While CNU is a terrific mid-size public university, their athletic department is downright dishonest. My daughter was heavily recruited by CNU, agreed to attend to play lacrosse, went early decision, coach who recruited her left, new coach came in, daughter arrives on campus in August, told that she now has to try out for the team she was supposed to be on, doesn’t try out well (mainly due to lingering effects of mononucleosis), and is “cut.” New coach says she is not obligated by previous coach’s promises. Athletic director says “nothing I can do. We weren’t aware of promises.” My daughter could have gone to several other DIII schools that really wanted her to play and she had a D2 commitment and scholarship offer. CNU has a reputation for doing this in other sports as well. They tell athletes “you are recruits” but really you are just committing to being a walk-on. Be careful, ask questions, and get things in writing.
What did you have in writing?
@bjkmom, note that many athletic scholarships are year-by-year and can be rescinded for almost any reason (including injury or sickness).
If there is no scholarship, being a recruit may mean even less.
Definitely a good cautionary tale. Thank you for sharing.
This happens at many schools as D3 makes no promises and the D3 recruit makes no promises. Even at a D1 or D2 school it is clear in the paperwork that if the coach leaves, you are not released from your commitment.
The alternative is to let her be on the team and never play because there are too many in front of her on the depth chart. My daughter has that on her team. There are 5 or more players on her team who never saw the field, with the same 15 playing all the time. A recruited goalie only played in a handful of games and then only if we were ahead by 10 goals.
However, I do think it helps others to tell her story. We learned a lot during the recruiting process and some things AFTER the process that I feel lucky we avoided!
Does your daughter want to stay? She’s under no obligation to do so.
Yes she is staying. We knew that DIII programs are not a guarantee but to wait until she gets to school to tell her that she needs to try-out seems underhanded. If the coach who was hired in April had said that during the initial phone call to her, she might have thought about switching schools. It’s too late now for her to go play for someone else. She is hoping there is a spot on the club team. BTW she was recruited by initial coach to be the 2nd goalie on the depth chart. New coach brought in a “walk-on” recruit for competition.
Nothing - all promises of securing a spot were made verbally in person or on phone by previous coach. So I would suggest that any conversation is followed up with an email from the player to the coach summarizing the conversation.
Yanksfan,
Sorry for your daughter’s experience. It sounds like your daughter was a desired recruit. It is difficult to ask the difficult questions when you are sure of the answer given the manner in which your daughter was being recruited. Nevertheless, for others pursuing D3 programs, do ask: 1) for a pre-read, 2) where your child is on the list of athletes; and 3) do you make cuts? Even then, there is nothing short of a coach’s word to prevent a cut.
Thank you for posting, yanksfanva, although that is really disconcerting news. I am sorry that happened to your daughter.