BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums LACROSSE LIBRARY COLLEGE RESOURCES College, Coaches, Recruitment : 2010-2011

BOTC Industries is pleased to be able to offer our college recruitment board as a service to the lacrosse community. Please feel free to ask questions about the college process as it relates to academics, lacrosse, or both.

Lacrosse seems to have many showcase events that are pick-up teams meaning players seem to do more picking and choosing for their individual events. (As opposed to soccer where the decisions are more made on a team level for showcasing.)

When profiles are handed out, is there any type of team summary or is it more a collection of individual players? How does the lacrosse head coach manage to represent these players?

BOTC Industries points out that most showcase events will quote a full team price (typically in the $1200-$1400 range), but also a single day and multiday price for individual "free-agent" players. The daily fee is typically 10-15% of the team price while the two-day fee will be approximately 20% of the team fee.

Soccer sees much more structure in terms of players being loaned from team-to-team even for a showcase event between passes, rosters, and player releases. In lacrosse, this practice is more, well, lax. This also helps to explain why several lacrosse clubs are accused of playing "down" in tournaments to secure wins.

Most clubs that develop profiles will also "own" those profiles from the standpoint of presenting the data. Each profile will typically stand on its own.

Thanks for your question and your interest. Please continue to let others know about our new Long Island Lacrosse Message Board, www.backofthecage.com, and our College Forum.

But in Lacrosse you have more of an opportunity to showcase your talents than soccer. All summer you can be playing in showcase college tourneys where coaches are present. You do not have this benefit if you are a good soccer player other than being on the state team. This past summer my daughter went to 5 college showcase tournaments, one she did not need to represent her club team but anyone could attend. Much more exposure than soccer for same age groups.

Interesting point about the number of tournaments as this is certainly the case. Consider the upcoming November lacrosse showcases where there are competing events each weekend. Coaching attendance is being divided so players need to be very aware of where their target coaches/schools are attending tournaments.

In soccer, there are very focused events that can attract multiple hundreds of schools in a single weekend. With lacrosse, the number of focused weekends is greatly reduced. This puts more responsibility on the player to research attendance from target schools.

So, in terms of more exposure, you attend more events in lacrosse, but has it been generated more coaching eyes on players overall compared to soccer or any other sport? The number of tournaments drives up the individual family's cost to the benefit of the hosting organizations. Would you agree?

You pay individually for each tourney, usually $75 to $100 per tourney. sometimes less depending. If you are 10th or 11th grade you e-mail the coach to let her know where you will be. Another great opportunity I see in lax but not in soccer are the number of camps you can go to all throughout the fall and spring held at colleges - taught by college coaches. I dont see the Long island Colleges, of which there are many, running these camps for soccer.

Lacrosse clearly has more tournaments, but there is no real organized league structure on a weekly basis which makes the tournaments as the only game-play option. (This all means significantly more cost than one would see with other sports, like soccer, that have a more formal league structure in place.)

College camps in soccer are generally held in the June/July timeframes similar to scholastic lacrosse. The Long Island colleges/universities do run summer camps (Adelphi, Hofstra to name two).

The LAX recruitment game via camps on Long Island tends to be much less noticed since Long Island has a very captive audience. College coaches can get to a Long Island lacrosse event with relative ease - and given that the rosters are mostly Long Island based, is a camp really needed on Long Island to identify talent?

On another discussion forum, there seems to be little real education about the NCAA Recruiting process and what happens with coaching engagement. Some of the discussion threads appear below.

The question you should be asking is "why would any sophomore or junior year HIgh School student stop listening to other offers?" Now, many schools that change head coaches will honor prior commitments, but it is not written in stone and is not a guarantee.

Remember that a head coaching change is usually about changing some major aspect of the program. When that program shift takes place, your son or daughter might not be a fit with the new coach's system. Give this some very careful thought as your child might be moving hundreds or thousands of miles from home only to find that they have gone from star recruit to the bench not having done anything themselves.

Absolutely true statement. The number one rule that I have told my premier level soccer and lacrosse players is the same : do NOT choose a college or university because you "liked" the coach. Yes, not liking a coach is a reason NOT to attend, but liking a coach is NOT a reason attend! Coaches move. It is a job. When that coach moves, you had better be 110% sure that the college and majors offered (in addition to academics/social environments) are what your are seeking from your collegiate career.

Think of it this way : college is 168 hours per week for 15 straight weeks. You will spend about 12-15 hours per week in team based activities. That leaves an awful lot of other hours to fill your week.

Why would any player verbally commit early and not keep listening to other offers?

Establishing a verbal commitment does nothing but secure a roster spot and the player/family should keep an open ear for other and potentially better offers. Typically, a college coach who is able to put their very best offer on the table early will keep the family engaged and will end the college search process.

A verbal commitment is not binding from either side, but BOTC Industries has always recommended that the player tell a college coach immediately when a university has been ruled out. Remember that roster spot (and money) can then go to another player interested in attending that institution.

The reason to accept an offer early without money would be where a candidate is in the bottom quartile of the university's typical freshman year acceptance pool. In these situations, the head lacrosse coach might have a certain number of exemptions available to hand-selected candidates. Armed with an exemption, the coach can walk the student through the entire admissions process including discussions with financial aid. Again, this depends on the player's passion for the school, academics, and athletics over and above other financial considerations.

Let's do some arithmetic and answer the question exclusively in the context of men's and women's Division I and Division II programs. Scholarship count data for lacrosse programs follows :

NCAA D1 Sport ...... Men's Women's
Lacrosse ........... 12.6 / 12.0

NCAA D2 Sport ...... Men's Women's
Lacrosse ........... 10.8 / 9.9

Now, with the average roster holding 24-26 players, very clearly a straight division shows you that on average, each player would receive at most 0.5 of a scholarship.

A player signing an NLI or National Letter of Intent is effectively signing the contract that disclosed all of the financial terms for the upcoming academic year. Generally, all financial data will be included in such an arrangement, but this is not required by the NCAA. As a result, the final financial disclosure process might vary slightly by university.

This is a 0.25 ... or one-quarter ... scholarship and would be a fairly standard award for a entering student-athlete. Think of it this way : If there are 12.0 scholarships (maximum, women's Division I), on average that would mean 3.0 scholarships per class year. Now, upper classmen will typically get slightly more money over time so suppose there are 2.0 scholarships available for entering freshmen. If eight recruits are brought into the campus all with equal footing, that will result in 0.25 scholarships per player.

BOTC Industries strongly advises you to engage the college coach once a roster spot has been allocated to your child to explain your financial situation and ask that the coach introduce you to the college's financial aid department for an early assessment of your case. Be prepared to have all of the previous tax year's information, savings/assets data, and your child's academic transcript at the ready for that meeting. All of these documents will be required.

Look at the Philly Showcase taking place this weekend. One big difference between lacrosse showcasing and soccer showcasing is that lacrosse showcases seem to focus on players registering for pick-up games. Soccer showcases are centered on team registrations. Which method is better? Are there different tournaments for full team registrations?

My daughter actually had a friend that verbally committed to a school in junior year (great school, but not the dream school). Meanwhile, her dream school was perfect in every way, except for the relationship with the coach.

Before NLIs were signed, her friend's dream school had a new coach, who was previously recruiting her at another school. She had the opportunity to change her mind, as now the dream school was perfect in every way, but felt she needed to do the honorable thing and keep her verbal committment to the "great" but not dream school.

How did it work out??? Not sure ... just a freshman and lax season hasnt started yet, so time will tell. Every situation and circumstance is different, and every person handles things in their life differently. I always say things happen for a reason.

D1 coaches recruit on average 7 to 9 players a year women Now 10 to 14 + men. Lets do the math. Women have 12 scholarships men 12.6 these numbers are for the whole squad.

Top 10 D1 women ranked teams will take 7 to 9 recruits per school per year. That's 70 to 90 recruits total for all top 10 teams. If a top 10 coach wants say 9 typically 2 attack 4 mids 2 defense 1 goal every year.

How will the scholarship money be distributed? A womens fully funded coach has 3 scholarships a year on average to divide , therefore that's a 33% average scholarship per recruit.
Some schools give all the same 33%, most rate recruits in tiers.

Tier 1 and 2 kids visit soon after September 1 of junior year. Only a coaches top two or three recruits are offered a specific scholarship amount 33% to 100%( yes it does happen).
Realize for the top ten schools this may be 30 to 60 kids in the country total. Not inside lacrosse rank what the coaches want. The rest get offered less or are put on hold until the smoke clears and everyone sees who commits to who. Now these are verbals and they do limit a coach from getting another player if they verbal to one of these early commits. Typically transcripts are reviewed and a target SAT is discussed. Maintain the status quo grade wise and no other issues is also assumed.

Now who's at risk here ? Both parties. The kid has to hit the SAT # and the coach has to hope the kid keeps their commitment.
The recruit could find themselves in March of the senior year desperately trying to hit the SAT number. The coach could lose a kid senior year and have passed up on other recruits.

Let assume each top 10 team get 2 of these early cant miss studs at 50% scholar hip, whats left? 2 scholarships 6 or 8 kids.

Now if kids perform they can get more year by year but if they don't they can be reduced.

Some kids do get multi year deals.

Many kids get nothing but get in a much better school then they would have without lax.

Some families, money is no object, just get my kid into Princeton. This is a whole other system where the average kid may need 1300 on the SAT.

Three kids could need 1500 another 1300 another 1200. Guess who gets in with a lower SAT? The better player.

After all the initial kids commit in my previous scenario, round two begins in January junior year forward. This is when the coaches round out the class with the 2 or less remaining scholarships for the 6 or 8 remaining recruits.

I have never heard a top D1 team re neg if the kid gets the SAT # agreed upon, maintains grades, and does not get in trouble.

Having been through this with a daughter recruited at ACC, IVY and a few others, what you have stated is remarkably close to our experience. The coaches were also all REALLY professional. The one in question on this thread could not have been more above board and honest. From what I saw, that 1200 SAT kid at an ivy will only work if there is another kid in the class with a much higher SAT. It's a blended class ranking, with some minimum floor.

Money is typically 1/3 to start and moves up, as does the firmness of the commitment, depending on where your daughter ranks in that class. Parents should feel free to tactfully ask the coach-where does jenny, jane, jill, rank in your class, and then adjust expectations and strategies accordingly. All of the coaches I met were happy to talk plainly.

As we have said previously on our Back of the Net sister site for soccer, a student-athlete should not be choosing their college or university based on a relationship with the head coach. Remember that the head coaching (and any coaching or teaching) role is a job first and foremost. There is no guarantee that the staff you see on board with your program today will be there four years from now, much less four months from now.

School selection should be done based on academic fit first followed by other environmental considerations. It is actually a shame that a young person chose a runner-up school due to a sense of loyalty to a coach. Hopefully, this decision turns out to be positive for the student-athlete in the longer run.

Should we be doing anything as parents before a showcase aside from contacting coaches to help our son's chances at this next event in June? He is currently a junior and had not locked into a single school as yet.

First, be sure that you have both "Top Ten Academics" and "Top Ten Athletics" lists in place to help narrow your focus. As a second half junior, now is also the time to start to validate GPA, Board Scores, and desired majors against the schools in both lists. You should have three stretch schools, four on-par schools, and three "lock" schools in each list.

Second, be sure that you (your son) has contacted coaches of interest to be on their radar. If there are specific showcases/tournaments being attended by your favored coaches, see if you can attend those events with your team or as a guest player.

Third, April is the perfect time to schedule campus visits to both experience the schools and meet the atheltic team staff. It is worth your time to make those visits now to help narrow your search and make the application process come senior year a bit easier to navigate.

Start with these three action items and let us know how you progress.

I have at least 2 years before we need to get serious. This will be our first child entering college.
I have read all the related posts on this forum, listened to friends who have older kids going through the process now and spoken to other friends who currently have kids playing for D1 and D2 teams.
I am attempting to educate myself on this complex topic, now and then continue to learn as we go.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what publications/books/etc can I read now on this topic.
Thank you for your time.

One of the very best resources to use at the start of your journey will be the NCAA College-Bound Student Athlete Guide. This useful 24-page document will introduce you to the topics of eligibility, regulations per NCAA Division on coaching contact, course cores and grades/board scores, and a host of other topics.

NCAA College-Bound Student Athlete Guide

Please feel free to ask any questions you have about lacrosse recruitment and the NCAA process you might have after reading through these guidelines.

One of the first proactive steps that you can take along with your child is the development of a lacrosse profile which emphasizes academics, awards, clubs/activities, voluteerism, jobs, athletics, and personal contact information. Organizing this information will help you take your first step on the college preparation track.

How to Construct Your Profile

Some aspects you might want to have included in your profiles and resumes when applying for college or showcasing :

In the header at the top of the page, include the player's name, uniform number, address, GPA/SAT/ACT scores, height, weight, birthdate, telephone contact numbers and e-mail addresses. Think about having an e-mail address dedicated to lacrosse recruiting so that e-mails are centralized and responses are tracked. Also, include a profile picture that allows a coach to identify you from 30 yards away on the field. A head shot is valuable; an action shot on the profile that is 10 pixels square on a printed page does not help anyone.

Include some information about your athletics, including High School, and academics (AP, Awards and such). Include important activities and if space exists, some information about upcoming appearances (tournaments) or references. Make sure that the profile fits on one single printed page.

How to Begin Identifying Potential Target Universities and Colleges

Start by constructing two lists : the first list is a purely academic list of schools that have your son/daughter's majors/interests. The list should contain about ten to twelve schools broken into three buckets : stretch schools (100-200 points above your current SAT scores), on-par schools (those that match your GPA or SAT/ACT scores), and safety schools (those which are an obvious acceptance where you would be in the top quartile of the student body). When you do this academic listing, think to yourself "suppose I could never play lacrosse again - where would I go?" (CollegeBoard.Com is a great resource for these types of searches.)

Construct a second list of the ten lacrosse programs that would interest your child. Be sure to consider all NCAA divisions as the commitment level will vary greatly. Construct this list without any notion of money/scholarships, but give thought to whether your son/daughter would be a bench-sitter or an active player. For some families, a Division III opportunity with a starting role is worth much more than a Division I limited action role until the junior year.

You will have at most 20 schools at this point. Now, figure our where the overlaps might are between the two lists. This overlap list might have between five and eight schools - which is your initial target market!

It is ideal if you already have these lists, but working on these during your junior year Winter Recess or Easter break is critical. Those are the High School vacation periods where you really need to start your campus tours. Try to visit campuses while student activity is active - you get a much better sense of the campus "vibe". Take the tours, eat a meal at the campus, and speak with students.

Importantly, start e-mailing the head coach and assistant coach at each school. Send a copy of your profile along with your e-mail to the coaching staff. Express your interest in their schools and do not hesitate to show some enthusiasm. Fill out any on-line recruitment material. Schedule a visit with the coach to see the athletic facilities.

A great start for me, thank you very much for all your insight....

You are very welcome and we hope that you find the advice and "blueprint" useful. Please feel free to ask any questions needed here on the BOTC Lacrosse College Board.

Reminder to all of our BOTC Parents, Players, and Visitors : Our College Forum thread on BOTC is designed to answer your college lacrosse recruiting questions in addition to general academic issues. Have a question or concern? Are you just unsure of the college admissions process? Feel free to ask your questions on the BOTC College Forum.

The Long Island Metropolitan Lacrosse Foundation (www.limetrolax.org) offers a scholarship program that was established in 2010 to recognize outstanding high school lacrosse players in the Long Island-Metropolitan area.

The 2010 "All Around Player of the Year" scholarship winners were Drew Belinsky from Manhasset and Max Meyer from Half Hollow Hills.

This year (2011) a total of six scholarships will be awarded to male and female players from Nassau (Section VII), Suffolk (Section XI) and New York City (PSAL). Each reciipient will receive $1,000 along with a plaque in their honor.

In evaluating candidates, the LIMLF applies the following criteria:

• Must Be All-County or ALL-NYC;
• Must Have an Outstanding Grade Point Average;
• Must Have a Strong Community Service Background; and
• Must Be in Good Standing in both the School and the Community.

If you would like more information regarding LIMLF's Scholarship Program, please contact the Chair of the program, Al Hodish, at alhodish@aol.com.

AthleticBusiness.com has reported that a new law takes effect in Connecticut that will require colleges to disclose exactly what student-athletes are agreeing to when they accept an athletic scholarship.

"The law, which passed the Connecticut House by a 140-to-3 vote and was unanimously approved in the Senate, seeks to keep recruits informed that scholarships are only good for one year and are subject to renewal at the discretion of the school. It also mandates full disclosure of how sports-related medical expenses are covered and what out-of-pocket expenses a student-athlete can expect to pay. Schools must post such details online."

The web site also notes that "similar legislation ... takes full effect next year in California."

Supporting stories on the atheltic disclosure ruling in Connecticut.

Lax Buzz Coverage - Recruiters Are Fueling Myths

Athletic Business Newswire Report

NCAA Division I Legislative Council Rejects Earlier Recruiting Phone Contact

The Division I Legislative Council during its conference call Thursday narrowly defeated a proposal that would have allowed earlier phone contact with recruits in sports other than football and men’s basketball.

The Council’s action averts an override vote on the matter unless the Division I Board of Directors acts differently at its Aug. 11 meeting.

The Legislative Council in April adopted legislation (Proposal No. 2010-30) that would have allowed schools:

•One telephone call per month to a prospect (or the prospect’s relatives or legal guardians) on or after June 15 at the end of the prospect’s sophomore year in high school through July 31 after the prospect’s junior year;
•Two telephone calls per week beginning Aug. 1 before the prospect’s senior year in high school; and
•One telephone call per week to a two-year or four-year college prospect (or the prospect’s relatives or legal guardians).

The legislation is what currently is in place for men’s basketball, and proponents of Proposal No. 2010-30 liked the idea of uniform contact rules for other sports. After it was adopted, though, 106 schools submitted override requests by the June 27 deadline, which not only required the Legislative Council to revisit the proposal (it takes 30 override requests to prompt that action), but that total also exceeded the 100 requests necessary to suspend the legislation.

Of the 29 conferences present and voting on Thursday’s call, 14 retained support and 15 voted to defeat the proposal. Because of the Council’s weighted-vote structure for conferences, the actual tally was 24.0 in support and 24.3 to defeat, meaning the legislation previously adopted is now rescinded.

The Board of Directors will review the action Aug. 11 and does have the authority to resurrect the proposal. If the presidents do so, that would require a membership override vote later this year.

The discussion on Thursday’s conference call reflected the ongoing debate of earlier access and the burdens placed on the compliance community to monitor phone calls and electronic communication. Some conference representatives who voted to support the legislation in April said they had several individual league members subsequently request an override.

Coincidentally, the Division I Recruiting and Athletics Personnel Issues Cabinet in July proposed legislation to eliminate limits on the number and frequency of telephone calls to prospects (though it would not change the permissible date on which institutions may begin calling prospects or who makes the calls).

The cabinet also proposed allowing all forms of electronic correspondence (such as email and texts) to be sent to recruits starting at the same time that phone contact is allowed in a given sport.

Both of those proposals – neither of which would affect the time at which contact could begin to be made with recruits, but both of which affect the methods of the contact – will be acted upon during the 2011-12 legislative cycle.

Very interesting article about college sports in general posted on Back of the Net. Anyone with lacrosse views?

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Financial troubles across the United States with the increasingly soft economy, a 500-point Dow Jones Industrial average drop impacting investments, and shrinking family bank accounts have helped to increase the focus on the elusive student-athlete scholarship to help fund a four-year college education. Decreasing tax rolls, increasing social program costs, and decreased federal funding have state governments themselves significantly cutting subsidies to various state university systems. In parallel, private universities are struggling to maintain endowments while supporting both their quality of education and quantity of students capable of paying the $40,000 per year bill.

California has been among the hardest hit states with athletic programs being impacted at record rates over the last eighteen months. These articles provide a sampling of the cost-cutting impacting family plans for financing a collegiate education. As you can see, these cuts are now reaching the point of saving $50,000 per fiscal year.

• April 2010 : CSU/SB Cuts Programs to Save $50,000
• October 2010 : Cal Cuts Five Varsity Sports
• January 2011 : California Facing New Cuts
• August 2011 : College Budgets and Athletic Scholarships

Will this trend continue in full force to the SUNY schools and the East Coast/Region One Universities? This was discussed as early as November 2009 in the New [lacrosse] Times.

This is a vulnerable time for non-revenue generating sports programs as more universities are closely examining the full cost of operating a Division I or Division II sports program. Remember, this is not just the cost of scholarships which are factored into the overall university discount rate, but also salaries, benefits, and facilities to coaches and support staff.

Colleges across the region, particularly four-year institutions, are struggling to maintain academic standards while also filling freshman classes with enough "paying students" to carry university expenses. When student revenues, state funding, or endowments can no longer cover the bills, programs start getting cut. Athletic scholarships are particularly vulnerable in this situation. Further, when local four-year programs are being undermined by community colleges with a value proposition of saving two years of tuition, someone is going to get squeezed financially.

There are some who would point to the elimination of the Hofstra University Division I football program as the first shoe to drop in our competitive regional market where both private and public universities are forced to make the difficult decisions between sustaining academic growth and investment in athletic programs. In Hofstra's case, academics remain solid while diverting funds to the now celebrated Medical School - however, the athletic scholarship count has radically dropped.

Remember that the game is no longer just a question of how many scholarship positions are funded. Families now find themselves needing to question much more than just whether a program is fully funded. Now, questions about the overall health of all the athletic programs have never been more important.

With the start of the new academic year, BOTC will be closing this 2010/2011 discussion thread covering recruitment and open a new discussion for the Class of 2012.