Recruiting questions - divisions/conferences/expectations

[ChrisSB]

Re: merit money-

If you are high academic and you really need merit money, then consider playing at just a regular D3 (maybe join their honors college for extra rigor). Look for colleges where your child is in the top 25% academically. Those schools are usually more willing to give you more money. You can Google a school's name and common data set to find some of this information out. If you are specifically looking for money, the Facebook group Paying for College 101 is a great resource. You'll have to wade through a lot of different posts on there but if you have some time to search you'll find some great information on how find schools that give great merit money.

 

[angispeds]

Make no mistake that softball is a job at every level and if your child doesn’t absolutely love softball or need it to pay for school it’s better to just be a student. DD lives and breathes softball which is good since these are the last 4. She has lift 3 days a week and a combination of individual and team practices an average of six days a week. Her team gives one complete day off per week and saves the extra days for breaks like Labor Day weekend. You better believe however that she’s in the facility doing something on her own pretty much every day even if it’s a day off and team time doesn’t include time she spends studying in the required hours, in treatment with the training staff etc. my advice if your daughter really wants to focus on academics consider just picking a school and playing club softball. My DD is really really happy with her life but going to bed at 9pm on a Friday night isn’t what makes most college kids happy


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[Vertigo]

Not sure why some said D3 NESCAC school do heavy travel - they really don't. Most will do a spring break trip somewhere warm and then there really is no need (and no time) to go beyond the surrounding states. With NEWMAC and NESCAC close by and a few other schools with talent in the area, there is plenty of competition.

It is pretty heavy travel because all of it is by bus (except for Florida) and depending on which school in the NESCAC you could be going pretty far. A few of these schools are in pretty remote areas so 4-6 hours on a bus for one DH (not including stops for gas/food) on a Sat and then travel to the next school immediately after which could be a couple of hours away for the DH on Sun. Also, the middle of the week DH can be about 2 hours away. The NESCAC schools are spread out among Maine, NY, Mass, Vermont and Connecticut.

You also have to remember that in March and April there is still likely to be snow on the ground so travel on some of those back road “highways” isn’t always the easiest.

ETA: Please keep in mind this is compared to other D3 conferences. Most of the schools in the Centennial Conference are less than 3 hours away from each other. I don’t believe they typically play back-to-back DH on consecutive days.

 

[SoftballMom98]

You will need to continue your research to figure what is best for you player and your family. This is your 1st post. Stick around and you will learn more. You are already ahead of the game compared to 90% of parents. Be realistic about your situation and your DD's abilities, wants, needs, academics, location to home, etc.
This is my first post but I am a long time lurker and have been asking questions within the softball circle for a couple of years now I do feel like it's an onion though and as soon as I think I know, I realize how much I don't know! But these responses have been really helpful! We are pretty realistic as far as softball parents go. I was worried she was selling herself short but honestly, as hard as it is to not get caught in the D1 hype - she's not really the kid that wants D1 just to be able to post that she committed to D1. She would rather play and make an immediate impact and have a balance. Not commit her college life to a team where she is a practice player. It's hard to keep your pride in check when you know your former teammate who just "committed" D1 is half the player you are and will probably not see game play until they are an upper classman (if that). Your post helped to keep us grounded!

 

[SoftballMom98]

Softballmom, I have no doubt you will have a lot of replies to this from parents who've gone through the recruiting process before you. I can only speak to recruiting from an outsider and as a coach not as a parent. I have worked D1 softball before and the rulebook for NCAA is the same, division by division but there are some exceptions. Things like Ivy league schools do not offer athletic scholarship, despite being D1 which is the same classification as Oklahoma. One spends almost $7M annually, the other might be $7. lol.

The hours per week you mentioned: In division 1 for example, there's what's called windows of time. Recruiting windows for example. There are times of the year when coaches are not allowed to recruit. They can't make calls, they can't email or host kids on visits. This is called Dead time. I think the #1 mistake people make, actually its not even a mistake it's just bad info or uniformed: if your kid is not at least a Junior in HS, then the schools cannot reply to her. So prior to Sept 1 of her junior year, she can email, call, text, send old fashioned letters, smoke signals, pigeon's with a note tied to the foot, or any other way you can think of to contact her favorite school. But, those schools are not allowed to reply to her emails, texts, or calls until that magical day of Sept 1 that Jr. year. I've known 10th graders that think a school isn't interested in them because they've sent messages, emails, etc. and the schools won't reply. THEY AREN'T ALLOWED. The only thing they can do is send info for their camps. That's about it. The rules are weird. Fun story: When I first moved to Omaha to work at Creighton, they sent me at the end of Sept 2019 to go watch Jordy Bahl pitch here in town. Nebraska plays HS softball in the fall and the teams play a lot of tournaments, which is unusual from where I lived as a kid. Anyway, also at that game was Gasso, MN coach, North Carolina, Nebraska, Washington, etc. etc. I called our head coach after watching a single inning and said "This girl is not coming to Creighton!" But they held out hope because Bahl is very religious and has DEEP roots with her family, the hope was she'd wanna stay close to home. Anyway, that tournament was late Sept 2019, and soooo many young girls asked Patty Gasso if they could take a pic with her, and she had to say no. Not to be a jerk but, it would violate NCAA rules for her to take a picture with a kid at that time of year. So the kid stood about 5 feet in front of PG, and took a selfie with PG in the background (who looked and smiled for the pic) but that was the closest she could LEGALLY give that girl.

During the calendar year, there are limits as you suggested. 20 hrs. per week is the max their allowed to do. That 20 hours includes weights, team practice, individual workouts with coaches, team meetings, or anything softball related. After the fall season, right before Thanksgiving, that window drops to 8 hours per week from T-day thru the return from Christmas. Then it goes back to 20 hrs as they ramp up for the season. Kids return from Xmas about Jan 5th ish, the season starts 1 month later.

Now, this is only NCAA. If your kid wanted to play for an NAIA school, there are NO rules. No recruiting windows, no rules about coaches taking pictures, etc. I am allowed to go throw live BP to the local NAIA school but, would not be allowed to pitch to Creighton or Nebraska because they are NCAA.

Here's unsolicited advise: #1. Find out what she wants to do as a career. #2. Figure out how far from home she's willing to go. There's no point sending schedules and interest at the U of Hawaii if she doesn't wanna be that far from home. #3. check which schools in your area she's willing to be in that has the major she wants. #4. those are the programs your kid needs to send schedules and attend camps. Camps is where it's at. They can cost $100-200 but it's the loophole in the system. At a camp, the coaches are allowed to coach the kids, interact with the kids, and see the kids in a different way. If you roll up on Oklahoma right now, knock on the Gasso's door, she would only be allowed to say hello and thanks for stopping. There'd be no cup of coffee, selfies, or anything. But if you go to their camp, those things are allowed. And there's 2 types of camps: prospect camps and cash grabs. Do your homework on which schools do which kind of camps.

Finally, this is just a pet peeve of my own: she will no doubt end up on mailing lists that will "invite" her to a camp. Maybe even to Oklahoma, Texas, or Alabama or any big time program. PLEASE don't confuse that with her being invited by the coach to attend. Odds are your kid got the same letter that 2000 others did that same day. Those letters go out and then kids put the pics up on social media like "look at all the mail I got from these colleges!!!" Those aren't offers, they're camp invites. Most schools do the "cash grab" camps to identify the ones they want for the more "private" camps that aren't open to everyone. Every major school does them but they usually tell the kids not to post on social media because it's a grey area about the legality possibilities. Anyway, I have no doubt it's very exciting to get those letters in the mail from big name schools but, make sure your kid understand what those REALLY are. Then she should post them on social media like everyone else and be proud of her accomplishments.

Funny you said this... We see so many girls posting "got home to find this in my mail, thank you <insert big d1 name here> for thinking of me". Are those really just mass mailings?

 

[SoftballMom98]

I'm only aware of one high academic D2 school in the country

Care to share the name??? I feel like, and I could be wrong so don't hate me, D2 and NAIA schools don't really show up on "high academic" ranking lists.

 

[erniekru]

I second what @angispeds has said, softball in college needs to be a PASSION... DD just started as a freshman and plays at a mid major D1, I would be very surprised if any D1 team wouldn't be classified as "hard charging". DD's assistant coach called BEFORE school even started to talk about having DD change her major. That was an eye opener for us. DD will have to take summer school and probably online at other schools. Maybe even another semester after softball, it is really difficult.

Even in the offseason, the time commitment is substantial. Think bullpens (so many BP's), weight training, conditioning, and then the NCAA 8hrs. Then the individual on top of that starts.

 

[SoftballMom98]

Make no mistake that softball is a job at every level and if your child doesn’t absolutely love softball or need it to pay for school it’s better to just be a student. DD lives and breathes softball which is good since these are the last 4. She has lift 3 days a week and a combination of individual and team practices an average of six days a week. Her team gives one complete day off per week and saves the extra days for breaks like Labor Day weekend. You better believe however that she’s in the facility doing something on her own pretty much every day even if it’s a day off and team time doesn’t include time she spends studying in the required hours, in treatment with the training staff etc. my advice if your daughter really wants to focus on academics consider just picking a school and playing club softball. My DD is really really happy with her life but going to bed at 9pm on a Friday night isn’t what makes most college kids happy


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Is your DD at a D1 school? We've been primarily focusing on D3 since she does love the game but also has high academic aspirations. We are keeping the option open of just playing club softball - she has worked her tail off academically and I don't want her to limit schools just for softball (as much as she loves it). If she finds a school where the softball isn't a fit but everything else is, then she'll have to make that choice.

 

[SoftballMom98]

It is pretty heavy travel because all of it is by bus (except for Florida) and depending on which school in the NESCAC you could be going pretty far. A few of these schools are in pretty remote areas so 4-6 hours on a bus for one DH (not including stops for gas/food) on a Sat and then travel to the next school immediately after which could be a couple of hours away for the DH on Sun. Also, the middle of the week DH can be about 2 hours away. The NESCAC schools are spread out among Maine, NY, Mass, Vermont and Connecticut.

You also have to remember that in March and April there is still likely to be snow on the ground so travel on some of those back road “highways” isn’t always the easiest.

ETA: Please keep in mind this is compared to other D3 conferences. Most of the schools in the Centennial Conference are less than 3 hours away from each other. I don’t believe they typically play back-to-back DH on consecutive days.

That is exactly what I heard about NESCAC schools, the schools are a good road trip away and you can spend more time on a bus then actually playing in games. And like you said, factor in weather...

 

[tim_s]

Make no mistake that softball is a job at every level and if your child doesn’t absolutely love softball or need it to pay for school it’s better to just be a student. DD lives and breathes softball which is good since these are the last 4. She has lift 3 days a week and a combination of individual and team practices an average of six days a week. Her team gives one complete day off per week and saves the extra days for breaks like Labor Day weekend. You better believe however that she’s in the facility doing something on her own pretty much every day even if it’s a day off and team time doesn’t include time she spends studying in the required hours, in treatment with the training staff etc. my advice if your daughter really wants to focus on academics consider just picking a school and playing club softball. My DD is really really happy with her life but going to bed at 9pm on a Friday night isn’t what makes most college kids happy


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A lot of this

Fall ball practice is 730-930pm, and its a 20 min van ride away haha