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April 2006 Varsityedge.com newsletter - Newsletter Homepage
ARTICLES
This was a story from ESPN about a player paying his own way (or his parents paying) and excelling in athletics at a high level. Read
FOOTBALL COMBINE
If you live in the Ohio area and play football you might be interested in this event. If you don't play football, perhaps you can pass it along to someone whom does or someone who might be interested in this event.
The D1 Ultimate Football Combine will be held on June 17th at Lakeland Community College. You will have valuable test results before double sessions even start. Combine test results will measure speed, strength, agility and explosion. This is not a showcase event where college coaches will be in attendance, it is an event to measure your skills and physical attributes with the goal of identifying your talent and ability as it applies to other players and identifying what skills you should be working on to get to the next level.
Registration for the event opens March 27, 2006. athletes can register online at www.d1football.net or you can print out the necessary forms for each participant to fill out and mail in. Team discounts are available. A team consists of 11 players or more from one school.
ODD’S N ENDS
If you hurry you can catch a pretty amazing story about a billboard at Fenway Park about a young man that passed 2 years ago. Please visit espn.com and go to the spotlight section where there are like 4 or 5 tabs. Click on "Voices" and you will see the story. It requires ESPN Motion to be installed on your machine. Even if you hate the Red Sox you should enjoy the story.
I had the chance to talk about recruiting for 10 minutes on an internet radio show last Saturday. I'm hoping to get a regular gig so If I do I will let people know how they can tune in.
Years ago Jim Brown a famous but long retired football player once said Tiger Woods needs to do more for society than try to put a golf club in every black kids hands. That was maybe 4 or 5 years ago. If you caught 60 minutes on Sunday March 26th, you may have seen the Tiger Woods Learning Center, a "school" where kids can learn and experiment with a variety of subjects such as Aerospace, Graphic Design, DNA Lab, Home Design & Repair, Robotics, Communications, Engineering or Universal Science, journalism, forensics, and much more. There is also a driving range and practice golf facility on the grounds. It is the first of what Tiger hopes is many learning centers throughout the country and he donated 5 million dollars of his own money to the center which is supported by sponsors and donors. In the age of Barry Bonds, Terrell Owens and countless other athletes who only seem to care about themselves, Woods is transcending what it means to give back to society and his learning center will no doubt provide a future for thousands of children whom otherwise wouldn't have gotten the chance to learn and experiment with new careers even try to hit a golf ball. As Tiger said Sunday night on 60 minutes, "golf is what I do, but it is not who I am." More on Tiger in the May newsletter.
Be prepared for a call at any time. In the age of cell phones and text messaging communicating with people has never been more easier. At a baseball party last night for the summer team I do some work with a HS player received a call from a college coach who is currently recruiting him on his cell phone. He took the call and luckily the party was somewhat quiet.
Found a recruiting book online that was selling for about $50. I wondered why it was so expensive and saw that it came with a free bonus which was "access to articles designed to make your child a more educated and informed college recruit." So I guess my question is why aren't those articles part of the book?
You have to love technology. The next great debate among NCAA rule officials coming to a theatre near you will be the use of text messaging as a form of communication with recruits. Currently email, instant messaging and text messaging has no regulations and you and a coach can do as much of it as you like but text messaging is harder for a recruit to control and also has some cost implications depending on your cell phone plan.
If getting into college wasn't challenging enough, the College Board (the company that runs the SAT test) mis-scored over 4,000 tests and deducted a 100 points from students just in time for their applications to be reviewed by colleges.
The NCAA is extending it's drug testing program to include the summer saying testing may occur at homes, jobs and other locations. The tests are for all NCAA athletes but will focus on football and baseball of course!
It was only a matter of time. A football player has sued a college claiming the coach told the player during his recruiting visit that he would be awarded an athletic scholarship if he came to the school and paid for the fall semester. The coach denies offering the player a scholarship telling him he would have the chance to compete for a scholarship but that nothing was guaranteed. The player is asking for money for 4 years worth of tuition at the school at just over one hundred thousand dollars and change.
My only comment about the Duke University Lacrosse story is this. Let it be a lesson as to how easily one can get in trouble not only in college but in life by surrounding yourself with a group of people some of whom are not behaving appropriately, regardless of what actually happened or didn't happen or allegedly happened. This story is not going to end pretty. The coach has already resigned, the season has already been cancelled and two indictment's have been handed out.
NEWS ON INDIVIDUAL COLLEGES
Harvard University recently announced that it has raised the income level for it's free tuition program. In the past, Harvard has offered free tuition for any family whose income was $40,000 or less. That number has now been raised to $60,000 of income per year. The University of Pennsylvania has a similar program for free tuition for any family whose income is $50,000 per year.
Niagra women's lacrosse team forfeited one game due to a hazing violation when the team hosted a party.
Albright College’s recently rebuilt Shirk Stadium seats 5,000 spectators, and its new artificial turf field provides a playing surface for soccer, field hockey and lacrosse, in addition to football
Colorado State women's basketball coach has removed athletic scholarships from 4 players. As you may or may not know, athletic scholarships are not guaranteed for 4 years but go on a year-to-year basis. The players have the right to transfer to another D1 program without having to sit out a year.
Once again the Kenyon College men's swimming team captured the D3 NCAA championship. That makes 27 years in a row..............
Showing that it wasn't a fluke last year, the Emory College women's D3 swim team backed up their 2005 championship by repeating again this year, again over Kenyon College. For boredom I looked at the fastest 50 fee time turned in by Calvin College swimmer Becky Weima with a time of 23.30. The time was faster than any time turned in by any swimmer on Boston College (D1) in two league meets I checked.
Lafayette College will now be offering athletic scholarships for men's and women's basketball becoming the last patriot team in the league to do so with the exception of Army and Navy. Beginning with the 2006 season, the men's and women's basketball teams will be allowed three scholarships each, which will continue for four years when both teams reach 12 full scholarships each.
Augustana College (D2) is adding additions to an on-campus soccer field and a new football training complex.
The West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference announced Wednesday that both The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and Seton Hill (Greensburg, PA) have accepted invitations to the 16-team, conference.
FINANCIAL AID CHANGES
There will be some changes to the Federal Pell Grant loan program. Starting in July, qualifying students can receive an additional 750 dollars per year in loans based on your high school curriculum
The interest rate on PLUS loans is rising to 8.5 percent from 6.1 percent.
529 Investment plans in the name of a child will also be given the same treatment as a parents plan for the federal-aid calculation.
WHEN GOING TO AN ELITE PRIVATE SCHOOL IN MASSACHUSETTS HURTS YOUR CHANCES OF GAINING ACCEPTANCE TO A PARTICULAR COLLEGE.
Most of you have probably heard of Boston College. But have you heard of Boston College High School? BC high, as it's known around here, is a small private school in Boston. One of the more popular universities for BC High students to apply to is to no one’s surprise, Boston College. The problem is this year over 180 students from BC High applied to Boston College. Colleges are usually looking for two things, academic success and diversity. While most BC High students have academic success (and enough money to cover BC’s tuition) they sure do lack what we refer to as "diversity." They could all score a 1600 (or 2400?) on the SAT and they could all be straight A students taking AP classes. Despite their efforts, there is no way Boston College is going to accept 180 students from the same high school. So while attending a top private high school can often help your admissions chances, in this case, if you want to go to Boston College, the best route there may not be to attend a private high school where the majority of your classmates will be applying to the same college.
WHAT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS SAYS ABOUT YOU.
With over 1,000 people signed up for our email newsletter, I come across some pretty interesting email addresses. While the name you choose for your email address is your prerogative, if you are communicating with a college coach, you may want to take another peak at your email address. Make sure your email is not offensive in any way. The last thing you want to happen is for a coach to see your email and not take you seriously. One person signed up for our newsletter and had an email address that said [schoolname]bound@yahoo.com – If I am a coach at a competing university and I get an email from you, I am going to assume you want to go to that school instead of my school if you took the time to register that name for your email address.
QUESTION
Can an NCAA D1 or D2 school go ahead and make a formal offer/commitment to an athlete who hasn't shown eligibility through the clearinghouse? For example, the athlete doesn't have the minimum number of core high school credits nor does he meet the minimum SAT/GPA combination.
Given the increased academic accountability, even if it's allowable, why would they WANT to do that and risk getting into trouble with the NCAA re: their athletes' academic achievement stats?
Just wondering...there's a D1 school hotly courting a high school senior in my geographic area who will not have the minimum number of academic credits (NCAA criteria, not high school criteria) upon graduation and who also doesn't have the required min SAT/GPA combination. Yes, he's VERY hot athletically...great football player.
ANSWER
Since final eligibility isn't determined by the clearinghouse until a senior concludes the end of their senior year and finishes all their classes, the answer to your question is, yes, a school can/will make a formal offer to an athlete that hasn't shown eligibility yet.
Obviously eligibility is a big issue and coaches will be weary about recruiting an athlete that is on the bubble eligibility wise depending on the school and program of course. The assumption is either that athlete will improve their grades in the spring of their senior year or they may still come to the college and sit out a year.
Core course deficiency is a hard thing to overcome, if you haven't taken the required courses, it really doesn't matter what your grades or SAT score is, so that is really a separate issue. If you are short on English and you get a 4.0 GPA and ace the SAT, it really doesn't matter as you will still be short on English.
The other issue is obviously getting accepted to the college and most schools won't let an athlete in with terrible grades. This of course usually only happens when a big-time football or basketball program wants a really good player and they are willing to bend their admissions standards in order to land that recruit.
QUESTION:
I'm being recruited by Tufts, a D3 school, and my grades aren't bad but they aren't up to Tufts standard. I have a 90 with AP classes. If im good enough for the track team, and the coach wants me enough to send my name to admissions, will my grades hurt me?
ANSWER:
Unfortunately Tufts University is one of the hardest schools in New England to gain admission to if not the country..
Last year the school received roughly 14,700 applications and admitted about 2,000 students. That is about 13 percent, not good odds for anyone.
As far as general recruiting goes, it does help to have a college coach who is interested in recruiting you and it does help to have your name on the coaches admissions list. But it is not as black and white as it sounds. It can depend on the school and the sport as some schools and some sports place more weight on what a coach wants. It can also depend on what a coach needs. Most small D3 colleges will look at their athletic programs as a whole and try to admit a certain number of athletes in a given year. This means the school will often look at the needs of individual teams. If the soccer team has no goalie and the lacrosse team has 2 goalies, it's likely admissions will let in a soccer goalie before they let in another lacrosse goalie.
Tufts in notoriously tuff with admissions for student-athletes and my impression is that they have so many student-athletes to choose from that they place less emphasis on letting in a particular athlete that a college coach really wants and more emphasis on letting in quality students that are also athletes. When you get into small elite private schools, the focus is not on athletic prowess and the school is looking for students first and athletes second.
If you are being recruited, and by recruited I mean that the coach has called you, is interested in you and has invited you to campus and told you that he/she wants you to attend their school and play for their team, then that means the coach probably feels you have the grades to possibly be accepted to the school. I say possibly because in all honesty, over 10,000 kids are going to be rejected and probably 7,000 of those kids will all have the grades to be accepted, the simple problem is that there just isn't room for everyone....
I would keep communicating with the college coach but I would also have a backup plan and Ideally, you should have 5 or 6 schools that you are interested in and that are interested in you.
In 2003, Tufts rejected the following people. - 1,665 students who were in the top 5% of their class, 3,292 students who scored between 700-800 in the SAT math, and 2,531 students who scored between 700-800 on the SAT verbal.
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