Recruiting Guidelines

Scholarship Facts

• Division I schools will be pulling from the Dyestat.com top 100 list.  These students will get some money for school.  Top 10 will be looking at close to full scholarships.  (A breakdown of scholarships is listed later in this packet.)
• Scholarships for track and field are partials. Depending on the marks and other factors, we will divide a scholarship into any amount, any percentage.
• Scholarship standards are based on conference performances.  To earn a small scholarship, athletes must be capable of scoring in the conference.  To receive a large scholarship, they must be top 3.  This is how the top 8 lined up last year in the Big 12 Womens:
• 100m- 11.60-11.09
• 200m- 23.63-22.75
• 400m- 54.18-51.95

	MEN	# COMPETING	SCHOLARSHIPS/ SCHOOL	WOMEN	# COMPETING	SCHOLARSHIPS/ SCHOOL
NCAA I	271	9,365	12.6	295	8,878	18
NCAA II	148	4,081	12.6	153	3,546	12.6
NCAA III	242	6,955	0	254	5,796	0
NAIA	133		12	136		12
JR. COL	67			66
TOTAL	861			904

When Choosing a Program

• Ask yourself: If I want to do track that badly, in choosing a school,  do I want to be a little fish in a big pond or a big fish in a little pond?
• If you go to a smaller school, you have the chance to get a bigger scholarship, be at the top of the nation or be a national champion and have a lot of local success, while having fun doing your sport in a little more at ease atmosphere. That's great for so many kids!
• But if you go BIG school, DI, you may have to settle for a tiny scholarship, but then you'll get the opportunity to be in a big time program, with the facilities, compete against the best in the country regularly and truly have a shot to push yourself to the limits and find out how great you can be, plus opportunity for the future by being connected to a big name school.

Remembering the whole time that you may never win a meet or have your name in the paper! 

·        Either one is a great experience if the athlete is focused and motivated and believe in what they're doing! Like I said, depends on each athlete.  But those are the realities.

Role of the Athlete and Parents

• Make a list of schools you want to attend.  Begin researching the academic as well as athletic programs of those schools.
• Research the conference to see if you would place top eight the season before.  At Colorado State University this generally equates to a 10% scholarship.    Keep in mind that each events coach is recruiting ten athletes for one full scholarship. 
• Contact the coaches of those programs to make initial contact of your interest, or ask your coach to make that initial contact. 
• After narrowing your search set dates for campus visits.  Coaches want to see and talk with the athlete, so they will be expecting you to make an appointment with them on the dates you are visiting the school.  Your coach can assist you with this, but the coaches look for the independent student athlete that contacts the coach directly.  All coaches I contacted agreed that they prefer the athlete to be assertive with contacting the coaches
• Do your research on the school.  The coaches want to know that you want to be a “Buffalo, Ram, Cornhusker…” 

Expectations for Athletes

• “As far as expectations of being a college track athlete, it is considered a full-time job.  As an athlete myself, time management was definitely the biggest challenge because on top of the heavy class load regular students have, the athletes have required study table hours (varies program to program), practice times and of course travel time for competitions that all are factors to have to juggle. Practice is going to consume about 3 hours of the day, Monday through Saturday sometimes, give or take. Studies in the evenings, along with tutor sessions. College is about teaching these kids not only track, but to be responsible adults that take care of their OWN business, so we expect the athletes to balance all of their school, practice, health, financial, social activities at the highest level.  You might remind your girls that if you go onto a college track team, EVERY single one of their team mates will have been THE BEST at their high school.”  (Erin Wibbels, Coach Ole’ Miss. Track and Field)
• The key is always going to be the recruiting coach having direct contact with the ATHLETE because the main thing I tell my recruits is that YOU have to get along with your coach, get to know them in the recruiting process because when it's all added up, you spend more time with your personal coach than any other person in your college years...even friends, boyfriends, etc! So the activeness of an athlete to pursue a college is KEY, coaches love that character in a kid!
• After you have made your decision you should call the head coach from the schools who think you are still considering you to let them know you have made your decision.

Role of Coach

• Assist the athlete and parents in contacting schools
• It is VERY common for the college coach to contact the high school coach first because they are the one that's able to give a good take on the athlete from an all-around perspective. 
• Generally the effective time for the high school coach will be in the initial stages of recruiting. Obviously when a parent is diligent as the process gets moving, that's good, but there is something to be said about coaches talking to coaches.