Scholarship Offer on Campus Visit

Coach -

Thank you for everything you do for those of us who are trying to navigate the recruiting maze with our daughters.  Your website and book are great.

I'll try to keep this pretty short and to the point.  Generally speaking, does a PSA need to set foot on campus (i.e., unofficial visit, camp, etc.) to get a scholarship offer?  It seems that coaches like to make offers in person.

You've been perfectly clear over the years about your opinion on the role of camps in the recruiting process.  And also about how unofficial visits have become the new official visits.  Once those invitations start rolling in some families realize that they simply don't have the resources to visit the campus of every school where there is mutual interest.  I think most families would want to visit before making a final decision between schools that have offered, but that's very different than visiting in the hope that an offer might follow.  Do coaches ever make offers over the phone?

Thank you.

R.P.

It does seem as if the offer of a scholarship is made on a campus visit, as opposed to over the phone.  Usually the college coach has a rather good idea about a player's personality, and a complete evaluation of the player's skill sets; the campus visit is just  the opportunity for one last 'get to know you' before extending the scholarship offer.

There may be situations where a scholarship is not offered during a visit, because the college coach may have multiple visits in a short amount of time, and is determining which player will be offered - In these situations, the scholarship offer will come over the phone.

While there may be the spectre of a scholarship offer hanging over a PSA/family during a visit, the PSA/family must focus on evaluating the college program and school.  If an offer is made, then that is just the icing, but the motivation for the trip should be to determine if this could be a PSA's home the next few years.

Because the unofficial visit expenses must be borne by the family, they must be selective about what schools they visit - Selective in not only making sure that the school is a good fit academically/athletically/socially, but also that the program has that player as one of their top 2 recruits.  Too often, a college coach/program will accept players coming to visit, knowing that they are the bottom of the recruiting potential offer list - They won't tell their #4 recruit to not visit, because if they are over reaching with recruits #1-2, they may need #4 to commit later in the process.  But, it is realistic they will actually get to the point of offering #4?  That is not a given and the family has now used precious time/money to make that visit.

Coach

Volleyball Practice during College campus visi

Questions about practicing while visiting a college campus:

A few questions for you: On an unofficial visit, may a PSA participate in an organized practice (like during spring season, not the regular collegiate season)? Does this rule differ by D1, D2, D3, NAIA, etc? As a followup, what if it’s not a formal practice, but rather a group of players from the team in a pick up game w/o the coaching staff? Would your answer change if it was an Official Visit (probably not since it's just a matter of who's paying for the visit). Thanks in advance for your help! Regards, Dave.

These are some great questions about what a Prospective Student-Athlete may or may not do while visiting a college campus.

For Division I Volleyball a PSA on an Official or Unofficial Visit may not participate in an organized training session with a coach in attendance or observing (sometimes coaches like to just look in the window, but that is not allowed). There is no distinction between the Traditional or Non Traditional (spring) season. A PSA may engage in unorganized or 'pick-up' play with college players provided that a coach is not observing or attending. These 'pick-up' play sessions tend to be much more common in men's and women's basketball, because these college athletes are more or less mandated to be training/playing every day of the school year and almost all summer.

For Division II Volleyball, a PSA may participate in an organized training session provided that they present a physical examination, dated within the last six months to the college coach or trainer. This means that the PSA can jump in with the group of four training or the full team training, depending on the time of year. It does not matter if it is the Traditional or Non-Traditional season. This is a nice opportunity that DII coaches have to directly compare the talent level of a PSA to the current members of the team, along with allowing for some volleyball interaction between recruit and players. It also allows the PSA to get a feel for what it would be like to practice/play for a certain coach or program.

It is my understanding that Junior College and NAIA also allow such PSA training situations, but I am not sure of any needed paperwork. I am not too clear on the Division III rules, but I would lean toward these opportunities being allowed as part of a campus visit - but, please do not hold me to this rule; rather visit the NCAA website and look up on the rule under the Division III page.

By and large, the NCAA rules generally apply the same for an Official Visit and an Unofficial Visit. The biggest immediate difference is who pays for dinner (and hotel, and flight, and lunch, etc.). Another important difference is that the coaching staff may not travel off-campus to show you the community (they can travel off campus to show you a training or competition site) or to eat, even if the PSA pays for their own meal. Except for a couple of small things, all the other functions are the same and I believe this is one of the reasons that the Unofficial Visit is now the dominant on campus experience for a PSA and her family. The Official Visit is just a follow-up trip during the PSA's Senior year to hang out on campus with her new team (the exception being those programs that happen to be recruiting Seniors because of a late opening).

This was a great set of questions and hope the answer makes the practice opportunities during an Official or Unofficial visit a bit more clear!

Where is my future College Volleyball Coach?

With the Holidays Season gearing up, the Recruiting Season gears down! Division I Volleyball is currently in a Quiet Period and is just a few days from starting a lengthy Dead Period. Remember that everything is to be found at www.ncaa.org.

Quickly:

Quiet Period - No off-campus contact with a Prospective Student-Athlete (PSA). This means no scouting players at club volleyball practices or watching early season tournaments. PSA's are allowed to take visits (Unofficial or Official depending upon thier year in school), but the coach cannot leave campus at anytime to see you.

Dead Period - Just like it sounds, nothing is allowed. No off campus recruiting, no on campus contact - absolutely nothing!


For Division I Women's Volleyball, the specific periods and dates are listed below:

December 3-11 Quiet Period.

December 12-31 Dead Period.

January 1-18 Quiet Period (except in states that play high school winter volleyball).

The complete 2007-08 Division I Women's Volleyball Recruiting Calendar is here.


What does this mean for PSA's and families? Well it is actually a good thing, even though those coaches that have been e-mailing you for so long and telling you how great you are/they are/the program is/the school is/the weather is, are not waiting at your court now that the college volleyball season is finished.

Why good? Good because you can just relax and focus on preparing to have a great club volleyball season. Good because your parents don't have a potential future for their daughter standing 10 feet from them.

If you are an unsigned Senior or a Junior, use this 'unscouted' time frame to adequately prepare for the Recruiting Season. You hopefully took some time off from the end of the high school season to let your body rest and recharge your mental batteries. With the start of club training, you could have a solid 6 weeks of practice before Division I coaches come see you play. College coaches are either seeing you for the first time or they are evaluating the development of your skills from when they watched you as a Sophomore. Remember that old saying about first impressions - make a great one by using the Quiet/Dead Periods to prepare!

As per my earlier posts, if you are in your Junior or Senior year of high school, the Quiet periods will allow you to go on a few Unofficial or Official (if you are a senior) Visits and interact with the coaching staff and players. I strongly suggest you use this time period, especially as a Junior, to get a feel for potential schools. With the accelerated recruiting process of today, the more that you can do early to simplify your decision process the better it will be for everyone. For instance, if you think a small campus may be for you, then take a visit to a smaller school that has e-mailed you. You love chemistry, then take a visit to that volleyball program which also has a great chemistry department.

There is no NCAA rule that forbids you from visiting a Division I school during the Dead Period, you just can't have any contact with the volleyball staff. Don't hesitate to arrange a visit via the Admissions Office at any school - that is their job! Come January 19th and you have been able to focus your recruiting parameters and possibly develop a top list (based on visits, not solely recruiting information), you will be ahead of the curve!


Now Division II is a completely different animal, per the NCAA Division II Manual:

30.11.4 Dead Periods for Other Sports. There are no specified contact and evaluation periods in sports
other than football and basketball except for the following dead periods.

30.11.4.1 National Letter of Intent Signing Date. The period 48 hours before 7 a.m. on the date for
signing the National Letter of Intent in the applicable sport.

The only restrictions that Division II coaches face is the National Letter of Intent Signing Date (Early and Late) - which is the same Dead Period for Division I coaches. So this means that the college volleyball coach you see at an early tournament is not a Division I coach - he/she will be Division II, Junior College or NAIA. I know a few non-Division I coaches that love the Recruiting Calendar, because it allows them the opportunity to scout players without the drama that often attends the early tournaments. Plus, there are more seats at the courts!

If you are a Freshman or Sophomore - don't worry about any of this, just play ball and have fun!

You old kids, make some visits and train hard during the Quiet/Dead Periods, then have a great club season once all those big time coaches in their embroidered polo shirts invade the gym!

Maximize your Official Visit

The Official Visit has lost some of its importance in the recruiting process for Division I Volleyball recruits and programs, particularly in the upper Division I ranks. If you, the Prospective Student Athlete (PSA) have already made a verbal commitment before an Official Visit, then your trip should be much more relaxed and low key.

On the other hand, if you have not made a verbal commitment to any school and are using Official Visits as the means to make the determination of where you will spend the next 4 to 5 years, you must maximize your visit. Per NCAA rules you are only allowed to take 1 Official Visit per school and you can only accept a total of 5 Official Visits all schools.

Here are some suggestions, born of the experience of going through Official Visits as a PSA and hosting a significant number of Official Visits as a head coach.

1. Have your parent(s) accompany you on the visit - they will see things that you may miss with regards to facilities, classes, campus safety, etc. Per NCAA rules, the host school cannot pay for the transportation of your parents (unless the family drives together), but once your folks are there, the school is allowed to cover everything for them.

2. Ask to stay with a member of the team in a Freshman Residence Hall. That super nice dorm room the program showed you, could be just for Juniors and Seniors. You need to know exactly the type of room you will be staying in the next two years.

3. When you go out to eat, make sure you eat WHATEVER looks good to you! Don't be shy - the program has a specific recruiting budget and that budget is allocated to try and convince you to attend their school. Also, have at least a lunch or dinner in the school cafeteria; this is the only way to see the quality of the meals and how many healthy eating options are available.

4. While it may be fun to see a match, it is more important to see a practice (not a pre-game serve and pass, but a normal practice). A volleyball practice will show you just how that program operates. Is the coach positive or negative in a training environment, how much technical instruction is presented, are the drills play oriented or repetition oriented, do the players work hard with a good attitude or are they just going through the motions - these are all things that a match will not illustrate completely.

5. Schedule an academic meeting with the person who is in charge of academics for the Athletic Department. If you are fortunate enough to know what you want to study, make sure that this discipline is available and have the staff member lay-out the process for you to graduate with that degree. Should you have a general idea or two about what possible degree excites you, make sure that school has those academic majors available. I know of too many transfer situations where the PSA choose the school for athletic reasons and not academic reasons.

6. Research the next year's roster and ask specific questions about where you fit in. If you are an outside hitter and the team has three starting sophomores who are also outside hitters, the reality is you may not seeing a lot of playing time as a freshman. Conversely, if the team is currently laden with senior outside hitters, are you going to be expected to be an impact player your freshman year?

7. Ask about Team Policies - While the Athletic Department may have certain guidelines about player-team conduct, each program is usually left to determine their own conduct rules. What is the alcohol policy? Are there food-diet restrictions? Is there a dress code for home or away matches? Are the players supposed to live together? Are players allowed to live off campus? Ask these questions now, because you will be living with the answers for a number of years.

8. Attend a non-volleyball event. Get a feel for the general student body by seeing something other than volleyball. There is much more to college than just volleyball.

9. Find out about summer school and 5th year funding. Each school determines how it handles these two topics and unfortunately, the answers vary by sport. You must find out this information because it will have a big impact upon your summer plans and the financial obligation beyond the offered scholarship.

10. Spend as much time as possible with the younger players on the team. These are the people you will be interacting with on a very personal level for the next few years. By watching a training session and asking specific questions during your meetings, you can get a good feel for the 'adults' at the school. If you like the players that you spend time with, then you are already on your way to having a good college experience. If the Official Visit does not allow you to spend quality time with the younger players, this should be a concern.

The Official Visit lasts for 48 hours - you can be physically on the campus for that long. Maximize your two days by applying some or all of the ten items listed above!!!