JeffnNYC posted:I don't like it one bit. It sets a tone, says that connections and economics are more important than merit. I would steer my son away from any program where the coach has his own kid on the team.
A more interesting question, what does everyone think of coaches who recruit siblings several classes apart? While it doesn't raise the same red flag as the coach who pulls in his son, it does give me some pause for concern. Sticking with the B1G, Northwestern is a team that has a pair of brothers on it. And if there was some light at the end of Coach Allen's long tunnel last year (2017), it certainly seems to have blinkered out this year. That program is in shambles. Perhaps a place like Northwestern has even greater alumni politics to deal with in recruiting?
Last summer when our family was still new to how all this recruiting business works, the politics hit home after we were forced to sit through one of Brendan Sullivan's motivational talks at Headfirst. For those who don't know he founded that company after working on the business model while at Stanford as an undergrad. In his long-winded speech he joked that he was the 17th man on a 16-man Stanford pitching staff. He grew up in DC and described the way in which he got recruited by Stanford as having been pure luck, a friend of a coach he played for somehow had a connection to the Stanford coaching staff.
Skeptical of how this would have been possible, we subsequently did some searching on the guy and figured out that he's the son of one of the most prominent lawyers in Washington, DC, and from a very wealthy and politically well-connected family. His was an upbringing in the one percent, or very near to it. Now this is pure speculation on my part, but the way you get recruited to be the 17th man on a 16-man staff at Stanford is to have a very wealthy and connected father. I could be very mistaken about this, but Sullivan certainly doesn't offer this information up to all those middle class kids whose struggling parents have forked out a thousand dollars to him to give their kid a chance to meritocratically get one of those 35 spots on a college baseball roster.
To be fair, the guy did go on to have a nice minor league career, probably through a lot of hard work and determination, rather than through any kind of natural ability. And he also seems to be a genuinely nice guy in the mannered way that very well off people tend to be. I realize that every journey is unique, but it's worth telling all our sons that some journeys are a little more well-oiled than all the rest.
JeffnNYC I read your post above with interest. I sat through the same HF speech by Brendan Sullivan last year in NY and (probably naively!!) did not give it near as much skepticisim or research! I hoped my son took something from it but otherwise did not give it much additional thought.
The reason for my post is just to say once again how valuable of a resource HSBBweb can be - I appreciate thoughtful and well written posts and input like this. Not sure I agree with or share your skepticism entirely LOL, but it is worth keeping in mind that politics, wealth and connections can and do influence recruiting and counsel our sons accordingly. To me it's interesting to hear other people's perspectives that you may not have considered.