Starting the D3 Recruiting Process

[Another Mom]

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Funny how things work out sometimes.
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This is SO true!

[PaulNewman]

Don't mean to stick my nose in, because I haven't had a kid go through this process and my "recruitment" took place in the dinosaur age, but...

Check your kid's weather tolerance. Like... Coming from SoCal, you need to make sure that if you get things narrowed down that you visit some of these midwestern and northeastern schools during February. When it's 12 degrees out and it gets dark at 4pm. Not even kidding a little. Lots and lots of folks are going to nope right out of that situation.

A lot of people go on campus visits in the spring and summer and have no idea what an east coast winter can look and feel like.

I agree this is an excellent point....even made a big difference when I was choosing years ago between Davidson and W&L and didn't help that I visited W&L in mid-January, I think.  The difference in climate was more substantial than one would think given adjacent states.  And even in the southern part of NC as a non-morning person I made a horrible mistake signing up for Intro to Psychology during Winter term at 8:00 am.  Whenever I did wake up in time it was too cold and I only had slept for a few hours and would go back to bed.  Missed like 35 out of the 42 classes but still managed to scrape out a B-.  And of course went on the psychology Ph.D. stardom!

[EnmoreCat]

Don't mean to stick my nose in, because I haven't had a kid go through this process and my "recruitment" took place in the dinosaur age, but...

Check your kid's weather tolerance. Like... Coming from SoCal, you need to make sure that if you get things narrowed down that you visit some of these midwestern and northeastern schools during February. When it's 12 degrees out and it gets dark at 4pm. Not even kidding a little. Lots and lots of folks are going to nope right out of that situation.

A lot of people go on campus visits in the spring and summer and have no idea what an east coast winter can look and feel like.

I agree this is an excellent point....even made a big difference when I was choosing years ago between Davidson and W&L and didn't help that I visited W&L in mid-January, I think.  The difference in climate was more substantial than one would think given adjacent states.  And even in the southern part of NC as a non-morning person I made a horrible mistake signing up for Intro to Psychology during Winter term at 8:00 am.  Whenever I did wake up in time it was too cold and I only had slept for a few hours and would go back to bed.  Missed like 35 out of the 42 classes but still managed to scrape out a B-.  And of course went on the psychology Ph.D. stardom!

Hopefully PN, that didn't reflect the overall quality of the education you received there 

[Shamrock]

I always worry when our prospective students come to Central Indiana from Tucson in February.

[PaulNewman]

Don't mean to stick my nose in, because I haven't had a kid go through this process and my "recruitment" took place in the dinosaur age, but...

Check your kid's weather tolerance. Like... Coming from SoCal, you need to make sure that if you get things narrowed down that you visit some of these midwestern and northeastern schools during February. When it's 12 degrees out and it gets dark at 4pm. Not even kidding a little. Lots and lots of folks are going to nope right out of that situation.

A lot of people go on campus visits in the spring and summer and have no idea what an east coast winter can look and feel like.

I agree this is an excellent point....even made a big difference when I was choosing years ago between Davidson and W&L and didn't help that I visited W&L in mid-January, I think.  The difference in climate was more substantial than one would think given adjacent states.  And even in the southern part of NC as a non-morning person I made a horrible mistake signing up for Intro to Psychology during Winter term at 8:00 am.  Whenever I did wake up in time it was too cold and I only had slept for a few hours and would go back to bed.  Missed like 35 out of the 42 classes but still managed to scrape out a B-.  And of course went on the psychology Ph.D. stardom!

Hopefully PN, that didn't reflect the overall quality of the education you received there 

I realized how privileged and silly I sounded after the fact but I left it because, well, it was true, and it reflected at least a segment of the culture at the time.  I know I'm not adjusting for inflation and may be a little off on the figure but iirc the cost from '78-'81 was around 5-6K a year versus 65-70K now.

EnmoreCat's post made me think of some other factors.

I have a late November birthday and so started college at 17.  I wasn't ready, socially or academically (and I've always thought many of us would do better if we went to college a few years later).  I never had even a sip of beer in high school and got to college and was overwhelmed by the social scene, freedom, partying, array of choices, etc.  For the first time in my life I had a large group of male friends and more interaction with women than I ever could have imagined.  I remember walking around campus at 2:00 am thinking college was the greatest thing ever invented (at least until a major term paper was due or finals week or a girlfriend dumped me or whatever).  And then in the middle of all that you're trying to play a sport competitively?

As for the quality of my education, any shortcomings there are entirely on me.  This is not to say I won't ever make any elitist college lists for grandchildren but I have made progress on elitism especially in recent years, and I am firmly convinced that 95% (conservatively) of the education one receives is dependent on the student rather than any particular institution.  We can debate the name and cocktail party value of various schools, but I have no doubt that nearly all of us and nearly all of our children can obtain educations that match or exceed what others obtain regardless of institutional pedigrees.  Indeed, I am pretty sure I would have fared better (both in college and later) if I had waited a couple of years and picked a school where I didn't feel like I was a bit over my head and swimming a bit uphill.

A related point that I used to share with my kids when they were at Kenyon and Rochester....  Colleges in general have so much to offer and even if you are aggressive in consuming as much as you think you can, you'll only end up accessing 2-3% of what the institution has available.  Again, I think this holds true whether you're talking about small Christian LACs, elite secular LACs, SUNYACs and NJACs, and most regional LACs.

[Kuiper]

Don't mean to stick my nose in, because I haven't had a kid go through this process and my "recruitment" took place in the dinosaur age, but...

Check your kid's weather tolerance. Like... Coming from SoCal, you need to make sure that if you get things narrowed down that you visit some of these midwestern and northeastern schools during February. When it's 12 degrees out and it gets dark at 4pm. Not even kidding a little. Lots and lots of folks are going to nope right out of that situation.

A lot of people go on campus visits in the spring and summer and have no idea what an east coast winter can look and feel like.

This is a good point.  I know a lot of D1 recruits from SoCal who are doing official visits in February.  Part of that is because a junior can't do an official visit (one paid for by the D1 school) until after January 1 of their junior year and waiting until the fall when the team is back in-season is often too late to get the best players.  Still, they could do it April during spring games, but they often accelerate those official visits to the heart of winter (after the students return to campus, which is often the third week in January or later in many cold-weather places) because coaches want the SoCal or AZ players to know what they are getting themselves into.  In a era of free transfers, it doesn't do the coach any good to recruit players who are going to be unhappy because of something like the weather.  D3s probably should do the same, but they can't pay for recruits to visit at any time and so it's up to the player and his parents to push for this. 

I have heard of virtual visits in February where D3 coaches can at least show the recruits the snow on the ground, but it's not quite the same.  One thing they can do, however, is show you where the kids play when it's cold.  I think kids under-rate the value of a fieldhouse when they come from a place like Los Angeles where they are basically non-existent.  Playing futsal is great (kids do it year-round here outside and inside), but sharing an indoor basketball court area isn't the same as a true fieldhouse with turf.

One other consideration for a kid from SoCal is that travel can be an issue going to a small liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere  There are a ton of beautiful schools in the northeast where there are no direct flights and the nearest airport is pretty far away.  Travel delays and cancellations for a kid flying alone can be a real pain and many small schools aren't near major airports.  For some schools (e.g., Hamilton), flying a red eye from LA to Syracuse with a stop in Chicago might be the best option to get to campus and not miss another full day of classes given the three hour time difference.  And if you've never flown a red eye that is not non-stop, it basically means getting 3-4 hours of sleep under the best of circumstances.  In this case, you would still have a decent drive to get to campus even when you arrive.

[Hopkins92]

1) PN - I hate swimming uphill. ;-)

2) It's funny we're having this conversation while I have friends in LA texting me pictures of snowcapped hills above the Hollywood sign.

[PaulNewman]

1) PN - I hate swimming uphill. ;-)

2) It's funny we're having this conversation while I have friends in LA texting me pictures of snowcapped hills above the Hollywood sign.

I know....if I was meant to be a salmon I'd be a salmon.

Is that correct?  Salmon is both singular and plural?

And....here comes Sager in 1...2...3....

[soccerpapa]

Here is the real question....

What is the plural of fish? I lost a bet on this one....on a technicality.

 

[Gregory Sager]

1) PN - I hate swimming uphill. ;-)

2) It's funny we're having this conversation while I have friends in LA texting me pictures of snowcapped hills above the Hollywood sign.

I know....if I was meant to be a salmon I'd be a salmon.

Is that correct?  Salmon is both singular and plural?

And....here comes Sager in 1...2...3....

Salmon is both singular and plural, except in Jamaica, where the plural is "salmen".

(Seriously, though, "salmons" is considered to be an acceptable plural of you're referring to multiple specimens of specific fish, but as a collective noun for the species "salmon" is correct.)

[ToddFather]

Thanks all for the continued advice!  It's very much appreciated.  The weather topic is definitely something to consider!

A few additional questions:

1) @Kuiper brought up a the topic of indoor turf fieldhouses.  I'm curious, how many D3 programs have these?  And do the teams in cold-weather climates regularly train in them?  BTW, this also brings up another topic on facilities...are there any schools that have "stand out" facilities or are they all more or less comparable?  Perhaps this best for another forum topic or there has already been a previous thread on this?

2) For the elite academic schools, does recruiting typically wrap up by the summer going into senior year (especially if there are pre-reads followed by ED)?  Or does it often stretch out later than this?

3) How do you know when a coach is truly interested vs. still evaluating?

4) Is there such a thing as an "official" recruiting visit in D3 or does that only exist in D1?

Learning so much from you all.  Thanks again!

[Kuiper]

Thanks all for the continued advice!  It's very much appreciated.  The weather topic is definitely something to consider!

A few additional questions:

1) @Kuiper brought up a the topic of indoor turf fieldhouses.  I'm curious, how many D3 programs have these?  And do the teams in cold-weather climates regularly train in them?  BTW, this also brings up another topic on facilities...are there any schools that have "stand out" facilities or are they all more or less comparable?  Perhaps this best for another forum topic or there has already been a previous thread on this?

I don't know how many have indoor field houses with turf, rather than just composite material that can be used for futsa/tennis/volleyball/etc, but below are a few examples.  The quality of the turf likely varies widely, especially if it's used for all intramural sports during winter too, and the amount of space is obviously nothing comparable to the full-sized fields of a D1 football program:

Hamilton (https://athletics.hamilton.edu/facilities/indoor-practice-facility/7).  This looks to be one of the better ones in D3, both in terms of quality of the turf and the fact that it is actually lined for soccer (among other sports)

Middlebury (https://athletics.middlebury.edu/facilities/virtue-field-house/18)

Rochester (https://uofrathletics.com/facilities/field-house/22)

[ToddFather]

I don't know how many have indoor field houses with turf, rather than just composite material that can be used for futsa/tennis/volleyball/etc, but below are a few examples.  The quality of the turf likely varies widely, especially if it's used for all intramural sports during winter too, and the amount of space is obviously nothing comparable to the full-sized fields of a D1 football program:

Hamilton (https://athletics.hamilton.edu/facilities/indoor-practice-facility/7).  This looks to be one of the better ones in D3, both in terms of quality of the turf and the fact that it is actually lined for soccer (among other sports)

Middlebury (https://athletics.middlebury.edu/facilities/virtue-field-house/18)

Rochester (https://uofrathletics.com/facilities/field-house/22)

Thanks for sharing.  These all look pretty nice!  And some of them look to be built more recently.  I do wonder how many programs have these indoor field houses.  I can imagine it makes quite a difference with training during the later weeks of the season!

[d4_Pace]

Tufts also have a very nice indoor playing surface  https://gotuftsjumbos.com/sports/2022/5/6/facilities-Carzo-Cage.aspx

For timeline I think most of the NESCAC programs end up having a large portion of their class by august-september of senior year. Although we usually ended up signing at least one or two more guys each year during the late fall/early winter period.

[ToddFather]

Tufts also have a very nice indoor playing surface  https://gotuftsjumbos.com/sports/2022/5/6/facilities-Carzo-Cage.aspx

For timeline I think most of the NESCAC programs end up having a large portion of their class by august-september of senior year. Although we usually ended up signing at least one or two more guys each year during the late fall/early winter period.

This one at Tufts looks nice too!  Looks like most programs have them in the NE.  I also saw Colby just built a new large athletics complex as well recently.

Good to know on the timing front.  My son is a sophomore now, so given this timing, it really seems like by next summer a lot of schools will be starting to finalize their classes.  Looking at it this way, doesn't seem so far out!