NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Q: Why is there no information about recruiting involving junior college players?

A: You asked for it, you got it. The first thing we’ll cover is transfer rules. This is taken from the Athletes Wanted website.

You are a transfer if…
   • You were ever enrolled full-time in a two or four year school.
   • You ever went to practice
   • You practiced or played while you were enrolled part-time

What Type of Transfer Are You?
   • Qualifier: A student-athlete who has met NCAA Eligibility requirements.
   • Partial Qualifier: A freshman who has met some of the academic requirements, but not all. They
      o Can practice
      o Can receive financial aid
      o Must sit out one year
      o DII Only, DI does NOT have partial qualifiers
   • Non-Qualifier: An S/A who has not met academic requirements.
      o Can’t practice or play
      o No financial aid for one year.
      o Three seasons of competition in Division I
      o Automatic non-qualifier if you never registered for the clearinghouse.

When do you need permission to contact?
      • If you’re now full-time in a four-year school
      • A written letter from your AD (or admin/compliance).
      • You may write to any NCAA college saying that you’re interested in transferring, but the new coach must not discuss transferring with you unless they have received written permission from your current school.
      • If your current school will not give you a written permission to contact, you will have to sit out a year or appeal.

When DON’T you need permission? 
   • You are attending a NJCAA, NCCAA school. 
   • DIII to DIII school. In which case you use a “Self Release” to allow the second school to contact you about transferring.
      o Sample self-release at ncaa.org 

Junior College Transfer
   • If you are a two-year college transfer, you do not need a release.
   • You may be required to get your degree in some cases or else you will have to sit out a year (academic year in residence).

I want to transfer
   • Refer to the NCAA transfer guide and the FAQ on the NCAA site. Immediately call the NCAA (317-917-6222) to determine your eligibility status and familiarize yourself with the NCAA rules.
   • Determine if you are eligible
      o Did you fulfill NLI requirements?
      o Are you academically in good standing?
      o Are you a qualifier, partial qualifier, non-qualifier?
   • Determine what release forms you need to get.
      o Do you have written permission to contact?
      o Coaches are required to have a transfer release in hand BEFORE speaking to a student-athlete from a four year college (scholarship or not).
      o If you do not have a release the interested coach needs to inform their Compliance Officer and one will be sent to the your current institution requesting permission to contact.

Q: What are the scholarship regulations for an international, non-U.S. citizen?

A: First, you must meet minimum academic standards  if you have never enrolled as a full-time student at a university. Secondly, you must take the SAT or ACT, tests such as the TOEFL or the TWSE are not accepted by the NCAA. If you are currently enrolled at a university you will be subject to the NCAA’s transfer student policy. You must also be sure that you have not violated any of the NCAA’s amateurism rules.

There were 155 players from the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), 72 from the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA), and 7 from the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC). That is a total of 234 junior college players drafted or 15% of the 1,521 overall. Miami-Dade College led the way out of all the junior college programs with seven picks and Orange Coast College had six.

8 teams, 263 players, 48 transfers. Transfer players are showing up in bunches at the Men’s College World Series in 2009. Almost one fifth of the student-athletes playing in Omaha this year were at a different school previously. In baseball this is pretty common, but not as common at certain schools. The University of Southern Mississippi roster includes 15 transfer students, some from junior colleges and some from four year schools. In contrast, three schools have only one transfer – Louisiana State University, University of Virginia, and the University of North Carolina. This is an area that high school and junior college student-athletes need to research when looking for the right college fit.

Many times a high school student-athlete can decide on a four year school, work hard for the first couple years, not receive much playing time, think they are ready to start that third year, and then a stud transfer comes along to take that opportunity away. This is going to be much more common if you see the coach is bringing in transfer students on a regular basis. On the other hand, junior college is a great direction to go for many student-athletes because of the big jump from high school to college. Overall, roster research is an area every student-athlete needs to take in to account.

There seems to be a negative aura associated with junior college baseball.  Parents and student athletes alike tend to cringe when they hear the words “junior college”.  True, campus life at junior colleges will not be as exciting as the life of a four year school.  However, student athletes need to realize that the point of going to college is to:

1.        Get an education

And

2.        Play baseball

Athletic talent at junior colleges can be strong.  I played at the junior college level and many of my junior college teammates transferred to DI or DII programs upon graduation and one went to play professionally.  The talent of some of the junior college baseball programs is comparable to DI talent.  Some of the schools I played against routinely send their players to schools such as LSU and Tulane to compete on their teams.  Coaches at four year universities appreciate the experience that baseball players at two year schools receive and many are willing to take players from these programs.

For players not talented enough to play DI or DII baseball on scholarship after junior college, the system will still help to save a great deal of money.  Instead of facing a $30,000 debt after two years of school as many of my friends were at four year schools, I went into my junior year having spent roughly $4,000 for two years of a college education.  I had the same academic standing and experience level as any other junior baseball player in the country.  Take a moment to think about some of these points the next time you are considering the junior college baseball route.

I often talk to athletes that are frustrated by their lack of playing time even though they are still underclassmen.  Obviously, those athletes should keep working as hard as possible to break into the rotation, but they should also remember the old adage, “Sometimes good things come to those who wait.”

 I never like getting a phone call from a student-athlete telling me they want to transfer to another school. Transferring is another way of a student-athlete telling me they made a bad decision. They didn’t do their home work on a school, coaching staff, or the roster. In today’s recruiting, coaches are taught to sell their program to the best of their ability. A huge selling point is “Your son/daughter has a great chance to play early!” The reality is everyone on the team has a great chance to play early and it’s the coach’s job to determine who is going to play by the end of the first practice.If I could give any of our student-athlete’s advice on playing at the next level, it would be to understand there is competition everywhere. It is on you to find out where the best fit is both academically and athletically. Here are some tips for our current college athletes looking into transferring.

• Don’t be discouraged if you’re not playing

Sometimes, you have to wait your time to get on the field. Just remember, you’re only a play away from getting out there. Work hard on the practice field and prove to the staff you’re the one who is supposed to be playing.

• Transferring is not an easy task

There will be many hoops in the administration process that you have to jump through. Release forms, paperwork, and un-easy conversations. You must learn the transfer and eligibility rules-for the NCAA, the conference and the new school you plan to join.

• Sitting out due to transfer rules

If you are set on transferring and feel it’s the absolute right thing to do, then understand you have to play by the rules. Due to NCAA rules, you cannot talk to another school until you have received written permission from your current school. There are several key factors which determine when you will be eligible.

1. If you are a qualifier, partial qualifier or nonqualifier.
2. If you are now in a two-year or a four year college
3. Whether you want to go to a Division 1,2,or, 3 school
4. Which sport you play (football, basketball, additional rules apply)
5. Whether you meet academic rules for eligibility

Before you make this decision we want you to understand the situation and to do your research. Focus not only on sports but education as well. Transferring can not only shorten your playing clock, but also affect the amount of time it will take for you to earn your degree. To learn more about transferring see the NCAA guidebook on transferring at http://www.ncaa.org/. We at NCSA want our student-athletes to have a great college experience. The goal is to receive a great education and make a considerable contribution at the next level. Please let NCSA help you with any questions on transferring.

It might be a good idea to find the right fit before college. Otherwise, you might end up hopping from place to place, like Paulo DosSantos. From the New Jerzey Sports blog:

Paul DosSantos has had to attend several schools to pursue his love of soccer. DosSantos would play in 22 games at Bethany during his freshman year. He would not attend any schools during the 05-06 school year, before attending Centennial College to stay eligible to play soccer. He has started every game over his 3-year career at Felician College.

Don’t get me wrong — There’s nothing wrong with transferring. Sometimes, things just don’t work out a school for whatever reason, and as I wrote back in July, “if you’ve found yourself unhappy with your college choice for an extended period of time, transferring to another school that has what you’re looking for might be, and usually is, the best path to take.”

But taking on a frog-like mentality and leaping from lily pad-to-lily pad isn’t the recommended path to take. I say this for a couple of reasons:

1. You have to go through the procedure of transferring and will have to face the consequences. In many cases, transferring requires you to sit out a year with your new team.
2. You might not get completely comfortable with your new place. The best thing about my four years at Truman State was that it was my second home. If you’re bouncing around colleges, you might not and probably won’t get that feeling.

And finally, schools just might not be interested in you if they see you can’t stay in one place for an extended period of time.  

[DosSantos] said no other school (sic) were looking at him before he transferred to Felician. He said he was interested in Felician and wanted to go.

There’s no shame in transferring, but my advice: Find the lily pad that you will be comfortable with before hopping on.

Earlier this football season, the St. Petersburg Times detailed the popularity of transferring high schools in Florida for athletic purposes.  Does this place to much of an emphasis on sport?  Is it ethical?

Read some of the arguments and make your comments known!

“This will go on forever,” longtime Hillsborough coach Earl Garcia said. “In my opinion, absolutely there’s nothing different for a parent taking their kid to a performing arts magnet to play a musical instrument. If you’re the top student in engineering, you find an engineering magnet school.”

“Parents have become agents,” Middleton coach Harry Hubbard said. “They think if their kid’s not going to get a scholarship, they root up and go. Loyalty has gone out the door. Sometimes kids are listening to the wrong things from their parents and they end up transferring. My thing is if the kid can play, they’re going to find you.”

Hillsborough Countyathletic director Lanness Robinson said the county is gathering information on what other areas are doing to curtail transfers.

“It’s detrimental to high school sports,” Robinson said. “In the way that free agency has been to professional sports, high school sports have moved in the same direction. It deteriorates the concept of team.”

Do you think the college athletic recruiting process should provide you with the highest number of opportunities? Do you think understanding college athletics recruiting can reveal the perfect college fit for you? How do you go about increasing your opportunities? What system should you employ to make sure you are selecting the right opportunity for you?

College coaches begin by initially contacting 1,000 or 2,000 or even 10,000 (depending on the sport) student athletes by sending them camp brochures, emails, questionnaires, etc. Those same college coaches are clearly not recruiting all of those student-athletes. Why do they start with such a large pool? They are following the advice of Marketing 101: the more kids who they find out about, the better chance they’ll find the really quality student-athlete who will help their program. If that’s a good strategy for college coaches, shouldn’t a student-athlete use the same strategy? Doing so will increase your number of opportunities.

A savvy student-athlete will learn as early as freshman year that they need to develop trust-based relationships with college coaches. This can only happen through communication. Since the NCAA restricts the amount and timing of contacts initiated by college coaches, the student-athlete must be proactive. Unfortunately, the 14 or 15 year old student-athlete doesn’t have the life experiences or the maturity to begin building relationships with adults. The good news is they can be trained in that skill set. It’s like interviewing for a job. 

College recruiting boils down to trust-based relationships between college coaches and student-athletes. What college coach is going to make a significant investment in a student-athlete unless they know a lot more about that student-athlete than her/his performance on the playing field?

If you agree with playing the numbers game and building trust-based relationships with college coaches, have you thought about how you would do that? If you’re a student-athlete reading this, do you think your parents can do this for you? If so, you better forget about playing sports in college. Do you think your coach can do this for you? Again, if so, you better forget about finding the perfect college fit for you. You are the one that needs to take charge. You can only do that if you develop the skill set to do so. Who will teach you that?

Finally, if you do all of the above correctly, how do you determine the right fit? There are many different factors including: academic quality of the school, size of school, location of school, financial aid package, level of competition, opportunity to play early, getting along with the coaching staff and players, receiving tutoring help (if necessary), etc. There is a way to logically sort out all of those factors. If you need help, go here.