My son is just starting his college search and I told him to look at everything D1-D3. Do coaches in the east find it hard to recruit kids from the northwest? The rosters at the few D3 schools I have looked at seem to be all east coast kids..
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mik,
I applaud you for starting to research this now. It is really, really tough to generalize with D3s. I think you'll find quite a few West coasters on D1 rosters because they recruit nationally. With D1 public (state) schools you'll see an abundance of players from that state (naturally). D1 private schools have more options with their rosters. Very few D3s recruit nationally either due to academics, athletics or both. My son's team and conference (D1 East Coast) had about 50-66% of their players west of the Mississippi river depending on the year. As you research this more and more, you'll realize how all of this works. The best thing to do IMHO is figure out what it is your son wants (major, city or suburb, big school, small school, etc...) then figure out where these schools are. As you get farther and farther down the recruiting path you'll gravitate toward where your son fits.
In terms of raw numbers there are vastly more D3 schools on the East coast. There have been a number of West coast posters over the years that complained about that and came to that conclusion.
Good luck.
As usual Fenway has it covered, but I think one common thread when it comes to distance and colleges (student athlete or not) is the finances. Most colleges don't have the budget to recruit 2-3,000 miles away, so the onus is on the recruit to travel which is expensive. Most of the east coast schools with players from the west coast are expensive and often very academically selective. Look at the Ivy League, the Patriot League, the NESCAC. Quite a few west coast kids on those rosters.
Also, take a look at the College Commitments page on perfectgame.org. You can filter by state. I don't see many WA kids listed with east coast schools in the recent past, except for the elite baseball schools (kids at that level can go pretty much wherever they want).
That doesn't mean east coast schools don't want west coast kids, they just don't get to see them enough.
If your son is interested in eastern academic colleges look into showcasing in Head First on Long Island.
Headfirst also does a showcase in Sacramento. Lots of eastern colleges attend. The other west coast events that people talk about very positively are the Stanford Camps. Again, many high academic eastern schools attend. If you do a search here you'll find lots of info.
mik,
if your son is a very good student and has solid baseball ability and will consider D3, he should expand horizons because he could have incredible opportunities. In the Midwest, he could consider Washington U in St. Louis(a very popular school for graduating seniors in Northern Ca.) Case Western and others. If he wanted to look in the South, there is Emory, Trinity (Tx.), Millsaps and others.
All of the above are first rate academically with generally very good baseball programs competing for Regional berths nearly every year.
As RJM noted, if the focus is exclusively in the Northeast, your son will need to get there to get exposure for recruiting. If his geography is more diverse, he should look into the Stanford Camp(All-Star) where most every top academic D3 which recruits nationally will have a presence.
This is awesome finally getting answers to questions while also opening new avenues to research.His grades are decent 3.5 to 3.8 but taking 4 ap classes.Will check out those schools and that camp..Thanks for help!!!!
