Brandon Lopez, Senior Recruiting Coordinator
University of Illinois
(312) 610-6184
Ever since I was 7 years old, I was involved in football, baseball and wrestling. Being a three-sport athlete was tough, but not only did it teach me time management, it kept me and my twin brother out of trouble. My father raised two twin boys by himself and coached every team until high school, and I truly thank him for that. My father was a military man, so honor, courage and commitment has been drilled into my head since I can remember. He taught me never to settle for second place and never let someone tell you you’re not good enough. My whole life I was told I was never good enough to play sports in college. As a matter of fact, my high school coach told my brother and I we would never wrestle in college. I used that as fuel for my fire and proved him wrong when I wrestled for the University of Illinois Fighting Illini after high school. In high school, I was a running back, a second baseman and ranked fifth in the state at 165lbs for wrestling. Wrestling was my core sport, as I helped my HS team take second and third at team state. I decided to wrestle in college because U of I was my best offer and I did not do much in regard to recruiting to get my name out for football or baseball. Though wrestling is my passion, I still would have liked to know what other opportunities were out there if I knew the recruiting process. I did absolutely nothing but play sports, but was lucky enough to be noticed because I was surrounded by an awesome coaching staff.
Unfortunately, my college wrestling career did not go as planned. I got hurt a few times and only started one season. After college, I decided to join the work force and found a job doing technical recruiting. That did not last very long, as I knew my heart was with sports, so I decided to find something new. Lucky for me, my childhood friend introduced me to NCSA, and I loved it. I went to my interview and knew this was the place to be because everyone, from the CEO to the part-time staff, is driven to help student-athletes and their families no matter what, and I knew I needed to be a part of something as great as NCSA.
Not only am I able say my profession deals with sports, but I get to work with the sports I’m in love with. Not to mention the NCSA family that not only shares the same passion as me but truly cares about impacting student-athletes and their families in the most positive way imaginable. I joined NCSA in March, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. To me, the most rewarding part about working with NCSA is not the fact I get to work with sports, but knowing I am positively impacting a student-athlete’s life and their family’s day in and day out.
When I’m not giving 110 percent in the office helping families, I love spending time with my grandma, as she means the world to me and she cooks the best homemade Mexican food out there. I do have a twin brother, so I usually spend time with him and friends or help my local kids club wrestling team when I can.
My goal is to not just help families with recruiting, but to be like the coaching staff that helped me get recruited and help as many student-athletes and their families take advantage of the best opportunities out there.