A D3 coach offered my son a spot on the team after he played with them in an open tryout with the understanding that he won’t get any playing time his freshman year - unless the team had a huge lead on the other team. He said that most freshmen don’t get a lot of playing time. He also told my son something he needed to work on. We asked if he worked hard and improved if he could play as an upperclassman. The coach said, “I never say never.” My husband and son heard - if he works hard and improves he could get into the top 8 or 9 spots and contribute. I heard - he’s not in my top 8 or 9, but he can be on the team to basically scrimmage and practice with the players. There’s always a chance he might impress me and play, but more than likely he will never actually be one of the top guys.
We had met with the admissions counselor prior to this meeting with the coach. Unfortunately, we are in the position of not qualifying for financial aid but not being in a position to pay outright for college. We told the AC that the only way our son would attend the university was if the coach wanted him to play for him. They have a satellite campus where our son would attend otherwise - costs much less. Interestingly, while our son was playing with the team, the AC came to watch.
After the tryout, the offer was made for him to be on the team but not play. The cynic in me wonders if they saw my son as $ for the school. If they put him on the roster - even if he doesn’t play - we pay big $ for tuition, room and board, etc.
Are my hubby and son right, or am I? I don’t want to spend a lot of money for an opportunity for my son to scrimmage and travel with the team if he’s never really going to be a true player on the team. My son LOVES to play, but I don’t want to waste $.
You need to decide on the school regardless of the athletic situation. If the kid loves the school and it has the right academic programs, then the sports is just a “bonus.” In other words, would the kid go to that school without the sport? Coaches, even at the D3 level, are in it to win. They will play the best they believe will give them the chance to win. The coach is being honest with your kid – he doesn’t see any play time in the near future. But it is fluid – things change every year. At D3, coaches don’t know their team until the kids show up. And there is always a new crop of kids each year coming in to take a spot. It’s a grind. You have to love it.
Find out if they play a JV schedule of any kind – a lot of schools will play JV games against local schools (ie; the local CC) so the non-starters have some playing time.
My neighbor kid went to a good school with a good baseball program. First year, his kid didn’t even try out. Second year, he was on the team – was a regular DH is soph and Jr. year. Sr. year, he was on the team, but didn’t get many opportunities. That’s life in the big tyne.
@yourmomma said what I was thinking - “You need to decide on the school regardless of the athletic situation. If the kid loves the school and it has the right academic programs, then the sports is just a “bonus.” In other words, would the kid go to that school without the sport?”
Also consider your finances as well. Could your son get a scholarship at another school and maybe just play club and be happy? And what if he’s picking this school just for sports and gets injured. Will he still be happy there?
I agree - don’t pick a school for the sport. Several of my son’s friends went to school to play D3 sports - his best friend was injured the first week of practice and eventually cut from the team before classes even started. He was miserable and dropped out at Christmas. Another girl was cut after summer session. Coaches just don’t know who they will get, especially at the D3 level where scholarships aren’t involved. Sometimes they have good talent show up out of the blue. My own son decided to skip the D3 and went to a school where he is very happily doing the club for his sport.
It is easy to be caught up in how your son has been involved in sports and wants to continue…but I agree iwth others that i would use sports as a bonus…either a bonus activity, or this may be the bonus that gets that D3 school to accept him. Some are happy to be able to get into certain colleges this way…but if you can’t afford it and they aren’t offering merit money…
So I would advise you to look at your family’s finances and what you can afford with out loans first. Do both colleges have his major?
When you visit the campus pretend you have a career ending injury. Would you want to attend this college even if you could never play your sport again?
In addition, D3 sports can not offer scholarships. The college can offer an academic or other scholarship, but there are no sports scholarships.
And, of course, an academic scholarship can be withdrawn if the student athelete does not keep his grades up.
How many kids are on the roster? How many of them are seniors? Usually there are a bunch of underclassmen and fewer seniors because so many quit early on (happens at all levels D1-3). Some of these schools have rosters of 35+. I don’t mean to sound cynical, but I have a baseball player who has decided not to play in college. We were just talking to another parent who has a son that wants to play D3. He was told, by a friend who is a college coach, that a lot of the kids on rosters will never play (some won’t even travel) and their tuition basically helps pay for the salaries of the assistant coaches. Harsh, but true. We live in fertile baseball territory (Virginia) so maybe it’s not the same where you are.
Have him pick a school he loves and that is affordable. If he can play baseball there, great. I would hate to see your hard earned money go to pay for coaches on a team where your kid may never see the field. I suggest (like others) that you go somewhere else and have him play club ball. DM if you like.
I had a conversation with my husband’s D3 college football coach within the last 3 weeks. He told us that this is the time of year that the admission counselors come to him and encourage him to “seal the deal” on behalf of the admissions folks who are “trying to fill the class.”
That is just at this one Midwest school but my suspicion is that it is happening in other places too.
@bballmomof2 I just realized I have baseball on the brain and you may have been talking about basketball. In either case, I think the situation is the same. My son is also a basketball player and he’s had friends in the same boat.
D3 sports is often a money-maker, even though hardly anyone watches or cares about D3 sports. They call it “heads in beds.”
D3 sports is a great way for small, not-so-selective, schools to attract additional enrollment and incremental tuition revenue. Especially from male students (which those type schools often struggle to enroll). Male athletes at many D3 schools are often fuller payors than average, and also better qualified academically than average.
So many D3 schools have started or expanded football, baseball, soccer and lacrosse teams for exactly this purpose. Those sports feature very large, male rosters and don’t cost all that much to operate (since there are no athletic schollies in D3). It is not hard to find D3 schools with 100+ kids on the varsity football roster. Baseball might have 35 kids; lacrosse might have 45. Basketball may have 18-20 kids. And if you look at the rosters, you’ll often see many more frosh than seniors listed. Many of those frosh kids will drop off during the four years, due to lack of playing time, change in interests, girlfriends, whatever.
So pick a school that’s affordable, attractive and sensible without the sport. Maybe your kid will stay with the sport all four years and eventually get some playing time. More likely, he’ll practice/watch for a year or two and then move onto something else.
I agree that if the coach is saying there ‘might’ be a chance for him to play as a junior or senior, there is actually NO chance that he will play. If there was any hope, the coach would be promising the moon. “Of course you will play, you’re really developing at a good pace.” Look at the roster and see how many juniors and seniors get playing time. You can look up some stats on games played/games started and then some other stats about scores or rebounds or whatever is important in your sport.
I don’t agree with a lot of the statements above, that you shouldn’t look at sports as an important part of choice or that sports scholarship will be withdrawn because of grades, that you are one injury away from losing your scholarship. Teams have injured kids on the roster all the time. Some sidelines look like a hospital zone with all the splints and tape and slings. They are still on the team, they are healing and return when they can. If the grades are bad, the student can’t play. The coach isn’t withdrawing the scholarship, the kid is probably not in school any longer. The NCAA allows you to play if you have a 2.0.
There are no sports scholarships in D3. Kids get and keep need-based and/or merit scholarships on the same basis as non-athletes. If a D3 schollie is contingent on athletic participation, that is an NCAA rules violation.
D3 sports are a just a student activity – same as glee club or student newspaper. Although at the high selectivity end (like NESCAC), sports may help a kid get admitted to a school (but not pay for it).
The college with an orchestra where non-music majors can play is also “heads in beds”. And so is Hillel and a rock climbing wall. They all are part of so called “fit”.
But the Hillel isn’t going to limit the number who can join, and it isn’t going to have kids give their time practicing and preparing to ‘play’ and then tell them they can’t have the lead in the holiday readings, can’t be the captain.
D3 sports don’t have scholarships, but they do have a boost into the school, and there is a benefit to the coach’s promise of playing time. This coach isn’t even lying that this recruit has any hope. If there were scholarships to be given, this guy wouldn’t get one.
I think your read on the sports situation is right in that the coach is saying “you can be on the team but you’re unlikely to play BUT if you improve, well maybe…” And honestly, as mentioned, that happens for some hot shot players too. And it’s not the worst thing because for the first year, your team is your family and it can make acclimatin to school much easier, especially for a kid who has always played sports.
While I understand the concern that the offer was a means to get your FP $, I am going to guess that the school isn’t that organized and coordinated in its efforts.
If this isn’t a school you’d consider without bball, walk away. But if it was solidly in the running and this sweetened the pot, it could be fine as long as your son realizes it might just be for a year… (or 4 with no meaningful playing time.)
I think it is great that the coach is being honest with you. If your son likes the school I would pursue the opportunity for him to continue his sport in college. If he doesn’t like the school forget it.
I have two kids who were/are D3 athletes. My oldest never played as a freshman but wound up a star and captain in his later years. My youngest is a freshman and hasn’t gotten any playing time this season. He doesn’t know what will happen next year with respect to sport but he loves the school and will stay there regardless of his playing time.
D3 coaches in competitive sports do not allow just anyone to be on the team. They have limited roster spots and kids get cut all the time. If the coach is offering a roster spot that is something. I like that the coach is not making promises. My son turned down spots at other selective LAC where playing time was virtually guaranteed to attend his first choice school where playing time was more uncertain. He is on the team and happy with his decision. We talked to him about whether he wanted to transfer and he said no he likes is school and won’t transfer over athletics.
What are his other options? Is there a school a bit farther down the D3 rankings for his sport that may want him (and may be willing to find “merit money” to get him)? Would he go to this school if he couldn’t play. And can you actually afford it?
I would always say choose the school and find the opportunity to play vs choose the sport and tolerate the school. I know many kids that walked away from a varsity sport in college for reasons varying from not liking the amount of time it took, not having enough time to study, not liking the coach, not liking the other players, injury and never getting to play. I also know a kid that did great as a freshman in his D3 school, was told he was going to be a starter as a freshman and then a transfer from a D1 school came in (because the D1 player was not getting any playing time) and the sure to be a start kid was demoted. In other cases, the coach that wanted the athlete leaves and the new coach is not that impressed.
That being said, I know kids that have had great experiences playing and going to college.
My youngest loves his sport. He was not interested in playing varsity level in college due to concerns about the time commitment. He has played continually, mostly intramural but also club. The low level of play in intramurals can be frustrating, but overall he is OK with the opportunity.