June 19, 2007
by Brian Logue, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
Also read: Recruiting: Do's and Don'ts
Allyson Carey remembers it well. Last September her cell phone buzzed with a text message from a college coach expressing her interest.
"I started jumping up and down, I was so excited," said Carey.
It was the "official" beginning of a process that really started in eighth grade, when she visited Duke and North Carolina with her club lacrosse team.
Carey, who recently completed her junior year at John Carroll (Md.) School, is a member of the 2007 U.S. Under-19 Team and one of the nation's most sought-after recruits.
"I've been to at least six different colleges, with a couple more visits planned," she said just before the spring season began. "It's actually been really exciting. It's so flattering to be invited to junior days."
With exposure to the club system so prevalent in women's lacrosse, Carey is well-versed in the recruiting process for college lacrosse at the Division I level.
But quite frankly, even those who have been through it before have a tough time keeping up with the rapid changes. Just look at the Georgetown men's program.
Every current junior on the Georgetown roster took an official visit to campus before committing to play for the Hoyas.
"That was our last normal recruiting year," said assistant coach Scott Urick.
The sophomore class? Two official visits. The freshman class? Zero visits.
"Do I think that's the best thing for these kids? Not necessarily," said Urick.
Speed Recruiting
Georgetown is just one of many examples of how the recruiting calendar is moving in fast forward. High school students are not allowed to make an official visit (one paid for by the college) to campus until the fall of their senior year. In a world where most of the top 20 Division I lacrosse programs -- men and women -- have their recruiting classes locked up by the end of the summer, the official visit has gone the way of the dinosaur.
"The NCAA has designed rules for official visits so people can make those visits at the appropriate time," said Navy coach Richie Meade. "We've pretty much thrown that out the window."
But it's even wilder than that. By NCAA rule, Division I college coaches are not allowed to call recruits until July 1 of the summer prior to their senior year. It hardly matters. By February of this year, approximately 30 high school juniors had verbally committed to play for a specific college in men's lacrosse. Some of those commitments came in the fall.
"It's getting crazier and crazier," said North Carolina assistant coach Greg Paradine. "You have to go out and identify sophomores and get guys who haven't even played their junior year, and start looking at those guys. When one or two coaches start doing it that way, you've got to start doing it, or else you're going to get left behind."
Things haven't moved quite at that pace in the women's game, but it's not far behind.
"I've talked to a lot of top 20 coaches, and they don't want to get early commitments. But they feel like if they don't do it, they'll get put behind," said Danie Caro, the head coach at Quinnipiac and the president of the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA).
Ironically, the calendar has helped some of the programs down the line.
"In some respects, that's been good for Division III," said Geoff Miller, the director of athletics at Goucher College. "You absolutely know who you can talk to because they don't have any Division I offers."
In Division II and III, the summer is important for evaluation, but the bulk of the recruiting takes place in the fall. Many smaller schools encourage students to apply early decision or early action, if that's available, because they have a better chance of gaining admission. Those deadlines are usually in November or December of the prospect's senior year.
But even smaller programs are feeling the pressure.
"We're getting kids in September that want to commit or want us to commit to them," said Mike Murphy, the head men's coach at Haverford. "As often as not, it's the kids that want to get it over with."
Ethics Accelerating the Process?
Ironically, the largely positive working relationships between coaches at rival colleges might be helping to accelerate the process. In lacrosse, when someone verbally commits to a school, it's almost universal that other colleges will stop recruiting that player, even though the earliest that a student can officially sign a National Letter of Intent is November of his or her senior year.
In many other high-profile sports, the recruiting really starts when a student makes a verbal commitment.
"In football and basketball, you haven't earned your stripes until you've stolen a recruit," said Bill Tierney, Princeton head men's lacrosse coach.
"In lacrosse it's not there yet, but I bet you it's going to go there soon," said Paradine. "If you get a kid to commit in December of his junior year, you still have [almost a year] before he actually signs his letter of intent. I think you're going to see more kids flip-flopping their verbal commitments."
"I think it would be great if we don't go that route," said Brown head men's lacrosse coach Lars Tiffany. But he wonders, "Could that possibly slow things down?"
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June 19, 2007
Note: This recruiting feature appeared in the May 2007 issue of Lacrosse magazine, a member benefit of US Lacrosse. Get your complimentary subscription today by becoming a US Lacrosse member.
by Brian Logue, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
Also read: Recruiting: Do's and Don'ts
Allyson Carey remembers it well. Last September her cell phone buzzed with a text message from a college coach expressing her interest.
"I started jumping up and down, I was so excited," said Carey.
It was the "official" beginning of a process that really started in eighth grade, when she visited Duke and North Carolina with her club lacrosse team.
Carey, who recently completed her junior year at John Carroll (Md.) School, is a member of the 2007 U.S. Under-19 Team and one of the nation's most sought-after recruits.
"I've been to at least six different colleges, with a couple more visits planned," she said just before the spring season began. "It's actually been really exciting. It's so flattering to be invited to junior days."
With exposure to the club system so prevalent in women's lacrosse, Carey is well-versed in the recruiting process for college lacrosse at the Division I level.
But quite frankly, even those who have been through it before have a tough time keeping up with the rapid changes. Just look at the Georgetown men's program.
Every current junior on the Georgetown roster took an official visit to campus before committing to play for the Hoyas.
"That was our last normal recruiting year," said assistant coach Scott Urick.
The sophomore class? Two official visits. The freshman class? Zero visits.
"Do I think that's the best thing for these kids? Not necessarily," said Urick.
Speed Recruiting
Georgetown is just one of many examples of how the recruiting calendar is moving in fast forward. High school students are not allowed to make an official visit (one paid for by the college) to campus until the fall of their senior year. In a world where most of the top 20 Division I lacrosse programs -- men and women -- have their recruiting classes locked up by the end of the summer, the official visit has gone the way of the dinosaur.
"The NCAA has designed rules for official visits so people can make those visits at the appropriate time," said Navy coach Richie Meade. "We've pretty much thrown that out the window."
But it's even wilder than that. By NCAA rule, Division I college coaches are not allowed to call recruits until July 1 of the summer prior to their senior year. It hardly matters. By February of this year, approximately 30 high school juniors had verbally committed to play for a specific college in men's lacrosse. Some of those commitments came in the fall.
"It's getting crazier and crazier," said North Carolina assistant coach Greg Paradine. "You have to go out and identify sophomores and get guys who haven't even played their junior year, and start looking at those guys. When one or two coaches start doing it that way, you've got to start doing it, or else you're going to get left behind."
Things haven't moved quite at that pace in the women's game, but it's not far behind.
"I've talked to a lot of top 20 coaches, and they don't want to get early commitments. But they feel like if they don't do it, they'll get put behind," said Danie Caro, the head coach at Quinnipiac and the president of the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA).
Ironically, the calendar has helped some of the programs down the line.
"In some respects, that's been good for Division III," said Geoff Miller, the director of athletics at Goucher College. "You absolutely know who you can talk to because they don't have any Division I offers."
In Division II and III, the summer is important for evaluation, but the bulk of the recruiting takes place in the fall. Many smaller schools encourage students to apply early decision or early action, if that's available, because they have a better chance of gaining admission. Those deadlines are usually in November or December of the prospect's senior year.
But even smaller programs are feeling the pressure.
"We're getting kids in September that want to commit or want us to commit to them," said Mike Murphy, the head men's coach at Haverford. "As often as not, it's the kids that want to get it over with."
Ethics Accelerating the Process?
Ironically, the largely positive working relationships between coaches at rival colleges might be helping to accelerate the process. In lacrosse, when someone verbally commits to a school, it's almost universal that other colleges will stop recruiting that player, even though the earliest that a student can officially sign a National Letter of Intent is November of his or her senior year.
In many other high-profile sports, the recruiting really starts when a student makes a verbal commitment.
"In football and basketball, you haven't earned your stripes until you've stolen a recruit," said Bill Tierney, Princeton head men's lacrosse coach.
"In lacrosse it's not there yet, but I bet you it's going to go there soon," said Paradine. "If you get a kid to commit in December of his junior year, you still have [almost a year] before he actually signs his letter of intent. I think you're going to see more kids flip-flopping their verbal commitments."
"I think it would be great if we don't go that route," said Brown head men's lacrosse coach Lars Tiffany. But he wonders, "Could that possibly slow things down?"
>> Next
PAGE 1 | 2 | 3 | NEXT
