This I agree with. I’m not against a sports coach encouraging students to consider college early and casting a wide net and learning that theres so many more schools out there than the T20 or Big10. However, OP seemed to want to already be finding excellent academic matches, and for an undecided 8th going into 9th grader, I didn’t think focusing on academic fit with the coaches assignment at this level was the best plan.
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Are there decided 8th graders? I’m not sure what you mean by this.
My son’s first list had something like 100 schools on it. He basically took all schools that had his sport, engineering and a not a deal breaker location (for him he did not want hard to get to locations). Then after sophomore year when he had more clarity on times and academics he narrowed it down to the initial contact list - which was probably still something like 30?!?! schools. Recruiting is just a different beast and kids do need to start thinking about what they want much earlier in the process.
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Did he end up at one of those 100 or 30 schools?
If he’s already in college, I’d love to hear how the engineering/sports combo is going.
Edited for privacy
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Did any of the coaches reach back? I know the D3 ones are the only ones who can.
Yes, some d3 coaches did.
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There are schools were almost all the athletes are in engineering as most of the school is in some sort of STEM. My daughter did engineering and a sport and I really think it kept her focused on school. She knew her schedule for school and athletics and knew much time she had for other things (very little). She had lifting at 5:30 am three days a week so that meant she was in bed at 10 pm. Some of her teammates took naps every day but she didn’t have time for that.
Last year I was watching a newscast summary of the Colorado School of Mines v South Dakota School of Mines football game (I think it was the Div 2 semifinals) and the newscaster said “That’s a lot of brain power on that field” as almost all of them were engineers.
Engineers can be athletes.
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I dont know of many kids going into 8th grade that have their entire post high school graduation academic interests mapped out yet (and as the original post referred to), and I would not expect an 8th graders academic interest to remain the same. Thus, a coach expecting an 8th grader to map out colleges with athletic AND academic match seems a bit much.
This child is still in middle school and wont even enter high school for another year.
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My 8th grader knew exactly what he wanted to do for a college major, and eventual career…not an athlete, but a musician. And he never wavered…not for even a second.
My second kid, OTOH, didn’t choose her eventual career path until two years after receiving her bachelors degree.
A local kid just decommitted to the state flagship for football to go to a different state for lacrosse.
Heck, kids can change their mind even with sports last minute. 
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My own DH did this many moons ago; switched as a D1 athlete in may. He switched on a whim after a last minute stop at CU on his way home from a family vacation. There had been a head coach change at his committed school, and something felt “off.” On top of that, he was seriously injured his freshman year and ended up changing sports. You never know what life is going to throw at you.
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