Maximum Exposure

Mike Sciacca

The next time you watch a college football game, chances are you might

run across an athlete that Greg Dies and Dan Valentine came across first.

Dies and Valentine run the Huntington Beach-based National Sports

Service, which works hand in hand with local high schools and junior

colleges by providing game film and information to universities on the

recruiting trail.

The service receives game film from these various high schools then,

in turn, makes copies and sells the films to four-year programs across

the country.

The name of the game in getting a high school player recruited is

exposure, and since 1987, Dies and Valentine have worked hard to ensure

that local athletes received maximum exposure.

“That’s what it’s about, bottom line,” Dies said. “We have never given

a scholarship to any of these kids, but we have given them the exposure

they need in order to garner the interest of major college teams. We

don’t take credit for their success, but we’re here to help these kids

any way that we can.”

National Sports Service first went by the name Para-Dies Scouting when

it was launched in 1987. Its concept was born, Dies said, when then-head

coach Bob Biggs of UC Davis suggested that this type of a service was

needed in Orange County.

National Sports Service began with coverage in Southern California and

three years ago expanded to include Northern California. Their business

has done “quite well,” says Dies.

The company’s basic service is to supply four-year colleges with

information, player profiles and game films from high schools and junior

colleges in California. The service never charges an athlete, parent or

coach for its services, and gives back to the schools 20% from game film

they sell to a university.

What this service, which also works with Student Sports Magazine, does

is alleviate the stress of coaches having to constantly make game tapes

for various colleges. It gives the student athlete more exposure and adds

a little money into a school’s budget.

Universities interested in a local athlete contact Dies and Valentine

and place a tape order via the fax or by phone. Their client list is a

virtual who’s who of college football: UCLA, USC, Notre Dame, Nebraska,

etc. Many Division I-AA, Division II, III and National Assn. of

Intercollegiate Athletics schools also use the service, albeit to a

lesser degree.

“You know, recruiting is an inexact science,” Dies explained. “There

are no experts and plenty of opinions. Many kids fall through the cracks

in the recruiting process. We’ve seen others get recruited who we thought

probably would not be recruited. Then, there are those who are complete

surprises.”

Mater Dei, Dies said, gets anywhere from 100 to 150 requests for game

tapes a year.

Dies, 44, and Valentine, 43, both played football at Costa Mesa High

School. Valentine also works for Boeing in Long Beach, and Dies has a

vast coaching career that includes football stints at Estancia High

School as assistant varsity coach, Mater Dei freshman coach and the past

three years as the junior varsity coach at Fountain Valley. He also has

coached boys’ freshman volleyball at Mater Dei and Fountain Valley junior

varsity, six years of girls’ basketball at Mater Dei junior varsity and

freshmen. Last year he was an assistant girls’ varsity basketball coach

at Marina.

Dies also served for six years as the physical education teacher and

athletic director at St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Huntington Beach.

Currently, he coaches the Huntington Beach Jr. Midget Dolphins in Junior

All-American Football.

“Needless to say, I’ve seen a lot of talented athletes play in this

area,” Dies said. “Orange County is such a hotbed for athletics, and a

lot of these colleges know that.”