What a way to run a railroad!

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I have heard about a certain college coach who seems to have lost touch with what makes our sport so great.

This coach brought in 14 freshmen this year. (4 seniors graduated last year.) Then, at tryouts, cut about half of them. (Div. III) I find it to be a demonstration of lack of recruiting skills if you're telling every player who visits your campus as a high school senior "We'd very much like you to be part of our team next year", then cut 'em loose after four weeks at your college. Can picture those players kicking themselves because they had legitimate offers from other schools where they had a real chance of playing for at least a couple of years, but they chose this school because they got fed a line of B.S.?

Okay, let's say you're a player who made the team. At the first team meeting, coach announces a new "policy". There will be no more talking during practices. No more laughing. If you have a question - the only time you can ask it is when coach says "Any questions?". During a practice, the coach asked a player why she did something - the player started explaining, then coach says "stop talking".

If this is the end result of playing years of rec ball, tournament ball, and high school, then some people are going to feel cheated. Yes, you're there to win - but when the team can't gel because of the heavy handed coach, that becomes a difficult task. D3 players are getting Zero assistance toward tuition. They're on the team because they still have a love for the game. If they don't enjoy what you're doing, then they're going to stop doing it. (And the coach will be bringing in another boat load of freshmen the next year, and the next year...)

I have no dog in this fight. I just find it worthy of being an OFC topic.

 

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The nice thing about these types of things is that they get worked out. The bad thing is the blood shed in the process. I feel for these players. D3 is about playing on with passion. It should not be about that type of behavior.

I have seen the same type of behavior at many D3 programs. How about working harder on the recruiting trail and sorting out who and what you need?

 

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Louuuuu ... sounds terrible ... I know you said you have no dog in the fight, so I can't help but wonder if you were given all of the facts. Did the coach actually recruit 14, or were a bunch of them "walk-ons". Given that they can't offer any scholarship money, how exactly did they recruit them ... scout them at games, tell them they would play for sure if they came to school, or what? As for the "no talking or laughing" policy, I have to wonder if there was some story behind that as well. I am sure you heard this from a parent of a young lady who was directly affected, but not always do we parents get the whole story ... just saying ...

My daughter attended D3 here in Ohio, and I know for a fact it wasn't her alma mater, but I do have some opinions, positive and negative, on some of the coaching staffs she played against over the years. If you cared to confidentially pass on in a PM what school it was, I might offer an opinion back as to whether I think it would be possible at the school. Some schools are known to have pretty tough coaching staffs, though the situation you described above would certainly be ridiculous.

 

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Jeff,

Actually, I got the skinny from Louuuuuise - a former player, current student, who knows - and talks to - 75% of the players on the team...

 

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Because at d-3 I believe coaches get dollars for every kid they get to register in the school as well, regardless of whether they play or not. Feel free to correct me as I have no dog here as well.....D-3 girls truly play for the love of the game and the key message for all is choose the school for the education, even if it means not playing again. There are many other things to play in college like, intramural coed ice hockey, intramural softball, battleship, broom ball on ice, other things for fun, but education is why you choose the school.....

 

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DO WE HATE THIS Sh!t?????

NAME THEM ! NAME THEM !!!

 

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DO WE HATE THIS Sh!t?????

NAME THEM ! NAME THEM !!!

I know I know

 

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My brethren - The point is not to call out a school. (I'm sure that the one I know about is not the only one.)

I was trying to bring to light a situation where the coaches are not treating the athletes with the respect that they deserve at this level of play.

 

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Louuuu....what about potential future softball players thinking about attending this school? Do they have the right to know about this?

Len

 

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Another reason players and parents need to do their homework.

I have seen a lot of over recruiting the past three years especially, at the DIII level.
Check the rosters as part of the process. If current roster is 20+ with only a handful of juniors and seniors you got to ask why recruiting all positions?

 

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Names or this is just soap opera garbage!

As soon as I name somebody it becomes soap opera garbage. I stated that it was meant to be a topic of discussion...

 

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Louuuu....what about potential future softball players thinking about attending this school? Do they have the right to know about this?

Len

You are correct, my friend. Follow Coach Dennis's advice - it applies 100% in this case.

(If people are named, The BearMay shuts the thread down because the OP is creating Soap Opera drama)

 

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Another reason players and parents need to do their homework.

I have seen a lot of over recruiting the past three years especially, at the DIII level.
Check the rosters as part of the process. If current roster is 20+ with only a handful of juniors and seniors you got to ask why recruiting all positions?

Slippery rock carries minimum of 28... Better like the school and know the reason why you are going to specific school.

 

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Slippery rock carries minimum of 28... Better like the school and know the reason why you are going to specific school.

Great point, sports should not be the only factor in school selection...

As Louuu pointed out in his original post, student athletes can get the old bait and switch or as what tends to be trending.. coaches "over committing and under delivering". Just like in travel ball...

USA Today had a good article about the increase in small college recruitment DII, DIII, NAIA JC for athletics and starting up additional athletic programs to help enrolment because of the increase in students opting for online and part time community programs.
There have been several other smaller publications that picked up the story for their local interest so a lot of the information is not new.
Small colleges using sports to keep enrollment up

Some other things parents and players need to think about besides their ROI is, Campus life/activities, Housing, availability of internships, clinicals, availability of part time jobs quality of degree etc but that is another thread.

 

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I think it's awful that many schools are using athletics to boost enrollment. I know of a couple of head coaches at schools out west who received $500 per student once their roster reached 16, so long as the student stayed at least one full year. I know of two other coaches who tell recruits that they will be JV players only, with no chance to ever make varsity, which is the right way to go about things. Those coaches are being honest and not over-promising.

But the whole thing of schools making their softball programs have 35-40 people is just asking for unethical behavior. If you are a coach and need to bring in 10-15 freshmen per year just to keep your job, it has to be tempting to over-promise.

 

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Another reason players and parents need to do their homework.

I have seen a lot of over recruiting the past three years especially, at the DIII level.
Check the rosters as part of the process. If current roster is 20+ with only a handful of juniors and seniors you got to ask why recruiting all positions?

There are a lot of D3 schools doing this. Not just in Ohio either. The only thing about using the roster to make the judgement call, many of the cuts happen prior to the teams putting the roster on theier website. If you are just using website rosters, there are many D1 and D2 that are carrying 20 or more players.

I know that i would be upset. paying all that D3 school money, then getting cut? Even if you transferred the next semester, then you are going to be a year removed from ball and you just might not ever get to play again.....

 

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It's been 6 years ago now since my DD was "recruited" by D2 and D3 schools, so I don't know if anything has changed, but in the interest of being balanced I wanted to offer a few observations.

My DD certainly didn't get any hard-sells or over-promises from the schools she talked to ... of course, she wasn't a stud, all-state player either. She got what seemed to be a pretty honest assessment of where she stood after the coaches saw her, and the likelihood for her to contribute down the road. At the D3 school she chose to attend, I don't believe they ever did any cuts in the 4 years she attended, though maybe as many as 5-7 girls a year cut themselves when they realized they weren't going to play much and/or decided they had other priorities especially given that they weren't getting any athletic scholarship money. The coaches always seemed to be pretty open in terms of responding to questions from players about where they stood, and of course played the girls who they thought gave them the best chance to win. In my daughter's case, she actually got an opportunity to play and contribute more than probably she or the coach really expected, so she had a really great experience.

The point is I don't think anyone should take away from this thread that all D3 coaches are like this, but it's obviously important to do your homework well before choosing a school and their coaching staff.

 

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It's been 6 years ago now since my DD was "recruited" by D2 and D3 schools, so I don't know if anything has changed, but in the interest of being balanced I wanted to offer a few observations.

My DD certainly didn't get any hard-sells or over-promises from the schools she talked to ... of course, she wasn't a stud, all-state player either. She got what seemed to be a pretty honest assessment of where she stood after the coaches saw her, and the likelihood for her to contribute down the road. At the D3 school she chose to attend, I don't believe they ever did any cuts in the 4 years she attended, though maybe as many as 5-7 girls a year cut themselves when they realized they weren't going to play much and/or decided they had other priorities especially given that they weren't getting any athletic scholarship money. The coaches always seemed to be pretty open in terms of responding to questions from players about where they stood, and of course played the girls who they thought gave them the best chance to win. In my daughter's case, she actually got an opportunity to play and contribute more than probably she or the coach really expected, so she had a really great experience.

The point is I don't think anyone should take away from this thread that all D3 coaches are like this, but it's obviously important to do your homework well before choosing a school and their coaching staff.

Great points, Sounds like your dd found a good fit. I agree the vast majority of coaches are "straight shooters" at all levels.

My DD was lucky enough to have interest from D1 to NAIA and most of these coaches were upfront with her on their plans and when/how she would be used or fit into their program and what she would need to do to crack the field. Most coaches also stated if they could swing clinicals or have a schedule to fit the nursing schedule.

Now we did have a few that were a little over the top with suggesting changing majors or too much contact via email, text or other players. In the end this all helped her as she cut down her choices to find a school where she would not be the DH and get to play the field while getting the degree she was seeking with a reduction in tuition to play a couple sports she loves.
Again, the ladies need to do some homework as well as mom and dad to help giude them. These are big choices/decisions and it stinks for a player to committ to a place that is not committed to them so, they end up loosing time as they find the right fit or if, like some others have stated they manage to get back into the game or let it slip by...

 

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My DD is now at the same school that coachJWB's daughter attended. She is very happy there because of the campus, the people, the classes, her new sorority (a surprise bonus), the team and the coaches. So far, it's beating her expectations.

There are many STRONG freshman coming in, but this team will need them. The posted roster includes walk-ons too. The coach set up a JV squad to keep interested kids playing - the roster doesn't show who is just JV and who is not and who is both. To a casual observer it would look like a very large squad.

The important thing about D3 - there's no letter of intent, no guarantee. I also heard D3 can't make cuts? (I'm trying to confirm that.) I admit we were all a little nervous when we heard about the creation of the JV squad, but it's up to the kid to show her desire and her skills. D3 is about playing for the love of the sport and the team, and I'm happy to know that my kid is where she wants to be.

 

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Cuts do happen at D3