Notre Dame Director of Recruiting Aaryn Kearney Headed to Zcruit

Notre Dame Director of Recruiting Aaryn Kearney is leaving South Bend for Zcruit, a recruiting service that works with over 50 Division I programs. 

Kearney, a Nebraska alum, came to Notre Dame in 2015 as the Assistant Director of Recruiting before getting promoted to Director of Recruiting the following year. 

During his time at Notre Dame, Kearney assisted recruiting coordinator Mike Elston and Director of Player Personnel Dave Peloquin. The Nebraska native organized all official and unofficial visits, helped oversee academics of potential recruits and the student-worker program on game day. 

“There are a lot of good guys across the country doing what Aaryn does, but it’s his attention to detail that separates him,” explained one source. “Every minute and every step, whether it’s a recruit or a coach, is planned or scheduled out. We were there for a couple of days, and he has these recruiting books for his coaches. They are in a binder and perfectly detailed. A lot of schools have them, but his are above and beyond.” 

Kearney also impressed several parents of recruits during his time at Notre Dame.

“He rolled out the red carpet for us, and he did that for all the recruits,” stated the source. “The attention to detail is unreal. I call it the play card. His play card on Saturday had every single recruit with information and had everything planned out. He had this young lady making sure the recruit was OK, and his experience was great.

“It’s huge, especially when you’re on limited time. To have every minute scripted out is like how coaches script practice. I’ve been at some places where they have it like that, but they go off schedule, and you get behind. He had his assistants on time for everything and ready to go. 

“Every single detail he had ready. It helps us a lot, and it shows recruits that if he’s able to do that then imagine how everything else is run. It shows. The academic team and tutoring team, right on time.”

Kearney will stay close to recruiting as Zcruit helps programs recruit better by providing a service to organize recruiting boards and analyze various metrics, including Social Media.