We are new to this…so maybe this is normal. A coach (from one of her top three schools) did an early read on my daughter. The coach replied back “All Good news!!”…then set up a phone call with my daughter. Phone call went well, and the coach laid out the merit aid that would be offered to my daughter and told her admissions would accept her under ED. My daughter was concerned she had not yet met the coach face to face, and had other concerns about the school, so she scheduled an interview and a meeting with the coach.
At the meeting with the coach, she is told that there is no Roster Spot offered to her, but they she is welcome to go walk-on.
Is it normal for a coach to go through the legwork to have a prospected offered an attractive merit aid package…then tell the prospect they need to walk on?
They can do whatever they want but it does seem strange to go through the pre-read and request she apply ED and then say there is no guaranteed spot.
Is the coach just trying to be ‘totally honest’ and have a policy that no one gets a roster spot, but it seems a little harsh to recruit someone ED and then promise no spot.
Wow! If this is D3, it seems very disingenuous about recruiting rules. The coach does the legwork, the kid gets in with merit, and then said kid walks onto the team. I believe there are very specific rules about the appearance of offering merit money to D3 athletes. Unless I am reading this wrong, the coach is really pushing the NCAA rules to the point of breaking them.
Merit money is offered all the time to students who earn it. That’s not against the NCAA rules.
The coach said during the meeting that she already has 5 roster spots committed and 3 other offers out, which is when she said there would not be a roster spot for my daughter. BTW…this is a D3 school
Well, I guess the coach is being honest. If your daughter wants the school even if she can’t be on the team, then it’s worth it to go ED. If your daughter really wants to compete, she has time to keep looking for another school with a team offer.
D3 coaches estimated approximate merit aid for my student, based on his academic stats and overall portfolio, whenever we asked. Nothing inappropriate about asking coach, or coach offering, their estimate based on past experience. In admissions interviews, reps also provided non-binding estimates to my student.
If coach doesn’t have room on the roster, sounds like she is being upfront. Entirely possible that some of the recruits may not come through, either choose different school or don’t get admitted in ED. Better to hear now that there is not a roster spot being offered, so that your daughter can make decisions with all the information in front of her.
@runningdude317, in the most competitive D3 conferences a roster spot is not longer guaranteed - I know of at least one Mid-Atlantic school that told recruits as part of their summer training plan they would have to compete during preseason for a spot. Assuming this is a xc/track recruit, 5 commits and 3 more offers out is a full recruiting class plus some…
Depends on the sport, and the school – another reason why asking VERY specific questions is important so that there aren’t unwelcome surprises come preseason. “Do I have a roster spot” “Is it guaranteed for freshman year” “Do you cut recruits in pre-season.”
Very true that you have to ask specific questions. When we have met with coaches, most are willing to share their first-year rostering approach. One said they don’t “play games”. He clarified that saying if you are able to reasonably perform to the abilities of which you were recruited, you will make the roster…however need to earn the roster spot each ensuing year (knowing that stronger talent is getting recruited). One other just came right out and said my daughter would be guaranteed a roster spot. In the above case from the orignal post, the information was only from a phone conversation between my daughter and the coach, so I can only go by what my daughter relayed. I guess I just assumed that since the coach when through the bother of doing a preread, and came back with the news that she would get accepted ED, with a merit package that was far beyond what we were even thinking about…I ran with the assumption that it would be a situation where she would have first year roster spot. I know the merit is academic-based so she would have likely received it had she applied as a non-athlete. It just seems silly that the coach would go through the bother of the preread for what would be a walk-on prospect.
@runningdude317,
You got lucky. The coach volunteered the answers to two critical questions without being asked. As noted by @Midwestmomofboys, you need to ask whether your kid will have a roster spot, could get cut, and how tryouts are structured. This may vary by league, sport, coach and year. At one NESCAC, we were told that tryouts were open and the best ___ people would make the team, regardless of whether or not the athlete was recruited or the athlete was on the team in years past.
The second question is where your kid is on the list of recruits. This is important in both admissions and the roster. If your kid is at the top of the list, he or she simply will have a better chance for admission. This is true at schools with tips and slots and also where the coach ranks recruits. Same for making the team. All athletes can change a coach’s opinion – either favorably or unfavorably – but it is easier to confirm a coach’s opinion of a player than to change it. Put simply, it is easier to make a team as a freshman as the no. 1 recruit than as the no. 10 recruit.
As I read the tea leaves, the coach sent +/-10 recruits to admissions for a pre-read without knowing how many would be interested. Remember, many kids get pre-reads and decide to apply elsewhere. By the time the coach spoke to yours, 5 recruits “committed” – which although non-binding is telling as to interest – and three more offers were out. Go to the team page of the school and see how many freshmen are brought in each year. It may be that only 5 are added each year. That is where your D stands. It is good to know. If she wants athletics, it is a mid to long range shot that a few recruits decommit, get injured or change the coach’s mind in a bad way. If she wants the school without athletics, it could be a good option.
It might be a little easier for a coach to have 10 new team members if it is an individual sport like golf, tennis, or running, but it is much more difficult for a team like soccer, lacrosse, or volleyball to be successful if they start over every year. It is a good idea to look at the rosters/statistics for the last few years to see if the same people are on the lists. You should find the same names for at least a few years. If not, I’d be very leery of joining that team.
In some sports, the college game is longer, the trips are longer, the workouts are longer, plus they are juggling living on their own for the first time and school. There is value in experience.
I don’t think there is any coach who wants to start over every year.
I was at a D3 prospect clinic this past few days where the coach addressed all of these issues with the kids and parents. He said he recruits anywhere from 7-11 kids per year for the soccer team. He said all recruits will have a spot on the team their freshman year. He said he sometimes takes a walk on or two if they can help the team.
He said after that the kids have to earn spots on the team moving forward. He said he usually has to cut a few kids every year after they complete their freshman year, usually because he recognizes the kids can’t keep up with the speed and physicality. The coach mentioned that out of a class of 10 recruits he averages about 6 kids that make it through all 4 years. If you aren’t playing regularly by your sophomore year you are on the bubble for being cut. He also mentioned that many kids just decide after playing for a year or 2 that there are things they’d like to spend their time on, like school work, interns, girlfriends etc. He said for some kids it was just a life goal as a high school athlete to make a college team, but then they realize it’s not all that is cracked up to be and lose their passion. The kids know there is no future for them as pro soccer players, so they just start thinking about other life goals to achieve.
The thing I enjoyed about most about this meeting was how upfront the coach was. He also mentioned he could get kids an academic and merit award/fin aid pre-read in the summer before the kids commit to ED. That way you know what you are getting yourself into as a parent.