Navy basketball coach Billy Lange has evaluated prospective recruits at major Amateur Athletic Union Tournaments and in settings as simple as an open gymnasium at a local high school. Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse coach Janine Tucker has offered a scholarship based on a player's performance at a club event or her own summer camp. Read

ODDS N ENDS

The University of Southern Florida lost 2 basketball recruits that signed letters of intent because they were not granted admission to the University. While the NLI is a legal document that bounds a student and a University together for a minimum of one year, under no circumstance does not guarantee admission to the University. A similar thing happened to two football recruits at the University of South Carolina.

A parent emailed me and asked if public universities were required to offer walk-on tryouts for their sports teams. I wasn’t sure but I imagine they are no more obligated to provide walk-on tryouts any more than they are obligated to admit every applicant that applies to the University. In this case, the school in question was a D1 University and the sport was golf. Apparently the coach doesn’t hold walk-on tryouts. While most college at any level have some type of walk-on tryouts, yes even at big D1 colleges, there are always instances like this. My theory is that for a small golf team, the recruiting process is very personal and the coach hand-picked each of the players on the team. While the coach has an obligation to field the best team, he also has an obligation to the players he spent time with sitting in their living room telling them how much he wanted them to come to his school and compete at a high level. Golf at the college level is unique in the sense that most teams have 10 or 12 players but only 6 might play in a given tournament at a time.

Harvard University rejected 91 percent of its applicants for the class of 2011.

NEWS ON INDIVIDUAL COLLEGES

Assumption College will add women’s swimming to its intercollegiate athletics in 2008-09 after one year as a club sport. The sport will begin operations in 2007-08 as a club sport.

Western New England College this fall will begin competition in 16 sports in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The school, which previously competed in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, becomes the Commonwealth Coast’s 14th member institution and joins schools from Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island in the league. Western New England, which sponsors 19 varsity sports, also will retain membership in the New England Football Conference, ECAC Northeast (men’s ice hockey) and the New England College Conference Wrestling Association.

Fairfield University elevated men’s rowing to become the program’s 20th varsity sport beginning with the 2007-08 academic year.

The University of Oregon announced it will reinstate its baseball program for the 2008-09 season and eliminate wrestling after 2007-08. Baseball was initially eliminated after the 1980-81 season for financial reasons. Women’s golf and women’s soccer and men’s gymnastics also were eliminated at that time. Women’s golf and women’s soccer have since been reinstated. Oregon also will add women’s competitive cheer.

C.W. Post Campus/Long Island University will eliminate its men’s and women’s track and field teams, effective with the upcoming 2007-08 academic year. Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams will remain as varsity sports at C.W. Post and continue to compete in the East Coast Conference and Collegiate Track Conference.

Westfield State College will reinstate men’s ice hockey as a varsity sport beginning in 2008-09. The school suspended the program for budgetary reasons 20 years ago, but a club program has been in place at the school since 1999.

St. Vincent College will begin it's first season as a Division 3 Football program.

The Making of a Student-Athlete: Succeeding in the College Selection and Recruiting Process for High School Athletes, Parents and Coaches. ORDER TODAY