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I'm honestly in a bit of disbelief and thought I needed to share this. I've never heard of this happening to this degree outside of big time sports at a couple select schools... so I'm putting this up here as a cautionary tale to any parents who have children looking to play college sports in any sport at any school on any level...
One of my family friends was a blue chip lacrosse recruit... top 10 at his position nationally, etc... basically had offers from almost every single school out there. He opted to go to Syracuse. So to make a long story short and leaving out personal specifics here's what happened:
Syracuse is one of the premier lacrosse programs in the country, with the most national championships in the modern era, and accordingly has very high performance standards... no different then Kentucky basketball or Alabama football or any other premier program. My friend joined the program shortly after back-to-back national championships in 2008/2009. But in 2010 through 2012 they've only made the quarterfinals once and barely made the tournament last year. This is his third year with the team... while being recruited, the head coach told him all kinds of things about he was their #1 guy and he could play right away and they only recruit a small number of his position a year... and he got sold on their success and how lacrosse players are "rock stars" at Syracuse with all kinds of perks I won't even get into. So he ended up eschewing better educational opportunities at Ivy League and other schools to go be "the man" at the #1 program (see: "The next Percy Harvin!")
In his first year, he got playing time and everything seemed to be trending in the right direction. He also got asked to give back a chunk of his scholarship because his parents were affluent so guys in "more need" could have it and obliged. But in the background of all of this, they had a pretty bad year. So the year after, they bring in a bunch of transfers at his position... proving the line they gave him during recruiting the year before to be total BS. He stopped seeing the field... then stopped traveling as a younger player (who was also a blue chip recruit of course) passed him up... and Syracuse had one of their worst years in a pretty long time in the background of it all. So then comes this year, as Syracuse tries harder and harder to right the ship, they bring in even more transfers and recruits. They end up way overfilled at basically every position. So what do they do?
They cut about a dozen kids. Seriously. A dozen freaking kids. They all got told that straight up there wasn't enough room on the team for them anymore. Meanwhile, coaches' kids/relatives who suck of course keep their spots. Makes Saban's medical hardships and Ole Miss' rampant over-signing of yesteryear look like peanuts.
So a word of caution to parents out there... doesn't matter if your kid is football recruit or softball recruit... send them to the school that is the best SCHOOL for them so that when/if something like this happens they're getting the best education for their career. Don't send your kid to a school for the coach because COACHES LIE. Don't send your kid to a school because they have the "best team" either and assume that there's something that makes your child more special then the other dozens of blue chippers. You don't want to end up in a situation where you're an upperclassmen and all of a sudden sitting there saying "shoot... maybe I should've gone to Harvard."
One of my family friends was a blue chip lacrosse recruit... top 10 at his position nationally, etc... basically had offers from almost every single school out there. He opted to go to Syracuse. So to make a long story short and leaving out personal specifics here's what happened:
Syracuse is one of the premier lacrosse programs in the country, with the most national championships in the modern era, and accordingly has very high performance standards... no different then Kentucky basketball or Alabama football or any other premier program. My friend joined the program shortly after back-to-back national championships in 2008/2009. But in 2010 through 2012 they've only made the quarterfinals once and barely made the tournament last year. This is his third year with the team... while being recruited, the head coach told him all kinds of things about he was their #1 guy and he could play right away and they only recruit a small number of his position a year... and he got sold on their success and how lacrosse players are "rock stars" at Syracuse with all kinds of perks I won't even get into. So he ended up eschewing better educational opportunities at Ivy League and other schools to go be "the man" at the #1 program (see: "The next Percy Harvin!")
In his first year, he got playing time and everything seemed to be trending in the right direction. He also got asked to give back a chunk of his scholarship because his parents were affluent so guys in "more need" could have it and obliged. But in the background of all of this, they had a pretty bad year. So the year after, they bring in a bunch of transfers at his position... proving the line they gave him during recruiting the year before to be total BS. He stopped seeing the field... then stopped traveling as a younger player (who was also a blue chip recruit of course) passed him up... and Syracuse had one of their worst years in a pretty long time in the background of it all. So then comes this year, as Syracuse tries harder and harder to right the ship, they bring in even more transfers and recruits. They end up way overfilled at basically every position. So what do they do?
They cut about a dozen kids. Seriously. A dozen freaking kids. They all got told that straight up there wasn't enough room on the team for them anymore. Meanwhile, coaches' kids/relatives who suck of course keep their spots. Makes Saban's medical hardships and Ole Miss' rampant over-signing of yesteryear look like peanuts.
So a word of caution to parents out there... doesn't matter if your kid is football recruit or softball recruit... send them to the school that is the best SCHOOL for them so that when/if something like this happens they're getting the best education for their career. Don't send your kid to a school for the coach because COACHES LIE. Don't send your kid to a school because they have the "best team" either and assume that there's something that makes your child more special then the other dozens of blue chippers. You don't want to end up in a situation where you're an upperclassmen and all of a sudden sitting there saying "shoot... maybe I should've gone to Harvard."
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