Parents with children looking to play in D3

[ADL70]

Fat stubby fingers is my excuse.  My more common typos are taht and yo.  Can't find u?

[Gray Fox]

My fingers are dyslexic. 

[Knightstalker]

I once complained to my guitar professor about my thick stubby fingers.  She just looked at me and said "Andres Segovias fingers are shorter and fatter than yours.  Play it again."

[FootballFanatic]

My excuse is cigar in one hand, Cuban of course...

[ADL70]

Fat stubby fingers is my excuse. 

Then again may be I'm just getting old.

[Wydown Blvd.]

Add any UAA school to the list for pre-med.

[frank uible]

Knightstalker: See Django.

[K-Mack]

Fat stubby fingers is my excuse.  My more common typos are taht and yo.  Can't find u?

I'm teh king of "teh." (yes, I did that one on purpose)

But we digress.

I have received e-mail from parents twice this preseason. I will share heavily-edited versions of their e-mails, with their permission, so as to protect their identities. Although, I'm certain one of the parents who e-mailed me found his way to this board already ... which is a good thing.

For first-time readers and parents, start at the beginning of this thread. You may get a lot of the general answers that you're looking for.

Then, as you have specific questions, you'll find that our online community is eager to help out, if you can withstand a few biased promotions for their own schools. (No need to schill for Randy-Mac, BTW, although they have a mean Poly Sci dept.)

This thread might be helpful in these type of discussions:

Which D-III conferences are the best for academics AND athletics?

Also, if you find anything where a guy says he's looking for a school to transfer to, you can almost always bet the advice from our very wise crowd is to find a good fit, academically and socially, and let football fall into place afterward. Nothing on the field is guaranteed anyway, so you might as well find a place you enjoy and benefit from regardless of how much you play or how many games you win.

Below is the exchange between one parent and I. Feel free to answer any questions of his that you feel you haven't already touched on.

[K-Mack]

-------------- Original message --------------
From: "Name of parent" <Parent's e-mail address>

Keith,

Hope you can help me. My son [Name of student-athlete] is a stellar academic student  (should graduate summa cum laude with 4.1+gpa, all honors classes at [name of high school] & in the top 5 ranking in his class currently).

Has played 3 years of football at nose tackle & switched to fullback this spring. He played very little freshman year, started at NT his sophomore year & played 50% his junior year. The problem, 5'9 210 pounds who runs a TRUE 4.8 & as the coaches say, "he can bring it". He is being used as a ferocious blocker & pass catching out of the back field. Hopefully he will grow soon as I am 6ft , my wife 5'10 & his older brother who is currently at [Midwestern D 1-A power], is 6'2". The coaches expect a great senior year for him as he is at the right football position now.

Since he wants to be a physician (I am a dentist), what are the best D3 medical programs he can look at while still playing college football? Also what is the best way to approach a D3 school so he can receive a great education & play football which is his passion?

I went to [different Midwestern D-1) & gave up going to play football at Tufts or Carnegie Mellon which were my 2 choices as an all city, all conference football & soccer player. He does not want to make the same mistake & wants to play football as long as possible. Sorry for being so winded but hope this helps. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
[name of parent]

----- Original Message -----
From: Keith@D3football.com
To: [name of parent]
Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2007 6:56 PM
Subject: Re: Football Fullback

[name of parent],
Best way to get a well-rounded answer would be to let me share this on our message board. I can withhold the names and identifying details if you wish, but I get similar questions several times a year and the best answers really do come from the community we've developed online. There are a lot of fathers and school alumni on board, and their responses are generally thoughtful and wide-ranging. I'll tell you what I think either way, but you'll probably get more from everyone.

Sounds like you guys are on the right track with D3, pursuing the education first and a football fit second. A couple other details might help you get good recommendations: whether or not geography is a factor (does he want to stay semi-close to home or is the entire country an option?), are there cost limitations, scholarship needs or any preference as to whether he plays for a program with great history/potential to win, or anything like that. Obviously you'd prefer a style of offense that uses a fullback.

Just let me know if posting it on the board is OK with you before I go ahead and do it.

Keith McMillan
D3football.com National Columnist
Keith@D3football.com

------------------- parent's reply --------------------
Keith,

Firstly, my humble thanks to you for your prompt reply & interest. Posting is absolutely fine & yes we would prefer to withhold names for now.

[name of student-athlete/son] is a great kid, brilliant (#3 currently in his class) & all around work horse. [name of high school] puts out several D1 players each year & has a rigorous academic program.

Geography is not an issue, but our preference would be east coast. No cost limitations, & tradition would be great but not necessary. The main factor is the education. Where can he  get a great education  & yet follow his dream of playing college football.

Feel free to post & again can't thank you enough. God bless you & yours for your help. Feel free to contact me if I can be of any help in the future.

Regards,
[name of parent]

[K-Mack]

OK,
I was actually denied permission to post the other one; the mother may or may not stop by this thread on her own to post a rephrased version of her question.

Basically though, the son was a great D3 candidate and true student-athlete who'd been told he was a good fit for a spread offense. The mother sounded like she had a clear idea about prioritizing athletics first, and they were looking for a place where the son would fit in academically and athletically.

Specifically, they were looking for some East Region schools who ran the offense, and I said I could give some insight off the top of my head, but it would be better to hear from the whole board as my list would be inconclusive.

Here's part of my response to her:

> I can tell you a few who do run the spread (RPI, Rowan, N.J., Delaware
> Valley, Pa. Hobart, I believe, although they officially list their offense
> as "multiple." I think I recall Amherst running a spread too) and a few who
> definitely don't (Cortland, Ithaca, Brockport, Springfield, Williams,
> Trinity, Coast Guard, Worcester State) off the top of my head, but that's an
> incomplete list, so I think the best answers will come from the larger
> group. Having seen so many teams and games over the years, the details
> sometimes run together. I hope you'll forgive me for that non-answer.
>
> The New York schools, however, especially those in the Liberty League, are
> very active on our message board and will probably answer your question from
> several angles.
>
> The good news is it sounds like [your son] is a good fit for Division III and you
> guys are miles ahead of where some people are at this point. We have had
> some good discussions on the board for parents as well, I often refer people
> to those, but I think you've got a good handle on what's what.

[smedindy]

About the first one - I would advise against going 'pre-med' and actually just majoring in biology or chemistry. Heck, at Wabash we've had religion majors that went to med school.

He needs to look hard at the med school placement rates and the average MCAT scores (and how many take the MCATs).

However, many pre-med kids wind up philosophy majors with history minors just because they find their true passion!

[generals08]

I would not worry about the spread offense.... don't make a college decision based on school system's. Coaches change, school's don't. Obviously an intelligent young man not sure socially what they are looking for. But my team, Washington and Lee, is filled with successful student athletes. And every year our team alone sends three or four kids to outstanding med schools. Johns Hopkins is another great pre-med program with a DIII team. Just to throw out some Va. schools with high academic standings.

[FootballFanatic]

Anyone direct contact at Washington & Lee? John Hopkins?

[Murphy]

Just kind of curious if this kid is everything his father says he is why he needs to find a school to play for. 

If he is everything advertised (I am not al all suggesting that he isn't) it would seem to me that some 1-AA schools Cornell, Bucknell or other Patroit or Ivy league schools would have found him already.  Perhaps even some D-II schools.

BTW 4.8 speed is good for a NT not so great for a fullback.

Just my 2 cents

[generals08]

I'm not sure about Johns Hopkins. But the head coach at Washington and Lee is Frank Miriello. His email is miriellof@wlu.edu. And the school website is www.wlu.edu