Future of Division III

[Ralph Turner]

Video discussing the move by Claflin from NAIA-1 to D-II...the factors, the benefits, a few of the challenges...

D-II Claflin University

[ADL70]

Ohio Dominican is making the same move.

And here's an alternative athletics model:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/sports/02club.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&th&emc=th

[wilburt]

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http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i16/16b02001.htm

From the issue dated December 12, 2008

Small colleges prey on student-athletes' varsity dreams

By ANONYMOUS

As a college professor and parent of a college athlete, I have been reading with great interest reports that small colleges have been seeking to increase their enrollments by promoting their sports programs. An article in The Chronicle last fall, for example, described how the president of Adrian College, in Michigan, devised a plan to raise enrollment by expanding the institution's intercollegiate-athletics program and assigning recruiting quotas to its coaches. Adrian's recruiting plan requires its 16 head coaches to sign up almost 200 athletes per year. Coaches who fail to meet their assigned quotas risk losing their jobs. The total enrollment has risen to a decades-high level of almost 1,500. Adrian's president referred to his stream of new admissions as a "fountain of youth."

While I have no problem with colleges and universities trying to raise enrollment through encouraging student participation in athletics, I do question the integrity of the recruiting and admissions process if institutions do not openly share their strategies with prospective students and parents. That includes being truthful regarding a student's likely status on varsity teams.

Our family has had a personal, less-than-ideal experience with a similar NCAA Division III intercollegiate athletics program at another private liberal-arts college. Our daughter was heavily recruited to play a varsity sport at the aforesaid college. She received numerous telephone calls, e-mail messages, and mailings from a coach that focused on her future as a collegiate player. Together with at least one of her parents each time, she visited the college on three occasions, one visit an overnight stay with a player from the team on which, we were led to believe, she would be an important member. In addition to the efforts of the coach, the admissions office was also on board, sending our daughter and family a barrage of promotion materials about the college.

After doing all she was asked, including attending summer and preseason camps and working tirelessly in practice, she and several other members of the team, who were part of an overflowing roster, were informed early in the season that they would not be active players in varsity games, might not even dress for games. They would play on a reserve team instead.

Our daughter shared with us that being recruited to play a varsity sport reaffirmed efforts she had made in school athletics; being put on the reserve team called into question what she had learned and accomplished. Moreover, it was also a distraction from other aspects of her college life. She was always wondering what practice she would be attending. Having two separate teams created an unwholesome competition and division on the team of a small college where relationships are very personal — a reason for attending a small institution in the first place.

At home, we simply could not understand. We watched in bewilderment when our daughter was allowed to dress for varsity play but stood on the sidelines during games won or lost by wide margins. We spent countless hours asking ourselves questions about the nature of athletics at small colleges that we probably should have asked during the recruiting process.

Our daughter could have gone to almost any other college or university in the United States. She graduated from a high school for the gifted with a 4.0 grade-point average; she played a varsity sport there, making the all-city roster her junior and senior years. She wanted to attend a college with a good academic reputation and play a varsity sport. She was led to believe that she could do so at College X, so she closed doors on the application process to other colleges.

We have thought long and hard about her present situation, including our possible naïveté. However, we have sensed that there was something we were not understanding about the whole process. The recruiting and admissions tactics The Chronicle described at Adrian College seem to be the answer. Perhaps our daughter was simply used to raise enrollment. Was her college hoping that, after securing her as a student, her experiences in class and her newfound friends would persuade her to continue, despite having only reserve status on the varsity team?

In consultation with colleagues and coaches elsewhere, I learned that the recruiting and admissions strategies we saw practiced are not uncommon at many small private NCAA Division III colleges. It seems that the enticement of playing intercollegiate athletics speaks to thousands of high-school athletes throughout America who want to continue playing organized sports; at the same time, it satisfies an institution's desire to maintain or increase enrollment and tuition dollars.

It is hard to put into words the frustration and distress that our daughter has experienced because her coach and her college were not truthful about the recruiting process. One day a former high-school teammate, friend, and walk-on player at another college "Facebooked" her excitement about playing against our daughter and her team in a forthcoming varsity contest. Dejectedly our daughter wrote back to say that she would not dress for the game and most likely would not be able to see her friend because she would be at a reserve-team practice on another field.

As a result of her experience, she has decided to transfer to another college, where she will be a member of the honors program, will receive generous scholarships, and will, we hope, be able to continue to play her sport.

Students and their families should not be used or manipulated by presidents, admissions counselors, or coaches to further the enrollment interests or quotas of colleges. Colleges should know better. Students like our daughter deserve better.

The author asked for anonymity because his daughter is still enrolled at the college he describes.
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Copyright © 2008 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

[Knightstalker]

Or she may be put on the JV team again because possibly she isn't as good as the players dressing with the Varsity?

[wilburt]

Or she may be put on the JV team again because possibly she isn't as good as the players dressing with the Varsity?

That probably was the case, but let her know that up front so that she and her parents can make an informed decision as to where to attend college.

[Knightstalker]

Or she may be put on the JV team again because possibly she isn't as good as the players dressing with the Varsity?

That probably was the case, but let her know that up front so that she and her parents can make an informed decision as to where to attend college.

From reading the letter I never once got the impression that she had been promised a spot on the varsity.  It seems that possibly family and child were making assumptions.  She is a freshman on a team with a large roster and several freshman, they should have just done the math.

[wilburt]

From reading the letter I never once got the impression that she had been promised a spot on the varsity.  It seems that possibly family and child were making assumptions.  She is a freshman on a team with a large roster and several freshman, they should have just done the math.

I don't get the impression that she was promised a spot on the varsity either, but then why the heavy recruiting (emails, calls, mailings) from the athletic department then in addition to the regular materials from the admissions office staff? It kind of seems like a bait and switch.  Dangle the athletic carrot, but what we (the school) really wants is the tuition dollars.

Now in fairness, I have seen this in reverse for Division III (albeit not too often).  A person decides to come to a school (that he might not otherwise get admitted to) cause he is heavily recruited by the athletic department.  He then decides not to play sports at all in order to focus on academics, or he gets a girlfriend or whatever.  Since he is not on athletic scholarship the athletic department is in a bind.  It cuts both ways in Division III.     

[Mr. Ypsi]

To me, at least, the letter writer sounded like a 'helicopter parent' with little clue about athletics.  Playing JV as a freshman is not at all unusual even for highly recruited athletes.  (Keelan Amelianovich was exclusively JV as a freshman at IWU; his sophomore year he was CCIW POY, and was an All-American his junior and senior years.)  It's called developing and waiting your turn, concepts the letter writer seems unfamiliar with.

[wilburt]

It's called developing and waiting your turn, concepts the letter writer seems unfamiliar with.

That's entirely the point.  Whether he should have known or whether he should have been informed by the athletic department is the real issue! It seems as both parties in this matter were working on assumptions.  If so who is to blame?

[Knightstalker]

It's called developing and waiting your turn, concepts the letter writer seems unfamiliar with.

That's entirely the point.  Whether he should have known or whether he should have been informed by the athletic department is the real issue! It seems as both parties in this matter were working on assumptions.  If so who is to blame?

Really no one is to blame, it is called life, sometimes ish happens.  Call it a lesson learned, don't assume, ask for verification.  If you don't ask you have no one to blame but yourself.

[Ralph Turner]

Legislative update  Links to three short videos are available.  (Total viewing time is about 20-25 minutes.)

Interesting proposals that will be voted upon at the January meeting include these:

Sponsored by the NJAC and CUNYAC:  The uniform start date for XC, Women's VB, Tennis, FH, Soccer and Golf (Not football tho') of August 15th.


Sponsored by the Capital AC and the CSAC (altho' the CSAC has withdrawn its sponsorships.)

A membership-sponsored proposal to permit institutions to view NCAA data throughout a season related to criteria for ranking and selecting teams for a championship. (One of the two conferences that initially submitted the proposal has withdrawn its sponsorship, but the proposal was properly submitted and remains on the Convention agenda.)

If approved, then this would be budgeted, the computer program created and tested.  Its implementation would be anticipated by the "Winter 2111 Championships".  I guess that means the 2010-11 basketball season for example.

[DanPadavona]

Our daughter was heavily recruited to play a varsity sport at the aforesaid college. She received numerous telephone calls, e-mail messages, and mailings from a coach that focused on her future as a collegiate player. Together with at least one of her parents each time, she visited the college on three occasions, one visit an overnight stay with a player from the team on which, we were led to believe, she would be an important member.

-----------------------------------------------------

While we are left to consider the entire story having only heard one side of it, I do believe the above snippet is highly suggestive that the college misled the daughter and her parents.

We have a few explanations to consider:

1)  The anonymous letter writer is exaggerating the situation due to sour grapes, and as Knightstalker alluded is perhaps naive of his daughter's athletic ability.

2)  The letter writer is being truthful, in which case either

- The college lied to them in a blatant attempt to boost enrollment
or
- The recruiter was a terrible judge of talent if he/she pegged her as an important team member and yet she ended up on a reserve squad.

I wonder what colleges and their athletic programs intend when every summer we hear boasts of 200 or 250 kids in camp for football.  Only 22 can start, and arguably only 35-40 will play meaningful roles if you include special teams.  Which leave 150 to 200 or more kids to hold clipboards, or at best join freshman or JV teams.  And there are only so many meaningful roles to fill on a JV team too.  I don't think having 250 kids in a football camp does anything but boost enrollment for the institution.

[frank uible]

Also it gives each of the 250 kids an opportunity for recreation, for a special type of male camraderie, for development of certain skills, for his testing of certain of his psychic and physical qualities against others and for better appreciation of a prominent American game - which altogether for many kids is quite a bit.

[WWWRHH]

Our family has a wide range of experience with D3 sports and I think with our children we went into the process with our eyes fairly wide open.  However, establishing (and accepting) one's role is often a difficult process for both the player and his / her parents.

The quality of D3 sports are often under estimated, and it is a shock to some families that even end of the benchers were stars in high school.

A lot of information can be gained just from examining team rosters and statistics.  There are almost always fewer seniors on the roster of any sport than freshman, and while freshman often make up a large percentage of the roster only a few get signficant playing time.  (Hope College's women's basketball program has two seniors on the roster and both are starting for the first time.  As freshman, their playing time was very limited.  They have out lasted several former team mates, worked hard and been part of a successful program.  I don't think it has always been easy for either one, but I suspect they are happy they persevered.  Not everyone wants to take that route.  However, I believe all of their former team mates found their own place in the broader college community and will graduate this spring.)

I am sure most coaches seek to provide players with an honest assesment of how they might fit into a program, but this is difficult since there are so many unknowns associated with non-scholarship programs.

Coaches must often over recruit, since without scholarships there is no way to pin point how many players will actually enroll. 

Sometimes very talented players unexpectedly opt to go D3 for a variety of reasons.  Since D3 rosters are filled by try outs and open competition, it is difficult for a coach to promise - except for a few exceptional players - significant playing time.

In other cases, talented players often develop interests that draw them away from athletic programs that had counted on their participation.

As was pointed out in an earlier post, some of the best D3 players are late bloomers and unfinished products when they arrive on campus, but develop into real contributors through hard work.

D3 recruiting is not an exact science.  Coaches often have fewer opportunities to scout a player and fewer of the players are playing in exclusive AAU / travel leagues and camps (amazingly many spend more time focused on academics than preparing to be lottery picks).  High school stats are not easily comparable since good players from large schools in competitive conferences may have less stellar numbers than average players in small school conferences.

Although some coaches may try to find good players through high volume and luck of the draw, this was not our experience.  Our children were not highly recruited, but IMHO became successful D3 athletes.  One was discouraged by some college coaches from trying to compete at this level  but used the opportunity that D3 provides to develop into a very competitive player.

I could go on, but I will close with these observations:

The transition from high school to college is easier for sports that emphasize individual performance such as cross country, swimming and track.  In these sports stats are easily comparable, there are fewer subjective decisions that coaches must make, and there is generally plenty of opportunity for everyone to participate.

Athletics should play only a secondary role in the college selection process.  Since the reality of the situation is that most freshman on the roster will not be there three years later, a student should only attend a college that will meet their needs apart from varsity sports. 

Parents should gather facts, ask questions and help keep their child's expectations realistic.   

[Mr. Ypsi]

WWWRHH,

That may be the best summary of d3 athletics recruiting I have ever seen - +K!

I especially like the points about coaches having far less information to work with (especially with team sports), and coaches having far less certainty about who will actually show up (since there are no binding 'letters of intent' with no scholarships).

BTW, while 'late developers' is a good point also, if it was my post you were referring to then just for the record Keelan Amelianovich was NOT a late developer!  The Titans were loaded his first year (lacking only a PG, so Adam Dauksas [also a future AA] was the ONLY freshman to play varsity).  That JV team went undefeated (I believe - I've found no records for JVs) and so dominated their opponents that everyone knew the IWU class of 2006 was special.  While I often have high hopes, 2006 is the only year I've felt 3rd in the nation was disappointing - having two 1st-team AAs (and a third, Zach Freeman, the next year) will do that to a fan!