Myths & Realities of recruiting revisited

[jonriv]

MYTHS AND REALITIES ABOUT THE COLLEGE ATHLETIC RECRUITING PROCESS

Myth: If you are good enough, coaches will find you
Reality: For every Division 1 football and basketball coach with a multi-million dollar recruiting budget, there are a 100 NCAA coaches with limited time, limited coaching staff and limited budgets that rarely give them access to recruit throughout the country. Most college coaches depend on direct contact from high school athletes that express interest in their college and athletic program.

Myth: Division 3 Schools are weaker athletically
Reality: Many Division 3 programs have very talented athletic programs. This is often because players are there to get an education first and play athletics second. But they are still talented and dedicated athletes who wanted to continue their athletic career in college, but wanted to do it on their own terms. If you think you can just stroll onto a D3 program you are in for a surprise. Go check out the golf teams at Methodist College (D3) or the swimming teams at Kenyon College (D3). In the last 25 years they have about 40+ NCAA championships under their belt and attract top high school athletes from around the country.

Myth: All colleges offer athletic scholarships
Reality: Only Division 1 and 2 colleges can offer athletic scholarships (as well as NAIA and Junior College). NCAA Division 3 Programs (about 400 schools) cannot offer athletes athletic scholarship money and many D1 and D2 teams have little scholarship money to offer. There are also no athletic scholarships offered at the Ivy League level. We know several D1 coaches who have one athletic scholarship to offer for their entire team. In this scenario you might be lucky to get a few thousand dollars, and may need to come up with an additional $30,000+ if you want to attend a private school.

Myth: Most athletes get a full scholarship or no scholarship
Reality: Full scholarships are very rare and most coaches divide scholarship money up between several players. The only guaranteed full scholarships are for D1 basketball (men and women) and D1 football. Each program is fully funded and offers the maximum amount of scholarships allowed by the NCAA, 13 for men's basketball, 85 for football, and 15 for women's basketball. Every other sport and team divides money up to many players.

Myth: Division 1 programs do not offer walk-on tryouts.
Reality: While walking onto the Kentucky basketball team or the USC football team will be pretty difficult, many coaches rely on walk-on's each year and will usually conduct tryouts to give as many kids a chance as possible. It is better to find out what walk-on opportunities exist before you show up at tryouts. It certainly is not easy, but it is not impossible either as many players walk on to college teams each year.

Myth: I shouldn't go to a Division 3 School if I need scholarship money
Reality: Many D3 schools offer attractive financial aid programs and you should never overlook any school, even if they do not offer athletic scholarships. We have met parents that are basically sending their kids to school for free because their son's and daughters had strong academic backgrounds and coupled that with athletics to make themselves an attractive student-athlete for a certain school. What would you rather have, $3,000 in scholarship money at a D1 school or $20,000 in academic money at a D3 school, while still getting the chance to play athletics at the college level?

Myth: College coaches will help me get into their school if I am on the bubble academically.
Reality: Coaches can submit a list of names to the admissions department, but you need to be very close academically to what the school seeks out in any student and you need to be committed to the coach and express a strong interest in attending that institution. It can also depend on the needs of individual teams, and the number of applicants the school is dealing with in a given year.



Myth: All Division 1 and 2 programs have scholarships available
Reality: While the NCAA mandates how many scholarships a school can offer for a particular sport, it is up to the school whether or not they want to and can offer the number of scholarships allotted to them. Example: Division 1 baseball programs are allowed to offer 11.7 scholarships, but many division 1 baseball schools may offer only 3 or 4 scholarships because baseball is not a high revenue generating sport and it's more difficult for a college to justify scholarships for non-revenue sports.

Myth: If you receive a letter from a coach, you are being recruited
Reality: Coaches send out thousands of letters to players they may or may not have heard of and there are probably a thousand high school athletes tearing open the same exact letter you received. We met one player 2 years ago who received 180 letters from one school and never once received a single phone call from the coaching staff. Receiving a letter means a coach knows your name and knows you play their sport and that may be about it. Respond to the letter and follow-up with the coach. Until the coach calls you and tells you he is interested in you or invites you to the school, the letters mean very little. In 2004 a certain D1 football program that will remain nameless had a list of 4,000 prospects they were sending letters to on a regular basis. Ultimately they are trying to sign 21 players out of a pool of 4,000 and 3,979 players that received letters from that school will ultimately not be recruited or sign with that school.

Myth: College coaches only recruit top players
Reality: College coaches recruit anyone they think can play at their program and recruit anyone who shows an interest in their program. Just because you are not the star of your team does not mean you cannot play in college.

Myth: High school coaches are qualified to determine if I am college athletic material
Reality: While many coaches are, some are not and some never played their sport in college. The bottom line, there are many factors that determine if you can play in college and your high school coach may or may not be able to evaluate your ability as it applies to college and may not have the time necessary to help you in your recruiting process.

Myth: College coaches can contact me anytime they want.
Reality: There are strict rules as to when a coach can send you literature and how often they can contact you and the rules vary for every NCAA Division. Junior Colleges and NAIA schools have fewer recruiting rules.

Myth: Playing college athletics will not be much different than high school, aside of the skill level
Reality: Playing college athletics is an unbelievable commitment in time and in dedication and will be nowhere close to your high school experience. In college you will play perhaps double the amount of games you played in high school, play or practice for 3 seasons (fall, winter and spring), and be required to do lifting and running programs as well throughout the year. You may also be practicing at 6AM or Midnight or three times a day depending what facilities are available when.

Myth: The college recruiting process is a regional process.
Reality: On the 2005 NAIA first and second team All-American Soccer team there were 22 players listed (11 in each bracket) and only one player was from the United States. The other 21 players were from Iceland, Kenya, Uruguay, British Columbia, England, Ireland, Ukraine, Haiti, Serbia, Scotland, Germany, Ecuador, and one country we have never even heard of. One third of all Division 1 tennis players were not born in the United States and in 2003, 17% of all NCAA tennis players were International students. Recruiting, even at the lower levels is now a global process and the Internet has made every school in the entire country only a click away and coaches are now dealing not only with athlete's from all over the country but the world! Your ability to find a program where you fit in and get on that coaches radar screen before someone else is extremely important.


from: http://www.rightfitsports.com/news/myth ... ocess.html

[dodgerblue]

Jon, never thought I'd say this but you're pretty much right on. Most kids I know "do not" get a full ride but some say they do. I personally agree with this list and after everything is said an done my daughter will probably get more academic money than athletic. Just reality that most D1 programs tend to split the money they do have into partials.

[jonriv]

Jon, never thought I'd say this but you're pretty much right on. Most kids I know "do not" get a full ride but some say they do. I personally agree with this list and after everything is said an done my daughter will probably get more academic money than athletic. Just reality that most D1 programs tend to split the money they do have into partials.

Found it online- one of the more accurate lists I have found. Hopefully it will help some of those just starting out.

[dodgerblue]

Don't believe what everybody tells you. Most don't get full rides.

[jonriv]

Don't believe what everybody tells you. Most don't get full rides.

One of the best bits of advice out there!

[Sftbll4ever]

Don't believe what everybody tells you. Most don't get full rides.

Or at least if you did, quantify it with the statement, "Full ride INCLUDING academic money!"

[Espy]

Very true. Just because DD plays millions of games
Isn't enough. You have to have good gpa & be a great athlete.
Or have a great gpa & be a good athlete.. My son finished it the top
4% ELC status in CA & all the football awards & mentions.
Took the academic money at a school with no football.. They arent all
Going pro.. Lol