Front Rush set out to modernize a multi-billion-dollar industry that was still running on spreadsheets, paper forms, and disconnected tools. A first-time founder partnered with Net Solutions to build a cloud-based recruiting platform from a single proof of concept, at a time when Gmail had only just launched and smartphones did not yet exist.
Over a 15-year partnership, that idea grew into Front Rush, the #1 recruiting solution in U.S. college sports, which at its peak was used by over 30,000 coaches across more than 9,500 teams at over 850 schools. The platform expanded to reach well beyond recruiting into communication, compliance, admissions integration, forms, and fundraising, delivered through its Front Rush Essentials and Elite packages.
“Net Solutions consistently exceeds our expectations. We’ve worked with them for over 10 years, and they just keep delivering.”
coaches utilizing the platform
Teams adopted across 850+ schools at its peak
Picture a multi-billion-dollar industry still run on Excel sheets, printed reports, and handwritten notes. That was the reality of U.S. college athletics recruiting. Athletic departments tracked athlete performance, communication, and compliance across tools that never talked to each other. The result was a broken process that let promising recruits slip through the cracks. Key challenges included:
Performance data, communication logs, and compliance records lived in separate spreadsheets and paper files. Nothing was centralized, and nothing synced.
Athlete information arrived in every format imaginable, from CSV files and text exports to outdated tools and even faxes, making it nearly impossible to unify into a single view.
With no shared system, miscommunication was constant. Coaches were overwhelmed, follow-ups were dropped, and top prospects were lost to the gaps.
Coaches were used to pen, paper, and legacy desktop software. The idea of a cloud-based platform raised eyebrows in a tradition-bound industry, so trust had to be earned, not assumed.
The project began before smartphones existed and as Gmail was just launching. Building for a target that kept shifting meant the platform had to evolve continuously without overwhelming users.
Net Solutions partnered with the founder to reshape recruiting one validated step at a time, rather than betting everything on a single risky launch. We started small with a focused proof of concept designed to prove immediate value, then expanded scope as coaches adopted the platform and trust grew. Every layer, from data integration to compliance to mobile, was built iteratively, tested in the real world, and refined with direct feedback from coaches. This phased, trust-first strategy let Front Rush win over a skeptical industry while steadily growing into a full recruiting ecosystem.
To bring recruiting into a modern, data-driven era, we built and scaled a suite of capabilities over time:
We began with a lightweight prototype focused on a single goal: show coaches immediate value by allowing them to track athletes and communicate in one place. That early win earned the trust needed to build the full platform.
The validated concept became a core system for discovering and tracking top high school athletes, communicating with prospects, and monitoring performance over time, all in one connected place.
We built import tools that handled messy, real-world data of every kind, from CSV and text files to proprietary APIs and professional data feeds. No matter how fragmented the input, the system cleaned and unified it.
We built NCAA-aligned compliance that adapted to each team’s division and sport. The system proactively alerted coaches before a potential violation, gave compliance officers a dedicated login to review and clear flagged interactions, and tracked countable activity in CARA logs. We also added alumni management modules and communication engines with branded templates and Gmail plug-ins.
As technology evolved, we launched native iOS and Android apps for coaches on the move. Features included note recording via built-in microphones, auto-stored calls, video capture, recruit caller ID, and Splunk-based interaction tracking for complete engagement visibility.
The platform pushed past recruiting into the full athletic department by adding unlimited online forms and automated workflows with secure student-athlete portals for signing NCAA documents. A turn-key fundraising module allowed coaches to run crowdfunding campaigns with per-athlete reporting.
The platform we built moved from disruptor to industry leader, delivering results that reshaped college sports recruiting:
Front Rush became the leading recruiting solution in U.S. college sports, setting the benchmark the rest of the industry was measured against.
At its peak, the platform was actively used by 30,000 coaches and powered more than 9,500 teams at over 850 schools across the United States.
Front Rush launched with zero major bugs reported in its first full year of use, consistently earning praise for usability, stability, and performance.
After a merger with another athletics product, new leadership compared both platforms. The Net Solutions build had fewer bugs, better performance, and higher user satisfaction, resulting in our team taking over the second product as well.
What started as recruiting software grew into an end-to-end system spanning recruiting, communication, deep NCAA compliance, admissions integration via FR PASS, paperless forms, and fundraising.
In June 2021, Front Rush’s parent company, Reigning Champs, was acquired by Endeavor in a deal worth $200 million, placing the platform Net Solutions built inside one of the world’s largest sports and entertainment groups.
This was not a one-off project. It was a 15-year partnership that turned a student’s idea into the industry standard. Here is what made that possible:
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