D-3 recruiting timeline

Jayhook,

Do a search in this forum on D3, DIII, and some variations and you will find all kinds of information regarding this subject. Also go to the “ask about colleges” forum and do the same search as there is some stuff there also.

There is a wide range of DIII programs and just like D1’s - there is not set standard, however I found the following. My son was a high academic borderline two way D1 player so my perspective is based on this. He wanted to take a difficult major that had lots of labs so this also influenced his decision.
He found that he could get more academic money than athletic. This money was guaranteed over 4 years and the athletic was not.
He also found it difficult to find a D1 program that would accommodate his major and for him to have any realistic chance of playing. (Ivy baseball, Stanford, and a handful of other were exceptions) As a follow up he is a sophomore and this Christmas break he told me that there is no way he could do what he is doing academically and play competitive D1 ball.

“Roster spots” are generally easier to secure in D3 ball over D1 since they do not have the roster limits that D1’s have. Playing time is just like D1 ball, you have to earn it based on performance. Do not underestimate the competition at the top programs. Playing time is hard fought and at my son’s program only two freshmen played any significant innings. (They are consistently nationally ranked in the top 10)
Top 25 D3 program recruit nationally in a very similar manner to D1 programs. You do not sign NLI’s but they act in a similar manner. They tend to recruit 3-6 months later than D1’s as they generally wait to see who has signed NLI’s in November and then go after these players. My son did not sign until the May 1st cutoff date and he was in discussion with a number of D1’s and the D3 he ended up at.

I am of the opinion now that many D3’s use athletics to get students into their schools and in my son’s case they had plenty of academic money even at the deadline.

Hope this helps.

Good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by jayhook:
Hope folks can speak from experience on the timeline for most D-3 programs and a few other topics. Recognizing there is no letter to sign, when do they get commitments from players? Are they at that stage or is it still early? Is the normal protocol, rather than athletic scholarship money, to promise a roster spot? Personal experience is finding more academic money available than might get in athletic aid from D-1 or D-2 - is this normal?

Son is just heading into his first season with a D3 team this spring. So let me recount our experience regarding D3 baseball.

First of all, there is a wide variety of approaches in terms of interaction with potential players. So the same advice applies in D3, if not moreso, as it would for other Ds. Figure out what kind of school and location you will thrive in, make a list of these, visit them, contact the coaches, find out where they will be, get in front of them, let them know you are interested.

"Recruiting" varies greatly by the school. We had some who were actively 'following' my guy, attending several of his showcases and games, invites to the camps, and overnights. But the place he ended up choosing was based entirely on the school and its environment (City). He then met with the coach, and the coach saw him in action and indicated "we'd like you to play with us".

Regardless of being recruited or not, you will also find that for most D3s you will not really know you are on the team until after the fall workouts when the coach sees what he has to work with and matches that to the team needs.

No athletic scholarships at this level, but again depending on the coach and the school there are varying levels of influence from the coach on the admissions office. Likewise the admissions office may look at a ball player as having an edge over a non involved applicant as the athlete is more likely to stick around, and further to remain a fund provider for the institution post graduation.

So in terms of timelines, you should be doing the dance of review and exposure particularly in the rising senior summer, whittling down your list of schools where there seems to be mutual interest, applying for the earlier decision deadline, getting your FAFSA in promptly, and then digesting the net cost of attendance versus all the other variables.

There are really no locked roster positions. Just honorable coaches and coaches worried about getting enough people to the fall work outs.

So the applicants 'commitment' point is similar: nothing hard and fast other than accepting the school's admission offer. Informal 'honorable' commitments on the part of the applicant to the coach is part of the dance, but most D3s will be waiting to see who arrives at the workouts to plot their plans.

As to money, I'm sure Admissions looks at Athletic Scholarship offers at D2s (where the school might actually have baseball money, not all do) and D1s. They will look at the FAFSA total need and evaluate all sources of payment. The same analogy may be made of known outside scholarships. If the school knows about them, they will also weigh in the balance of overall awards.

At D3s, all they have to look at is financial need (FAFSA) and Academic grant availability to offset the financial need.


Good luck, and if you are a 2013 and have not already, get those applications and financial documents in!

jayhook,

You're not going to get any better advice than what these two gentlemen just posted!

Good luck.

Helpful info, so thanks to all. BOF, I searched the archives before posting for insight today. Worthwhile effort provided nice background, but while someone's perspective from 6 years ago can be helpful it's much more beneficial to hear from folks who went through the process last year or are currently in the midst. Same goes for inquiries about specific college programs. Good bit of it is dated. Times change, head or assistant coaches move on, kids have different experiences, etc.

Great stuff Redsoxfan.

I would only add that at least in my son's program the know exactly who is coming in and at least wanted a "verbal commitment" from my son. I do know that they tell kids to NOT come to the school if they think they can not contribute. They have a list they are working and following and go to all of the events that the D1 schools go to for players.

You have gotten some very good advice so far.

The process at the D3 schools is similar to D1 in every respect except that the "currency" in D1 recruiting is scholarship money while the currency in D3 recruiting is "supported" admission. As schools rise in academic competitiveness the value of admissions support rises. The higher the value of admission support the earlier the coach is going to look for a verbal commitment. This is all very similar to the way D1s look at scholarship money.

The most spirited time for recruiting in the D3 world is from early-August to November 1. Many top D3 programs like to know where the recruit stands with D1 money before they spend their own currency, so thats where early-August comes in. THE RECRUIT HAS THE MOST LEVERAGE IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER WHEN THE COACH WANTS TO FILL OUT HIS COMMITMENT TIPS AND GET THEM PASSED THROUGH ADMISSIONS. On November 1, D3 coaches find out who has applied ED so they turn their focus to getting "their guys" through admissions. Another round of recruiting starts December 15 (when ED acceptances go out) and lasts until May 1 (when deposits are due) but this is usually less spirited as coaches are trying to fill in the holes created during the earlier part of the process.

Just like every aspect of college sports (and life in general) coaches are motivated by self interest which may or may not benefit your son. However, a healthy knowledge of the recruiting process, and your own son's value, will give you the opportunity to use the system to your own advantage. Baseball will get your son admitted to the school that best fits his academic and athletic goals. It worked great in our house and we had fun playing the game.

Just to clarify, so people don't think I'm talking about money, "admission support" means the D3 coach shepherds the players transcript and application through the admissions process. The coaches currency is his ability to get this done.

lefty,
I am sure you are speaking from experience so there is little doubt D3 programs recruit as you have posted.
However, there are plenty of D3 programs, especially at the top, who don't begin the major recruiting efforts until after the November NLI period. Some of these programs, for instance, will use the Stanford Camp as a major aspect for evaluation and recruiting. They see players with the academics for admission and plenty of top talent. The reason these programs wait until the end of November to really begin recruiting is they identify players likely to be recruited by DI's but who fall through the cracks and a top academic/baseball D3 can then become a highly viable option. For these, very little of their actual recruiting, as opposed to talent evaluation, occurs before November. A lot of these players who get recruited between December to May are from Fla, CA. and TX where there are far more DI players than DI openings, but the D3 coaches won't know who to recruit until the NLI period in November has been completed.

My experience, at the higher end of the academic spectrum, tells me that after the ED1 November 1st deadline the coaches at these schools lose a lot of horsepower with admissions. They might be able to fill in a crisis spot (catcher, LHP, etc) but in general the ADcoms have burned their athletic spots for the ED deadline. The pressure is on the coaches to bring admissions his "tips" for the ED process. After that, the player is in the big pond with the rest of the fishes.

I was just suggesting it might be very different in other parts of the Country, than the Northeast for instance. It probably can also vary with the schools within regions. If a coach uses camps like the one at Stanford, he is going to see top talent in the classroom and on the field. Whether they all get admitted come May might be a different issue and the approach also ends up with a number of those recruits getting picked up at DI's in the Spring.
When our son was the recruiting coordinator at a top baseball/academic D3, he set up a weekend in late January for all the top recruits to visit. They ended up with a recruiting class which played a large part in the team being ranked #1 for several weeks in 2012.
Very different than your experience but both can work well in D3 baseball when combining vibrant academics and top baseball.

I found that Leftyshortstop's observation was exactly how it worked for the Ivy's...which of course are D1's so their timelines are 3 months earlier than most D3's. The D3's that my son was talking to all had huge endowments for the size of the schools, so they were looking for students right up to the end and they all had a lot of money.

I will say that in my son's case academically he was a slam dunk for all schools other than Ivy's so my perspective is probably skewed.

After going through it and watching what happens at some D3's, I get the impression that (for those with big endownments) they use sports as a way to help attract students into their schools. I did a back of the napkin check and I think that 10-15% of all students at my son's school are playing some sort of NCAA sanctioned sport.

My son was contacted by his future D3 coach mid-summer before his senior year. My son had not made contact with the coach before. We believe the coach knew of my son from local references. The coach invited my son to attend an on campus camp in September. When my son accepted, the coach also arranged an overnight visit for that weekend. My son s scheduled an admissions interview.

My son did well at the camp. The coach asked my son to meet with him the following day, before my sons admissions interview. After the meeting the coach escorted my son to his admissions interview.

My son was told that if my son went ED, the coach would guarantee my son a roster spot his freshman year.

It was clear that the admissions office and coach were in contact about my son. At least once when Admissions emailed my son, the coach was copied.

My son was admitted quite quickly, and received what we considered to be a generous merit scholarship. Since being admitted, the coach has continued to write and call my son. Upon my sons request, the coach sent him the winter workout materials.

That summarizes my son's experience with the college he selected (and which selected him). The beginning of the journey,

Good luck.

My son will also be playing his first Spring in D3. The school he ended up going to had contacted him in the Fall of his Senior year and invited him to campus. This coach was calling my son almost weekly up to the day he made a decision. We had decided that my son would "commit" prior to his last HS season since he didn't need the additional distraction of recruiting. The commitment from the coach was also a verbal that he had a spot on the Spring team. As mentioned before on this board, playing time is earned.

My son had interest from some other schools. One pushed him to apply ED. In this way, the coach knows who he can get through admissions and it is a "commitment" if the student is accepted. Another wanted to see him throw in the Spring and this was after seeing him throw 100+ pitches in a game in the Fall against a team loaded with D1 recruits.

Just like D1, my son went on campus visits (just not paid for), talked with coaches, and stayed overnight at a couple of schools. I would only say that the difference is the D3 schools started contacting him late in the Fall of his Senior year where the D1 school that had been following him started contacting him in the Spring of his Junior year with an invitation to campus and was actively watching him throughout the Summer. So, a slightly later timeline but not too much later.