Real skill level?

[sluggers]

I'm sorry, Steve...your post is wrong. I'm trying to find out how someone who, by his own admission, has never seen a D3 softball game, can start comparing D3 with other levels.

Here is the deal with D3: Some D3 schools support athletics, others don't. If a school isn't into athletics, then the athletic teams are really bad. If a school does, then the athletic teams can be pretty good. If you follow any particular D3 sport, you'll see the same teams at the top year after year. Why? Because those schools put the money into the facilities and coaches. There are about 20 teams in D3 at any sport that are consistently very good. If the top 10 D3 teams played D2, they would probably be in the top 50% or perhaps the top 33%.

NAIA schools have a similar dispersion. The top NAIA athletic schools are very good, and will almost always be better than all but the best D3 schools. The top NAIA schools probably would be in the top 50% of D1 schools. (OKCU has had some teams that could have been in the top 10 of D1 teams.) The bad NAIA schools are very bad.

As to JC ball, there are 3 levels of NJCAA softball: D1, D2 and D3. There is also California JC softball, which literally and figuratively is in a league of their own. Again, there are some good teams, but the majority are not good. Is a bad NJCAA D3 team better than a good NCAA D3 team? Never, ever.

As to academics--I have no idea where you are getting your information about NAIA schools offering a better education than state schools. Name any NAIA school comparable to Michigan, Virginia, or Cal-Berkley. Or, for that matter, MIT and U of Chicago, both D3 schools.

 

[Steve Huff]

Before reading on, please note that I am conceding a point to sluggers about NAIA and DIII. A huge number of NAIA schools have switched over since I was coaching, and may are academic power-houses. So sluggers, point well taken!

Yes, there is some clarification needed as I posted incomplete terminology. State land-grant universities such as Illinois State, New Mexico State, Utah State, Washington State, etc. are not as competitive or generally do not offer as good an education. State Research Universities such as Univ. of California, Michigan, Washington, Oklahoma, Florida, Louisiana Tech, etc. are generally more competitive academically and in Softball. There are outliers, with Oregon State, Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Louisiana Lafayette, are examples of State land-grant schools that do well. But look at the polls! And typically those schools do well on strength of coaching or tradition. An outlier in academics for example is Michigan State, which has a very high academic reputation.

As far as DIII vs. NAIA is concerned there are stats that I saw, and think still stand, that when comparing head to head competition, and NAIA and DIII ball against DI and DII teams, this provides three comparative strength measures. NAIA does much better in these competitions. No offense to your DIII schools in California or unique quality programs. It isn't my job to make a list, just generalizations. Also, I might note that in the sport of baseball, far more NAIA school players are drafted into Major League baseball, and the same results apply specified above, to baseball as well. However, I think since I said that sometimes NAIA schools are on a par with some DII schools, I would have to say the same for DIII schools to be fair. Sometimes they are as good.

Most NAIA schools are private universities, as is Harvard, only smaller. Some are not the best, but many are top notch, like Univ. of Virginia at Wise, William Penn, Azuza Pacific, Concordia Colleges, (many are have religious affiliations). Some DIII schools are very good like Augustana College, IL as well as Univ. of Ill Chicago, and MIT. I have been told also that most of the top Pacific Nothwest NAIA academic power-houses have moved to DIII from NAIA. Linfield College, Lewis and Clark, Puget Sound, Whitman College, George Fox, Willamette, and Illinois Wesleyan and Wheaton Colleges have moved to DIII. I might have to consider this switch to DIII before I speak about this education issue between DIII and NAIA since some of these schools are power-houses academically.

I have to confess I was not aware of these moves to DIII. In fact I just checked a few of them to see if they were still NAIA, and it seems many of the top former NAIA schools have switched to DIII. I don't know this for a fact, but just at a glance looking at the DIII list in New England, I think the same may apply. So in this regard I do stand corrected. I would have to say that many DIII colleges are on par academically with NAIA schools, and I think NAIA had taken a hit academically. How this affects the head to head athletic stance I don't know. I do know that in the last 3 years, the NAIA has been more competitive, and when I was coaching in the US there was a difference.

 

[jinjet95]

I'd like to thank those that came in and read my long post. With that thou, I've seen some answer that clearly haven't read the post and picked thru it. Thats fine, I understand people don't have lots of time.

My questions was pretty simple and straight forward. How do I find out a solid answer on where she would fit? As I stated lots of people are willing to 'coach' you get to get better if you pay. Others are only looking for the best and don't like to take on projects.

There is a ton of knowledge around here, that's why I posed this question. I didn't however think I'd get the 'only the best go on to D1' or 'get your head straight kid, school is the only thing that matters'.

As a dad, I'd really like to know who I can count on to assess my DD's skill and are the scouting companies really a fair judge?

I don't know that I have huge insight for you, but some of the college camps my DD attended (she's 15) will give written assessments. Univ of Northern Iowa is one. That was helpful. My DD coach played for a DI school where DD attended a camp. The current head coach was an assistant when the she played. I asked DD coach to contact her former coach and ask her if my DD had the potential to play D1 in the conference she was in. I knew she would be honest with my DD coach. It was helpful. One of the things she pointed out was that as a Freshman in HS, they're still young enough that it's hard to tell as they still have several years to build strength and grow. She did say that she liked what she saw so far and she was interested in watching her play.

Ask your DD HS and travel coach if they have contacts with any colleges. Attend camps at schools your DD may be interested in and have your DD coach contact the college coach. Most of them will be honest with them and give a good idea of what to work on. My DD always ends a camp by asking one of the coaches what she should work on for next year.