By Paul Krome
(originally printed in the April 2006 issue of Lacrosse magazine)

Recruiting is a courtship like any other.

College coaches play the role of suitors, searching for potential mates and fretting about what messages to send and how to send them. High school lacrosse players wonder how much they’re liked, wonder who they see themselves with five years from now and struggle with the pressure of making a tough decision. Ain’t love grand?

While numerous factors contribute to a healthy relationship, in the match-making game of recruiting, recent trends point to an increase in the love-life no-no’s of rushing into a decision without having all the facts at hand and making commitments just because everyone else is doing so.

"Not long ago, most college coaches would be surprised if high school kids committed during October or November of their senior year. Now, colleges are done [gaining verbal commitments from prospects] by June before their senior year," said Matt Kerwick, head coach at Hobart.

"There’s a mad rush out there."

While relatively new to lacrosse, kids committing to play sports for four years at a college before they even get their driver’s licenses has been well-documented in other sports. Sometimes it happens in the ninth grade in hockey, according to Dave Fischer, director of media and public relations at USA Hockey.

"It’s discouraging to see our sport moving in the direction of others with earlier and earlier commitments from high school players," said Kerstin Kimel, head women’s coach at Duke. "I’m not totally opposed to kids making decisions ‘early,’ like late summer or early fall going into their senior years, just as long as they’re making well-informed decisions and are not being pressured by coaches or feeling pressured by peers to make decisions prematurely."

Said pressure may be the catalyst that has coaches, parents and athletes uneasy, to say the least.

The NCAA offers resources to assist high school student-athletes and their families during the recruiting process. The association updates and publishes its Guide for the College-Bound Student Athlete on its Web site yearly. The 30-plus page document includes recruiting terms, calendars, regulations and the like. It’s a free, downloadable PDF at www.ncaa.org. Enter the guide’s title into that Web site’s search field.

While many high schoolers are verbally committing to play lacrosse at a given college earlier and earlier, those commitments are not binding. Nor, conversely, are scholarship offers extended by college coaches at any time prior to what is usually the second week of November of the prospect’s senior year.

That’s the week when the courtship turns into a marriage, so to speak. For a one-week period (for college freshmen entering in the fall of 2006, it was Nov. 9-16, 2005), the recruitment culminates with the prospect, the parent and the athletic director signing a National Letter of Intent (NLI). The NLI binds the student-athlete to the college for one academic year and binds the college to whatever scholarship offer it presents at the time. Both are contingent on the student qualifying for admission to the institution and being eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules.

The Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) founded the NLI program in 1964 to protect both the prospect and the institution from 11th-hour changes of heart with respect to college of choice and financial aid offerings. More than 500 universities participate. More information is online at www.national-letter.org/.

Numerous ingredients, some within human control and some not, are mixing together to hit prospects on multiple sides with pressure to commit to a scholarship.

Coaches want to win. To do so, they believe they must secure the best high school talent in the country. Knowing that prospects cannot sign until November, and knowing their colleagues almost universally respect a verbal commitment and cease their own recruiting of the prospect (this is one area where lacrosse has so far avoided the ills of recruiting in other sports, that of continuing to recruit a prospect after a verbal commitment has been made), college coaches race to lock up their top choices by way of a verbal commitment before other suitors can. This means evaluating prospects during summer and fall camps and tournaments, meeting prospects during unofficial campus visits (paid for by the prospect) and offering a scholarship as soon as they are convinced of the player’s potential benefits to the university.

"I tell our parents, ‘A college coach’s job is lacrosse. That’s their livelihood and how they feed their family,’" said Mike Vorgang, head boys’ lacrosse coach at Niskayuna (N.Y.) High School, which regularly sends alumni to play Division I lacrosse. "They need to get the best players to keep their jobs."

"I have some good friends in the game who are not coaching right now because they didn’t win," Hall of Fame Georgetown men’s coach Dave Urick told Lacrosse magazine’s Bill Tanton.

Offering early becomes questionable when coaches also impose a deadline — sometimes only a few days — on prospects, nowadays soon after their junior year, to decide on the offer. Sixteen- or 17-year-olds must make decisions that involve both four important years of their lives and thousands of dollars in financial aid, sometimes without an official campus visit.

"That’s happened to us a few times over the last five years. A coach will say, ‘Here’s your scholarship package’ to a kid on a Sunday and tell him he needs to decide by Thursday," said Vorgang. "To decide on a college is hard on a family minus the athletic factor. With the added pressure to accept a scholarship now, when you’re not sure — that’s a stressful situation."

"Some coaches are doing that in July," said Cathy Swezey, head coach at Vanderbilt. "‘If you don’t want [the scholarship] now, there’s no chance you’ll get it later.’ That’s an awful lot for a 16- or 17-year-old."

It is no longer uncommon for a college to complete its recruiting class during the summer, months before the NLI early signing period, leaving coaches with a somewhat more relaxed fall season.

"We benefitted by finishing early, but I’m not sure it’s a great thing," said Swezey. "I’m not going to turn away a kid that wants to come here, as long as there was no pressure on her to come here.

"We had one kid commit to us in July that thought I wasn’t interested in her because I wasn’t pressuring her. Those kind of situations happen — when it just feels right for the kid. But it’s concerning when a kid tells me, ‘I have a week to decide. Can you offer me money?’ You haven’t even been on my campus."

While interviewees for this story declined to identify college coaches that impose scholarship deadlines, virtually all acknowledged the practice.

"No coaches have pressured me yet, which is great. At some point they will, however," said Brett Weiss, a junior attackman at Boys’ Latin (Md.) School. "I really have to make a decision by sometime this summer... also because I know other players are considering the same schools I am."

Weiss refers to the second pressure ingredient — peer pressure. It is partly a by-product of the sport’s growth and partly a result of normal teenage communication and action.

"High school growth is happening quicker than college. More kids are pushing for spots in the same schools," said Crista Samaras, a U.S. team member and founder of the XTeam club program.

The sport’s grassroots growth hasn’t yet pushed up to the Division I level, leading to increased competition to play for the schools that can dangle the ultimate carrot — the likelihood of playing in the NCAA semifinals or championship game.

To get ahead of their peers in the race for a roster spot, high school players feel the need to be seen by premier college coaches early and often. Such a rationale — based on either logic or fear — has fueled the growth of lacrosse camps, club teams and off-season tournaments. Debate continues on the financial value of such enterprises, and their effects on the overall development of high school students.

"It’s important to play club lacrosse. I was worried about not getting enough exposure with just the high school team," said Lauren Fenlon, a junior defender at Good Counsel High School near the nation’s capital and a member of the Maryland and District of Columbia (M&D) club program.

Samples of club dues include $450 for M&D and $700 for XTeam, according to their respective Web sites. Player benefits include instruction and recruiting tips, and participation in tournaments (for additional fees) that draw college coaches. Weiss’ mother, Betsy, estimated spending about $400 each on camps like STX and Champ Camp, among others.

"I believe I got my money’s worth because of the number of coaches that were there from good schools," said Brett Weiss.

Tim Fenlon, Lauren’s father, is a former Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball coach. He noted lacrosse club prices were reasonable compared to their basketball counterparts, and that his daughter has built many friendships with M&D teammates.

There are certainly pros and cons to the increase in non-scholastic playing opportunities.

"Being good on your high school team doesn’t matter anymore," said Samaras. "But if you’re the best player on a CC Lax (Chesapeake Club) or a Skywalkers team, it’s clear you’re one of the best in the country."

"The peer pressure may be a result of the club level getting so big. At these summer tournaments if one girl has committed, it’s mayhem," said Swezey. "They’re worried about spots at a given school."

Such competition has fueled specialization — prospects stop playing other high school sports to play more lacrosse during the year. Virtually all college coaches that returned surveys to Lacrosse magazine opposed specialization and encouraged students to play at least one other scholastic sport for a number of benefits.

Lauren Fenlon, after consulting with her father, opted not to play for Good Counsel’s 2006 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference champion basketball team this year after playing the sport for years. Tim Fenlon said it was a tough decision and noted his daughter is very active in religious activities at her school and its chapter of the National Honor Society.

The get-better-so-I-can-get-seen notion, combined with the eventual goal of playing before big crowds on Memorial Day weekend (available only at a perceived select number of colleges), feeds the trend of prospects committing just because their peers do.

Central to the issue is the value of official visits to a college campus. Opinions vary.

The NCAA allows colleges to host prospects on an official visit beginning on the first day of classes of the senior year. Paid for by the college, a current team member hosts the prospect for a two-night stay. The prospect tours campus, attends classes, meets with coaches and other university staff and spends considerable time with team members in a variety of settings, including the all-important social scene.

"Official visits are very important," said Swezey. "They’re 48 hours with the team. They’re a much fuller experience than a Junior Day, which can be just a day and maybe a night."

"Official visits are an important step that is getting lost in this accelerated timeline," said Kerwick. "You’re going to be spending an awful lot of time with this group of people, and an official visit lets you determine if you fit with the school all-around. You get questions answered better on an official visit."

"The coaches were so professional — whether it was about showing a practice or meeting the team or philosophy — that we got the same message whether it was an official visit or an unofficial visit. We saw as much on an unofficial as we did on an official," said Sharon Armstrong, a lacrosse parent in the midst of helping her second child with recruiting.

Many colleges are inviting prospects and families to a Junior Day, which includes meet-and-greet sessions but is shorter than an official visit and comes at the family’s expense.

Brooke Kuhl-McClelland, head coach of the Mount Hebron (Md.) High School girls’ team and the M&D club, relayed the story of Megan Bosica, the 2004 and ‘05 Heather Leigh Albert Award winner as the top player at the US Lacrosse Women’s Division National Tournament. Perhaps the nation’s best player, Bosica took three official visits last fall before signing with North Carolina. While most colleges probably held a scholarship for a player of her caliber, she likely had opportunities to verbally commit early, but didn’t.

"She was able to make a distinct decision based on those official visits," said Kuhl-McClelland.

"A lot of girls didn’t take their visits at all — they just committed early, which I was shocked about. With a lot of classes ‘closing out,’ it sent a wave of panic throughout the country, like ‘What if my spot gets taken?’ or ‘Should I do it now?’" said Sarah Giedgowd, a senior at Conestoga (Pa.) High who signed with Duke after official visits there and to Stanford.

"It’s important to go on official visits to really get to know the team and the coaches. I would like to have that experience before choosing," said Fenlon.

Early recruiting appears here to stay. Coaches and parents offered suggestions to navigate the process. Kerwick and Samaras advocated honesty at all times. Kuhl-McClelland encouraged prospects to remove lacrosse as a factor and decide on overall happiness.

"Some families are going for the sport, but the university has to fit with the student. You’re going to be a student most of the time," said Armstrong.

"Whatever factors are important to students in deciding on a college, get all those questions answered before you commit," said Ricky Fried, head women’s coach at Georgetown. "Whatever the timetable, don’t decide until you get those answers."

-LM-