Hot on the recruiting trail

When watching a sporting event at Keene State College, students and community may note a few star players for each team. Some don’t worry about how they got here, but more just the fact that they are.

For those who do wonder how these players came to be Owls, the entire process is actually quite fascinating.  In fact, depending on the situation, it can be a multi-year process.

Needless to say, there isn’t a Derek D’Amours tree growing in the basement of Spaulding Gymnasium. You can’t go to Shaws and find Ellyse Davis in the “tall All-Conference volleyball players” isle.

The actual process of recruiting a player starts well before most might think. In fact, in some instances a sophomore in high school could be on the radar.

The first step of recruiting is the initial discovery of a player. Luckily, with the ever-growing use of Internet sites likes Youtube, viewing a player in action has become more accessible. Also, making the initial introduction easier is the recent development of recruiting specific Web sites. These sites act as multifunctional databases of player information and communication.

Head volleyball coach at KSC Bob Weiner, is one of many coaches currently taking advantage of recruiting Web sites.

“They pay money to be on the site, then they can see all the colleges’ information,” Weiner said. “The site throws certain kids who meet criteria. Everyone on the list has either book-marked Keene State saying they’re interested in playing here, sent me a letter of interest or allowed me to look at their profile.”

This recruiting site provides coaches with videos of the player in action, as well as other information like physical attributes and GPA.

“It’s essentially the Facebook of recruiting,” Weiner said.

Not all of the interactions between coaches and players are mutually valued.
“There are girls who contact us and there are girls we contact,” Weiner said. “I would say in terms of girls we get, 80 percent are doing the contacting. The ones who contact us, generally we don’t want. And generally if they’re contacting us, they’re not that good.”
One difference presented in being a Division III school is the lack of  athletic specific scholarships. If a big name recruit for a Division I school is on the fence about where to go to school, the team can offer he or she a “full ride,” also known as paying for the player’s entire tuition and housing, for the four years they are eligible to play their sport. This is even available at most Division II schools as an incentive to lure big names. Such is not the case at the Division III level.

Once a player or coach has “declared” an interest in the other party, a tour of the campus is typically scheduled. Weiner explained most coaches have their own way of showing a player around but, for Weiner in particular, there are a few essential steps.

There is the initial tour of the area which includes the campus and the surrounding town. Typically, the highlights of the tour include the gym, locker rooms (volleyball will have their own starting next fall) and weight training areas.

Once a player has seen the facilities, there is usually a more in-depth meet and greet with the team. One of the more important parts of this portion is the gathering of the team to welcome a player to the campus.

In the case of a specific tour, which took place Friday, April 9, players took the recruit to the Zorn Dining Commons to enjoy a meal with the team and work on bonding with the player.
Weiner said this is typically a make or break period for the recruit. He said this portion is something of a “feeling out period.”

“It’s kind of like a pack of animals sniffing each other out,” Weiner said. “Typically the girls can get a sense of if the recruit would fit in within the first ten minutes.”

Once the recruit returned from the D C (and sometimes a short trip to see some of the boys’ or girls’ dorms on campus), he or she gets to sit in on team activities. In this particular case, this meant watching the team go through off season lifting programs.

Because of NCAA regulations, a recruit isn’t allowed to participate in team activities, but may observe from the sidelines.

Once weight training was over, the team headed to the gym for a spring practice, again with the recruit trailing along.

It’s during this time the recruit gets to peak in on what to expect from a team practice. One of two large factors in a player’s decision is the style of coaching. Some players prefer one-on-one coaching during practices and some like to fight through struggles in practice and find answers on their own.

The other is if there is room for immediate playing time or if the player will have to wait one or multiple years for their chance to crack the starting lineup.

Weiner explained that sometimes the players he recruits, he has no intention of inserting into the starting lineup immediately. Some players just aren’t ready, and other times he feels that putting them in as starters would ruin player chemistry and rotations.
After sitting in on practice one of two things can happen. Either the player has planned on staying the night with one of the players or they can leave.

When a player has decided to stay the night, typically the team will do their best to show that player a good time around campus. This can consist of taking them out to a party or introducing them to another team on campus and having a social.

The actual recruiting process is unbelievably stressful according to Weiner. Sometimes it goes wonderfully and sometimes the player just doesn’t connect. Ultimately, every coach has a story about a player he or she missed out on.

“We had a recruit two years ago, a kid who came out of our club program,” Weiner recalled. “6’1” kid, was on a full Division I scholarship, to [University of Delaware], hates it. We told her she was going to hate it [when she signed]. So she contacts us in January, says ‘I’m transferring back to New England.’ It gets down to being between us and Springfield [State]. If I made her list as to where would be the right place to go, I’d tell her to come here and that’s not just because I wanted her. It was the right place for her to go.”
In the end she chose Springfield State, something Weiner said he is still bitter about to this day.

“That would have been a mid to high-level DII team with her on it,” Weiner said. “We were one player away from being dominant. She was it.”

Luckily for Weiner, that particular story ended up having a happy ending.

“What’s really funny is the kid who visited the same weekend was probably our most important player in 2008, and none of my players noticed her because they were all focused on the big kid,” Weiner said.

Weiner then did something he had done five to ten times previously during the day; check his e-mail for news of recruits.

“Let’s just check one more time,” Weiner said.

This time though, he produced a very different reaction.

“Ring the freakin’ bell! We’ve got another one!” Weiner exclaimed, loudly enough for other coaches to come running.

From the reaction, one might think he’d just landed the number one recruit in the country.
“Nope,” Weiner answered. “She probably won’t even see the court next year.”

Mike Steiner can be contacted at msteiner@keeneequinox.com