Introduction
A high school junior reaches out to a college coach with an interest in swimming for his team. She receives a reply from the coach telling her “To be considered, you need to have Junior cuts” She looks across the current roster and sees almost no one on the existing team with any of those times. How can these be his recruiting standards if no one on his current team ever met them? How can I not be recruited for his team if I would already be one of the fastest swimmers on his team?
This article will give you the most common reasons for receiving confusing recruiting standards that don’t line up with what you expect.
The Myth of Being Top 4 in an Event on a Team
Despite popular belief, having a time that would be top 4 on the team in an event will not guarantee that you will be recruited. If a coach already has four swimmers not scoring points in an event at conference champs, they probably don’t want to add another non-point scorer to the roster. This is one common reason that those recruiting standards do not line up with the existing roster. The coach may only be planning to allocate a roster spot for point scorers in your event(s) for this recruiting class.
The Recruiting Timeline
Every college swimming coach dreams of having an entire recruiting class full of conference championship A-final times and the best-ever relays in school history. Early in the recruiting cycle, some coaches set the bar high hoping to land a class that can boost the team’s performance to record levels. Impact recruits are prioritized early. The coach may be seeing enough interest that this may be the greatest recruiting class in school history. This is another common reason that those recruiting standards seem way too fast for the existing team. The coach may be early in the recruiting cycle and have those standards set unrealistically high thinking the class might fill up early this year. This is also why you may see recruiting standards from a coach change over the course of a year.
Roster Needs and Relays
College coaches have to manage their roster needs each year as they have swimmers graduate, transfer, and quit swimming altogether. Certain specialties may be more pressing to recruit than others. The five relays are critical to conference championship points – 200 Free, 400 Free, 800 Free, 200 Medley, and 400 Medley. Coaches have to weigh the importance of each recruit on how they will construct their conference championship team including backfilling gaps from these relays. The recruiting standards used for last year’s class may need to dramatically shift to account for the team’s needs. This is one reason that looking at last year’s class and their times may make this year’s recruiting standards seem confusing. Different year, different priorities.
Number of Roster Spots Left
When coaches get down to their last one or two roster spots for a recruiting class, they might decide to hold out for a recruit that is high impact. This is especially true if they get a large percentage of their recruits committing early in the cycle. If a coach has one roster spot left with several months of recruiting left on the calendar, do not be surprised if they push for that last commit to be a superstar, effectively changing their recruiting standards dynamically.
The Conference Got Faster
We are in the era of conference realignment. Adding a school to a conference can have a significant impact on scoring points at conference championships. Last year’s recruiting class may have different recruiting standards because the conference just got faster. Most college coaches set their recruiting standards somewhere around conference championship scoring times (*note: some colleges at the top of a conference may only be looking for A-final times). This could be a reason that this year’s recruiting standards seem very different than last year’s recruiting class times.
Sometimes It Is Just the Coach
Some college swimming coaches just do things that do not make any sense at all. They have their quirks and eccentricities that, at times, become pretty obvious during the recruiting process. It does not mean they are bad coaches. It could mean they are bad at recruiting. You may have a hard time understanding why they say what they say and do what they do when recruiting you. There may be no other way to justify a coach’s recruiting standards.
Constantly Changing Recruiting Standards
You will find many college coaches who seem to have very dynamic recruiting standards that change quite frequently. Those “standards” may be changing for a variety of reasons – timing, needs, competitor college commitments, a new school joining the conference making scoring at championships harder, etc. Whatever the reason, those constantly evolving recruiting standards make it confusing to keep up. This is why recruiting standards should be used as a general guide and not the absolute truth.
What are the Real Recruiting Standards
See if your best three events are within scoring range at conference championships. If the team you are looking at frequently wins their conference, assume that team is looking for times at or near A-final cuts. If the team you are looking at is at the bottom of their conference, assume that team is looking for anyone who can make a B-final or within a reasonable stretch. If the team you are looking at is a Power 4 conference team, that team may be looking for C-final cuts. Teams are always looking for recruits who can help them score more points at conference championships than last year.