Dom Starsia: It starts at the club level. I get calls from club coaches all the time. “Dom, you have to recruit this kid. You have to meet with this ninth-grade boy, because Hopkins or Maryland are going to offer him.” And I haven’t seen him, or I’m not convinced. It’s a big deal to have a kid that’s committed, because they can turn around and sell that to the parents. The game is unduly influenced by club guys that don’t answer to anyone.
Ty Xanders: High school coaches say the dynamic of their job has changed, because they’re no longer getting the call. When an ACC or Big Ten coach is looking for a recruit, they’re calling the club guys. And parents have this perception that their kid is going to play just because they’re committed as a freshman. Everybody wants to accuse the college coaches as being the bad people in this, when there are all sorts of factors. I can’t say my media coverage helps.
Joe Spallina: I have a unique perspective, being a director of a major club organization on the boys’ side, as well as being a Division I women’s coach, and then having my own children in the race. It was a young man that plays for my club team that committed to Penn State as an eighth-grader. Since Brennan committed, I have talked to many other coaches that want to know how they can get in touch with my players.
Kerstin Kimel: Last week, a Long Island kid, an eighth-grader, committed to Boston College. I got a text from somebody. And then it took my ninth-grader three minutes to walk downstairs and say, “Hey mom, another Yellow Jacket eighth- grader just committed.” And not every ninth-grader has a mom who’s a college coach who can help her with how she should be thinking and navigating [that news]. One of my questions is the social and psychological impact of this process being so early. What’s your perception?
Joe Spallina: It’s scary. The venom the public was spewing at Brennan on social media — I handed my phone to my wife and I said, “Please do not allow me to touch this for 24 hours.”
Kerstin Kimel: I worry that kids are forgetting what they signed up for. You end up with a kid who’s really unhappy in your program. There’s nothing worse.
Dom Starsia: We actually get to know the kids better. When a boy commits to us, we tell him very clearly what his grades should be and what we expect of his behavior at school. We expect them to continue to play football and soccer and basketball. They can devote a little more time to that than chasing every summer lacrosse event that’s out there. Kids do better in school after they’ve committed to us. Every time I talk to them, I’m hammering them about academics.
THE ROUNDTABLE
DANIELLE GALLAGHER Manhasset (N.Y.) girls’ coach, Liberty Lacrosse founder, four-time U.S. World Cup player
KERSTIN KIMEL
Duke women’s coach, IWLCA recruiting issues committee co-chair
JOE SPALLINA
Stony Brook women’s coach, Team 91 boys’ coach, New York Lizards GM/coach
TED SPENCER
Blue Chip 225 founder, former Fairfield men’s coach, Monte Vista (Calif.) boys’ coach
DOM STARSIA Virginia men’s coach, former president of US Lacrosse Men’s Division Coaches Council
TY XANDERS
Recruiting Rundown founder, Lax Sports Network analyst
t Talk
laxmagazine.com
A special LM roundtable on early recruiting
By Matt DaSilva
May 2016 » LACROSSE MAGAZINE
39
SPALLINA
XANDERS
STARSIA
STARSIA KIMEL SPALLINA
KIMEL
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
