Swimcloud

Recruiting: The Visit

Our second installment in a series geared towards high school recruits and their parents, addresses visits, rules, and expectations. We asked our panel of coaches two questions for this week’s article:

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Today’s question is a two-fer:

  • What goes into who you invite on campus for an official visit?
  • What are you looking or hoping for in a visit?
When considering what recruits get an invitation for an official visit, coaches look at similar qualities referenced in our first article in this series. Test scores, GPA, transcripts, and a recruit’s expressed interest in a school are major factors. However, since bringing in a recruit for an official visit is costly, both to the school and to the recruit (who is only allowed five official visits), many coaches pre-screen recruits before an offer is extended, checking to see if the recruit is admissible.

Prior to an invitation, “Test scores, transcript, GPA, [and] classes need to be on par with admissions,” wrote Nikki Kett, Assistant Coach at Johns Hopkins University. “If they have the combination of swimming and academics then the recruit is more likely to be successful in the program.”

Coaches are regularly gauging a recruit’s interest in their school before they bring them in for a visit. How coaches do this varies from university to university. At Rollins College in Orlando, Florida, Head Coach Rich Morris requires recruits to have turned in a complete application to the college. “We get a lot of recruits who want a free trip to Florida without really wanting to swim for us,” said Morris. “The application process at least shows some interest.” Quite a few coaches expressed this same concern. If a recruit does not take the initiative by returning calls, moves forward with the application process, and expresses a genuine interest in visiting campus, coaches probably are not going to risk bringing someone in who could possibly just want a free trip. Here is a hint: interest expressed solely by a recruit’s parents is not going to get you anywhere. Coaches are looking for mature student-athletes, willing to be proactive about their desire to swim in college.

Regarding a financial offer, a recruit might receive one before going on an official visit, but the recruit should not expect it. Some schools like to hold off an offer until the recruit has face-to-face time with the team and the whole coaching staff. There are exceptions though. Some recruits are more reliant on scholarship money than others, so an offer will sometimes be extended to them. For example, at Purdue University a recruit might get an offer before a visit, “If the recruit is someone we know needs money and we don’t plan on offering a significant amount,” said Erica Beine, Assistant Women’s Coach. “We don’t want them to waste a trip somewhere they can’t afford.”

The reason most schools hold back on a financial offer before a visit is simple. “We wouldn’t want to offer someone a scholarship and then after the visit we realize they do not fit in at Purdue,” Beine said. “We can always give someone a range that we potentially see us offering, but to pin down an exact number [before a visit] is hard.”

Once a recruit is on campus for an official visit, itineraries and expectations do not vary that much. You will most likely not be the only swimming recruit that weekend. Some coaches bring in 10-12 recruits at once, but most shy away from the big group visits, preferring to have at most six recruits on campus, allowing for more coach/recruit interaction.

Any visit cannot be longer than 48 hours. Within that time a recruit is likely to meet with an academic advisor, tour the academic and athletic facilities, dine out with the coaches and team, and get plenty of time with potential teammates away from the coaches. Many coaches heavily rely on feedback from current swimmers about recruits. “We are very interested in finding out if the swimmer fits in with the team,” wrote Rick Walker, SIU Head Coach, “We usually sit down with the team after a visit to discuss continuing to pursue or not pursue the athlete.”

During some official visits coaches will make a scholarship offer if they feel the student-athlete is a perfect fit for the team. Wishing to speak anonymously, one coach wanted to warn high school recruits about coaches who make an offer on a visit and then tell a recruit he/she has 24 hours to decide. The coach shared that this strategy “forces a young swimmer into making a decision they are not ready to make…A program that uses tactics like this has to be questioned about what else they might do to force that athlete to do something.”

Ultimately, the key to a successful official or unofficial visit is to be yourself. “It is an opportunity for them [recruits] to look at us and [for] us to look at them figuring out a good fit for both our program and the recruit,” wrote James Holder, Head Coach at Georgetown University. Without transparency on both sides of a visit, the school and the recruit will not be a good match for four years, swimming will likely be viewed as a job for the student-athlete, and the thrill of the race can be lost.

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