| . |
July 2006 Varsityedge.com newsletter - Newsletter Homepage
The July Varsityedge.com newsletter consists of a few words of advice from various parents who are currently involved in the recruiting process or who have recently concluded the process. If you would like to contribute something for August, please feel free to email us
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First and foremost visit,visit,visit!!!! I cannot stress this enough. What your child thinks they want or needs takes on a whole new meaning when you're on campus and interacting with students and faculty. My daughter swore she wanted a small,liberal arts, suburban school. This September she will be attending a university in Washington DC. We visited 3 times to be sure, so if your child asks to go back to a place where they previously wouldn't get out of the car, they may be having second thoughts. It's their school and their choice (within reason) so it will be worth any trips you take.
Second, don't choose a school for the coach! Contracts end, they get fired, they quit, get other opportunities, have children, they get sick, etc.... Anything can happen! Choose a school on education possibilities first, respective sport second. If a letter of intent is signed, it’s a contract! At minimum the student is bound for at least 1 year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talent might be one of the lesser factors in the recruiting process.
The economics of recruiting dictate a college coach invest his efforts where he is getting the best bang for his buck. It is widely regarded that the most talent is in Texas, California and Florida for baseball. If you live in the north, unless you throw 100 or hit 50 home runs, a coach is unlikely to spend money to come and see you play. They believe they can find just as good a player, in quantity in the baseball mecca’s. So as a parent, you must invest in getting your just as talented son in front of the right coaches. And remember, baseball is a game of failure. And they really do scout performance as well as tools. So after you invest in trips to camps and showcases, you hope your son doesn't happen to have one or two of his failures that day. (1 out of 3 is success in baseball) Kids in the mecca’s have many more opportunities to be seen meaning a single day of failure does not hurt them as much as someone with only one or two opportunities to impress a coach.
In-state vs. out of state tuition is also a big factor. Coaches have to offer higher % to out of state kids to make the out of pocket for the parents more attractive. The % doesn't always have any relationship to talent, but sometimes a lot on affordability. When my son was offered his scholarship, the coach made reference to the fact that we were already paying for private high school. He was definitely factoring affordability into the offer and guessing what we would be willing to pay. He was not basing the offer on talent.
Some states have roster limitations on how many out of state kids they can recruit. Some are mandated by the state, if it is a public school. So if you don't live in that, state the chances of playing there are limited.
Need is another huge factor in recruiting. If you are a stud outfielder and the college you want to attend doesn't need an outfielder that year, you most likely will not be recruited.
Academics. Schools approach this in several different ways. Some have a limited number of slots on their rosters for kids who couldn't get in without the baseball coach. Some have to go in front of a review board with every recruit who couldn't have gotten in on their own and make a case for why they should be admitted. Some have minimums that are lower than the general student population that baseball players need to meet. If you think having a 3.3 or 3.5 grade point is enough, think again.
Parents need to remember that there are many more kids than there are spots. Unless you are in the top 25 of your class, you are NOT in the drivers seat. Your son is a commodity and they feel they can easily find someone else just as good. Unless of course you are a left handed pitcher throwing 95. :)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I gave you a lot of detailed info on our recruiting experience in a prior eMail. My daughter will play D1 basketball at ************. She was reasonably well recruited by lower and mid major D1. Here are some high level observations that could be helpful to others in that situation.
1. Very important: Listen to what they say, not what you want to hear. Or, as a friend of mine so aptly phrased it: Everybody is talking but nobody is saying anything. "You are in our top five" probably means you are fifth on the list (they would say "you are number 1" if they really want you). "You will know where you stand with us at all times" is meaningless, don't believe it, they will only communicate with you as long as they are really interested. "I want to talk with you about a scholarship" means just that, it's a talk, not an offer.
2. Written correspondence: The best note is one written by a head coach who states "I saw you play.....". Handwritten notes are good, but some programs are nuts and hand-write everything, just to get an edge. "You are great" in a hand written note may make you feel good, but get used to the idea that 50 other girls got the same note! "We want you" stated in a letter is meaningless. My daughter got this kind of mail from programs that never even saw her play! Junk mail is truly obnoxious. I refer to the Happy New Year (etc.) cards that contains a graphic with an empty slot on the team under which the name of your child appears. 3. Coach's behavior: Probably 3 out of 4 programs act like they are in the flesh peddling business. They roll out the red carpet as long you are still a recruit, but they turn into a communication black hole the moment (for whatever reason) they lost interest. I find the very same behavior with the majority of executive recruiters.
4. Decision making time: Obviously, it is about the education, but when it comes to team sports the climate on the team is extremely important. After all, the kid will spend more time with the coaches and the teammates than they spent with their family throughout their high school years. My daughter managed to spend a day at the respective summer camps of both schools that had offered early. One team was kind of dull was hard to communicate with, the other team was full of energy and fun - my daughter did not want to leave. Guess where she decided to go! (the other school was much bigger and ranked higher in the RPI).
Factoid: In order to be reasonably certain of a D1 or D2 scholarship in girls basketball, you should have about 40 meaningful letters from those types of schools, 20 phone calls, and approximately a dozen schools hanging around just before early decision time. My daughter's total mail (not including college marketing materials) was 6 pounds.
That was a quick brain dump. You are doing a great service for parents and kids. The recruiting business is not well understood and full of mine fields. Not everybody has the time and research ability I applied to assure that my daughter would be taken care of. There are some decent recruiting services out there,
but if they do nothing but tape the kid and send the tape to 500 coaches, it is not worth the money. Buyer beware!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The gist of my story would be of a baseball player, my son, who was recruited to play baseball for a DIII baseball program in Southern California, which has a fairly solid reputation nationally. Last season he enrolled in this school with the intention and the promise to be a part of the baseball program. A decision to enroll by him was only arrived at after several visits to the campus, meeting the coach personally, letters of interest from several coaches at the school, including the head coach, several follow-up phone calls from the coaching staff, and personal note cards sent from the school's recruiter. He had offers to play elsewhere, but declined because of level interest shown by the coaching staff. He really thought he was going to have the opportunity to play, especially given that other schools that wanted him were D I and D II. Almost three weeks into the fall season, my son told me that the coach did not need him, I subsequently called the head coach. I asked the coach why he recruited my son. His words to me, "Just because we recruit your son doesn't mean he has a spot on the team!" The coach went on to say that this was a difficult time of the year for him. I asked him why, and he said that he had eight other players that he recruited, which he had to inform them of the same thing (they did not have spots on the team). Nine players left the school after the first semester.
So, no matter how diligent you might think you are with the respect to the recruiting process, there are coaching staffs that feel compelled to utilize what I would consider questionable ethics when it comes to recruiting. I suspect that programs such as these will continue to be seen as successful in the eyes of the school administration, the general public, and the schools they play against.
| . |