^ Completely missed that part about no contact at camps. Even more ‘Wow’ then. Lacrosse recruiting has gained a random active follower. Very interested to see if this new policy works.
Super pleased about these rules, even though they don’t affect my current junior. I have heard that the NESCACs basically have their offers planned well in advance of the July date when they can make those offers to rising seniors. The same will now probably be true of September 1 for D1 offers to juniors. The difference is, my NESCAC-hopeful has been able to visit campuses and meet coaches where we know there is interest, so if an offer comes in July he is ready to accept. If a kid hasn’t had the chance to visit, meet with coaches, etc., how will s/he make a wise choice? I hope the coaches don’t pressure for an immediate answer and allow time for visits.
Lol. I have an extended family member who is lacrosse girl. Trying to learn what I can.
For women’s recruiting in lax, it will be interesting. The IWLAC hosts 4-5 showcase tournament, all in the summer except one just before thanksgiving at Disney. It is a ZOO. The first Friday always falls in the ‘dead’ period just after Nov NLI signing, so it has kind of been a bonus day for D2 and D3 coaches to wiggle in there. Now it will be the first tournament when D1 coaches can have any contact and in the past it has been only sophomores circling like vultures, but now it will be the juniors. Juniors on a mission. Tick tock. Time’s a wasting.
I’m now wondering why the date was set at Sept 1. If they had picked July 1, they’d have 2 extra months of tournaments, plus the colleges could host camps all summer.
It won’t be juniors. The new rule says that contact can only be made at a recruit’s school or home during junior year.
It would seem the idea is to ratchet back on the importance of showcases and the like
I don’t think they’ll be cutting back. The IWLCA makes a fortune off those tournaments. They even get kickbacks from the hotels (maybe not from Disney, but they are getting something from Disney and I know they get $$ from the other locations because we had to pay rack rates and the teams had to guarantee a # of rooms. It’s almost more likely they’d add another fall tourney in early Oct. Hey, we don’t really need Columbus Day do we?
The coaches actually sit in a little fenced off area on each field where no parents/no players are allow, but believe me, everyone is dancing while twirling a baton and singing God Bless America to get attention.
We’ll see. I think the big 15-20 schools will set the tone. If they follow the rules, the rest will wait for whoever is left over.
One of the big complaints regarding lacrosse recruiting has been that the guidelines applied only to athletes in high school…hence the jokes about certain D1 men’s coaches calling their eighth grade recruits to tuck them in at night. Coaches at private K-12 schools with high-profile lacrosse programs were therefore seen by parents (typically with sufficient financial wherewithal to afford said schools) as having an “in” with the top programs. I certainly hope that particular loophole goes away, and along with it the mayhem created by too-young kids switching their verbal commitments multiple times.
It will also be interesting to see how this impacts the top D3 programs, who get more than a few D1-caliber players. My son got a lot of interest from Ivy, Patriot, and NESCAC schools after his sophomore year because he had excellent test scores, a solid 2-year transcript, and solid ECs (including Eagle Scout). Schools will likely continue to identify players early because the new guidelines, if they work as I imperfectly understand them, will create a time-compressed recruiting “mad dash” in which it will be imperative for coaches to have well-vetted recruiting depth charts…sort of like NFL teams getting ready for the upcoming draft.
I’m not sure how the impact of these changes will indirectly impact NCAA D2 lacrosse, whose academic eligibility requirements differ from those of D1.
Best advice my son ever got was to pick a school he would love even if he were to stop playing his chosen sport or switched his major. Also keep in mind that playing any D1 sport is essentially the same as having an on-campus job; the old saw about D1 athletics is that you get to pick two out of your sport, academics, and social life, so choose wisely. He ultimately opted for the D3 route due to his interest in medical school. He was fortunate to be accepted ED at a top LAC where he will be a STEM major and is required to do hands-on research and a thesis in order to graduate.
I give the NCAA some credit for its current campaign emphasizing that most college athletes will ultimately go pro in something other than sports.
At the bottom of the academic eligibility charts, there isn’t much difference between D1 or D2. Most athletes aren’t just squeaking in at the NCAA minimums, and of course the schools can set their own requirements. My daughter’s team is at least 1/4 engineering majors, and the other slackers are doing biology and chemistry, forensics, business. I do know that one recruit wasn’t academically accepted to our school, but plays at another D2 school, so she met the NCAA requirements and just not our (STEM) school’s.
The NCAA fought this tooth and nail for more than 5 years.
I do agree that all that has been done is to compress the process into 2 years for the top players. I don’t think there will be much difference for the majority of athletes who go to non-top 50 (athletically) schools, and not that much difference for the top 5 schools. It is those who might have been a top pick in 9th grade but are just very good in 11th. The top 25 prospects are still going to go to the top 5 schools, but where does #26 end up? That’s the scrum.
The top athlete I know who just signed did change his mind several times in the last year. He was headed to a service academy (committed as a sophomore) but it never felt right to him. Academically, that’s just not a good fit. He’s decided to be an enormous fish in a small pond, and you have to give the kid credit that he’s doing what he wants when no one thinks it is a good choice.
It seems the new rules will simply make the kids have to do more of their own leg work to get in front of coaches in 9th and 10th grade so they will be on the coach’s radar for 11th grade. I don’t think the new rules disallow a kid from submitting letters of interest, video, etc in 9th or 10th grade. Coaches may end up having more “camps”. that are more like prospect days for the younger guys. The kids can fill out questionairres regarding their academic stats and academic interests and the coach can then get a feel if the kid could be a decent prospect or not.
End of Junior year is the best time for recruiting anyways I think because you have a good understanding of GPA/Acdemic rigor/act/sat scores to review. The kids then get another chance to improve their test scores in the Fall of 12th grade if the coach thinks the kid needs to improve.
Anyways, I had a kid go thru the DIII/D2 lacrosse recruiting route recently and it was interesting. I learned a lot. I have another kid that may end up being recruited for 2 different sports so I am in favor of pushing the timelines back. Having kids worry about this stuff in 9th grade is silly.
@twoinanddone, why do you say that the NCAA fought this proposal “tooth and nail for five years”? I understand that some of the schools might have not wanted it, but why would the NCAA itself care?
The proposal was made more than 5 years ago and tabled. Brought up again and tabled. Many coaches, and the coaches’ associations, have been asking for it, and there never seemed to be any opposition (although I’m sure there is some), so why, if ‘everyone’ is for it, was it not accepted as a rule change years ago?
This was really a big campaign to get enacted, not just an idea that was recently brought up. There have been many articles about it over the years and while other changes were accepted and put into place, early recruiting wasn’t.
The new rules have been out for about a week (and there was already a to-do about the fact that it went into effect immediately and not on April 26, when there is a full committee meeting scheduled). Today I read a complaint by a parent on a lax site that an 8th grade(class of 2021) soccer player had committed, and why can soccer players still recruit and lax cannot. Unfair, she shouted! Why is it only lax players who can’t participate in early recruiting?
Today I read an interesting problem. I’m guessing is a freshman or sophomore in high school. She had filled out recruiting questionnaires and received a couple of emails from lax coaches saying they can’t speak to her or invite her to their schools until September 1 of her junior year, unless it is about a camp or tournament. However, she’s also a hockey player and she’s been invited by the hockey coaches to OV/unofficial visits to some of these same schools.
Is she allowed to visit or not?
I’ve been to a few schools/ filled out some recruiting questionnaires (second sem junior currently) before junior year. I’m a girl’s lax player - also done it for volleyball. I think it’s strange but I kind of agree with it lol - one of my best friends has been lowkey “committed” to UMich since her freshman year - meaning she’s visited a ton, kept in contact with coaches etc.
@twoinanddone My vote would be she is allowed to visit. For hockey. While there, she would not be allowed to communicate with the lax coaches in any way, however. How difficult that would be to do so is a whole other question.
For a little insight to how at least one college is handling it, here is an email my son received about their prospect camps. (I am deleting the name of the school and camp dates.) He is currently a junior but clearly they think he is younger, as indicated by the second sentence:
"I wanted to invite you to attend our lacrosse prospect camps this summer. With the new NCAA rules, this will be the only way for you to meet and interact with our staff before September 1. These camps are a great chance for you to see campus, view our lacrosse facility, as well as meet and learn from our staff. This gives you a great opportunity to be evaluated by our staff and also helps us coach players for three days the way we teach the game here at (university). We have taken between 25-30 student athletes on our roster from these events to be a part of our program and will also have other college coaches, from D1, D2, and D3, in attendance at camp to help teach and evaluate.
Hope you can make it and please let me know if you have any questions regarding to the clinic. Please understand that due to NCAA rules, the only emails we are permitted to respond to, are those pertaining directly to clinic information."
One of the issues I see is that these prospect camps are big money-makers for the colleges, but kids often go with little to no chance of being recruited there. How will kids know before they go whether or not they are considered a legitimate recruit?
On the dual sport question, I think the replies are correct: you can continue as before with your hockey visits, but you and the coaches cannot talk about lacrosse recruiting and you can’t talk to the lacrosse coaches about recruiting. You can, of course, mention you play lacrosse and talk about yourself.
On the prospect question, my understanding is that the prospect/summer camps can be marketed to anyone in the college’s database of interested candidates. So if you fill out the questionnaire or email the coach, you will get the camp notices. Kids go to camps today without knowing if they are recruits due to location, timing, camper age, etc. so I don’t think that will change things much. Coaches directly invite prospects to camps through recruits, parents, or HS/club coaches. Now, coaches can give feedback to HS/club coaches on their players’ skills and abilities and I would guess that a coach saying something like: “We really thing Susie has developed great since the last time we saw her and are looking to see her again at every opportunity” would be translated as: ‘come to the camp, you are on our radar’.
Bobcat, the lacrosse rules specifically state the college coaches can’t use the high school/club coaches as a way around the rules, including giving feedback.
The elite players will still get first looks and invited to elite camps through…magic? ESP? The best players will still try out for the sponsored All Star Teams, and there will be college coaches hanging out and NOT talking to the club coaches or parents or players. At least on the girls’ side, coaches will attend the summer showcases (where it is very difficult to get a team registered but it seems the same teams are always able to get spots) and instead of sending the invite for OV/UV to the sophomores, they’ll have to wait until fall junior year. Same process, shorter time period.
@twoinanddone, that is not the message we are getting. College coaches and HS/club coaches can still talk about and discuss players but not in the context of recruiting. Saying that Susie needs to sharpen up her stick skills is, as far as I can tell, legal. If you have other information, then can you cite it?
From the IWLCA: http://www.iwlca.org/page/show/3331688-new-division-i-legislation-information
All of the above link is in the context of “recruiting contact”. Your guess is as good as mine how that will be enforced, but saying: “Susie really needs to work on her slides on defense; we see that as a critical skill” seems also legal and at the same time implying a level of recruiting interest.
This is all speculation until we see how it plays out, of course.
I think they can say that (‘work on stick skills’) as part of an evaluation AT a camp, but I don’t think they can say it in general, and I don’t think that as part of an evaluation at a camp the coach can say anything about how the player would fit into the school’s team (“you’d make a great Middie here at State U”). For example, I don’t think they can say to Susie, or Susie’s coach or parents, “We think Susie can really use some help on her stick skills so she should attend our camp because we work on that.” I think they can send Susie, and the other 2000 kids registered for a tournament, a brochure that says “State U’s Lax Camp works on stick skills!” but I don’t think there can be any evaluation outside of that camp.
Do I think there will be comments by coaches on freshmen and sophomores? Of course. The community is still very small and it’s not like the college coaches don’t have relationships with the high school and club coaches; my daughter’s college team has 5 players from the same club. The few 8th graders and freshmen who were ‘committed recruits’ was really a very small number, and those few superstars will still be noticed early by the coaches, but will just have to wait a few years to ‘commit’. The sophomores will be in a holding pattern. And going to camps at the schools they are targeting.