Practical Advice for College Recruiting

The following is an excerpt from a thread posted on the college hockey message board last July.

While I cover most of the "How to's" and "When's" during the college information sessions during the year, I think this thread contains some practical tips which parents/players may find useful.

I don't necessarily agree with everything that was written in that thread, so I just clipped some excerpts from the thread.


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It is July 3 and your Daughter has just completed her junior year at High School and has been anxiously been waiting by the phone for D1 schools to call. (Most D3 wait until after Labor Day to see who is going D1. She has been to the summer camps, gotten some exposure at the nationals, and holiday tournaments. You have logged enough miles between rinks, think Christmas is always spent in Connecticut with the Polar Bear tournament, and your whole social network is other hockey parents. You are about to enter the roller coaster of being a D1 recruit. This forum might be a good place to post facts and myths about the recruiting process. As background for perspective, my Daughter was a successful recruit to the Ivy of her choice. I’ll get it started.

Here are some generally accepted facts:

There are approximately 150 combined slots for forward / defensemen position each year in D1.

Between thirty and forty percent will go to Canadians.

Grades matter.

Advice:

Get you Daughter away from waiting by the phone – It’s a holiday weekend some coach’s won’t start calling until they are back from a well deserved vacation.

Do not rule out any school at this time – Yes it OK to have a favorite, but you want to keep your options open. Your view may change when you go for an official visit or she is ultimately not one of the top 5-6 recruits at the school.

Be realistic – Each school may contact (via the coach, player, school) 50-60 players. Don’t kid yourself into thinking you are clearly one of the top six recruits as this number is always moving.

Do the official visit – The view is always different when you can meet the team and school is in session.

Mom and Dad – This is not about you. We all influenced the decision about what club or school she should play for. Now it is all her. One coach told my wife after an official visit “You did everything right in this process”. My wife replied “But we didn’t do anything?” He replied “That’s right”. There is a message here, we have to let go. Politely decline to accompany her on the visit. Drop her at the door, and if you must, go on a tour of the school separate from your Daughter.

Have a ready shoulder to cry on – Many Daughter’s will not supported at their “dream” school. Be supportive and give her a day or so to get over it. It is not the end of the world.

Musical Chairs – After September 1, many schools will be looking to get girls to commit. The coaching community is a bit of a big fraternity. They all share information about who has committed where. Hence your Daughter might have been number 18 on one schools depth chart, and two weeks later she is number 4 once word of commitments leaks out. Some schools are attempting to get players to commit before September 1 (not a great practice in my view).

Financial Aid / Scholarship - Deal with it separately from the recruiting process. If it is imperative, be honest up front, but do not let it be a dominant part of the process. If you are truly in need there will be the financial aid to assist you.

Early Decision – Coach’s want to fill their need for the next year as early as possible. They do not want to be wondering where they are going to find “a defensemen” in April. The big recruiting push is all over by November 1 when most early decision applications are due. Hence re-read “musical chairs” and “shoulder to cry on” it is a emotional roller coaster.

Parents of Goalies – My condolences. I can’t imagine how tough it must be.

I have left many areas uncovered. Your coach’s involvement and their guidance; the verbal and letter of intent process etcetera. Thought this would be a good start for discussion.
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Here's my additions of advice for anyone just beginning, or is in the recruiting process...
1. GRADES MATTER! They can open a lot of doors, or close twice as many, to even the most gifted athlete.

2. Unofficial Visits: Use them if you have the time and means. You are allowed unlimited unofficial visits to any school, anytime. You can meet with the coach and they can answer any questions you may have... communication with the coach before the July date is within NCAA rules if you initiate the contact and you are on the campus (they can't pay any of your expenses). Meet with admissions and any other administrative offices you may have questions for. Take campus tours. We started this process in the fall of their junior year. The girls got a feel for what they liked/disliked about a coach, the school, etc., and were able to narrow their choices.

3. See the coach/team in action: Collegiate hockey season generally starts before the high school season. Get to a game(s) and see the coaches style, the style of play, how the team responds to the coach, etc. There may be something the recruit sees that she likes/dislikes at this time. We were fortunate that softball is allowed 6 days of 'fall ball' games, spread out over 3 weekends with each team playing 2-3 games per day (Sat. & Sunday). These tournaments usually have 6-8 different teams playing over the weekend. We took in about 20 games over two weekends (plus she got to see some of her older summer ball teammates starting their collegiate careers). My daughter actually became interested in one school she knew nothing about, seeing them play at one of these tournaments while she was there to watch 3 other teams play. Liked the style of play, the coach's demeanor, the team's spirit, etc. (she started her freshmen year there Tuesday).

4. Official Visits: So important. Stay overnight with the team, get to know them a little, get a feel for how you'll fit in. One of my girls went on an official at a school that was high on her list. Loved the coach, the school, and was very conveniently local to us. Went on the official visit... a day of classes, watched a practice, stayed an overnight with the team. Couldn't get away from there fast enough. Didn't want to spend another day with that crew, never mind the next 4 years.

5. Mom and Dad: Good advice here from ref11. Parents... back off. You have done your due diligence. You got your child exposure to college coaches through various tournaments, teams, etc. You assisted your child in the decision making process by visiting numerous campuses, coaches, games, etc. You have sat down with your child and reviewed the pros and cons of each situation. Now it's time to sit back and watch your child grow. They're the one, not you, that will be living the next 4 years of their life on campus with their second family, their teammates, and after what they've been through, they have a pretty good idea of what fits for them. Let them make the decision.

There's an awful lot more to all of this than is written here (here's one I missed above that a coach told us 1 1/2 years before her senior year..."get her registered in the NCAA ClearingHouse right now... it's never too early to register"), but between most of the posts on this thread, one can fairly assume that there's an awful lot of work to be done by the recruit and the parents to try and get this right... and there's still no guarantee of success! :eek: But if you put the time in, you have a much better chance. :)
Bottom line, as a parent...
You want your child to be happy and get a good education.
So far, so good, on this front. :)
Good luck and best wishes to you all.

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The best advice I ever got (surprisingly enough, from a coach who was recruiting me at the time)...
When it comes down to the final decision, when you have 2 or 3 choices of school that you have ranked equally hockey (playing time, team chemistry, etc) and education wise, make the decision based on this one question:
If you were to blow out your knee the first day of practice and could never play hockey again, would you still want to be a student at that school?
Thankfully I didn't have to deal with a real situation like this, but it was probably the most honest way of looking at the recruiting process for me. A lot of people want you to come to their school and many will say and do a lot to get you, but in the end you're going to school to get an education. You may have the awesome perk of being able to play hockey, but at the end of the day hockey is not going to be your profession(with the exception of the very few lucky ones). For me it was good that someone posed such an honest question to me at the very beginning...it helped me to sort the stuff that was "cool" from the stuff that was really important to me.
If your daughter is being recruited I strongly suggest you pose this question and just tell her to think about it when making the final decision...it also might help her to make the decision sooner rather than later (as Travelingman notes can be an important factor) :D
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The TRUTH is that getting good to great grades at a "famous" school would probably look better to graduate admissions as well. With increasing competition making getting into grad schools more difficult ( med school and law school) the choice of an appropriate undergrad for the future life dreams is more important than playing hockey for four years.
If hockey can provide the leverage or "boost" to benefit your acceptance into Ivy or NESCAC isn't that worth it??? (If that is what your daughter wants.) The fact of finances is that most Ivy, NESCAC (mini Ivy) and the private Div. I universities are all over $40,000 a year now. The price tag is not always the best indication of VALUE. It has to be the bigger picture beyond the hockey experience. Playing hockey may be the MEANS to get into the college of your dreams, but reality for most women, is that hockey will not be the end of your dreams - it will not be the NHL career...and maybe for a select few who get into coaching, hockey could continue beyond college, but for most, its not.
Therefore it is so much more important to be able to answer that question - would you still choose a particular college anyway - even if injury, coaching change, more balance in the college experience (ie study abroad) that might lose interest in playing college hockey anymore - do you still want to graduate from that college.

NCAA Coaching Changes

Some recent and upcoming coaching changes to pass your way:

Grant Kimball has left Wayne State to accept an Assistant Coaching position at North Dakota. His new e-mail is: grantkimball@mail.und.nodak.edu

Effective July 1, 2007 -- Joakim Flygh (former UMD Assistant) will be the first Assistant at Harvard replacing Claudia Asano. Melanie Ruzzi (former Amherst Assistant) will be the second Assistant at Harvard replacing Michelle MacAteer.

Sis Paulsen (former Bemidji assistant) will be leaving Bemidji, and will be the Assistant Coach at Minnesota State.

Showcase 2007 Teams

Teams for the 2007 Showcase have now been posted.

http://www.pacificsteelers.com/site.php?level1=7&level2=102&level3=102

College Information Session

We will be having a college information session July 4, 2007 -- 7:30 PM. Location still to be finalized. Yale Head Coach Harry Rosenholtz will lead the information session.

Harry has lots of new information to share with you, so even for players from last year's team, this would be a worthwhile session to attend.

Mark it in your calendar.

Once location is confirmed, an e-mail will be sent to all players.

Pacific Steelers College Information Session

I am currently in the process of organizing a special college information session with the college coaches that are coming out to the Steelers College Showcase early.

This will only be available to committed Steelers club team players and parents, and will give you all a chance to ask questions of the college coaches in a more intimate setting.

The tenative date for the information session will be the evening of July 4, 2007, likely at the coaches hotel, the Vancouver Airport Marriott in Richmond.

More details will be e-mailed out once the details are finalized.

Even though we will also be running a Information Session during the Showcase, I've found that, in bigger groups, college coaches tend to be a little bit more reserved in what they can answer, and what they can't, due to NCAA rules, so I am hoping that this setting will be more conducive to players and parents getting the information they need.

Harvard and Colgate Summer Camps

The College coaches at Harvard and Colgate, asked me to pass this information on to all Pacific Steelers players. Obviously, its a long way to go for a 1 and 2 day camp respectively, but if you have a specific interest in Harvard/Colgate and/or plan to combine it with a few unofficial visits, it may be worthwhile.

Elite Hockey Weekend at Harvard

http://www.hockeybc.com/harvard2007.pdf

Colgate 2007 Summer ID Camp

http://www.hockeybc.com/colgate2007.pdf