FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[nescac1]

Considering that the Duxbury coach's son is a sophomore at Williams (Tim Landolfi who has been an occasional starter this year), I feel pretty good about the pipeline holding steady! 

[The Mole]

Much recruiting occurs via Twitter. There is a fair amount of "trolling" to see who is "following" a recruit. If many Ivy League schools are following a student athlete, that could be a good indicator for a NESCAC to initiate contact. I think that is what Charlie may have been referring to?

I don't think you're going to be able to learn much from each school/program's approach based on how their targeted recruits are using social media.

I definitely don't think Ivy league coaches are letting 17 year olds leverage them on the Internet because they tweeted about a couple NESCACs.

[Charlie]

Much recruiting occurs via Twitter. There is a fair amount of "trolling" to see who is "following" a recruit. If many Ivy League schools are following a student athlete, that could be a good indicator for a NESCAC to initiate contact. I think that is what Charlie may have been referring to?

I don't think you're going to be able to learn much from each school/program's approach based on how their targeted recruits are using social media.

I definitely don't think Ivy league coaches are letting 17 year olds leverage them on the Internet because they tweeted about a couple NESCACs.

This is what I am trying to say. This is why I am perplexed when a kid says he is offered at so many schools if I was the NESCAC school and in a position of a Willams I would be mad kids are using that opportunity to get a bigger deal like an Ivy. Seems like a dangerous path and a great deal of gambling involved.

[polbear73]

Sure I'm dating myself but when I was applying to NESCAC schools, the schools knew exactly where kids were applying and the status of applications.  I'm sure that's still the case..

[SpringSt7]

I'm sure it's helpful for coaches to get a sense of who is following who, but not because of production/performance. If certain coaches from certain schools are following players on Twitter then it is probably because they attended their camp and/or are on their radars as players. That makes it useful because the coaches can skip a lot of the legwork and assume automatically that the kids are in the right ballpark to qualify academically.

But no coach is extending offers or basing their recruiting off of what the other schools think about those players. That's not happening.

[The Mole]

Spring, I agree with everything you said. However, I personally know of many situations when a kid was offered by a school and then -wham--out of the blue, another school offers them without having had much contact, if any. It happens, and a lot more than you think. Maybe not in the NESCAC, but it is real.....welcome to the Twitterverse

There could be an entire thread on recruiting.....

I'm sure it's helpful for coaches to get a sense of who is following who, but not because of production/performance. If certain coaches from certain schools are following players on Twitter then it is probably because they attended their camp and/or are on their radars as players. That makes it useful because the coaches can skip a lot of the legwork and assume automatically that the kids are in the right ballpark to qualify academically.

But no coach is extending offers or basing their recruiting off of what the other schools think about those players. That's not happening.

[VoodooDoc]

Charlie
So Bowdoin went crazy with their recruiting?  There certainly seems to be a method to their madness.  The cupboard was pretty much bare, and the coaching staff has done a good job in restocking it with the top running back in the conference and a top notch quarterback not to mention quite a few others.  Perhaps they went crazy for not staying put as a ne'er do well.  With what is already on the team for the next few years, and a new group being added for next season, Bowdoin seems well on the way shedding it role on the bottom rung.

[xPolarDadx]

Charlie
So Bowdoin went crazy with their recruiting?  There certainly seems to be a method to their madness.  The cupboard was pretty much bare, and the coaching staff has done a good job in restocking it with the top running back in the conference and a top notch quarterback not to mention quite a few others.  Perhaps they went crazy for not staying put as a ne'er do well.  With what is already on the team for the next few years, and a new group being added for next season, Bowdoin seems well on the way shedding it role on the bottom rung.

I think some people get confused with how all this works. If you look at the twitter feeds of some of the NESCAC recruits, you'll see a decent number of kids that get offers from 3 to 5 NESCACs... and that might not be counting Tufts (who runs late) or other schools that aren't as active recruiting / advertising via social media.  Top kids (borderline Ivy recruits) likely have their pick of the NESCACs.  With ~25 recruits per class, if you aren't offering at least 75-100 kids, you aren't getting 25.  If you are a coach competing with NESCAC programs that are better academically, financial aid, and/or football-wise, probably more.

This only gets tricky if the coaching staff isn't upfront with the recruits during the process about where they stand and the ultimate slots available (25 - less if they need a TIP based on pre-reads).  Our experience was the NESCAC school coaches all seemed to be extremely open.  Example: "We have 5 slots for X position - we really want you and have 3 guys committed and applied ED, but if we get 2 more guys committing ED from our list, we aren't going to be able to support your application." 

Being aggressive and offering a larger number of kids doesn't have to be impersonal or scattershot, so long as everyone's expectations are managed and communication is clear.

Also, kids a coach recruits, once they arrive on campus, don't have to play football.  There's no 'losing a scholarship'.  We've seen that from several solid recruits or players this past year across the NESCAC.

[lumbercat]

Nesacac recruiting top to bottom needs to be overhauled. Too easy to manipulate-they should adopt the Ivy system or maybe a hybrid with features from both. Nescac recruiting getting sloppy with all the twitter and social media hi jinks.

[xPolarDadx]

Nesacac recruiting top to bottom needs to be overhauled. Too easy to manipulate-they should adopt the Ivy system or maybe a hybrid with features from both. Nescac recruiting getting sloppy with all the twitter and social media hi jinks.

I'm not sure where you think the Ivies are somehow not involved with social media, Twitter, and making lots of offers to try to fill their rosters out (even with the band system).  Case in point: the 262 Yale offers for 2021 listed on 247 sports: https://247sports.com/college/yale/Season/2021-Football/Offers/
Columbia: 209
Harvard: 153
Dartmouth: 280

[D3FLETCH]

Nesacac recruiting top to bottom needs to be overhauled. Too easy to manipulate-they should adopt the Ivy system or maybe a hybrid with features from both. Nescac recruiting getting sloppy with all the twitter and social media hi jinks.

More likely to get unlimited roster size and playoffs.

[lumbercat]

The academic standards in the Ivies are more clearly defined and far less ambiguous than the NESCAC. There would never be a Trinity in the Ivies- much harder to push the envelope in the Ivies.

[D3FLETCH]

I think it is unfair to say Trinity pushes the envelope. Trinity is a very mediocre school by NESCAC academic standards. Why is everyone shocked they get the lowest academic kids? I applaud them for retaining/graduating these players.       

[Nescacman]

Only on this board would we be discussing recruiting, Twitter, and academic standards the week we have the game of the year between two 7-0 teams...time to get back to some real football talk...what will the impact of the weather be on the game? Will Stola play? Will Hartford State wear their white, yellow, blue or feather pants? Will HCOF Raymond let Maimaron go all out? How will the Ephs stop Reid and Girard? Will the Purple Cows be looking ahead to their week 8 game v. Wes?   

Tomorrow, we'll have our normal picks, spreads and other 'CAC related nonsense....stay tuned!!!

[lumbercat]

I think it is unfair to say Trinity pushes the envelope. Trinity is a very mediocre school by NESCAC academic standards. Why is everyone shocked they get the lowest academic kids? I applaud them for retaining/graduating these players.     

Unfair? They push the envelope in a big way on the front end in terms of admissions and they will not deny that-- to their credit.

We can have a separate conversation about graduation.