www.informedathlete.com
One Baseball
Parent’s Story About the Recruiting and Transfer Process
This month, we’re
sharing a story from an Informed Athlete client. His story is not an
uncommon one. In fact, some of you reading this may be facing a
similar situation.
This client started
out with the hope and expectation that he would be recruited to his
“dream school,” play baseball there for three years and be
drafted by the MLB. Or, he could play out his eligibility at his
“dream school” and then move on to a career or attend graduate
school.
Instead, this
student-athlete ended up enrolling in a four-year college,
transferring to a two-year college, and then transferring again to a
four-year college. This situation is commonly referred to as a “4-2-4
transfer.” This athlete consulted with us twice along the way, and
while his story has a happy ending, it wasn’t without challenges
and disappointments.
His story
illustrates how easy it is to make mistakes when you don’t know
what questions to ask or what things to look for when talking with
college coaches or visiting college campuses. Not having the proper
knowledge about college athletic recruiting, academic eligibility
requirements, scholarship limitations, and the transfer process, can
have very serious implications as this father noted in his comments.
His Story:
Rick Allen and
Informed Athlete is an invaluable resource to athletes and their
parents for the D-I Baseball recruiting, transferring, and signing
process. I only wish that we knew of Rick and his company when our
son was in high school going through the recruiting process.
Our son turned
down scholarship offers from several schools to play at his “dream
school.”
What we did not
know was that D-I baseball only has 11.7 scholarships to give to 27
members of their 35 man baseball roster. That meant that eight
players on the roster were not “on money.”
We were ignorant
and did not know that this meant those players (along with any
walk-ons), could be cut from the team after fall practice and not
count against the 35 man roster. In other words, the 27 players on
money counted against the roster in the spring so they were very
unlikely to get cut no matter what for that year.
Of course, our
dream school did not tell us this. Worse yet, since they had
officially recruited my son, he could not simply transfer to another
D-I school that wanted him without sitting out a year.
Rick Allen guided
us through the transfer from his D-I school to a JUCO program and
helped us navigate very difficult and confusing rules on how that
transfer had to occur if my son was going to transfer back to a D-I
program after a year in JUCO. Without his help and guidance, I am
confident that my son’s career would be in serious jeopardy, if not
over completely. Instead, he is thriving at his new D-I program.
College athletics is
big business that makes big money. Do not let your son get caught in
a numbers game or be put on the shelf like a commodity until the
players in front of him move on.
Rick Allen can guide
you step by step on every decision so you are armed with the
knowledge to ask the right questions of your recruiting coach and
program. Do not risk your son’s career or trust that D-I programs
have his best interest in mind. It’s all about the money, so get
informed today by the best in the business.
“Thank you
Rick!!!!! Finally, someone with knowledge that we could trust and
rely upon for the advice we needed.”
Unfortunately, the
story we have shared is more common than you might think.
To
learn more about how we help athletes and families like you, visit
Informed Athlete for more information about college
recruiting, eligibility, scholarships, and transfers.
For
further information, contact us at 913-766-1235 or
rick@informedathlete.com.
About
Rick Allen:
•
25-plus
years NCAA rules expertise, including Director of Compliance at two
major D-I schools
• Current
member and former President of National Association for Athletic
Compliance (NAAC)
• Conducts
compliance reviews and audits at NCAA Schools throughout the U.S.
• Consults
with NAIA schools transitioning to NCAA membership status
• Dad
of a D-I and D-II student-athlete