D3 schools give merit money to students who earn that merit, and some may happen to be athletes, but they don’t (can’t) give money to students just because they are athletes.
4 Likes
Not overtly at least. It has to be tied exclusively to academics officially. There are certainly deals that are sweetened for players coaches want.
1 Like
True, but average amount of scholarships for athletes can’t be greater than average amount of scholarships for non-athletes at a given school (schools must report those numbers each semester IIRC.)
Regardless, it doesn’t sound like OP is necessarily looking for scholarship money.
3 Likes
This is against NCAA rules. Does it happen? I’m sure it does. But I wouldn’t bank on it.
2 Likes
Funny I didn’t realize this before, but I have heard of LAC having these “merit” scholarships setup by external private foundations that are worded so specific that only one person can really qualify for. Yup, usually the one athlete just happens to meet every single criteria…
1 Like
If it wasn’t competitive this forum wouldn’t exist.
4 Likes
Agreed – the schools my kid dealt with in recruiting were scrupulous about maintaining that athletics was not considered in merit, and talked about the sanctions they or peer schools had faced.
5 Likes
Interesting. I was an athlete in college. Our teammate passed away at a relatively young age, and when we tried to establish a scholarship in her name and designate it for a female in our sport or even one who demonstrated both academic excellence and athletic leadership, the development office wouldn’t allow it as it would be a violation of D3 NCAA rules because of that specificity. They said it had to fit a broader group of students. If there are indeed scholarship that fit only one student, that isn’t someone who has found a loophole, that’s someone breaking the rules.
10 Likes
It could be meant for a “group” but when the recipient tells the story, it is usually skewed. But I have heard of a few of these merit scholarship stories for D3 schools that do not offer athletics scholarships.
From parents?
from the students
My impression is that at many merit D3s, the coach is able to put a thumb on the scale and influence the direction of that “academic” merit $.
If you can find a D3 athletic scholarship, good for you. I will continue to believe the schools are following the NCAA rules because why wouldn’t they? There really isn’t an upside to breaking the rules as the coach can find another athlete to take their place and if you really want to get athletic money, there are D1 schools that can now give you a sack full of cash or a NIL deal from a booster.
The OP needs to decide if he’s okay with his son going to a school ranked lower than he’d like so that the son can play soccer, or not going to college at all. The son will need to decide if he’s willing to go to a school that may not have a very good soccer team so that he can play (and be a starter?) because soccer is a tough sport to make the team and to get to play all the time.
But to the original question of whether a coach will become Father Flannigan and help out a struggling student and give him a spot on the soccer team to save him from a life on the streets? Only if that kid is named Pele.
I do think a college coach could serve as an honest mentor. “Kid, there is no place on the Yale soccer team for you with grades like that, but if you can bring them up a little you might just get a try out with XXX.” Hearing it from someone other than a parent can help with motivation to get those grades up. There are also some articles written by Ivy coaches (and other top schools) that say they look at grades first, and then if the academics are up there they look at athletic skills. Top grades don’t always get you in but low grades will keep you out.
4 Likes
I mean, there is somebody out there to fit any description you can conjure up. But practically speaking, from having connected with more coaches than I can remember, no, you can’t plan on finding someone who’s going to recruit your kid out of a desire to be a good guy/gal and get your kid into college, which is how I read your question.
If they want to recruit him because they want to recruit him, then that’s why they’d recruit him. For the soccer. Not to help you. I find myself doing this from time to time, but it’s worth reminding people that these coaches have a job, and that’s the job: being the coach. This is what these people do for a living. So that’s what they’re trying to do.
What I have found is that all the people who seem to want to help your kid because they want to help your kid because that’s what they do are from K-12, and even during those years there are adults (e.g., club sports coaches) who are doing it because it helps them do their job. Not trying to be negative here, but the strategy of looking for a coach to recruit your (I think recruitable) kid to help you help nudge your kid to college seems like a steep, steep uphill climb.
99.999% of these conversations involve two things: your kid’s grades/scores and your kid’s play level. That’s what drives D3 recruiting.
3 Likes
I feel like you’ve argued this before. In any event, I think it’s oversimplified. The way I look at it D3 is like this:
High academic/high caliber of play = very, very difficult. Some schools, not just NESCAC, but Pomona, CMC, Chicago, Washington U, JHU, MIT etc. can pull very fine athletes because their academics sell them. This all translates to very high level play. And B students aren’t welcomed.
Mid-level academic/high level caliber of play = still pretty competitive. I think of a school like Puget Sound, which for years had a juggernaut women’s program or U of Redlands, who had an ODP player I knew from Portland who was an amazing athlete. Combo of solid academics and slightly lower admissions bar, along with tradition of success, pulls in kids who are serious about school and the sport but don’t have the numbers for Williams. Also translates to a pretty high level of play. B students may be welcomed, but they’ll need to be pretty damn good players.
Lower-level academics/high level caliber of play = still pretty competitive. Easier to get recruits into school, so easier to get recruits, and the coach can start tapping into the kid who was going to play D2 at Central Washington or Western Washington who just wants a college education and really wants to keep playing. Pacific Lutheran jumps to mind. A couple of years ago, they had one or two kids who had transferred from Washington State University (no playing time). Again, pretty high level of play.
High-level academics/low level of play = easier to garner athletic interest, but you really need the grades here because the coaches don’t usually have a lot of pull. Bryn Mawr, one of many who recruited my kid, is a classic example. Come play for us and get trounced by Johns Hopkins every year, but attend a lovely school. Btw, we don’t care about our record, so you have to be able to get in. Where’s the transcript? B students not welcomed.
Lower-level academics/lower level of play = my assumption about who you’re talking about. The question is, how many are there, and how many other players are chasing those spots? And are they trying to get better? Usually they are. So that brings us back to whether any random kid playing varsity soccer can just go grab a spot. I have known many middling high school players who wanted to play college soccer and couldn’t get anyone’s attention.
It’s a lot harder than you think.
Eh, nobody is saying that. There are only so many roster spots and there are more kids chasing them than there are spots. That’s all anyone means. If all of these kids who could play but choose not to chased after the spots, it would only be worse. But it doesn’t logically follow from that theory of the case that it is presently easy or that, as the above poster suggested, there’s a roster spot for any “experienced high school player.” I’ve known many, many kids who were able to make it onto the field for major 4A programs in the Seattle area that wanted to be recruited and weren’t, or were recruited but had exceedingly limited options.
5 Likes
I agree. we know LOTS of kids who over the years have gone to midwest non-selective NAIA, D2s & D3s, and for several its been the reason that got them to college.
We talked with someone recently from a small NAIA college; he said that if they didnt offer sports scholarships, they wouldnt have a school. About half the kids at his school do sports; it brings in the kids who want to continue, and love their sport. I’m talking football, basketball, soccer, swimming, cross country, cheer, dance, wrestling, volleyball - we know kids in every one of those sports at small regional colleges.
There really is a sliding scale on it all; how much does he want to play? he can find a spot . .
4 Likes
How much does he want to play, how much can the family afford, how much academic rigor is right, how important are the academics for the long term (i.e. once the kid is no longer playing). Not so easy to sort this out IMHO.
2 Likes
I’d say this is a case where you should step back and have him do the work. He does not seem invested nor does it seem like he will be a recruited player (without reaching out on his own). It’s a good test of how hard he will work once there.
Show him how to identify schools that could be a possible match considering his academics and level of play and let him take it from there.
4 Likes
Rhetorical question (aka OP does not need to answer…this question is only food for thought):
What if your son:
a. doesn’t get recruited onto ANY college soccer team?
b. get accepted to a college AND a spot on the college’s soccer team, but he can’t stand the coach and that’s the only college which offered him a spot to play?
c. gets accepted to a college that just has a club team (i.e., not an NCAA Div I, II or III team)?
d. decides not to attend college at all?
If D ends up being a reality, then your son will have some hard decisions to make and will need to get his act together and figure out what he wants to do with himself, and the answer probably won’t be “spend all my time hanging out with my friends and playing soccer.” Because all of his high school soccer friends will be off at other places doing other things and moving on.
Another option to consider would be community college. Have him play on the community college’s soccer team while he grows up a little and gets a little out of “screw around and find out” mode. Sounds like he might need a little bit more maturing to do, which is absolutely totally normal.
8 Likes
Honestly, “potential to play small school D3” does not sound like a bigtime player. I think my kid’s coach would say everyone on the team has that kind of potential, even though many of them are just decent cogs in the system.
Does the player do ODP, at least?
I am wondering why the OP thinks it best for the student to go to college right after high school. If he isn’t interested, why not do a gap year, or an apprenticeship in something useful? And then revisit in a year, when perhaps his motivations have changed.
2 Likes