Do colleges recruit GPA "boosters" that they plan to have sit on the bench?

[RubberBiscuit]

In a discussion the other day with other daddies we talked about some of the commits we heard of that "don't make sense". These are DD's that landed a big D1 school spot where we felt the performance of the player is not to that level.

We started comparing notes on those and it seems that in every case the DD was a scholastic performer with over 100% of the possible GPA. (kudo's to those brain performers!!)

What do you folks know about any known strategies for schools to recruit team GPA "boosters" where they don't have any intention to play them??

Is this something that is a "problem" out there where the athelete gets shocked later at the lack of play time??

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Because it doesn't cost the program any of their "athletic" money. My older brother is a brain, even though he still holds metro pitching records from 1982 and was one of the best at his D1, he went to college on a full academic ride. So what that meant was the coach saved the athletic money he would have spent on my brother to use an another athlete who might not have the top grades for academic assistance.

Unfortunately I was cursed with good looks, and got skipped on the brain side.

 

[PGSAKen]

Being D1 is like a job several factors are possible.

A high end athlete with mediocre grades will often fall into an academic risk. Scholarships are very limited so a scholareship wasted on a player who may not make the grade vs a good athlete who WILL make the grade is the options.

Also the team as a whole has to maintain a GPA. Coaches get graded on their teams GPA as well.

If a coach can spread out their monies and academic monies help spread it further then WIN!

And so on.

Its not easy to do:

6am weights
8 am class
1pm practice
4 pm study hall
work a job
9pm study/project
6 hours sleep

Day in and Day out.....grades and the knowing how one learns are just as important as athleticism.

 

[Bouldersdad]

The answer is yes. If they have a good enough kid walk on in the fall and play for academic monies or they recruit a prospect but inform them they are out of funds but may receive some the next season if their production warrants it and not have to touch athletic monies they will certainly do that . It is called stacking the roster. By taking a kid that comes to a college team on nothing more than Academic the coach receives 2 things in return. More athletic money to spread to more players. And he gets a wink and a nod from the Academic section at the university. There may come a day he may need to turn to the university for extra money for what ever reason and has that move in the bag which lands him in good graces with the powers that be.

Im sure they learn real fast about playing time. Whether its a good or bad situation, It really wont effect the coach as he has no money in the mix.


Tim

 

[SBFAMILY]

You see it all the time. As a coach you scratch your head and wonder how a kid made a D1 team based on performance , but the above spells it out.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I hadn't thought about it, but then you could room A grade student with C grade student and put them in the same classes. And ask A grades to tutor C grade student.

Having top grades and the right activities leads to a lot of perks in life.

 

[CoogansBluff]

I knew a girl a couple of years ago who was given a guaranteed spot on an SEC roster as a walk-on because she was a great student with plenty of academic money, was content not to play but would be decent in a pinch. Another big key was that she loved the school and always wanted to go there (had attended their camps for years, etc). Those players are valuable in their own way.