Stockpiling

...and keep the kid from beating them down the road. The kid was likely redshirted freshman year, gets little time soph year, transfers Jr and has to sit out if he stays in the conference. They tie up a kid for three years who never played against them. It happens.

Would this be the same thing as being told they just want to "take him off the market"? Why would a school who does not plan to use a player want to keep him from playing ball some where else?

Why? As I said, so they don't have to worry about him in the opposite dugout. It is one less player for them, whoever them is.

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Keeping players off opposing teams by hoarding is a process that has a long history in collegiate sports. Collegiate football teams have done this forever.

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It goes further than that. Some D1 schools have working relationships with Junior Colleges. They may recommend you to go to a particular JC. The idea is that this will give the college 2 years to evaluate you and make sure that you are worth a roster spot. While allowing you time to play and mature. This is less risky to them and allows the flexibility of stock piling talent for future years. Thus giving them control over more players than those on their roster or under scholarships

Doesn't always work out that way. Couple kids from around here were sent to a nearby JC by one of the Arizona schools but left after one year for a local D1.

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IMO....

That sluffing off of recruits to local JC's is one of the dirty little secrets that parents and players need to know during the recruiting process.

Certainly the numbers game is not easy and some schools misjudge the number of players who will be drafted or leave and overrecruit accidently, but there are some schools who I am told really abuse this process purposely...

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So, if "stockpiling" is really happening, these posts indicate that once again we have siuations where coaches are toying with young men and their aspirations. I'm sure someone like Orlando and many others will say it is the parents job to protect against this. Shouldn't the coaches be expected to act in an honest and respectable manner, or, are we willing accept that college recruiting is just another business arrangement? I hope not.

Coaches provide opportunities to make rosters and earn playing time. Evaluating those opportunities in a competitive environment, on a level playing field is largely the responsibility of the player, like any other opportunity whether it is king crab fishing in Alaska or breaking into investment banking in Manhattan.

Does Paula Abdul need to counsel the tryouts for American Idol that they may not make it?

You show up and take your chances. If the opportunity is well researched, the odds of success increase. JMO

Yes, parents can help protect kids, but beyond the so-called smell test, there isn't much you can do.

Coaches are supposed to put together the strongest teams they can with the means they have. It's harder to stockpile with 11.7 scholarships, but players want to play for winning programs, so they take chances.

Every piece of the 11.7 a coach gives out is a gamble. So it is for the players, too.

The bottom line is that at some point, no matter where you go, he's going to have to fight for his athletic life. Mine is going through it now. One day he's up, the next he's going crazy. And it's only the fall.

All you can do is tell him to keep his grades up and keep working.

Rather than stockpiling, I have heard it called
'Airline Reservation System'.

Just like airline can and will bump passengers when overbooking, some college programs (and we won't mention any names!) will over-recruit.

Who wants to guess how the college coach (and AD) bump the extra players?

Regards
Bear

A quick elaboration on Dad04's point, using my son's program (not one that stockpiles) as an example:

Their fall roster names 31 players, 22 of whom are returning. Of those 22 returning players, 19 were named "all-state" in at least one of their high school years. Fully 6 of those 19 were honored as "Player of the Year" in their home state.

Do you think it possible that some of those 19 found themselves sitting on the bench or pitching out of the bullpen for the first time in their playing careers when they started playing college ball? Of course, they did! And every one of them found themselves experiencing the sort of competitive atmosphere that Dad04 and OldVaman describe.

When you consider that the programs that tend to "stockpile" also tend to be among the most successful in the country, the implication is that they also attract similarly talented players...only more of them!

I bring this up not to discourage, but to inform; if nothing else, emphasizing to parents the need to have as objective and realistic a view of your son's capabilities as possible as he proceeds toward college.

There has been a thread that explains this better, however, another form of stockpiling is when State funded scholarships like Hope in Georgia or the state fund in Florida (to a lesser extent) which offer practically full-ride's to anyone that can maintain a "B" average. That is hard to compete with if you are in the same conference (SEC & ACC).

True, but in those cases, is the stockpiling the fault of the coach or the fault of the players coming to the program with the "promise" of a chance to make the team?

Unless you're a no-brainer talent, many kids want the "promise" of a chance to make the starting lineup. The "promise" of a uniform isn't good enough. For some, though, a uniform is enough; they'll take their chances.

It depends on what you're looking for in college. That's why you do your homework.

Buyer beware! Some coaches stockpile and some players look through rose colored glasses. When parents ask me questions about playing time and how much they think their Freshman son will get, I ask them this......how much playing time did your son get on the Varsity in HS as a Freshman? If he did, was the HS team comparable to the College team he is heading to? Many times, it is not stockpiling, but competition for a spot and not winning that spot that is considered stockpiling by a parent or player.

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I ask them this......how much playing time did your son get on the Varsity in HS as a Freshman?

To a degree, this is an apple & oranges comparison. Though I do agree with your basic premise

As I told my son, he may have been the best player on his High School team, when he gets to college, most of those guys will be one of the top players on their HS teams. He is competing against all top players (at least mostly).

Whereas in High School the kids going out are the best of their LL teams as well as a lot of weaker playerss. Many HS teams don't have the luxury of having the best of all the LL teams feeding them, so the best players have a spot handed to them.

Many of these kids have never really had to compete for a starting spot. When they get to college and they actually have to earn a spot, it is hard for some parents to accept and start making excuses for little Johnny. Obviously it's not little Johnny's fault, he's the best player on the team. So the coach must be stockpiling players, or only plays his scholarship players or pick an excuse.