NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

The Big Ten has thought in the past about adding another team to their conference and it is a topic that is being looked at again. It is not uncommon for conferences to expand. The Big East conference I played in during my colleges days has changed quite a bit and I assume it will continue do to so.

Quotes from article:

“Expansion of the Big Ten Conference from 11 to 12 teams is once again a possibility, the league and its Council of Presidents/Chancellors announced Monday.”

“I know from my personal experience, a variety of things come into play,” said Kevin Weiberg, CEO of the iHoops youth basketball initiative, who has served as commissioner of the Big 12 and deputy commissioner of the Big Ten. “When the Big Ten considers these matters, they consider it in a context that goes beyond athletics. It would involve compatibility of academic institutions. It’s broader than athletics.”

Click here to read the entire article.

What are your thoughts? What school should be added to the Big Ten?

Coach Taylor – How do I get my video to college coaches?

If a coach calls, emails or sends a letter requesting your video you should confirm what type of footage he/she prefers (game vs highlight; on-line vs. DVD),  and then send a copy right away and inform the coach that it is on the way. If a coach has not requested your video you should email or call him/her and ask if they would like to see your video. If the say yes, follow the steps above. Your video is a significant part of the recruiting process and the earlier you have a quality video or videos prepared, the better you will be able to promptly respond to coach requests. If is vital that you ask coaches if they want to see your film before you send it. Never send unsolicited footage. Some coaches receive 50+  un-solicited videos per week and you want to make sure that yours does not get lost in the shuffle. 

Another efficient option is to use a verified third party that the college coaches trust to distribute your video so rather than coming from your personal email or mailing address, it is coming from someone they know.

Send your recruiting questions to askcoachtaylor@ncsasports.org

If you would like to speak with a NCSA Recruiting Coordinator about your personal recruiting situation, call 866-579-6272.

Coach Taylor – My family would like to tour a few colleges during an upcoming spring break trip.  How and when can we contact the coaches of these programs to make sure they will be available while we are there?

It is never too early to take unofficial visits. An unofficial visit is any visit to a college campus that is not paid for by the college. Spring break is a perfect time to start to tour college campuses and it is imperative that you reach out to the coaches so they know you will be on campus. You should contact the coaches as early as possible to introduce yourself. Tell them that you are in the process of scheduling your unofficial visits (this language will demonstrate that you are a prepared and proactive recruit) for spring break and you would like to visit their campus. Ask if they or a member of their staff will be available to meet with you. It is fine to start with an email but if you do not get a response after a few weeks you should put in a phone call. If you are a freshman or sophomore targeting DI or DII schools you will need to start with a phone call because DI and DII coaches can’t email you until the beginning of junior year.

Send your recruiting questions to askcoachtaylor@ncsasports.org

If you would like to speak with a NCSA Recruiting Coordinator about your personal recruiting situation, call 866-579-6272.

Its firing season for college football coaches.  Coaches across the country are being let go for a lack of success on the gridiron.  However, should this be the case?  Shouldn’t these coaches be held to academic standards rather than simply winning percentages?  ESPN’s Gregg Easterbrook focuses this week’s Tuesday morning Quarterback on tackling two myths about college athletes.

1) Football players at large universities don’t need to focus on academics because they are in effect taking vocational training for the NFL.

2)  Academic “Smart” Schools can’t do well in sports .  If a school wants to win it must dumb down their own standards.

Perhaps you’re thinking, first, football players at big colleges are not being taken advantage of because they are being prepped for the NFL; and second, academics-oriented “smart schools” don’t do well in sports, so if a college wants to win, standards must be low. Both of those assumptions are wrong.

Prepped for the NFL? Each year, roughly 2,500 Division I football players leave college because they have exhausted their athletic eligibility, or are leaving early, or have graduated. Each year, about 200 rookie players make NFL rosters. Thus, more than 90 percent of Division I football players never play a down in the NFL. Take into account that some of the NFL rookies are Division II, Division III or NAIA players, and it’s closer to 95 percent. Watch any top college football team — the players are fast, muscular, and obviously devote tremendous amounts of time and energy to football. Ninety-five percent of them won’t play in the NFL. If they don’t study and don’t go to class, they walk away from college football practically empty-handed.

A quick analysis of a few of the top teams from the last decade proves this assumption false as well.  Okalahoma, the 2000 BCS champions, sent only 11% of their players to the NFL.  Only two played 5 years or more.  The 2001 Miami Hurricanes, considered one of the most talented teams of all time, sent an amazing 20 players to the NFL who played 5 years or more.  Still, for all their talent almost two thirds of the team never played a down in the NFL.  If these were considered vocational training programs they would earn failing grades.

Notre Dame was among the few prominent holdouts, insisting its football players be students too. This generated a recruiting disadvantage — and a recruiting disadvantage caused by high standards, not Weis suddenly forgetting how to coach, is the reason for the recent records of Notre Dame football. Notre Dame alums and boosters should have been proud that high standards keep the school from going 12-0!

What about the other commonly heard claim — that “smart schools” can’t win in football and men’s basketball? Cal, Georgia Tech, Navy, Nebraska, Northwestern, Stanford and TCU — all academics-first colleges where football players are more likely to attend class — are on their way to bowl games. Most of them have been in the top 20 nationally this season, and Georgia Tech and TCU even made BCS bowls. Notre Dame would be headed for a bowl game too, if it weren’t for athletic director Jack Swarbrick’s bizarre notion that winning “only” six games is something to be embarrassed about. Villanova and William & Mary just met in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, while Coe, Illinois Wesleyan and Johns Hopkins made the Division III playoffs. Penn and Amherst also would have advanced to the playoffs, if the Ivy League and the New England Small College Athletic Conference did not prohibit member schools from sending their football teams to the postseason. It is simply not true that colleges where football players study hard and go to class can’t have winning seasons.

Is this autumn some kind of fluke? No. Last year, Boston College, Cal, Georgia Tech, Navy, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Rice, TCU, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest made bowls. Colgate, Villanova and Wofford made the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, while Case Western, Occidental and Wheaton of Illinois made the Division III postseason. Harvard and Trinity (Conn.) would have made the playoffs, except for Ivy League and NESCAC rules. All these are academics-come-first schools.

NCSA has always worked to educate student-athletes and families that they could receive both a world class education and an incredible athletic experience.  It is one of the main reasons we created the NCSA Power Rankings to factor the NCAA Directors Cup, US News and World Report Rankings, and Athletic Graduation Rates.  The rankings are a simple tool to educate families that these commonly held myths are simply untrue.

Please take notice all men’s & women’s basketball recruits! Next week from December 24-26 of 2009 the NCAA rules state, that this is a dead period for all Division I colleges and universities.

Click here to see the full calendar by sport and division.

Dead Period (December 24-26, 2009):

The college coach may not have any in-person contact with you or your parents at any time in the dead period. The coach may write and telephone you or your parents during this time.

Click here to see the meaning of all periods in recruiting.

Streaming live video by Ustream

A huge misconception about athletics outside of Division I, is the serious nature of the competition.  Many assume that because 99% of the athletes don’t have professional sport ambitions, that they place far less emphasis on their sport.  This myth is a classic half truth.  Yes, the emphasis and time commitment are usually less than Division I programs, but it is usually far more than the high school or club commitment that athletes are accustomed to.  In fact, many are now worried that Division III teams are placing too much emphasis on sport and as a result grades are suffering.  The AP reports on emerging evidence that the time commitment of Division III is enough to lower the grades of the average athlete.

The notion of student-athletes as students first is integral to Division III, the NCAA’s largest classification. But a growing body of research shows a considerable gap in classroom performance between Division III athletes and their counterparts in the overall student body.

While NCAA officials caution that the research is preliminary—and the study represents a sampling of only the most elite schools among the division’s 432 institutions—Division III members will consider setting up a pilot academic-reporting program as soon as 2010-11 at the association’s annual meeting in January.

Unlike Division I schools, which can be penalized with a loss of scholarships for not meeting minimum academic progress rates, the lower division doesn’t plan to use academic tracking as a punitive tool, said Division III vice president Dan Dutcher.

Players and coaches at one successful Division III school think their level of competition strikes the right balance between school books and play books.

At Washington University in St. Louis, senior guard Aaron Thompson described grueling two-a-day preseason practices for the two-time defending Division III basketball champions. He also told how fellow captain Cameron Smith arrives late to two practices each week because of a class conflict and how the team takes Monday off because too many top players have evening classes.

“Division III really has the priorities straight,” said Thompson, a team captain and preseason All-American.

Bears’ coach Mark Edwards is a former Division I assistant under George Raveling at Washington State who returned to coach his alma mater nearly three decades ago. He has no plans to leave.

“I wanted to be in a program where the kids wanted the education, where they wanted to be challenged,” he said. “In Division III, the focus is on the student-athlete. At Division I, it’s focused on the fan, producing an entertaining product.”

Edwards also said he doesn’t see any evidence of an emphasis on athletics at the expense of academics in Division III. He called the academic tracking proposal—whether driven by independent researchers or mandated by the NCAA—a “non-issue.”

As always, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.  However, the data points to the real time commitment and competition level at Division III.

NCSA was honored to have Pat Fitzgerald speak at the annual Tom Lemming All-Area banquet last week.  He has some great advice for recruits trying to find a home.  However, remember that all of the recruits at the event have already been identified as prospects.  Have you been identified?  If you have been identified, have you built serious relationships with coaches?   Do you have any scholarship offers?  Do you have offers, but no guidance on how to evaluate your options?  To answer these questions and more I suggest you contact NCSA.

Connect with College Coaches Now!

Recently I delivered College Recruiting Simplified at Elkhart Central (IN) High School (see photo). Over 100 people came out to get educated and inspired. The photo above shows Athletics Director Brian “Buck” Buckley welcoming the audience and telling them how positive his college football experience was at Division 2 Hillsdale College. The families came for a variety of reasons such as the fact that their sons and daughters love their sport and want to play at the college level. They also came because they want to avoid the nightmare of rising college tuition costs. Two days before the event a new national report said Indiana college grades are leaving school with more debt than the national average and their borrowing has gone up about 20 percent in three years. The California-based Project on Student Debt reports Indiana’s 2008 grades owed on average $23,200, a little more than the national average of $23,200.

High school student athletes who work hard in the classroom, community and athletics have an edge when it comes to scholarships. That is why it is vital to be educated on the recruiting process. These families left with the tools to navigate the process.

A couple of other things stood out that night. I was talking with an athletic official about all the families that think it is the job of the coach to get their kid a scholarship. “The football coach makes $9000 a year,” he said. “He has a ton of responsibilities. Many families still think he should do the work to get their kid college football money.”

Another thing that stood out was reinforcement of how accelerated college recruiting is these days. Before the program they were telling me how Michigan State is very, very aware of an 8th grade volleyball player there.

The presentation went great. People left with a gameplan.

Is your school or club offering recruiting education? Don’t delay.

Elkhart Central High School

One of the goals of NCSA and Chris Krause’s book Athletes Wanted is to demonstrate the power of athletics.  Our aim is to educate as many student athletes as possible about the recruiting process and in turn allow them to use sport as a vehicle to maximize their life potential.  I wanted to share a story from today’s Wall Street Journal showcasing the power of athletics.

Rap Mogul Snoop Dogg, a.k.a. Calvin Broadus, has helped engineer an emergence of football in South Central Los Angeles by founding the Snoops Youth Football League.  Crenshaw High School is a game away from winning the city title and becoming the inner cities first serious contender for a California state-championship bowl game.  Many of the team’s stars are the first graduate’s of Snoops Youth League.

Before Mr. Broadus, there wasn’t much organized youth football in the Crenshaw district. A diehard Pittsburgh Steelers fan who played quarterback at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, the 38-year-old caught the coaching bug nearly a decade ago when he began volunteering as the offensive coordinator for his sons’ youth team in the Orange County league.

After a few seasons, frustrated with the program’s high fees and strict rules, Mr. Broadus invested $1 million to launch his own youth conference that charged about $200 less per player than most Pop Warner teams, offered discounts for siblings and allowed parents with criminal records to volunteer. Mr. Broadus invests an additional $50,000 each year to sustain the program.

“Snoop brought football back to South Central—that’s why we’ve been so successful,” says Gregory Shoaf, known around Crenshaw as “Coach Crazy,” who has been schooling local players at the kindergarten level for the past 40 years.

Featured in films such as “Boyz N the Hood” and “Love & Basketball,” Crenshaw leads the state in basketball-championship titles and has produced baseball greats including Darryl Strawberry. But its football program has long been considered something of a joke. Before head coach Robert Garrett took the helm in 1988, he says former players in the neighborhood, parents and even teachers would heckle the football team on game days with questions like, “How many points are you going to lose by this time?”

One of the biggest problems, says Mr. Garrett, was always that the district, home to the street gang known as the Crips, hadn’t had its own Pop Warner team since the 1970s, with few parents able to volunteer as coaches, let alone pay registration fees. As a result, despite the region’s abundance of athletic potential, Crenshaw’s high-school football teams have lacked the chemistry and camaraderie that comes from playing with one’s teammates from the age of five, since students were forced to disperse and commute to other districts to play football at the junior-high-school level if they were to play at all. (Crenshaw alumnus Brandon Mebane, now a defensive tackle for the Seattle Seahawks, says he didn’t start playing tackle football until the ninth grade—he played baseball instead.)

Mr. Broadus can’t take all the credit for Crenshaw’s success, of course. Mr. Garrett says some of the steps he has taken over the past two decades to change the school’s football culture are also starting to bear fruit. He has challenged neighborhood hecklers to try their hands at assistant coaching, instituted a business dress code for players on Fridays, opened his own home to players on holiday weekends and insisted that college scouts start coming to campus to meet his players face to face. Four years ago the team won the city title, though it wasn’t ranked in the state’s top 10.

Still, Mr. Garrett admits that Mr. Broadus “has helped the program a lot.”

“I celebrate what he’s doing—he’s probably saved thousands of kids—and he doesn’t have to do that,” says Mr. Garrett. “I may not want to hang out with him, but he’s putting his money where his mouth is.”