Should you apply to other schools if you've committed to a college for athletics

Athletic Recruits
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Thank you for your response. We differ in the respect that if the OVs to the D-1 school or schools remain after being informed, then OP has the right to protect himself & his interests.

Until the matter is finalized & in writing, an oral promise of support is a risky proposition when possibilities of injury or change of plans exist when one is being recruited by at least one Ivy League school.

OP: If the Ivy League school had also offered, what would you do ?

Many recently experienced costly disappointments by accepting summer clerkships in the legal field which were not honored due to uncertainties caused by Covid -19 outbreak. My point is that uncertainties can & do occur. Even many law firms reneged on their agreements of summer clerkships. Not all, but many did.

@coffeebeat3: But your daughter was also assured of a spot on the teams of her back-up schools according to your post. I encourage you to reread paragraphs #4 and #5 of your post to which I initially applied.

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What likely won’t remain when OP informs the D3 coach that they will attend OVs will be the D3 offer of full support (the one that OP has already verbally committed to).

Are you recommending that OP risk the offer at their stated number one school?

Thoughts @cinnamon1212? @bksquared?

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23

I have not suggested anything beyond OP needs to be aware of his options & as @coffeebeat wrote that due to uncertainty, it was important for his daughter to have a back-up plan.

Two issues:

  1. Should OP apply elsewhere since applying ED to the LAC is not a guarantee ?

  2. Should OP honor his prior visit commitments with full disclosure to all concerned parties in light of the uncertainty as to the LAC interest ?

@Mwfan1921; I have made my points repeatedly. I do not want to argue or debate–just inform OP of various factore to consider.

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I also said it was important to have a back up plan. A back up plan does not include attending OVs when one is a committed athlete, especially when that could put the offer at OP’s number one school at risk.

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Unfortunately your lack of knowledge and experience in athletic recruiting is glaring, and for OP and others who may ultimately read this thread, it is important for everyone to understand that.

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@Publisher - the state flagship has huge team, she far exceeded academic credentials and would give up any sport scholarship $'s by going in as a “preferred walk on” - if it came to that point and her original offer didn’t work. The flagship school coaches know her very well, have watched her compete for years and we were never concerned that she wouldn’t have a spot.

The other 2 EA schools had less competitive teams and also have several preferred and regular walk-ons - so it was pretty easy for them to say she would have a spot again - she missed out on $ not going ED. (obviously no money by Ivy’s either and fortunate this didn’t have to drive the decision)

She was never promised spots by the other 2 Ivy schools -and if I was not clear in a previous post - my very bad! They said keep in touch if your ED doesn’t work out. They have much more limited rosters - but she passed academic pre-read for all these schools and we never felt like either of those were a “given” or even a 5% chance in the RD round- but she had to be prepared with the apps IF she wanted to pursue if ED didn’t go through. When she had her final decision letter in mid-December she wrote each coach thanking them, as she knows she will see many of them and former teammates at events over the years.

Lastly, she withdrew the flagship and two EA applications the minute she received the final admissions email and paid the deposit to attend.

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Again, we agree. OP asked whether or not he should apply to other schools as a back-up. I think that he should just as your daughter did.

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I agree recruits have that right. I think where we disagree is on whether they should exercise that right. I think it risks blowing up the D3 offer, as @Mwfan1921 suggests, or at the very least leading to some head shaking. If OP wants to compare options, ask the D3 coach for more time so the OV can be completed at the D1.

I understand what you’re saying about uncertainty but I think there’s no way to get to 100% certainty in this process. There are ways to torpedo the 95%+ certainty the OP already has though.

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29

Yes - but not use up resources and time of other coaches by attending OV’s.

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Again, OP needs to protect himself. The 95% figure is yours. It would be helpful if OP responded to this thread. I have made my points.

Anyone who suggests that there is a clear answer to OP’s situation is incorrect. There are several considerations that OP should weigh & evaluate before acting.

I am not OP so I can only offer factors to consider. OP must decide how to proceed. I think that it is reasonable to apply to other schools as back-ups in OP’s situation.

@coffeeat3: That is not really for us to decide. Coaches are capable of dealing with situations like this every season.

As a side note: OP knows how his performance compares to the performance of the others on each D-3 & on each D-1 team. This should enable OP to make a more informed decision than any of us can without knowing times / distances and academic qualifications & needs of specific teams.

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I believe everyone agrees on that.

The advice you have given about still going on OVs is what we are saying is not appropriate, and OP would risk their D3 offer (their #1 school) by telling the coach they are still going on OVs and/or going on OVs without telling the coach.

OP has made their choice and accepted a verbal offer of full support thru the admissions process at their #1 school.

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32

It is up to OP & to the coaches involved how things proceed from here. I suspect that all coaches concerned have dealt with this situation more than once before.

OP: There is no single correct answer or course of action. You have received advice & you have additional knowledge specific to your situation. If you feel that you cannot speak openly & honestly with a coach at this point, then maybe the relationship should be reevaluated.

OP: One of the most valuable skills that one can learn in life is how to communicate. If you are honest & respectful, I think that you might be surprised at the responses.

OP: You know your times or your distances. If truly D-1 standards, then of course a D-3 coach will be concerned. How the coach handles this matter should be of significant importance to you if considering a 4 year long relationship.

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Usually I think @publisher gives pretty sound advice, but I think there is real risk to doing as he suggests here that could have OP end up with zero offers. I apologize for the length, but I see the potential for OP to really harm themself so I’m trying to lay out why I feel that way.

We need to get a couple things out of the way that are not advice necessarily, just factual information that probably everyone commenting agrees with, but that OP may not be aware of.

First, T&F is not football or basketball. The big money isn’t involved, which eliminates some (not all) of the shady behavior by coaches. More importantly football and basketball have started giving “offers” that are not commitable offers. I think it’s misleading and shady on all sides, but it is the way the recruiting game is played now. I think some (again not all) of the horror stories may be by players who don’t understand this. You can’t compare football/basketball at P5 conferences to non-revenue sports at high academic schools. They are apples and oranges.

Second, coaches talk. My sport is wrestling, but T&F is going to be somewhat similar. There is not big $$ involved. These coaches and athletes all know each other, and spend the whole day at meets together on a regular basis where there is plenty of time to socialize a bit with your competition. They are in an exclusive club where there is a shared experience. I’m sure there are a few who don’t like each other, but by and large they are going to get along pretty well. And there are probably coaches at all of the schools you are considering who are friends with each other. My son did a visit at Brown, and his club coach from the middle of nowhere 1500 miles away is good friends with the assistant who ended up showing us around. When I mentioned a big match that my son had won a few days earlier to a different D1 coach (a top 100 opponent but not top 10 so not necessarily a household name), he said “oh yeah, X. I’m pretty sure he’s going to Y school, Y’s coach told me he was all but locked down (which later proved accurate).” Talking to another D1 coach I mentioned someone else who was recruiting my son, who I assumed did not get along with the coach I was talking to. He said, “no, I love X, he’s actually a really nice guy. I was at his wedding.” Those 3 stories were to drive home the point that they all talk to each other. A lot. There is ZERO chance this happens on the down low.

Now the advice:

So with that out of the way, should you go without informing all coaches about the situation ahead of time? Absolutely not. It will come out, and it will not go well. The D3 coach will assume you aren’t really committed, so will in turn feel free to offer that slot to someone else. At a minimum you will have to reearn his trust when you get to campus, if you get there at all. The D1 coaches will either 1 - be pissed you wasted their money and slot on a visit when you had no intention of attending their school, or 2 - if it isn’t a waste and you are really still looking, they will question your integrity and honesty since you already committed to another coach, and wonder whether they want you around the next 4-5 years.

So the only way to take the visits that is not a guaranteed trainwreck is by informing all parties. How do we expect that should go? If I was the D3 coach, I would be pretty pissed, and feel like you weren’t really committed, just using me until you got a better offer. I may pull the offer, at a minimum I will start talking to my “backups” for your position because I don’t know how committed you really are. And I may decide I like one of them better. If I was the D1 coach, again I feel like you are either wasting my time and resources or you are not to be trusted frankly.

You have to realize from the D3 coach’s POV, he has committed to you. If you want to take other OV’s, that is like me telling my wife “Hey, I want to date a couple of other girls to make sure I still want to be with you. But you need to stay committed to me. That’s cool, right?” It’s not going to be cool. Regardless of what the coach says, he has just put your offer back on the table and is talking to other people about filing your spot.

I think if you truly want to check the other schools out, you need to tell the D3 coach, and tell him that you still want to go to his school, but you committed too hastily are pulling your committment until after the visits because you want to be sure. I get wanting to check out the other programs, my son had one that he REALLY wanted to do the OV for because he wanted to see behind the curtain (it’s a regular top 2-3 D1 program). But he also knew that ultimately he wanted to attend somewhere else, and that coach had given him an offer. So he took that offer instead of risking it to see inside another program that he knew was going to not be as good of a fit.

If you are lucky enough to have your top choice give you a firm offer, congrats. You are done. Enjoy it, don’t risk it. Nothing wrong with doing an EA or 2, or having RD apps ready to go (but I wouldn’t bother submitting them). If it isn’t really your first choice, then you need to decide if opening it back up is worth the risk. Because the other coach WILL be dating around while you decide. You could end up not having either option.

Good luck whatever you decide.

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34

This is good advice.

You need to assume that any official visit you take becomes public knowledge. We told my son to assume this, and it was a good thing. Despite our best efforts to keep the visits quiet, milesplit published his first visit. He was very glad he had been honest with coaches about his decisions prior to that.

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35

I know this isn’t entirely relevant, but this is what i keep reading about (D1).

I know this is D3 - and if you apply ED and you get in, you’re done. Should you apply elsewhere as ED - of course, so you don’t miss admissions deadlines. Just because he says we’ve never not had someone get in we supported…there’s always a first.

I know you all have gone deeper into going on other visits - but why wouldn’t you just tell the other coach you applied ED - because if you don’t get in, then the other coach has a shot at you.

I agree - going without telling the coach could hurt you - because apparently these coaches have the ability if they want to - to renege.

Just because one applies and someone says they’ll get in doesn’t mean they will.

So what if the athlete does get in ED - and then the coach says, yeah - you’re not right for my team…could happen.

Coaches pulling offers from recruits? (student-athleteshowcase.com)

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@politeperson post in #16 raises the important distinction between how aggressively you can play the field before you make a “commitment” vs after making the commitment. Before you make the commitment, everyone is jockeying for the optimal seat in musical chairs and coaches are also playing this game. The nature of the game changes after a player commits to a fully supported offer. The coach likely changes his/her recruiting strategy as 1 need is fulfilled and he/she needs to address other needs. Of course none of this is legally binding but there are practical implications of decommitting or even taking an OV. Let’s play this through:

At this point OP has his top choice pretty much locked in. It sounds like a full support slot vs just a tip. Our experience here for D3’s (other than MIT and Caltech) was that you are in barring something that would be grounds for rescission or you submit a totally messed up application.

  • If you go on an OV, and don’t tell the D3 coach and he later finds out, he may pull his offer. You are now hoping the D1 comes through. Maybe this risk is worth it if the D1 is that much more attractive.

  • If you go on the OV and the D3 coach does not find out, and you get the D1 offer, you will have a pretty awkward conversation later with him when you decommit. Maybe you don’t care, but it is a pretty small world.

  • If you tell the D3 coach you want to go on the OV. He may or may not pull his offer. I can easily see the scenario that he says, if you go you are obviously not ready to commit with me. So I am pulling my offer for now and will treat your spot as open. You may or may not have a spot after your OV and the D1 decision. If I were the coach, that is how I would react unless the recruit is so desirable that I am willing to hold a spot under these circumstances. So how much more attractive is the D1 that you would risk the current bird in hand?

  • You can also expect to have an awkward conversation with the D1 coach, who is more than likely going to ask where you are in the process with other schools. If you say you have committed to the D3, they may take you off their list. Maybe they won’t care if you are that strong of an athlete. If you lie or avoid answering the question, more likely than not this will come back to haunt you if you get the D1 offer and have to decommit to the D3.

Bottom line, is the prospect of getting in the D1 worth jeopardizing the D3 almost sure thing? Sure Op needs to have Plan B in place. @coffeeat3 D’s Plan B was without risk. Taking an OV under these circumstances does carry risk. Is the potential reward worth it is the question for the OP.

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37

In addition to the wonderful advice and thought experiments in this thread, the OP (and others in his situation) would do well to realize that these decisions have impact well beyond the athlete. How a recruit handles himself/herself definitely can impact the recruitment of younger siblings, other athletes on his/her high school/club team and even athletes in different sports from the same high school. I know that thinking about others is a bit old fashioned, but at least give it some weight.

For what it is worth, I know of an athlete that committed to an ivy, presumably received a likely letter, was accepted and enrolled. When the athlete showed up on campus day 1 they informed the coach that they no longer were going to play the sport. I don’t know what really happened, but by all appearances, it looked as if the now former athlete had used the process to gain admission with no real intent to play. Years later, another athlete from the same high school but in a different sport was attempting to be recruited to the same Ivy, and the coach brought up the college’s prior experience with this (non)athlete. Ultimately it didn’t impact the new recruit. But, the mere fact that the situation was raised makes one wonder just how far the original (non)athlete’s decision rippled.

On the other hand, I saw first hand how my DS’s T&F recruitment was boosted at Ivy’s that had positive experiences with recruits in different sports from his high school.

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My dd applied ED1 to the D3 school she committed to with plans to apply ED2 or RD elsewhere if for some reason she didn’t get in. Since she did get accepted to her top choice ED1, she did not apply elsewhere.

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You misunderstand some of the points.

No one has suggested that OP attend an OV without disclosing to D-3 coach.

OP has revealed in a prior thread the two schools involved, but now there may be more D-1 schools than just the named Ivy League school.

OP has written in his other thread that he prefers D-1 track & field.

OP knows the other schools in question, knows his academic & athletic qualifications, and knows other athletes who have protected themselves.

OP has received advice. OP should discuss with the relevant parties his concerns & desires.

It would be helpful if OP shared more information such as if both the Ivy & the LAC made offers at the same time,which would he chose (and why).

Clearly, OP has doubts or he would not have started this thread.

OP is aware of variables that we as readers do not know.

My advice remains the same. However, this does not mean that OP should do or not do anything as the advice is just another factor for OP to consider.

After reading this thread, I feel sorry for OP and suggest that taking a long run may help sort things out.

If the LAC is truly OP’s first choice school, then congratulations. But, I suspect that OP is having second thoughts or he would not have started this thread. Also, it may not be much fun for one with recruitable D-1 times to compete in D-3.

And I think that it is safe to say that OP intends to participate in the sport at college or university.

P.S. I think that there is a bigger issue in OP’s situation that should be addressed nationally. OP has to commit to a D-3 school in order to get a verbal “promise” of support for his admission. Everything is now in the hands of the D-3 school which can outright reject OP even though OP sacrificed D-1 Ivy League opportunities. Where is the fairness to the athlete in this process ?

Recently the US Supreme Court neutered the NCAA’s draconian rule over the lives of D-1 athletes. Justice Kavanaugh wrote a scathing rebuke of the NCAA and its improper use of its power. D-1 athletes are now allowed to profit off of their NIL = name, image, and likeness, and D-1 players are now allowed to transfer schools without penalty if they so desire.

What options do D-3 recruits have if the school rejects their application for admission ? Absolutely none.

Is this fair to D-3 recruits who have sacrificed other opportunities based on the unbinding encouragement of a coach to “give his support” to the athletes application for admission ? Of course not. It is an outrageous, antiquated system totally in the control of the D-3 college which has to answer to no one regardless of its decision & “promises”.

OP: If you are really a D-1 caliber athlete with adequate qualifications for admission to an Ivy League school, then carefully think about what you are sacrificing in order to be subject to the whim of a D-3 LAC. Plus, if you truly have D-1 times, you may be very unhappy competing at the D-3 level. College / university is a time to grow, a time to test yourself, and a time to do your best.

Standard cautionary advice is “trust but verify”. D-3 athletes do not even have that chance.

Forget about the guilt trips others are trying to place on your shoulders. Fair is fair. If the D-3 school is free to reject you for any reason or no reason at all, you should be wise enough to protect yourself & to honor your other commitments with full disclosure–which is more than the D-3 will do for you.

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I didn’t mention this but do think it is good to continue the relationships with the other coaches, but they need to be told that OP is committed. My son did that, there were several coaches who knew that if his offer fell through, or anything else changed, he would be contacting them. Most (and there were several) were happy to keep things cordial. Again, it’s a small community. They knew their paths could cross again. One assistant coach who was recruiting S to a school he did not attend is now coaching at S’s school. It’s a small world. No one wants to burn bridges.

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