The Observer, March 23, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 21
Start of spring a busy time for sports recruiting at Case
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The first Wednesday in February is more important than any Division I college game that will be played the following season. National Signing Day is when high school seniors sign letters of intent indicating which school they will play for the next fall. This day is full of fanfare and surprises. Many students have huge press conferences, some that are even covered by the likes of ESPN. Yet, at Division III schools, the process is just starting to pick up momentum.
At a D-III school such as Case, there are no athletic scholarships, no signing days, and no media coverage. The process, though, is still complicated. First, the disparity between the different types of D-III schools must be taken into account. In a recent article featured in The New York Times, Bill Pennington described how there are a large number of schools that are getting away from the "student first, athlete second" D-III mentality. Many schools, such as Mount Union, who has won five of the last seven football national championships in D-III, are focusing their attention of athletics.
With this comes intense pressure to continue to bring in top prospect athletes. In D-III there is a "trickle down" effect when it comes to recruiting. There are certain students that will attend a D-I school without question. Then other students begin to fall down to D-II and so on. This means that, while all schools recruit year-round, many schools look for the students that were on the brink of getting D-I looks, then recruit them after the big signing periods have passed.
"The D-I schools recruit players that fit into their system," said Greg Debeljak, head football coach at Case. "We just have to recruit good athletes, then fit our system around them."
Schools like Case, with very rigorous academics, encounter other problems. While larger schools have so-called "gimmes," a certain number of athletes they can get into the school as long as they meet the basic requirements, most UAA schools don't have such a luxury.
"We have to get kids who fit in academically," said Jacki Windon, head women's basketball coach at Case. "We start out recruiting the masses, then the academic requirements narrow our field down quite a bit."
The summer proves to be crucial in this scenario.. During this time, coaches attend or work different camps that apply to their sport. For example, Windon worked the Princeton Elite camp at Princeton University this past summer. Not only did this give her a chance to see prospects and their abilities, but also the ability to network with other coaches.
"It's all about the networking thing," she said. "Other coaches will go to schools and see a kid who could fit on your team and give you a call."
When budgets are limited, these types of relationships are invaluable. The football team only employs four coaches, as opposed to its D-I counterparts that have over 15 coaches and recruiters on staff. For the larger schools, it's easy to take recruiting efforts to a national level. For smaller schools such as Case it is more difficult. This past December, Tom Kaufman, an assistant football coach, travelled to Florida and visited dozens of high schools for two weeks in a rental car. Compare that to Florida State, which sent five of its coaches out of state to visit only one prospect. Yet, Case's football program should consider itself lucky; the women's basketball program didn't have a full-time assistant until Freeman Blade was hired this past year.
Right now is the busiest time for most sports on campus. Many prospects are coming in to visit the school and staying overnight with current student athletes. This weekend, the football team has 16 high school seniors coming to tour the facilities at Case. The overnight visit is the single most important thing to sell a student on the school.
The biggest tool coaches have to convince athletes to come to their school is their current players. If the recruit enjoys the campus and can relate or bond with the current players, he or she is most likely going to choose that school.
For the next couple of weeks, many Case athletes will not be practicing their running, dribbling, or kicking skills. They will focus instead on bringing the best talent they can to their team, by practicing their sales pitches.
