BBall Dad2001 posted:Thanks for the reply. They offered him a guaranteed roster spot. We were very late in the recruiting game and had a bunch of NAIA and JUCO colleges in Arizona giving him both athletic and academic money but his dream was to play D1. He verbally committed a couple of weeks ago and was curious as to if we made the right choice or should he with go back to schools with better offers or wait and see how his senior season goes. I believe he will compete for playing and has a good shot at playing D1. The coach said that he knows he can hit and play 1B, to have a better shot at earning a spot in the lineup he should learn the OF. He has been doing a great job in fall ball learning the OF. Thanks again for your reply.
As others have said, the coach has nothing to do with Academic money....your son gets what he's qualified for...same as any other student. The coach can't "find" extra academic money. You can go to the schools website and find the academic money. See if it matches up with what the coach told you. If not, I'd be sure to verify before your son enrolls.
Here's what I've seen in my son's 3+ years at a D1. Not trying to make this sound harsh, but I'm willing to be a lot of others will agree with me.....so here goes
1) guaranteed roster spot means you're son will be on the team....nothing more. No playing time, no nothing.
2) walk-ons, even with guaranteed roster spots rarely stick around more than 1 or 2 years...sometimes not even that long
3) if your son is a HS 1B and that's where the coach sees him, the likelihood of "learning to play the OF" in D1 is very, very slim. Heck, stud high school SS come in and sometimes can't "learn" to play the OF. It's tough....I don't know your son, but it just seems highly that a 1B would transition to an OF
Lastly....don't take anything I said as a reason to not take a shot at it. My son wanted to play D1...and he would have done the same thing if he hadn't been offered baseball money if it was his only option. 3+ years in, he's happy and it's worked out well.....but I can tell you a lot of his friends from HS & travel ball who were "fringe" D1 guys who went D1 despite having other options haven't had the same luck. I know at least a dozen, some walk on, some scholly who just didn't make it....and a couple of them were highly recruited, but just weren't the right fit for D1 for multiple reasons.
I can tell you as the parent of a kid that played everyday growing up (SS and pitcher) that he wouldn't be happy being the 33rd guy on a team...and never having hope of seeing the field. We made sure he knew that going in. He wanted to play. You just REALLY need to make sure your son is prepared to work hard in practice every day.....and MAYBE not see an AB or the field all year.....as that's essentially what he has been offered. Can it end up different.....sure.....but it's going to take a phenomenal amount of work on his part to make it happen.