Some coaches came to my kids meets in the fall and were nice and all but some things suprised me and the hs coach. Some of them casually asked our coach what we did and our careers. My thinking is, they want to know we have the ability to pay more than some other family and maybe offer less even if we have better grades, times or future development. Thus saving scholarship % for other kids. Coaches, your thoughts.
We landed on the moon!
You are correct.
Scholarship alotment is an imporant skill in "equivalency sports" such as track and field. I liken it to salary-cap management for an NFL general manager.
Recruiting talented athletes is important and training them properly is important. But finding ways to stretch the scholarship is equally important in developing a team.
Fair and equal aren't always the same thing.
The question is, "can I afford this kid?"
Do they need a full? Are they fast enough for a full?
Is the family willing to pay some? How much?
Does the family qualify for a Pell Grant?
Will the student receive academic aid?
So for example a girl who runs 5:10 1600m is someone I want, but not worth a full scholarship. Knowing what the parent(s) do for a living will give me insight into if they have the ability/desire to pay. Or if they will qualify for federal need based aid.
I want the 5:10 kid, but not at all costs. If they are very smart, or very poor they may get enough "other aid" that the addition of the athletics piece might cover everything.
If there is a 2 parent family with good jobs who have been planning to pay for college, then perhaps the small athletic aid will make them a recruitable prospect.
Of course there are many many other variables, but we are always looking for the most information to make the best decisions for the program.
It should be noted, if MONEY is the driving factor in the families motivation, there are plenty of schools with money to spend. The worse the school and the conference the easier it is to get more money.
.............................. wrote:
You are correct.
Scholarship alotment is an imporant skill in "equivalency sports" such as track and field. I liken it to salary-cap management for an NFL general manager.
Recruiting talented athletes is important and training them properly is important. But finding ways to stretch the scholarship is equally important in developing a team.
Fair and equal aren't always the same thing.
The question is, "can I afford this kid?"
Do they need a full? Are they fast enough for a full?
Is the family willing to pay some? How much?
Does the family qualify for a Pell Grant?
Will the student receive academic aid?
So for example a girl who runs 5:10 1600m is someone I want, but not worth a full scholarship. Knowing what the parent(s) do for a living will give me insight into if they have the ability/desire to pay. Or if they will qualify for federal need based aid.
I want the 5:10 kid, but not at all costs. If they are very smart, or very poor they may get enough "other aid" that the addition of the athletics piece might cover everything.
If there is a 2 parent family with good jobs who have been planning to pay for college, then perhaps the small athletic aid will make them a recruitable prospect.
Of course there are many many other variables, but we are always looking for the most information to make the best decisions for the program.
The other issue is how much money do I have left?
If a family is going to need a lot of $$, and I only have $3,000 left, then there's not much reason to continue.
Or the coach could just be trying to get a feel for the family situation and be able to make conversation with the parents. Maybe a career of one of them is something the coach has a degree.
Coaches not only recruit the kid; they recruit the parents--especially the mom.
don't be offended. they don't like having to worry bout it, but it's part of the job.
Oh, I am not Offended I was surprised though. Every coach we met was very nice. You can get a really jaded view of recruiting if all you see is what goes on in football and basketball.
the BS thing most schools do is take take the exact amount of scholarship $ out of the kids financial aid package...makes the scholarship absolutely worthless