GAME ON: Tips on Getting Recruited - Grades

Friday, January 28, 2011

Game ON Team

Every coach at every college will tell you that grades matter. He or she is not saying it because they are solely worried about your academic well-being - NO. Most coaches do care about academics, but a big issue is that they have to get their recruits through the admissions process. Recruits do not stand alone - recruiting is by year or academic class. It is difficult for a coach to get five "studs" into the school if they are all weak students or below that school's academic standard. 

So one recruit can help another recruit and a strong student can get recruited higher than they might otherwise because they help raise the academic level of the recruitment class.  In the Ivy League, the Academic Index (AI) drives the recruitment and admissions process - "Academic Index has become a sort of shorthand for ranking students. Other colleges, elite and otherwise, may also use variants of the Academic in their admission process," according to College Confidential.

Everyone is not going to play in the Ivy League, but hundreds of athletes from Rhode Island High Schools go on to play college sports each year.

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The same athlete - one a B student with average academic accomplishments is likely to play at a lower level Division and Conference, than an A student with a superior academic resume. 

Coaches Want

College coaches want great players. Ultimately, for college coaches winning and losing defines their professional achievement in many ways. Every coaches want to recruit the best players they can attract and they need that student to be academically eligible. 

Freshman Year Matters

For student athletes playing soccer, basketball, lacrosse and other sports the recruitment process is no only starting earlier - it is completed earlier. Coaches are looking at student-athletes in the sophomore year and the summer travel team may be the most important showcase. That means, after a coach sees someone play on some field or in a gym in July, and is interested in the player's talent. The first question is likely to be, "what are your grades like?" That means, what is your Grade Point Average (GPA) averaging just two years - freshman and sophomore. You bet that tough freshman year matters. Depending on your course load and weighted classes - it may be 50% of your GPA.

Recruiting Happens Early

Additionally, the recruitment process may be over early. For even D-III coaches, many have completed their recruiting based only on sophomore and junior years. They are not even looking at the showcases of juniors entering their senior year and forget them seeing your senior season games - it is just too late in many recruitment cycles. If you are a senior you need to be proactive talking to coaches. For one Rhode Island athlete who is a top lacrosse recruit, he visited a top university the summer of his junior year. The head coach proclaimed how much they wanted him to commit, but he needed to know by October or they would have to move on to other recruits. In that case, he was being recruited at one of the top 10 programs and a top academic school, but they were recruiting him based on his sophomore season and summer.

Core Courses vs Electives

When the coach asks the question about your grades - it is different than when the admissions office takes a look. Lots of admissions offices don't include in your GPA your health class or if your at a religious school - your religion grade. So, performance in math, science, English, history, and language matters more.

Top Grades are a Coaches Dream

For students with top grades - it is a coaches dream and thus more coaches will actively recruit. Imagine you are a head coach and you need to battle to get certain recruits in to the school each year. Along come this student who is not only a potentially strong recruit, but you know that this student could get into the school on their academic achievement - thus, you don't need to put them on your recruitment list. You just need to recruit that student hard. Guess what? Every coach wants that top academic achiever who can also play.

A few tips:

Remember to register with the NCAA

Freshman year grades matter

The recruitment process starts early and ends early

Top Students are the most valued recruit

Look for more tips each week on GAME ON.

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