It seems to me that college athletics is a dream for just about all HS athletes. So, for them to get to play their favorite sport at a college is a dream come true, whether or not the college they end up going to is really that "dream school" they grew up with a particular image in mind.
Every D1 school is also "D1" in academics, correct? So if a kid doesn't have the grades, he's not likely going to be dreaming of D1 schools. I "dreamed" of going to Hawaii, Pepperdine, or BYU because I saw them on TV, but my grades got me into Juco and ended up transferring to a D1 school and played club baseball.
#1 Assistant Coach posted:Maybe on the PG player profiles page, in addition to the "Schools Interested In," there should also be a "Dream School," category with room for just (1) school to be posted?
Personally, I'd like to see this section deleted altogether. You can draw all sorts of "conclusions" and "mis-conclusions" based on what a teenager puts in response to these questions.
hsbaseball101 posted:Every D1 school is also "D1" in academics, correct? So if a kid doesn't have the grades, he's not likely going to be dreaming of D1 schools. I "dreamed" of going to Hawaii, Pepperdine, or BYU because I saw them on TV, but my grades got me into Juco and ended up transferring to a D1 school and played club baseball.
There are a lot of schools that are D1 in academics, and as we're looking through the list for our 2018, I have to say that some of them have lower standards for admission and reputations for academics than many D2s or D3s we also have looked at. I think my son would have a harder time getting into some of those D2s or D3s than he would getting into the D1 that he currently is in love with.
I certainly don't think anyone feels that this is a DI/PRO dominated site. To me every level of baseball is great.
We have compiled enough evidence over the years to say the vast majority of "Dream Schools" happen to be DI colleges. And the majority of those DI "Dream Schools" are among the top baseball programs in DI.
Truth is the dream school is not often the place where someone is going to be happy. In the end, happiness is the most important thing.
Most coaches do want good students. But the truth is coaches place much more importance on baseball than academics. Let's face it, they need to have their players eligible, but ask any baseball coach what his choice would be... Straight A student that can't help the baseball team or C student who is the star of the team? If they answer honestly, we get to know what they think is most important between academics and baseball. They don't recruit the very best students they can find, they recruit the best players they can find that are good enough students to get into their college and stay eligible. Of course, it's best when the best student also is the best baseball player.
Then again, maybe that is where I went wrong. I wanted our players to do well academically, but I really cared much more about how well they played baseball. Truth is, the better they played the more I would pay attention to how well they were doing in the classroom. Guess some would say I had things backwards.
If I wasn't a coach, I would have had those things in a different order. Or at least had them equally important. I think we all know how it should be, but if your hired to have a successful team do you look for the best students or the best players? Of course, there are many colleges that don't care how successful the team is and they insist on having the best students possible.
You know what... I don't think there is anything wrong with that. It just wouldn't be for me.
MTH posted:#1 Assistant Coach posted:Maybe on the PG player profiles page, in addition to the "Schools Interested In," there should also be a "Dream School," category with room for just (1) school to be posted?
Personally, I'd like to see this section deleted altogether. You can draw all sorts of "conclusions" and "mis-conclusions" based on what a teenager puts in response to these questions.
I told my son not to put anything at all in there. just didn't see the point and didn't want any conclusions drawn at all as to where he was interested or not interested.
pabaseballdad posted:MTH posted:#1 Assistant Coach posted:Maybe on the PG player profiles page, in addition to the "Schools Interested In," there should also be a "Dream School," category with room for just (1) school to be posted?
Personally, I'd like to see this section deleted altogether. You can draw all sorts of "conclusions" and "mis-conclusions" based on what a teenager puts in response to these questions.
I told my son not to put anything at all in there. just didn't see the point and didn't want any conclusions drawn at all as to where he was interested or not interested.
I listed conferences in that section.
pabaseballdad posted:MTH posted:#1 Assistant Coach posted:Maybe on the PG player profiles page, in addition to the "Schools Interested In," there should also be a "Dream School," category with room for just (1) school to be posted?
Personally, I'd like to see this section deleted altogether. You can draw all sorts of "conclusions" and "mis-conclusions" based on what a teenager puts in response to these questions.
I told my son not to put anything at all in there. just didn't see the point and didn't want any conclusions drawn at all as to where he was interested or not interested.
That's the smart way to do things. Keep all the cards to yourself. Don't announce anything until there is an announcement to be made and then, it still may be best to keep things to yourself without announcing anything 
ClevelandDad posted:pabaseballdad posted:MTH posted:#1 Assistant Coach posted:Maybe on the PG player profiles page, in addition to the "Schools Interested In," there should also be a "Dream School," category with room for just (1) school to be posted?
Personally, I'd like to see this section deleted altogether. You can draw all sorts of "conclusions" and "mis-conclusions" based on what a teenager puts in response to these questions.
I told my son not to put anything at all in there. just didn't see the point and didn't want any conclusions drawn at all as to where he was interested or not interested.
That's the smart way to do things. Keep all the cards to yourself. Don't announce anything until there is an announcement to be made and then, it still may be best to keep things to yourself without announcing anything
Poorly worded on my part, the "Dream School" option on a profile was meant to be "tongue in cheek" rhetoric. My remark was within minutes of the OP and given who was posting it (PG Staff) was meant in jest, and not to be taken seriously.
A "Dream School" option would be ridiculous, I'll be the first to admit. Again, was posted in jest.
Mentioning the colleges a player is most interested in can be beneficial in some cases. We know of some schools that sort all those that mention them and follow up on those players. Especially if they like what they see in the player profile.
In most other cases, recruiters don't really care what a player puts down as the colleges he is most interested in. They know that players are most likely going to be interested in them when they contact them. They don't eliminate them just because the player didn't mention them.
So in the end I don't think it matters all that much if that is left blank or filled out. People should do what they think is best.
I was told that one of the local D1's HC was quoting as saying something along the lines of. it is a 55k plus school.
I like good grades, rich kids and poor kids. Grades make life easier, rich kids money is not an issue and poor kids money is easier to get...then they can become the dream school!! Middle class is much more complicated.
old_school posted:I was told that one of the local D1's HC was quoting as saying something along the lines of. it is a 55k plus school.
I like good grades, rich kids and poor kids. Grades make life easier, rich kids money is not an issue and poor kids money is easier to get...then they can become the dream school!! Middle class is much more complicated.
Don't know who said it but it's absolutely true.
TPM posted:old_school posted:I was told that one of the local D1's HC was quoting as saying something along the lines of. it is a 55k plus school.
I like good grades, rich kids and poor kids. Grades make life easier, rich kids money is not an issue and poor kids money is easier to get...then they can become the dream school!! Middle class is much more complicated.
Don't know who said it but it's absolutely true.
Jerry Tarkanian - I like transfers. Someone else already paid for their car.
RJM posted:TPM posted:old_school posted:I was told that one of the local D1's HC was quoting as saying something along the lines of. it is a 55k plus school.
I like good grades, rich kids and poor kids. Grades make life easier, rich kids money is not an issue and poor kids money is easier to get...then they can become the dream school!! Middle class is much more complicated.
Don't know who said it but it's absolutely true.
Jerry Tarkanian - I like transfers. Someone else already paid for their car.
Now that thar was funny. One of the true godfathers of running paid pro teams that happened to be affiliated with colleges and played college schedules.
Interesting topic! I haven't been here for a few months, but checking back in to see topics like this remind me exactly why I spent so much time here for the better part of 10 years.
My son was lucky enough to play ball at what was quite literally his dream school. As a youngster he fell in love with Duke, partly to irritate his mom, who was a Tarheel. In the seventh grade he wrote an email to the then Duke coach telling him he wanted to play for him.
Snap forward to the later high school years, the dream of Duke was almost forgotten. He had many other schools he would have been happy to attend and play for - and that list included Ivys, D3s, a few mid-majors and some major conference D1s. The simple fact is, we did not know whether he was D1 material. So he cast a pretty wide net with the goal of combining the best possible baseball with the best possible academics. He would have been pleased with anything from Trinity or Haverford to Santa Clara to Stanford. We just didn't know how the various levels of colleges would perceive him - all we knew is that he was not a blue chip recruit.
Then, later in the evening on July 1, he gets a call from Duke. That was the first contact - they saw him at the Stanford camp but since they were not there in an official capacity they were not allowed to approach him there.
So, full circle it went - his "dream" school as a 7th grader became a reality. Funny how life works.