Coach Jed Stugart’s Experience with Scorability at Lindenwood University

Recruiting the right players can make or break a college football program. For Coach Jed Stugart at Lindenwood University, finding a systematic way to identify athletes who align with his program’s values has transformed how his team approaches recruitment. Using Scorability, Coach Stugart has discovered a method to predict leadership qualities and work ethic before players ever step on campus.

The Challenge of Traditional Recruitment

Every college football coach faces the same fundamental question during recruitment: What will this player really be like when they arrive on campus? Traditional evaluation methods focus heavily on athletic performance, but character traits like leadership, work ethic, and cultural fit often remain uncertain until it’s too late.

As Coach Stugart explains, bad character fits or players lacking work ethic can devastate a program. When recruiting serves as the lifeblood of a team’s success, leaving these critical factors to chance creates unnecessary risk.

Creating a Character Baseline

Scorability’s approach addresses this challenge through a simple but powerful concept: baseline your best players first.

Coach Stugart’s process begins by assessing the 10 players who exemplify the qualities his program values most. These are the athletes who demonstrate:

• Outstanding leadership capabilities
• Exceptional work ethic
• Strong alignment with team principles
• The character traits that define program culture

This baseline creates a measurable standard. Instead of relying on gut feelings or limited observations, the coaching staff now has quantifiable data on what success looks like within their specific program.

Comparing Prospects to Your Foundation

Once the baseline is established, the real power of the system becomes apparent. When evaluating recruits, Coach Stugart can now compare each prospect’s assessment results directly against the foundation players who embody his program’s identity.

This comparison reveals how closely a recruit’s leadership characteristics and work ethic align with the team’s established culture. The guesswork disappears. Coaches can see objective data showing whether a prospect shares the same character traits as the players they want to build around.

Eliminating Recruitment Worries

The impact on the recruitment process has been significant. Coach Stugart notes that Scorability has already changed how his staff looks at prospects entirely.

The platform eliminates many of the worries that traditionally plague recruitment decisions. Questions that once remained unanswered until players arrived on campus now have data-driven answers:

• What will this player’s leadership really look like?
• How strong is their actual work ethic?
• Will they fit our team culture?
• Can they help maintain our program’s standards?

Building Sustainable Program Culture

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of this approach is its long-term impact on program sustainability. Coach Stugart describes the ability to identify replacement players who share the same character traits as departing leaders as “awesome.”

This creates a self-reinforcing cycle. As senior leaders graduate, the program can confidently recruit players who will maintain the same cultural standards. The team’s identity remains consistent even as rosters change, building a sustainable foundation for long-term success.

Why Character Assessment Deserves Priority

In a market saturated with recruiting tools and services, Coach Stugart emphasizes why character assessment stands apart. While many products promise competitive advantages, few address the fundamental issue that determines program health: the character of the players you bring in.

When recruiting truly serves as a program’s lifeblood, character evaluation should receive the highest priority. The cost of getting it wrong extends far beyond a single season. Poor character fits affect team chemistry, leadership development, and the overall culture that determines whether a program thrives or struggles.

The Bottom Line

Coach Stugart’s endorsement is unequivocal: he can’t recommend the platform any more highly. For programs serious about building sustainable success through strategic recruitment, having objective data on character traits and cultural fit has become indispensable.

The traditional approach of evaluating talent while hoping for the best on character no longer makes sense when better tools exist. Scorability provides college football programs with what they’ve always needed: a way to see beyond athletic performance and identify the complete player before making recruitment commitments.

For coaches looking to maximize their recruitment effectiveness and build programs on a foundation of strong character, the question isn’t whether to use assessment tools like Scorability. The question is whether they can afford not to.