Rising HS Senior looking at some D3 colleges. Went to a few “ID sessions” and has met with coach, good fit for admissions. College D3 coach says would like Rising Senior on their team; encourages Rising Senior to apply early (they have non binding early action)–when does one actually know they are on the team (assuming they gain admission, adequate financial aid, etc.) for their freshman year in college?
I would say if the coach invites the player for an official visit and then supports the application through admissions, you can assume your admitted athlete has a spot on the team. If after the official visit coach withdraws support, it would indicate player is not a match with the rest of the team. Look for those two items: an official invite from the coach for an overnight, and the statement that coach is supporting athlete’s application through admission.
Thanks acemom! The coach has verbally invited said player to stay overnight with team and to be on sidelines during some of their fall games. The school is a good match with potentially very good merit aid so overall it would be a win win if it works out.
Never any guarantees but…assuming the athlete shows up in shape and ready to play, a recruited athlete will almost certainly have a roster spot. The best thing about d3 is all the money is merit money. Once the player is in, the money is his (assume he continues to meet academic commitments).
@Karencat out of curiosity (if you’re comfortable sharing), what school is Rising Senior looking at?
Prefer to keep college out of discussion. Good fit, not in the top tier but very solid regionally well known in fields of interest. Thanks for the ideas.
Karencat,
I agree that it is intuitive that if a coach selects a recruit and supports him or her through admissions, all things being equal (no injuries, being in shape, etc.) the recruit will be on the team. I do not believe, however, that it is universally the case. One D3 coach I spoke to said that the best 27 trying out would make the team including recruits and walk-ons. The reason given was that the coach only had 27 uniforms. Another coach said that recruits would get a free ride the first year, but after that could be cut. Another coach I knew of said that there would be cuts, but that the coach didn’t see a particular recruit being cut. This really is something you should discuss with the coach. I think you should know the answer to the question about cuts before you make a decision to apply early to a D3 program.