College Recruiting Process? How does it work?

[conradin]

I'm part of a coaching staff of a NorCal junior club that has 100 kids. I'd like to know more about College recruiting and scholarship opportunities. I know many of you have experience here as a coach, or was previously competing with an NCAA team with or without scholarship. Since there is no school here in California that competes in NCAA, I shall treat this as if kids are looking for a private school, since all teams are out-of-state.

I have the basic knowledge of what a kid supposed to do at this point (academic scores, NCAA academic eligibility, planning schedule, competition record). But what I do not know is the nature of the scholarship itself...what does that mean. Tuition only? Room and Board? Tuition plus Room & Board combined then divided by two? Living expenses? Four years? etc. Is there a solid monetary amount out there given, or merely a matter of promise of paying a particular expense item?

Another one that I am not sure about is what extend can a junior coach get involved in this process without someone screwing up NCAA eligibility. Hypothetically if a junior coach pays for a junior to visit UTEP, will that screw things up?

Finally if the junior only wants to continue to compete at the NCAA level but not concern or is certain not good enough to get a scholarship, what is the process of joining a team? Is that consider a "walk-on"? Is there some sort of basic requirement to join a team (eg MQS) or anyone can join? What happens if such a non-scholarship walk-on suddenly reaches Olympic level in her junior year, can she ask for a scholarship? For the two NCAA teams (John Jay and MIT) that do not offer scholarship at all, do they have a different process?

Finally, does being good at rifle (but not good enough for scholarship) can be a factor in terms of getting admitted to a school? This is especially true for John Jay and MIT, but also on a club level for Yale?

What about pistol and shotgun????

Feel free to PRIVATE message me if you think the info is a bit too sensitive to be shown public, especially since we are talking about money.

[bdutton]

I am still new to this process too but I believe I have some information that will help.

I have the basic knowledge of what a kid supposed to do at this point (academic scores, NCAA academic eligibility, planning schedule, competition record). But what I do not know is the nature of the scholarship itself...what does that mean. Tuition only? Room and Board? Tuition plus Room & Board combined then divided by two? Living expenses? Four years? etc. Is there a solid monetary amount out there given, or merely a matter of promise of paying a particular expense item?

As far as the eligibility, the athlete should register at the NCAA eligibility center.

http://web3.ncaa.org/ECWR2/NCAA_EMS/NCAA.jsp

The athlete also will need to complete 16 core courses by the end of their Senior year:

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/eligibility_cen ... _Sheet.pdf

Another one that I am not sure about is what extend can a junior coach get involved in this process without someone screwing up NCAA eligibility. Hypothetically if a junior coach pays for a junior to visit UTEP, will that screw things up?

Basically, there is noting you as a coach could do to screw things up other than provide direct financial support for an athlete (pay to play). I am not sure about paying for travel expenses though. Maybe someone here can shed more light on that.

Finally if the junior only wants to continue to compete at the NCAA level but not concern or is certain not good enough to get a scholarship, what is the process of joining a team? Is that consider a "walk-on"? Is there some sort of basic requirement to join a team (eg MQS) or anyone can join? What happens if such a non-scholarship walk-on suddenly reaches Olympic level in her junior year, can she ask for a scholarship? For the two NCAA teams (John Jay and MIT) that do not offer scholarship at all, do they have a different process?

One of my juniors ended up being a walk on at Ohio State. She did the whole process of sending a letter/email stating her interest to be on the team and attending OSU along with her shooting resume early in her Junior year. She did not have the scores yet to get a scholarship but the coach gave her a spot on the team and this was part of the recruitment process. She had applied and was accepted at several colleges but chose OSU over others because she had an opportunity to shoot on the team and it was her first choice. At least one other college offered her a spot on their team but I am not sure if an athletic scholarship was in the mix.

Finally, does being good at rifle (but not good enough for scholarship) can be a factor in terms of getting admitted to a school? This is especially true for John Jay and MIT, but also on a club level for Yale?

Coaches at some schools have some sway with the admittance process but the bottom line will be will the athlete be maintain academic eligibility to compete? Coaches have limited spots on their teams and academics are very important. If they give up a spot to an athlete and that athlete fails to maintain a minimum academic score and become ineligible to shoot, the coach has wasted the spot on the team.

What about pistol and shotgun????

Feel free to PRIVATE message me if you think the info is a bit too sensitive to be shown public, especially since we are talking about money.

Not sure about pistol and shotgun but the academic and athletic eligibility process would be the same.

[gwsb]

I don't claim to be an expert in the minutiae of the NCAA but I am pretty sure pistol and shotgun are not NCAA sports and are governed by NRA at the college level. They are therefor club teams and not subject to NCAA rules. However the rules imposed on the team could vary from school to school.

Unless your kid can throw a football 75 yards into a trash can or dunk a basketball from the free throw line they will probably not get a free pass into school. It may help to get off the wait list. It costs so much to have a kid on the roster even if they have their own equipment, in food clothes travel ammo ect, that coaches want a shooter to be able to be a successful student and contribute to the team.

Many of the top shooting schools like OSU, UK, NCSU, WVU, the service academies, are basically STEM colleges and expect good students, athletes or not.

[conradin]

To my knowledge only OSU has pistol scholarship. Utah has a small partial grant. Michigan state also has a small grant but that was shared with the archery athletes, and it does not have a team anymore.