In Manasquan, A New Wave of Basketball Recruiting Begins

Think of your favorite hobby or your one true passion. Now, think of how you can turn that into a job. Try and figure out a way to take that energy you put into the hobby or passion and translate that into your daily life.

Well, that's what Tim Burke decided to do.

Burke, a Manasquan resident, has grown up with a love for basketball. He played the game through high school and college and is currently an assistant coach on the boys basketball team at Manasquan High School.

Over the course of time, though, he had been trying to figure out how to stay connected with the game he held so close to his heart. And having gone through the recruiting process after a successful career at Christian Brother's Academy and then at Catholic University in Washington D.C., Burke knew there was a niche that he could carve on that front.

"From the time I got out of college I knew I wanted to be involved in coaching in some capacity and I was always was amazed by the entire recruiting process," said Burke. "I enjoyed spending hours in the gym, up to 12 hours a day, not just watching, but analyzing game after game and player after player to see where they would fit into college programs."

With that in mind and his desire to help, he began a process that is now Live Recruit Academic.

"I realized that players were having a difficult time getting the necessary exposure that was mainly going to the top 100 to 200 recruits in the country," said Burke. "I figured there had to be a way for good, smart players that were not blessed with unbelievable athletic gifts, but were extremely talented on the court and wanted to play at the college level."

Focusing — for now at least — on basketball players, Live Recruit Academic is a bridge that Burke is hoping high school players and college coaches use daily to better both themselves and programs.

By paying a fee and creating a profile, the athlete is in control of it all. They can post photos, videos and their stats. But, there is one other aspect that allows Live Recruit Academic to separate itself from the other recruiting services out there —the classroom.

Each player that signs up needs at least a 3.0 grade point average, as well as the estimated qualifying SAT score of 1050 (2 parts). Each college coach has the capability of searching through the player database based on their school's academic requirements.

"This is a site specifically tailored to academic basketball, the Patriot League Player and Ivy League Player, the Division II and Division III player" said Burke.  "A lot of the websites that are popping up are catered towards all sports.

"I wanted this site to be about Academic Basketball recruits only," continued Burke, "and you will see that through the search features that college coaches can use to find the exact player they are looking for with the criteria they need and evaluate through their Highlight Video and Game Film."

Burke also has an evaluation team of former high school and college coaches plus various scouts throughout the country set up so the college coaches receive a true, unbiased critique of the players.

Having just launched in 2010, Live Recruit Academic has been able to help players land roster spots at Johns Hopkins University and Connecticut College and even the University of South Carolina.

Still, Burke is trying to add users on a daily basis through any means possible. He has watched various high school games or tournaments. He's using social media —Twitter, Facebook and blogs — to get the word out. These platforms allow Burke to connect college coaches to recruits instantly and takes the recruiting process to a new level.

And with each day that passes, Burke is seeing the results.

He just added University of Chicago and Army to the growing list of colleges participating in the site. He has players from various schools in the Shore Conference, but also players from Texas and Florida.

"In five years my goal is to have every academic recruit in the country in our database and every academic college registered to connect the two in the recruiting process," said Burke. "Once basketball is perfected, I would like to offer my knowledge in other sports as well developing specific websites to expand the Live Recruit process."