Laurie Richter’s foray into authorship happened quite unexpectedly. Mostly it was born out of a desire for a happy ending to her oldest son’s quest to play basketball in college. New to recruiting, Laurie was surprised at how few resources there were to guide them through the process. Having been in market research for many years, she tackled recruiting like a typical research project. She evaluated a range of schools and sports programs and questioned the many college coaches they came in contact with about every aspect of the college sports experience. The time and effort was well worth it as son Dylan now shoots hoops at Washington University in St. Louis. But along the recruiting trail, they heard too many stories with unhappy endings—the result of a lack of understanding about how recruiting really works. Penning Put Me In, Coach will undoubtedly set the stage for more happy endings among kids who want to play college sports at a school well-suited for them.

Laurie received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Maryland in 1978 and went on to get an M.A. and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. A spur-of -the moment job interview at a national psychology conference introduced her to a career path in market research with the Quaker Oats Company, where she stayed for ten years before striking out on her own with Consumer Voice, an agency she owned and operated for the next fourteen years, specializing in focus group research with Fortune 100 clients. Laurie, husband Jim, and son Brady live in Lincolnshire, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

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