36 Reasons Why 33% of College Athletes Quit, Cut or Get Asked To Leave!

Francis - Extremely valid list from my point of view.  This list should be required reading for anybody considering college athletics because every situation is different.   These reasons are the same as when I played a college sport as when my son did 30 years later.  There is nothing I would change except possibly the order of each item on the list would apply to each individual.   The reasons a few college athletes left my college team versus why they left my son's college baseball program are very different...the situations were totally different but the 36 reasons still applies.   From my experiences, I can go down this list and a name or face pops into my head immediately.

It’s all a valid discussion. But I would present this in the form of what needs to be done to succeed rather than how to avoid failure. The person who wrote this has a glass half empty rather than a glass half full view of the world. I didn’t tell my kids what they had to avoid. I told them what they had to do.

I see one very large omission:

37. Many college coaches are not very good evaluators of talent.

Because of this they rely heavily on the evaluations of others (travel coaches, recruiting services, showcase organizations, etc.), who are not necessarily good evaluators either!

Many recruiting coordinators are very new to the coaching, for many it is their first opportunity in the coaching world. Many played the game but very fewer have coaching experience.

@ABSORBER posted:

I see one very large omission:

37. Many college coaches are not very good evaluators of talent.

Because of this they rely heavily on the evaluations of others (travel coaches, recruiting services, showcase organizations, etc.), who are not necessarily good evaluators either!

Many recruiting coordinators are very new to the coaching, for many it is their first opportunity in the coaching world. Many played the game but very fewer have coaching experience.

No disrespect but, WRONG! You don't stay a college coach very long if you are not a very good evaluator of talent. Most could care less about what a travel coach, recruiting service or showcase has to say. They only care about what their eyes see. In every case I know of, nothing happens until the HC sees the recruit.

I didn't read the list. IMHO and in no particular order the primary 3 are, performance or lack of, injury and academic. Everything else is an outlier.

All very valid reasons!  For HC/RC today, it is much easier to evaluate a player with the technology now being used even at the high school level.  Video and other software has made it where a player can't hide and with baseball number do not lie.  The only real issue where players and coaches make mistakes is the "early commitment".  IMO you can't get a proper evaluation for a 13-14 year old! A lot can change in 2-3 years before entering college as a player and a student.

Aren't college rosters also too large?

They play 4-5 games a week and have up to 35 guys on the roster.

Mlb teams play 6 games a week and have 25 men, I would guess about 22 guys would actually be ideal for a 4-5 games a week schedule but with 35 guys you really have 10-12 guys too many and those guys will quit at some point because there is not sufficient playing time for them.

Obviously you can say get better if you want to play but in the end there still will be guys looking in from the outside who get like 2 ABs a week or throw one inning when you are down by 7 runs and if those guys can't improve enough they might quit.

On a typical college team 18-20 players have impactful playing time.

I think most upper level college recruiters are pretty good at evaluating talent.  But if you are throwing all levels of college baseball into the mix then you might be right.  There are some young guys making $2500 a year at very small colleges that have no clue how to evaluate talent but they don't need to.  Those schools either don't give scholarships or they will take everyone who is willing to pay tuition.

If you move it to the top of each classification and especially D1 then you will find very few to no college recruiters who can't evaluate talent.

My #37 above was mostly tongue-in-cheek because everyone is very quick to place the blame on the players for not performing--when in reality they mostly perform as they always have--which just isn't good enough for that school's program.

So who's really to blame? The recruiter (and head coach) are the ones responsible for bringing them into that program. And the player for thinking he was good enough, but can you blame him? The RC and HC just validated his inflated opinion of his own skillset.

College is the next level of play. So talent is an issue. There are also other reasons players fail they don’t face in high school.

I remember one of the top rated players in the country going to college 1,000 miles from home and falling on his face. He transferred to another major conference team a couple hundred miles from home, flourished and went in the first five rounds in the draft.

Its not on the coach to know a kid’s mental makeup about being a long way from home for the first time. The kid had the ability.

@Dominik85 posted:

Mlb teams play 6 games a week and have 25 men, I would guess about 22 guys would actually be ideal for a 4-5 games a week schedule but with 35 guys you really have 10-12 guys too many and those guys will quit at some point because there is not sufficient playing time for them.

MLB teams have a 40 man roster. 15 in milb.

@ABSORBER posted:

My #37 above was mostly tongue-in-cheek because everyone is very quick to place the blame on the players for not performing--when in reality they mostly perform as they always have--which just isn't good enough for that school's program.

So who's really to blame? The recruiter (and head coach) are the ones responsible for bringing them into that program. And the player for thinking he was good enough, but can you blame him? The RC and HC just validated his inflated opinion of his own skillset.

Even though everyone is given a chance, coaches recruit players for different reasons and I believe it's not always for the right ones.   So I agree that coaches dont always make the best choices. That can happen.

Many players need time to become acclimated to the college game and routine.  My son was a top prospect out of HS, but he often had trouble adjusting. That happens too. Often. He was never a weekend starter until his junior season, but at that point he could start, relieve and close. 

Good coaches recruit players that they feel are good matches for their particular program. A player with P5 talent may not be a good match for a mid level D1 and vice versa.

Its especially harder for a position player than a pitcher to see playing time right away, very hard on catchers who see the guy in front of them being THE guy for a few years.  Lots of position players won't play another position. So they  do leave. You have to do your homework.

Most coaches at most programs will not bring a player in if he doesnt show ability of some sort for that level. But as Picked Off mentions, if you cannot bring in sufficient talent to win,  and work with that player at his position, you won't be a coach at that program or any other for that matter!

JMO

@Dominik85 posted:

Aren't college rosters also too large?

They play 4-5 games a week and have up to 35 guys on the roster.

Mlb teams play 6 games a week and have 25 men, I would guess about 22 guys would actually be ideal for a 4-5 games a week schedule but with 35 guys you really have 10-12 guys too many and those guys will quit at some point because there is not sufficient playing time for them.

Obviously you can say get better if you want to play but in the end there still will be guys looking in from the outside who get like 2 ABs a week or throw one inning when you are down by 7 runs and if those guys can't improve enough they might quit.

To add on to what TPM stated about 32 of those on the 40 man roster will likely get MLB playing time. There are injuries and failures. There are players on the way up who are finally ready. There are AAAA fill ins.. They’re marginal players or former MLBers hanging on.

When the Red Sox won in 2018 management said they couldn’t have done it without Brian Johnson and Hector Velasquez. They were the 6th and 7th starters who went up and down and in and out of the rotation. Between them they made 21 starts and did some middle relief. They pitched 184 innings going 11-7. More than anything they were innings eaters who kept them in the game. Both have since been released as they became free agent eligible and not seen as having a future in the organization.

Ironically, the Sox couldn’t see into the future and know Bobby Floatsam and Billy Jetsam were going to be in the rotation in 2020.

@TPM posted:

MLB teams have a 40 man roster. 15 in milb.

Yeah that makes sense, so the last 10-12 guys on a college roster are essentially the minor league reserve for injury or severe underperformance of a starter.

But at least the minor league guys are playing every day on a minor league roster and not just ride the pine, so for those back end roster players dropping out would be pretty natural as there simply is not enough playing time for all.

So if you are attending a college make sure you either are one of those top20 players or at least you have the potential to develope into one of those with training.

If you project to be one of those bottom 10 maybe it might not be worth going there.

Obviously there are cases were for example a pitcher adds 5 mph and becomes a starter and that is always possible with talent and hard work but you have to be realistic.

You have to keep in mind that very few HS players are really ready for the college game when they arrive.  There is a lot that goes into getting players ready for their first season and beyond within the time frame each week allowed by the NCAA. Practice should be almost everyday that there are no games with 1 day off as required by NCAA. Players have to be ready if they want to play.

I dont know why some coaches have up to 40+ on their roster going into this spring. It's not necessary. But many programs just restock and not rebuild. Do they just keep running guys out there and keep their fingers crossed?

Again, make sure that you do your homework!

Dominik, coaches do need reserves, especially since Covid will still be around, but rosters should be within reason.

Yeah that makes sense. The milb system is a big advantage in pro ball because the players still get regular playing time. Training helps but in the end ABs/batters faced are needed to stay sharp and in college that is hard to provide for the last 10 guys.

Mlb rosters are not carrying players that are not used, if you are not usable you are sent down because a mlb manager would rather use an extra relief pitcher who is usable over a Guy getting 3 ABs a Week.

But in college that is not feasible as there is no minor league team to keep the reserve sharp.

And don’t forget the travel roster shrinks to 27 who are available for road games. My son always made that roster but had friend/teammates who didn’t. That’s tough.

TPM, I think there are guys this spring that are keeping 40 plus with the fear that if Covid hits their team they will still have enough to compete at some level rather than have to forfeit.  They are worried that the baseball selection committee will not be as forgiving as the football committee was.  I believe there are also those with the mentality that if they give it to you then use it rather than send them on their way or redshirt them.  We will see how it works out but I think the number contributing, other than Covid hits, will be the same.  18-22 players will get almost all of the playing time.  I don't see coaches going out and buying more uniforms so the number dressing out will also be the same.  There will just be more guys hanging around and trying to stay in shape while getting very few reps in practice.

The list is/was too long, IMO. Still isn't a failure rate of only 33% pretty good considering batting .300 makes you HoF material :-?...  One perhaps interesting / overlooked point is that it doesn't seem anyone has noted looking in the mirror (as in overbearing or overexpectant parents) as a reason for quitting. Sure it's easy to blame the coach, the player, the opposite sex, injuries, etc. It's a huge f u for that fringe player who is quite happy being on the team, hanging with others that have the same interests, but decides he/she doesn't want to keep hearing it from the 'rents and quits (the parents in turn will probably blame the coach, the opposite sex, etc.).  I've had one child quit, one finish, and one get injured - would I look in the mirror and wonder what the real reason was for the 2 that didn't complete? My oldest noted reason #34 and my youngest was reason #23 & 24. I don't want to believe as parents we fit into the over the top category, but from the perspective of a young college student who knows.

@PitchingFan posted:

TPM, I think there are guys this spring that are keeping 40 plus with the fear that if Covid hits their team they will still have enough to compete at some level rather than have to forfeit.  They are worried that the baseball selection committee will not be as forgiving as the football committee was.  I believe there are also those with the mentality that if they give it to you then use it rather than send them on their way or redshirt them.  We will see how it works out but I think the number contributing, other than Covid hits, will be the same.  18-22 players will get almost all of the playing time.  I don't see coaches going out and buying more uniforms so the number dressing out will also be the same.  There will just be more guys hanging around and trying to stay in shape while getting very few reps in practice.

I agree with you about some keeping larger roster this year because of Covid and because they can. However, lost revenue is a huge factor for many schools, even for those from the richer conferences that not only lost athletic revenues but academic ones as well.

It is much easier to get there than it is to stay there. And it's not easy to get there. One of the biggest issues is going to the park for the vast majority of kids has always been fun. They are not used to working on their weakness but they enjoy enhancing their strengths. They are used to being the focal point of a team. They are not used to just being another jersey. They are used to competing to win but not used to competing to get on the field. They are needed for the team to succeed in HS but quickly find out if they can't get it done someone else will be called upon to do it.

I am in the RJ camp on this one. Yes there are numerous reasons why kids quit, get cut or are asked to leave. I would also like to see some discussion on how you give yourself a better opportunity not to be one of those players. And there are times when a move is definitely in the players best interest. Just as you should prepare your game for the next level, players should be prepared for the other aspects of college life as well.

The wisdom of Coach May.  I told my son that the biggest part of playing SEC  ball was you will have to compete with 8-9 other guys wearing the same uniform just to get on the field to compete against the other team.  One of his reasons for choosing SEC school was to play with the best against the best.  But it brings its own challenges.  He has never had to compete for a spot ever even while playing for some of the best teams in the nation.  Now he does and some are 5 years older than him.  He is definitely not the biggest, fastest, or strongest.  He lives off control and movement which makes it harder to see using the eye test.

When you talk about the unthought of things with college it is the little things like changing your eating habits.  He went in at 22% body fat even though he was not pudgy.  He changed eating habits which were terrible and has dropped 10% which is hard to do.  He has worked hard on lifting, which he never really did being a 3 sport high school athlete and playing baseball year round pretty much.  Some times it is also the people you choose to hang out with or refuse to hang out with.  There are so many things that play into a kid making it or being asked to leave to or leaving on their own.