Speaking for myself, and I think @bksquared, the issue is the idea often expressed here that kids who are above the line or A band recruits in the NESCAC are not eligible for a “slot” and can only receive a “tip”. Not only is this contrary to my personal experience, but I find it illogical that the NESCAC would have a conference rule that prioritizes weaker academic kids over stronger academic kids. Put another way, my kid would have likely been the top recruit in his position group if not in the entire recruiting class at any of the NESCAC schools recruiting him. I sincerely doubt that Coach Mills at Amherst would have gone to admissions and said “Hey, Ohiokid is probably the top athletic recruit in our class, but since his academic record puts him well within the A band, I would really appreciate a little nudge that might improve his chances of running the 15% admissions gauntlet. On the other hand, here are fourteen kids whose academic record is weaker, and who are not as good football players. Please use my slots on them so I know they will be admitted.”
For the same reason the Ivy uses the band system on which the NESCAC system is obviously based. Because it ensures that each school will maintain certain academic standards in recruiting. Four years ago, in football, each NESCAC school had 14 B and C band slots (“below the line” recruits). I assume that similar to the Ivy there were a small number of C band recruits available and the remainder were B band. This was a conference rule. Differently than the Ivy, where the number of permissible supported recruits in Band 4 is also set by conference rule, in the NESCAC each school makes its own decision in how many slots to devote to A band (“above the line”) recruits. If I remember correctly, and based on the coaches from the three NESCAC schools my son was most interested in, Amherst, Tufts & Bowdoin, this number was 13-14 for football. To my knowledge, there was no difference in how admissions handled those 27-28 recruits. As I said above, it would be extremely illogical if there was a difference.
I have always assumed, but have never been told, that this departure from the Ivy system was based on the smaller class size of most NESCAC schools, and the varying strength of the athletic tradition at say Williams and Wesleyan. Bluntly, like many people believe HYP runs the Ivy, I assume Amherst and Williams run the NESCAC and both schools wanted the freedom to invest more resources into athletic success than say Wes or Connecticut.
Now, whether certain NESCAC schools have a system where a coach can provide some assistance to a recruit outside of the slots granted to that sport by conference/school rule, I have no idea. I really doubt that such a system exists in the Ivy because the conference itself caps the total number of permissible recruited athletes. I think some type of “intermediate” support system would violate the spirit if not the letter of that rule. On the other hand, I would think it would be at least possible that such a system could exist in the NESCAC because the conference doesn’t define the total number of supported recruits permitted.