in with the team that matters.”

A Scout’s Words of Wisdom: Marcus Hendrickson

22 Friday Jul 2016

Posted by in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Former Dolphins scout Marcus Hendrickson is a more recent acquaintance of mine. I met him through friends only this summer, so I wasn’t sure if he’d even agree to do an interview in this series. But boy, am I glad he did.

He’s done a lot of thinking about the business and he’s very insightful, and though today’s interview is about twice as long as any of the ones we’ve published this week, my guess is you’ll read it more than once.

I’ll turn it over to Marcus and our Mark Skol for today’s three questions.

  1. What is the one thing NFL draft fans don’t understand about the evaluation process, and about how NFL teams scout players, that they should know? 

“A lot of fans think we pick it up at the combine but we’ve actually been watching guys for two years sometimes. It’s a process. We’ve been gathering information on these guys for 18 months, but it’s not just what the guys did at the combine.

“The risers and fallers thing is kind of a farce in a sense. It’s a piece of the puzzle, but it’s not the whole picture. A lot of times, the background that comes out a week before or a day before has been known for months. Size, speed and production are all keys, but also character, being able to fit in the scheme and intelligence. It’s way more complicated than the actual fan realizes. There’s a lot of hours that go into these decisions.

“It’s very rarely a gut feeling. It’s more programmed and thought out. A lot of guys think we picked this guy just because Mel Kiper liked him. And just because Mel Kiper likes a guy and a team doesn’t like the guys, it doesn’t make the team wrong. I have all of the respect in the world for Mel Kiper, but they are not talking to position coaches, they aren’t talking to parents, they are not talking to high school coaches. I’ve talked to their high school teachers before. It’s very in-depth, especially when it’s a guy who could be drafted in the top two or three rounds. You reach out to tons of people to try and get a good picture on who the kid is. You can evaluate the player off of the tape, but at the same time, if you are drafting a guy in the first round, he will be attached to your franchise forever, so there’s a lot of pressure on those picks. There’s so much that goes into it. It’s more than he threw for 4,000 yards and ran a 4.4 at the combine. I don’t think people really appreciate how much work goes into the evaluation process.”

  1. We all know the best advice for a young man hoping to play in the NFL is to play his best football this fall. However, as a former scout, what would you tell a young man’s parents? 

“The hardest part for parents and for the kids is (that) when they don’t go to a program that produces talent, they sometimes don’t understand the process as well. They don’t understand the league as well. I always tell their parents to make sure they are on track to graduate. Don’t get me wrong: you make a lot of money playing in the NFL but there’s not guarantees in the NFL. The average career for a player is like three years. Get your degree and make sure you are smart with your money, because everyone thinks they are going to play forever and get that second contract, but a lot of guys don’t. You have to be smart with the people you put around yourself both personal and financially. Be smart. You might be a blown Achilles or a concussion away from your career being over.

“(Also,) if there’s a scout around, don’t be afraid to introduce yourself. Guys love talking to you and getting able to pick your brain to know you. At the end of the day, if you are a fringe guy or if I see you the same as another guy, but I’ve gotten to know you a little bit, those things change the balance when you are on the fence with two guys. Putting yourself out there or introducing yourself at a tryout helps put the bar in your favor when being compared with someone with similar characteristics.”

  1. If a young person asked you how to break into the scouting business, what advice would you have for him? 

“It’s a very cutthroat business. It’s a small business and it’s hard to get in because a lot of people want to do it and there are not a lot of jobs. It’s a very limited field. But one thing that is important is to immerse yourself in football in any way that you can. If you’re a kid in college and you’ve never played before, work the equipment or video for your team. A lot of guys make their first steps in the game that way. Show that you are working. It’s not just putting your foot in the door it’s someone being able to say that you work hard. If you work in video or you are a coach’s assistant of some kind, from that, just absorb everything around you. Maybe a scout comes into your school and you are helping with the video, introduce yourself. He may pick your brain. Find a way to make a connection with someone in the game but also show that you can bring that work ethic or that awareness. If you are around athletes, pick up on, how does that guy treat other people or what is he like personally away from the cameras, away from the spotlight. Also, watch as much film as you can. If you have the ability to get your hands on a coach’s tape, write reports. Evaluate positions you don’t necessarily understand; show progress and show growth that way. I played linebacker in college and I played offensive line in high school, so those things came more naturally to me (more) than wide receiver and DB. So I had to force myself to watch DB tape and pick up on nuances. Put yourself out there. Volunteer if you have to. Do those little things to show you are committed. Also, watch as much football as you possibly can. You aren’t out of your realm because you have basic knowledge on what to pick up on.”

A Scout’s Words of Wisdom: Harrison Ritcher

21 Thursday Jul 2016

Posted by in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

By now, you know the questions and you know the direction of this week’s series. Today, we present the thoughts of Harrison Ritcher, who was let go in the Browns’ pre-draft purge this year. Harrison has also worked in the personnel department at Florida State and played fullback at N.C. State

  1. What is the one thing NFL draft fans don’t understand about the evaluation process, and about how NFL teams scout players, that they should know? 

“How extensive the process is. There’s a lot more that goes into it other than, ‘is he a good player?’ What might be a great player for the Miami Dolphins might not be the best player for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s about understanding the fit. It’s not just about how good a player is, it’s how does he fit in the culture? Does he fit in our scheme? Questions like that, you have to answer.

  1. We all know the best advice for a young man hoping to play in the NFL is to play his best football this fall. However, as a former scout, what would you tell a young man’s parents? 

“Be supportive. The process is long and drawn out. Your son is going to be poked and prodded a thousand different ways. Just be as supportive as you can. Worry about the things under his control. Don’t overthink it. Take it one day at a time. Just worry about your kid playing ball and focusing on school.”

  1. If a young person asked you how to break into the scouting business, what advice would you have for him? 

“Make sure you have some background in football. Maybe you were a player or worked with some of the colleges. Scouting is evolving. With analytics, you don’t necessarily have to take the traditional route of starting in football. With analytics, some guys have made their way up through the charting process into a building. It is evolving that way, but the rule of thumb is you have a background in football. Your network is pivotal when you are trying to break in. Knowing someone who can get your resume from someone else to (speak) on your behalf. All of these teams get thousands of emails every year and I don’t know if they look at them all, but most of the time it’s knowing someone who can put your name in front of someone who can look at your resume and give you an interview.”

A Scout’s Words of Wisdom: Matt Lindsey

20 Wednesday Jul 2016

Posted by in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Today, ITL’s Mark Skol talks to Matt Lindsey, who until February was the Eagles’ Scouting Coordinator. Matt worked his way up, starting as an intern in Philly after first working for Nick Saban in personnel at Alabama. Though he worked for the top program in college football, then rose pretty quickly up the ranks for the Eagles, he was the victim of a regime change, as so often happens in the NFL.

Here’s the second edition in our series.

  1. What is the one thing NFL draft fans don’t understand about the evaluation process, and about how NFL teams scout players, that they should know? 

“I think the biggest thing is how much time goes into it and the amount of work leading up to the draft. It goes back a year, two years, and sometimes even three years. An area scout is going to go into a school three times. There’s going to be another guy who goes in there twice, and there’s probably going to be another person who goes to a game. There are hundreds of hours dedicated to a single player taken in the draft regardless if it’s first round, fifth round or undrafted. They are putting in the work, not only to figure out who the player is on the field, but also off the field. I think fans see a 6-foot-5 player who is 250 pounds and had 10 sacks and automatically think he should be a first-round pick. Well, maybe he shouldn’t be. Maybe he doesn’t have the instincts, or the strength, or the explosion that we look for. Maybe he’s bad off of the field. I don’t think your average NFL fan has a full scope of understanding what all goes in to projecting a player in the NFL.”

  1. We all know the best advice for a young man hoping to play in the NFL is to play his best football this fall. However, as a former scout, what would you tell a young man’s parents?

“The most important thing they can do for their son is to be supportive. Going into their senior year, there is a lot of pressure on them, and they feel like they need to perform. Whether it comes from their coaches, player or parents, there is a lot of pressure on them. After their senior season, they go into all-star games, combines, pro days, and working out for teams, and it’s a very stressful process for the players. The last thing the parents should do is add stress to that. We see that a lot of times when a family is more of a drain on the player than actually helping the player. The most important thing for the parents is to be supportive, to be the rock for the player and not add stress to what’s already a stressful process for them.”

  1. If a young person asked you how to break into the scouting business, what advice would you have for him? 

“The most important thing is to be involved. Find a way to be involved. Your resume should show you have a passion for football, whether it’s coaching high school football or helping out at the college level or finding a way to work for an arena team or whatever it may be. The door is not always open as far as NFL scouting jobs go, but every single person who works at that level did something before that. If you can get involved in some way, then that’s going to go a long way as far as getting your foot in the door somewhere else. For me, I didn’t play college football. I got my foot in the door in the weight room.  From there, I worked at football operations and recruiting at a big college, and then I met people and got a chance to go to the NFL at an entry-level job. I think you just have to find a way to get involved and stay involved. It speaks to the person’s passion if you see them being involved with it.”

A Scout’s Words of Wisdom: Morocco Brown

19 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by in Scouts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

We’re just days from NFL scouts descending on training camps, agent hopefuls taking the NFLPA exam, and college players reporting to school to prep for the 2016 schedule. This means that there are several groups focusing on being their best for the ’16 season.

With that in mind, this week, we’re asking former NFL scouts three common questions we get from fans, aspiring scouts and parents of prospects, three major groups that read this blog. Today, we’ll kick things off with former Browns Vice President of Player Personnel Morocco Brown. Roc, as his friends know him, has plenty of words of advice for almost anyone interested in the game behind the game. Here’s a transcript of his conversation with ITL’s Mark Skol.

  1. What is the one thing NFL draft fans don’t understand about the evaluation process, and about how NFL teams scout players, that they should know? 

“How deep teams dig to find out about the player’s personal character and football character. We really want to know who they are. The tape is one thing because it’s so accessible, and you can watch it from anywhere on the planet as long as you have Wi-Fi on your Ipad. That’s going to be there, and there is plenty of time to watch the tape. But going into the school, talking to them, finding out contacts, going to the guy’s high school and talking to people who grew up with them and talking to his family down the stretch . . . people don’t realize how much goes into that to really figure out who is this guy — not only who we will invest money in, but someone who we will let join our organization. A lot of resources are put into that. Psychologically. Background information. Who is this guy? Does he love football? I don’t think they understand the magnitude of what goes into it.”

  1. We all know the best advice for a young man hoping to play in the NFL is to play his best football this fall. However, as a former scout, what would you tell a young man’s parents? 

“During his senior year, I would tell them not to apply any extra pressure on him. Because then, it turns into what you get out of the game (more than) just playing the game. Your thought process turns and it’s not about going out and doing my best and helping my teammates and university win the game; it’s, ‘where am I getting picked here, and did I do this or do that?,’ rather than just playing the game and doing what you’ve done to get to where you are your whole life. When you start thinking about the monetary part of everything, it can be a dangerous slippery slope.”

  1. If a young person asked you how to break into the scouting business, what advice would you have for him? 

“Seek out contacts and follow up with them. If you do that, the main thing to do is to not quit or get discouraged when you are told no. In my case, I only had one team call back out of the 32 I sent my resume, and I wound up being one guy out of seven auditioning for an intern position. If I would have listened to all of those letters that said “no, no, no,” I would have just quit.”

More Straight Talk from Aaron Wilson

15 Friday Jul 2016

Posted by in ITL

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

It’s been a busy week, and we’ve fallen a little behind on our series with Texans beat writer Aaron Wilson. However, today, before the week is out, we wanted to wrap up our discussion between ITL’s Mark Skol and the Houston Chronicle’s Wilson.

Today’s segment focuses on real talk for the aspiring football journalist. Like any writer, if we really pressed Aaron on the question of what are the perils of the business, he could probably speak for days (I know that’s true of myself). However, Aaron gives a good overview of the ‘downs’ of the biz here, and that suffices for today.

Take it away, Mark and Aaron.

What are the downs to the business?

“Obviously, there are the things you would expect. The pressure. The stress. Even sometimes (I’m) worried (about) if I’m going to get this story or that story. There are some stories that you hope to get that you work on for years. You have to deal with a lot of sports agents and other people who are close to a player to get a story like that. It’s something you have to make a large investment in with time and resources, and then it’s frustrating if you don’t get that story. You want to be first, but most importantly, you want to be right. I’m not rushed to put out a rumor because reputation is all you have. Some other tough things about the business are (that)  there’s some favoritism shown. There (are) some conflict of interests within the press. There are some things that are unfair, but life is unfair.”

What advice do you have for aspiring journalists?

“Beyond reading a lot, read the New York Times. Read the Wall Street Journal. Read books. I would say that it’s really important to gather the office. Go out and talk to people wherever they congregate, whether it’s a football field or a gym. Get in there and talk to people face to face. Try not to do many phone interviews. If you can do it, meet in person. I think it’s very important to talk to people in person. It’s very impersonal if you talk to people over phone interviews and conference calls. I would be a tough editor on myself and tell people to accept constructive feedback. You want to have mentors. You want to have people who will let you know what they think of yourself. You need people to give you some reads on if a lead works or if transitions work. Think about the details. But at some point, you have to let the story tell itself.”

Why It’s Cool to be Aaron Wilson: Part 2 of Our Interview

12 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by in ITL

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Before we go forward, I want to make something clear: Aaron Wilson has little to no ego. He never goes around talking about how cool he is, or how cool his job is, or anything of the sort. However, I asked my assistant, Mark, to specifically ask him a couple of questions related to the fun part of his job, and when he’s thought, ‘wow, this is something I’m really glad I’m doing.’

It might not be necessary, but I just wanted to offer that disclaimer. Here’s Part Two of our interview with Aaron:

When was the moment when you thought to yourself, “I’ve got a cool job?”

“I’ve had that feeling a few times, and some times it will sink in during an owner’s meeting. I remember, this was when Steve Bisciotti bought the rest of the Ravens. I was at the meeting when he was being approved as the majority owner. The owners had to sign off on Steve, and it was just a formality. I was sitting there with Steve in Palm Beach, Fla., and we are just hanging out at the Breakers Hotel and I see (Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones and (Redskins owner) Daniel Snyder walking by, and I am just hanging out with Steve, who is just a regular guy who started a business and made a name for himself. Right then it kinda sunk in, “hey, you are doing something pretty cool.” I can remember another time, since I’m thinking of Steve, who is just a great guy, with my high school teammate from Washington D.C., Kevin Plank, who founded Under Armour. I was hanging out with Kevin and Steve at Ravens training camp practice a few years back at the Naval Academy where they were having a practice for the fans. It was nice sitting there talking to those guys who are two respected and accomplished people. They kept talking with me over articles that I wrote, or they thought was interesting, and they weren’t trying to butter me up. They were just really genuine and cool. It was a good feeling.”

What makes the job fun?

“I like the relationships that you build and getting information. I’m very competitive. I like to get the story out first, but I also like to get it right. Like when you get a long-term relationship with someone, you are going to get good stories with them. I like to think of it as a win-win. You get information from someone and someone gets their story out there. Human-interest stories are always good to work on especially with something compelling. I just wrote about (Texans DT) Devon Still and his daughter who beat cancer, and I had a lot of fun talking with Devon and his family about her. They were very proud of her.”

How the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson Got His Start

08 Friday Jul 2016

Posted by in ITL

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

My first experience with the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson, who covers the Texans and who is one of the finest beat writers in the nation, was years ago. At the time, I think he was blogging for Pro Football Talk, or maybe it was during his stint writing for the National Football Post. Though he was covering the Ravens then, he was always passing along real news and info from his Twitter account.

That was unusual. So many other beat writers were simply pointing their recorders at the star player, copying it down, and then sending it out there, or maybe tweeting the odd political opinion or pop culture reference. Blah blah blah. Aaron never did that. I mean, everything that he was posting was legit news. It kinda pissed me off, because a lot of it crossed over into the kind of stuff I did (NFL scout comings and goings, agent terminations, personnel trends, that kind of stuff). I guess there was a fair amount of jealousy there, but never on Aaron’s end. From the first time we crossed paths at the Senior Bowl, Aaron was not just cordial but friendly, which is frankly pretty rare from an established person in the print media when it comes to someone like me. It was refreshing.

Last week, I asked Aaron if he’d let my crack intern, Mark, interview him about his experiences. What we got was gold, whether you’re simply a football business fan, an aspiring sports journalist, or simply the kind of person that likes to hear about good guys having success. Today, we’ll start with Aaron’s story of how he broke into the business, and next week, we’ll continue with plenty of other good stuff about his experiences.

From here, I’ll turn it over to Mark and Aaron.

“The way I got into the sports journalism business is I started off playing football as a linebacker at Eastern Carolina University. I injured my shoulder and stopped playing after three seasons. I had surgery on my shoulder and thought sports journalism would be a lot of fun and a safer route for me, so I joined the school newspaper.

“I started covering the football team that I played on, so I had a piece of insight on the team and how the team operated. I started getting stories from the people I knew and who trusted me with what was going on with recruiting, transfers, or anything that was going on with the team. At a young age, I got to cover a Division I football team that was going to bowl games and in came a lot of valuable experience. I covered the football team, the basketball team, the baseball team, and that was my start.

“(From there,) I started doing internships. I interned for a news journal in Florida, where I covered some Florida State football, minor-league ice hockey, and of course high school football, which is big in Florida. My first job was with a small paper called Hernando Today, which is owned by the Tampa Tribune, and covered high schools and local sports there. I also covered the Florida Gators and high school sports.

“The first time I got to cover a NFL game was with this small paper called the St. Augustine Record, where I covered the Jacksonville Jaguars. That was when Tom Coughlin was the coach and they had Fred Taylor at running back and Mark Brunell at quarterback. It was a pretty good team. It was a valuable experience for me to learn how to work a locker room. I had some mentors like Pete Prisco, who now works for CBS Sports. At the time, Pete was a local reporter and asked Coughlin all of the tough questions and never backed down. He was a bulldog. Pete definitely set a good example. I was watching him and asking questions.

“I went on to Baltimore, where I worked for the Carroll County Times and the Baltimore Sun. I covered the Ravens when they won the Super Bowl, and just this last year, I moved to Houston. John McClain from the Houston Chronicle recruited me to come down here and I started covering the Texans. I work for one of the largest and best newspapers in the country and I really enjoy that.”

More from Aaron next week.

Three Reasons People Fail the NFLPA Exam

07 Thursday Jul 2016

Posted by in Agents

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

This morning, I got an email from a gentleman who’s registered to take the NFLPA exam later this month in Washington, D.C. He told me that at this point, he hadn’t “cracked the book” in preparation for the exam. His question — should he defer to 2017?

It’s a good question. Lack of proper preparation time is one reason plenty of people fail the test. I guess that’s true of any test, really, but especially the NFLPA exam. It’s even more true this year, after the test was made exceptionally harder than in previous years. With the pass rate for last year’s exam below 40 percent, it’s driven plenty of people to our practice exam, the only one on the Web. The 42 questions there are the only ones you’ll find that resemble what would-be contract advisors will see in our nation’s capital in two weeks.

When you register for the NFLPA exam, the players association sends out a copy of the CBA and source documents that make things a little easier. However, studying the entire CBA to pass the exam is a little like studying Encyclopedia Brittanica to pass your American history exam. I mean, the answers are in there, but so is a lot of stuff you don’t need. That’s why you need plenty of time to prepare. It’s also why many people take advantage of the study guide we offer. It’s not free, but reasonably priced, and gives many test-takers the tools they need to succeed. Especially if they don’t find out until a couple weeks before the test date that they’ve been approved. Which happens all the time. Literally.

Here are a couple other reasons people fail the exam.

  • Lack of humility: If there’s ever been a job that attracts people with big egos, it’s the agent world. I guess the legal profession already has plenty of people with  outsized opinions of themselves, but when you stack on the (potential) status that comes from being part of the NFL, the arrogance zooms into the stratosphere. Of course, a lot of that goes away the second the seminar starts and the pure volume of information starts flowing. It can be very humbling. I’ve heard stories of people begging the more prepared guy next to them to help when they realized what they faced.
  • Poor time management: The PA made last year’s test harder not necessarily by making the material harder, but by making the questions longer and more nuanced. The people who took it last year told me there were very few fill-in-the-blank or true/false questions. Instead, there were word problems that required nuance and comprehension. Many people go into the test figuring, ‘it’s open book, so how hard can it be?’ That’s a terrible approach. Last year, dozens of people wound up spending too much time on one answer, then found themselves scrambling to finish when the proctor called time’s up.