<p>A fellow parent told me that at a particularly well known school the team meets after the recruiting weekends to discuss the weekend and recruits with the coach before any official offers are made.</p>
<p>While that surprises me, it is at the same time plausible that many teams weigh in -in some fashion- to the coaches about the recruits.</p>
<p>Anyone know of this being the case in schools your student's attend or have taken OVs? I can see both the benefits (corporate culture/ethos/"buy-in") of this and the downsides (competition/outgoing vs quiet/politics)</p>
<p>Yep, just mentioned this on another thread. I have a friend with athletes in college and she has told me this is the case at two of the schools. At one school, the team assessment seems to carry a lot of weight, moreso than the other, where the coach just guages opinions to confirm his own feelings. I don’t think this is a school policy type thing, more the coach’s style.</p>
<p>I don’t know if there is a formal team assessment of recruits on my S’s team, but I do know that my S went to the recruiting coach after hosting a particularly unpleasant student and said, “You can NOT recruit him!”</p>
<p>The coaches routinely ask the kids on my S’s team what they think after hosting recruits. I think the team’s impressions are taken into consideration, particularly if they are very strong opinions, but I doubt they’d ever overrule the coach’s evaluation of the recruit’s potential athletic contributions to the team. In other words, if the recruit is a stand out athlete, the team’s impressions probably don’t count for much, but if the coach is choosing between several recruits for one position and the team had strong negative feelings about one recruit and positive feelings about another, perhaps that might tip the balance.</p>
<p>We only had one coach cover this topic, and he just said that in all the years he’s been doing this, only once did the team ever come to him and say, please do not take this one recruit … so I got the impression that he just looked for harmony on both sides. Which is pretty much what we all want! </p>
<p>We’ve watched the older kids on the team go on recruiting trips and completely change their minds about which schools they wanted to attend based on vibes they got from the other kids on the team.</p>
<p>Sometimes I feel like my daughter doesn’t ask the coaches enough questions, but I think she’s hoping for that epiphany from one of the schools - the one where, as a friend put it, she will “find her people.”</p>
<p>DD’s team routinely discusses recruits with the coach after OVs-- the coach is searching for a good fit with the other team members, and someone enjoyable to be around and coach.</p>
<p>most coaches do this in my d’s sport. specific team member feedback about my d was quoted in press releases issued by the school after she signed, so that’s pretty solid proof that it goes on…of course you’re only going to hear about positive feedback.</p>
<p>Well if a kid’s committed before he takes his OVs, which happens for a lot of sports, I’m not sure if a player’s impression is going to change anything about that, unless something truly terrible happened. If no word has been given then I could see the player’s evaluation maybe coloring an athlete one way of the other but the impact probably wouldn’t be tremendous. Athletes are there to win; if the attitude of the recruit seems like it would be detrimental to his own or his team’s ability to win and be in good spirit then I could see that making an impact. I can’t see a recruit getting knocked down for being a little haughty, shy, awkward, etc.</p>
<p>Coaches still prefer someone pleasant and cooperative, sans attitude. The coach and team will be spending many days and weekends traveling, eating and practicing.</p>
<p>Most coaches have enough candidates so they can factor in character, as well as raw talent, in their recruiting decisions.</p>
<p>I’m sure this is to a degree sport-specific. Teamwork is absolutely essential in my S’s sport but as others have noted, in other sports, not so much.</p>
<p>At the schools S went to for OVs there was mention by coaches of getting input from current team members re recruits. At least one coach mentioned a situation in which a recruit was so obnoxious, the team spoke out against his joining the team.</p>
<p>^^ To back this up, my daughter spoke with the coach from her recent OV. The coach told her that they had already pretty much decided upon whether or not they might support her before her OV - that this OV was really for the team’s benefit - did she fit in, how was the chemistry, etc.</p>
<p>I guess I’m not too surprised that a coach would solicit input from team players about a recruits OV. It is better to have 30 eyes on a recruit than just two. If I was the coach and it was a team sport, I would definitely want some input from my team leaders.</p>
<p>To digress a little bit…I had a VERY interesting conversation with a baseball umpire this weekend at a baseball showcase event with my middle son. The umpire was telling me that he gets calls all the time from college coaches about potential recruited players. Mainly, they ask him questions about the attititude of a player, does he have a temper, etc… I found that very interesting. I’m willing to guess that it happens in other sports as well, and it is one of those informal tools that coaches have at their disposal.</p>
<p>Fenway, that is interesting, but doesn’t really surprise me. The insight on a recruit that a recruiting coach might gain from an umpire could be quite different from that of coaches, who have a vested interest in the results. Smart recruiting coaches should use every tool in the toolbox to ensure they really know what they are getting in a recruit.</p>
<p>My daughter’s team (DI school) does this. Decisions are made jointly by the team and the coaches. At a big 10 school she visited, she was told this is also the case.</p>
<p>Yes, several coaches made comments to D along the lines of “I think you’d be a great addition to our team, and the girls agreed you’d be a good fit.” So I think they mostly are concerned about avoiding a disruptive, divisive influence, but wouldn’t care much about qualities like weirdness or shyness unless it was extreme. For example, the girls on one team did gossip to D about a recruit who came to visit that they thought was really odd, but it was something pretty major like the girl needed for her mother to be able to live with her or at least come for regular, extended visits.</p>