Mike Gilliam – Athletic Scholarship Coach and Mentor

Welcome to Oi, Opportunities Through Athletics, inc. where you’ll learn that knowledge is power and ignorance is expensive!

I was not recruited out of High school and simply went on to become one of the most decorated athletes in Kent State University history where I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Marketing. From winning five conference championships, a National championship, two-year team captain, school record holder, Division I coach for a top 20 nationally ranked team and a conference championship team, a professional career that included five world tours, to the Hall of Fame with the likes of Jack Lambert, Lou Holtz, Thurman Munson, and Ben Curtis, I know where you are and the great fortunes that possibly lie ahead of you!

What I received in return for all my hard work and accomplishments and lack of knowledge about the recruiting process was ten years of student-loans!

The reason is simple. There is a tremendous void in the general public and in high schools about how the recruiting process works. This is precisely what Oi serves to fill. As I stated before, knowledge is power and I believe education is paramount. However, I’ve never needed the Quadratic formula to pay one bill. I’ve never been asked to diagram an English sentence in my adult life, and kids are forced to take a foreign language when they can’t even master English! As a parent myself, I’m glad these subjects and topics are in place to broaden our children’s range of knowledge. But when the time comes to explore the vast array of colleges and universities and to offset the cost of a college education, while fulfilling your child’s dream of continuing their athletic career, those subjects aren’t going to take you to the finish line.

Like any thing in life, if you don’t know how the game is played, your chances of winning are slim.

I never took a class about recruiting. I never had somebody sit down and explain to me how the process works and I never knew how many options were available and what they were looking for.

When you think about life in general it tends to be a little bit backwards. We typically gain wisdom, weight, and wealth when we don’t need it as much. It is in the earlier stages of life that those assets could’ve been more helpful and useful. The recruiting process to college is a once in a lifetime experience, but only for those that get recruited! Not every talented student-athlete is guaranteed they’ll get recruited. Every parent in North America is on the hook for the cost of a college education which can range from $60,000 to $200,000 depending on the type of college you attend.

My goal is to import useful knowledge, at a relevant time, not only for a successful recruiting campaign but for the game of life which has no season.

To know the road ahead of you ask those coming back!

I know for a fact that the skills and discipline I developed through my highly competitive athletic career has served as a foundation for success. From time management, multi-tasking, sacrifice, responsibility, accountability, accepting constructive criticism, making important decisions at critical times, adjusting, visualizing, preparing, goal-setting, losing and winning, I use each attribute every single day!

As parents we should all be preparing our children to win the game of life! There is no better arena to learn how to win in life than in sports!

The success I’ve had in my life I attribute to the supporting cast that surrounds me. I now want to pass the torch and be a part of the supporting cast that surrounds you.

I look forward to positively impacting your future. I thoroughly enjoy improving lives for a living!