Athletic recruit: things I have learned from this so far

[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.

It gives them an option to provide scholarships for every athlete but schools are not obligated too and many do not.

[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.

Linsanity

[Anonymous]

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

My daughter’s D1 track coach cut a teammate 2 hours before they left for Thanksgiving break. What you haven’t learned firsthand yet is that coaches are dishonest, manipulative and mean spirited. D1 athletics is a grind as it is, but the addition of a troublemaker coach is like an anchor around your neck. Wait until the summer after her first season. Careful what you wish for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is all very relevant to D1, but it a lot of it does not apply to D3, just so folks are aware.

There are very few perks like help with registration, no massages (unless it’s needed therapy), no tutors (but there is required study hall), no laundry service, no special housing or dining options. There isn’t any money so you can’t really negotiate, though you can negotiate academic merit money, like everyone else.

The issue of time and major is still something to think about but less cut and dry. My baseball playing son can major in anything he wants and can take a semester abroad. He has to be able to handle the load and figure out conflicts, though.

And he is so happy. He plays the sport he loves every day and gets an education. It’s the right fit.

My baseball son is starting to make a college list and we know now D1 is out of the question, D2 is a reach. Would love to know where your son is happy so we can take a look and see if it's a fit for our son. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all very relevant to D1, but it a lot of it does not apply to D3, just so folks are aware.

There are very few perks like help with registration, no massages (unless it’s needed therapy), no tutors (but there is required study hall), no laundry service, no special housing or dining options. There isn’t any money so you can’t really negotiate, though you can negotiate academic merit money, like everyone else.

The issue of time and major is still something to think about but less cut and dry. My baseball playing son can major in anything he wants and can take a semester abroad. He has to be able to handle the load and figure out conflicts, though.

And he is so happy. He plays the sport he loves every day and gets an education. It’s the right fit.

My baseball son is starting to make a college list and we know now D1 is out of the question, D2 is a reach. Would love to know where your son is happy so we can take a look and see if it's a fit for our son. Thanks!

NP, but look at Centennial Conference schools. A lot of happy athletes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have read about engineering being an issue at smaller D3 colleges. Usually, it ends one of two ways, the player quits the sport or changes the major.

My son is in this boat and struggling to make a decision. His club coach insists that you can do both. I am not so sure.

Even at the club level, engineering is difficult to fit in. Club hockey team has 3 practices a week and games just about every weekend. Games are usually Friday and Saturday so you are missing class on Friday half the time.

My child is a D3 athlete and is an engineering major, 1/2 his team is engineering or pre med. very disciplined and very hard workers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

My daughter’s D1 track coach cut a teammate 2 hours before they left for Thanksgiving break. What you haven’t learned firsthand yet is that coaches are dishonest, manipulative and mean spirited. D1 athletics is a grind as it is, but the addition of a troublemaker coach is like an anchor around your neck. Wait until the summer after her first season. Careful what you wish for.

My kid was cut while in the hospital with appendicitis. Yes- coach knew. Known to be a d”””””k. Lots of kids left team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Cooper Flagg was a once in a generation player who everyone knew would be a #1 NBA pick when he was a high school junior.

FYI, but UPenn has formed an NIL group to start paying basketball players. We will see how much money is put behind it.

[Anonymous]

D1 English professor here. Just so you know, those tutors will actually be the ones writing all the papers. Not just helping or editing, but completely writing them. And the tutors will mostly plagiarize them because they are busy students themselves. If a professor or TA knows this and reports them to the honor board, the board will rule against the professor and against the clear evidence. The athlete will not even need to show up at the meeting. Ask me how I know. I don't even think about reporting things anymore. It is a waste of my time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:D1 English professor here. Just so you know, those tutors will actually be the ones writing all the papers. Not just helping or editing, but completely writing them. And the tutors will mostly plagiarize them because they are busy students themselves. If a professor or TA knows this and reports them to the honor board, the board will rule against the professor and against the clear evidence. The athlete will not even need to show up at the meeting. Ask me how I know. I don't even think about reporting things anymore. It is a waste of my time.

This is probably what the Tenn baseball player means when he was told “we have people who take care of your classes”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you willing to share the sport ?

Is it a revenue (basketball or football) sport ?

Depending on the school other sports are plus revenue sports. Hockey is a revenue sport, as is softball at a growing number of universities.

The two you mentioned are certainly revenue sports but the way of thinking that they are the only two are outdated.

[Anonymous]

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."

Thanks for posting.

What majors were off limits?

D1?

Sport?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:D1 English professor here. Just so you know, those tutors will actually be the ones writing all the papers. Not just helping or editing, but completely writing them. And the tutors will mostly plagiarize them because they are busy students themselves. If a professor or TA knows this and reports them to the honor board, the board will rule against the professor and against the clear evidence. The athlete will not even need to show up at the meeting. Ask me how I know. I don't even think about reporting things anymore. It is a waste of my time.

Sure Boris

[Anonymous]

My son is passionate about soccer. Is it too late get recruited at T10?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never understand why a student would give up a major (if required by coach) just so they can play a sport in college

If a student is D1 in football, basketball or hockey (in the north) and was ranked nationally in the top 20 or so for high school players, they would want to focus on the probability of playing pro.