Athletic recruit: things I have learned from this so far

[Anonymous]

We have a friend with a very hard major at a Top 10 school. The cautionary tale from him is that in high school, he was the best at both his sport and academics. Now, he's just sort of average by comparison to his peers. If he quit his sport, his grades would be higher. Or if he dropped to an easier major, he'd probably be less stressed. But he likes the challenge and is content to keep working his butt off at both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:9:04 has some great suggestions for thinking of this. I’d add a fifth consideration: team culture.

Ensure you have a sense of the type of team culture you prefer! DC had calls with coaches and visits where the conversation was primarily sport related. DC opted for the school, coach and team that was focused on the student and with whom there was an aligned team culture while still being a great team.

The interviews and official visits with coach and team require good questions. Good luck!!

And, yes, tons of gear.

(Also- All NCAA teams have restrictions and are closely monitored to ensure athletes practice time does not exceed the NCAA limit.)

Which questions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sport is track and field. So it is straightforward in the sense that it is about times/distance.

Thank you for sharing.

Do T&F athletes train throughout the entire school year or do they have down time during which they can take a more intense course-load ?

It doesn't really work like that. Winter track overlaps fall and spring semesters, then they roll right into spring track.

Definitely talk to the coaches about their expectations. Even for sprinters, coaches usually want them working out throughout the XC season so that they show up in shape for winter. That said, my kid talked to a couple of coaches who said they "de-emphasize" a season for each kid -- basically, prioritize one so that they can do the harder workouts then, and use a different season to maintain a base and maybe travel a bit less.

[Anonymous]

No idea with regards to Ivy rowing as DC plays a field sport. I’ve seen and confirmed schedules such as morning (before class lifting), classes (2 hour team practice), + additional 1 hr “captains practices”. Lift and captains practice are “optional”. These were at HYP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child has not done an official visit yet (that is where the formal financials will be offered) but in discussions with coaches so far the range is between 60%-100% of OOS tuition and room/board. There are caveats with that- improve anything over last year, commit early, grades/test scores, etc...

Are they committing to a four-year roster spot and scholarship? OP, the landscape is changing very quickly, rosters are shrinking, schools are increasingly picking up transfers, and kids are being cut from teams. Unless your kid is an absolute superstar, I would be very wary of promises of big money from D1 teams.

THIS. And many D1s we found don't give a lot of money up front. So, the longer you stay, the more money is given. The bet is that they won't all stay. I'm sure the super stars have better deals. But all of the D1 athletes -including the offer my kid received- was little/ no money the first year.

I thought the upside to all the roster changes was that Power 4 schools were providing 100% scholarships to all athletes.

At least that was what UT said when they decided to give 100% scholarships to all men and women crew recruits.

We have experienced all programs giving money upfront. They might be 80% for now but can go to 100%. Plus it seems to be negotiable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These are all good points, but they're all impacted by both sport and school, especially since money is not relevant to all schools (Ivys, D3 theoretically). The issue with major is also impacted significantly by school. The Ivys and the like do not put restrictions on major, and in fact, have more restrictions on when/how much athletes can practice.

My nephew was told to choose between being an athlete and being a physics major at his Ivy. The coach said he could not do both.

[Anonymous]

My daughter was recruited by a number of high academic D3s for lacrosse. No issue with being a physics major (which is now her plan). Engineering was offered at the ones she otherwise liked only as a 3+2. Coaches were all supportive (even though it meant only 3 seasons on campus) but she ultimately decided to do plain physics and then a grad degree in engineering if her interests don't change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are all good points, but they're all impacted by both sport and school, especially since money is not relevant to all schools (Ivys, D3 theoretically). The issue with major is also impacted significantly by school. The Ivys and the like do not put restrictions on major, and in fact, have more restrictions on when/how much athletes can practice.

My nephew was told to choose between being an athlete and being a physics major at his Ivy. The coach said he could not do both.

That's very school dependent. I have a track athlete. It's very useful to look at the bios of the student athletes. We were looking at Rice - lot of engineering majors and other difficult majors for the track athletes. Maybe it's different for football, but didn't check.

The Ivies are in a weird position. They are D1. And historically, some programs did pretty well - Princeton basketball, Harvard hockey. But this year in particular is a very different climate because of rulings with NCAA and NIL. The non-revenue sports are getting obliterated right now. Track teams generally are being reduced by half. Scholarships and recruitment are being seriously decimated. But the Ivies don't give sports scholarships, so they might actually be the best place now for high caliber student-athletes who are not quite prime time, but are good students and good athletes. But it's absolutely ridiculous for Ivy coaches to ban certain majors. No one coming out of Brown or Yale is making a living as an athlete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are all good points, but they're all impacted by both sport and school, especially since money is not relevant to all schools (Ivys, D3 theoretically). The issue with major is also impacted significantly by school. The Ivys and the like do not put restrictions on major, and in fact, have more restrictions on when/how much athletes can practice.

My nephew was told to choose between being an athlete and being a physics major at his Ivy. The coach said he could not do both.

That's very school dependent. I have a track athlete. It's very useful to look at the bios of the student athletes. We were looking at Rice - lot of engineering majors and other difficult majors for the track athletes. Maybe it's different for football, but didn't check.

The Ivies are in a weird position. They are D1. And historically, some programs did pretty well - Princeton basketball, Harvard hockey. But this year in particular is a very different climate because of rulings with NCAA and NIL. The non-revenue sports are getting obliterated right now. Track teams generally are being reduced by half. Scholarships and recruitment are being seriously decimated. But the Ivies don't give sports scholarships, so they might actually be the best place now for high caliber student-athletes who are not quite prime time, but are good students and good athletes. But it's absolutely ridiculous for Ivy coaches to ban certain majors. No one coming out of Brown or Yale is making a living as an athlete.

I do not doubt PP's story but am surprised. When DD was being recruited for soccer it seemed that half of the Ivy teams were premed and that there was a physics major that I recall. Not sure how the coach gets away with that at an Ivy. I would drop that team in a heartbeat.

[Anonymous]

Nobody from Ivy League is making a living as an athlete?
Oluokon from Yale just signed a $45 million contract with the Jaguars.
Xaivian Lee of Princeton just transferred to Florida for basketball and reportedly will make $2 million.
Ever heard of Graham Blanks from Harvard?
How about Danny Wolf, who began his basketball career at Yale and then was a first round NBA draft pick this summer.
The Ivy League is a good league for many sports, and produces a fair number of individual superstars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody from Ivy League is making a living as an athlete?
Oluokon from Yale just signed a $45 million contract with the Jaguars.
Xaivian Lee of Princeton just transferred to Florida for basketball and reportedly will make $2 million.
Ever heard of Graham Blanks from Harvard?
How about Danny Wolf, who began his basketball career at Yale and then was a first round NBA draft pick this summer.
The Ivy League is a good league for many sports, and produces a fair number of individual superstars.

And Gabby Thomas!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody from Ivy League is making a living as an athlete?
Oluokon from Yale just signed a $45 million contract with the Jaguars.
Xaivian Lee of Princeton just transferred to Florida for basketball and reportedly will make $2 million.
Ever heard of Graham Blanks from Harvard?
How about Danny Wolf, who began his basketball career at Yale and then was a first round NBA draft pick this summer.
The Ivy League is a good league for many sports, and produces a fair number of individual superstars.

And that has come to an end. The recent changes in NCAA and NIL have fundamentally changed things. Absolutely no one at an Ivy school - not Princeton basketball, not Harvard football, not Cornell hockey - is going to the big leagues going forward. Cooper Flagg made $28 million during his one year at Duke. No serious athlete is going to an Ivy when there is so much money to be made in other conferences.

It's a different era.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn't know much about how athletic recruiting works so wanted to share my list of things I have learned 3 months into recruiting (some of these might be already known but I feel like I read a lot before this started and these things have surprised me):

1. Good question to ask school is if they automatically redshirt freshman. The answers vary from always to depends on the student. This can be negotiable if it is important to your kid.

2. Offers are negotiable. We haven't done it yet but learning that if one school offers 80% coverage of everything- you can go back to the 75% offer and ask for more and let them know who offered more. You might lose but you might get more money.

3. Things are changing daily right now with all the new rules. We are being told more changes are coming.

4. The extras that athletes get are pretty great- tutoring, academic support, someone doing class registration and making sure graduation requirements are being met, weekly medical/massage/pysch appointment, etc...

5. Assistant coaches change schools a lot- always communicate even if not interested because you don't know where that coach may end up. We have already experienced an assistant coach moving from one big school to another and the good contact with their original school is helping with the new school.

6. Coaches are not sugar coating the work and commitment required which has been nice. It is a full time job.

7. I have been surprised that some coaches will say "you can't major in that and be an athlete."

If D3, fairly accurate.

If D1, #8, 9, 10 etc. NIL, NIL, NIL

No No No No for #8, #9, #10. people are misguided about NIL. Outside of P4 revenue generating sports there is little to no NIL money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very little money out there for men s track and field and less for track and field generally wth new rules. Kids on scholarships already at colleges are losing them

Three pages of posts and no discussion of travel requirements. Kids miss a lot of class time at most P5 conference schools, especially for the more spectator popular team sports. Your kid is going to need that tutor when they have multiple travel days per week in season.

the money issues you state above have not been our experience so far.

Sport and Division dependent. Most of the financial issues will occur at schools which opted into the NCAA settlement and can now pay athletes. Other D1schools will be hit by the new roster limits and the portal. It is going to become much harder to get recruited coming out of HS because the portal will be there for experienced players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are all good points, but they're all impacted by both sport and school, especially since money is not relevant to all schools (Ivys, D3 theoretically). The issue with major is also impacted significantly by school. The Ivys and the like do not put restrictions on major, and in fact, have more restrictions on when/how much athletes can practice.

This all depends on the school. At the schools that are more academic -- they will allow any major. Even D1s. Boston College, Duke are two that at least in the past did not stop science or premed. Many of the Ivy women's teams are heavily pre-med. The academic D3s carve out a day for labs.

My DC plays at a NESCAC. At most of the NESCAC schools there are no classes or labs between 3 and 7pm in order to allow the athletic teams time to practice. It means more early morning classes than some kids might like but it makes scheduling easier. Also, there was never an issue with lab conflicts because labs were never scheduled for Friday afternoons when teams might have to travel.