<p>D visited a school recently and met with the coaches of her sport. The meeting took place in the head coach's office. On the office wall was a white board with all their recruiting info., such as who had come for visits and who had committed to attend. I've been told that most coaches have a white board just like it. But in your experience, did they let you see it, or was this a bit odd?</p>
<p>Unless the school is tops in the sport and is attracting the best of the best, I'm not sure why you'd want prospective junior recruits to see exactly which seniors you have coming up. You might mention your top commits if you're very confident everyone would consider them a prize (and they don't play the same position as the prospie), but otherwise why would you unnecessarily give out this information when you can't judge the effect it might have on the prospective athlete? For example, this particular school had a lot going for it and D might have actually chosen it as her first choice, but when she saw the weakness of this year's recruiting class she lost a good deal of interest. Also, there was a girl from our state on the commit list whom D had met at summer camp. Apparently, she was their top recruit which did not impress D since she's aware of her performance level, and also D thinks the girl is really annoying. Some kids might want to be the top dog, some might want to be middle of the pack, and some might not want to be varsity for a year or two. It seems to me that allowing a kid to see your recruiting info. could give away an advantage you might otherwise have. I suppose D could have found out the info. anyway in the fall by looking at their roster online, but first impressions are hard to counter. Thoughts?</p>
<p>I think this “full disclosure” is very nice on the part of the coach. He could have hidden his progress thus far at recruiting but he chose to be open.</p>
<p>I would think that the coach would be glad to have personality conflicts addressed up front or avoided altogether.</p>
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<p>Maybe this isn’t the right program for your D.</p>
<p>In general, I would think that, as with students generally, athletes who are happy where they are will perform better, compete longer, and be easier to coach than athletes who are not.</p>
<p>Imagine how a typical recruited athlete might react if she showed up at this program and found out that someone whom she doesn’t like or respect was considered to be the best recruit.</p>
<p>Does this mean the coach is a smart recruiter for being open and proactive, or not savvy at all for showing his hand? And if the latter, then is that one good reason to shy away, expecting next year’s recruiting class is unlikely to be better? For example, if D were to commit to this school, and next year’s top recruits saw her name on the board, mightn’t they have the same reaction (ie. If that girl is the best they’ve got coming in, then the program isn’t that great) and lose interest?</p>
<p>Other kids might have the exact opposite reaction. For example, Oklahoma, Florida, Texas and USC are 3-4 deep at practically EVERY position. A recruit could go to one of those schools, sit on the bench for four years but yet win a national championship. Or, that same kid could go to second or third place team in that respective league and start as a Frosh.</p>
<p>GFG- wouldn’t there be other factors more germane to your daughter’s decision than just the names of the other women being recruited for her sport??? i.e. academics?</p>
<p>Seems to me that the coach’s disclosure is a huge plus- everyone gets to make decisions with a lot more information on the table. And it seems to me that the strength of the team is one (but possibly not the most important) consideration in the decisionmaking process.</p>
<p>And for sure your daughter will find annoying people wherever she goes in life. A teammate, a mother-in-law, a boss, a roommate…</p>
<p>I would MUCH rather know where I stood with a coach than have to second guess and if someone I didn’t like was surely going to be there, that would be good to know as well. It would seem to me that having such an open news policy would, in the end, work to the coaches benefit AS LONG AS the kid who is top dog on a white board doesn’t act like they are top dog if they come to the school. That would just create an unnecessary, and possibly, inaccurate hierarchy.</p>
<p>Maybe he’s not showing his entire hand. Maybe he’s trying to make your dd think that the recruiting class is weak and so she’ll have a better chance at starting, thinking that will be attractive to her.</p>
<p>So, is your daughter walking away from this school and the possibility of a scholarship because of what she saw in the coaches office?</p>
<p>What if she meets with the coach at a different school and doesn’t have access to info about other recruits? Will she ask for it because it was a factor she considered at School A and now relies on?</p>
<p>There’s no doubt the recruiting information is valuable for us. My question was why this one coach would allow us to see it, when none of the others shared such information and when disclosing it seems risky. As I already said and bluebayou also pointed out, the impact of such info. would vary unpredictably by kid. I do agree with you, Blossom, but D now has to try not to give this much weight because she doesn’t have similar data about any of the other schools. Otherwise, without wanting to and indeed though trying not to, D might be unduly influenced even though other schools under consideration could have a similar recruiting profile but she just wouldn’t know about it.</p>
<p>As for the annoying girl, I only commented on that to show how learning who the college’s recruits were could backfire on the coach. The girl lives an hour away from us, so the coach would have had no way of predicting D would know her personally. Sure, there will always be people you don’t care for, and it’s quite possible there will be one such girl on each of the other teams under D’s consideration. The difference, though, is on this team it’s now a certainty, while on the others it’s only a likelihood. Once you know something you can’t unknow it!</p>
<p>PS DougBetsy–just saw your post. Yes, that’s now the situation, and I almost wish it weren’t!</p>
<p>I think that the intended impact is to attract the type of people that will be happy there. If the information affects A and B differently, then perhaps A is a good fit and B is not.</p>
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<p>Why doesn’t your daughter ask him about it? </p>
<p>I would imagine that the ensuing conversation could be enlightening for both sides.</p>
<p>Thought I should clarify that the sport is x-c and track, so performance is objectively measured. Somehow the above comment about the conversation being enlightening for both sides made me wonder if ADad thinks D is conceited in her assessment of the recruiting class and maybe the coach should learn that about D! No doubt my comment about D finding that girl annoying could have contributed to that impression. That situation is not a huge deal and D could certainly live with her (she already did). But keep in mind that while a track team might be large, the girls would be training in small groups based on event classifications. Thus the girl in question would be one of only a handful of girls doing the same event type as D. So spending 20 or more hours a week with a teammate when there’s a team group of 30 girls all together, is different than spending that same time when the group is much smaller.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to have given the impression that I think D is conceited. I don’t think that. </p>
<p>If two girls are going to have to work closely together, and the two girls don’t get along for whatever reason, then that may well be a problem in the making. There’s a lot to be said for planning for this eventuality, clearing the air beforehand, and/or avoiding the situation altogether.</p>
<p>As for the coach: I think that the coach would simply like to have a good fit, just as your D would.</p>
<p>Hi GFG!
When my D went through recruiting a year ago, a lot of information about who was signing where was circulated on Facebook. The girls met on recruiting weekends, and over the course of a few weeks and months, tipped their hands about their first choice. In this way, if there is someone your d doesn’t want to train with over the next four years (and every girl has someone like this :)) they will probably be able to find this out through networking.<br>
My daughter never saw a list, but when asked, coaches were forthcoming about who they were recruiting, and were very quick to mention the names of kids who had committed.<br>
ADad is right on: its about fit, and being somewhat open all around is a good thing. I will say, if you tell coaches the other schools she is looking at, you may be in for some very specific marketing about why X is better than Y, but this can be very interesting and worthwhile to listen to, too.</p>
<p>Perhaps different strategies with different sports or even different divisions… D is currently a committed senior for a sport other than x-c/track. During recruiting season last spring as a junior, coaches at each school would not share the names of other players they were looking at for D’s '09 recruiting class (even when asked). Senior '08 commits, yes, but her '09 class was kept to # of recruits and positions needed. One exception was an Ivy that scheduled unofficials for 3 recruits (incl. D) at the same time for the same position. It was incredibly awkward and looked unsophisticated in comparison. If the coach’s white board listed the names of prospective recruits, unofficials, etc. from the same class as D (not commits from class above), and was out in the open during a coach’s meeting, we would have considered that sloppy recruiting from our experience.</p>
<p>Having just gone through the recruiting process, I would have loved any additional information that came our way. Sloppy or intentional, the more information the better as far as I’m concerned. The entire recruiting process is mired in secrets and whispers. Maybe I’m too blunt of a person, but I’d prefer all cards on the table. </p>
<p>I’d use the information or ignore it or just keep it in the back of my mind. At least the choice of what to do with it is yours.</p>
<p>^^Yes, more information certainly is a bonus for the OP’s D, but I wouldn’t have wanted my D’s name, along with her recruiting activities and ranking, up on that board for all other prospects’ families to see at that early stage of the recruiting process. It’s none of their business and appears unprofessional.</p>
<p>How about if the coach had the white board with a list representing your daughter’s recruiting class on it. What if her name was the first on the list (the coach may point out that she’s his top choice) - we’ve heard that this happens. Wonder if the coach changes it for every recruit who is expected in his office…</p>
<p>gusaspara, I wondered the same thing: is this some kind of gamesmanship? or an honest mistake? was the coach mortified after the recruit left, to find that the board was visible? Very hard to interpret this situation!</p>
<p>D can ask the coach about it. The coach’s response can help her assess his/her trustworthiness. It is always important to assess the trustworthiness of a college coach.</p>