The Recruiting Wire 5.14
May 14th, 2008 - byI wrote to you last week to discuss the Realities of Walking On and ended up sparking a vigorous debate on the pros and cons of the experience. Some highlights:
“What are you thinking? Do not turn down a smaller school if you have an offer to go “walk on” to a big school. You really don’t have much of a chance at all.”
“He chose instead to go to an excellent D3 school that offered a starting spot and grant money. It was “tennis shoe football” and no more….just awful.”
“My son turned down three DI “walk-on” and a couple of DII and NAIA football scholarship opportunities and signed with a DIII school. The financial aid package they put together for him (grants, merit scholarships, etc) will cover all but a few thousand per year…less than attending any of our state colleges. By far the best financial deal, and he will be getting a degree from an academically high ranked school.”
“If a young athlete has a dream who should say that they should not pursue that dream. So many times we want our children to be successful without facing adversity. The walk-on has to prove everyday that he or she can do it. The scholarship athlete has to show they can’t do it. Seems kind of like the real world to me!”
To follow the article up, I interviewed NCSA’s recruiting analyst, Bob Chmiel. He knows every in and out of the walk-on process from his years as the recruiting coordinator at Notre Dame and Michigan under Lou Holtz and Bo Schembechler. He was even awarded the Pit Bull Award from the walk-ons at Notre Dame as someone who “Exemplifies the Spirit, Heart and Integrity of Notre Dame Football Walk-Ons.”
Coach recognized the difficulties with the walk-on process. “If you are really competitive at the HS level it initially sounds like a great idea but in practice it can be really hard. About 10% of the walk-ons I had actually played meaningful snaps. At Notre Dame over 7 years, I saw 6 walk-ons elevated to scholarship status.”
Coach took the extra step of having every walk-on sign what he called the “Walk-On Contract.”
“It wasn’t legally binding, but after a while what happened was some father would call and tell me ‘Well he’s doing this and he’s doing that and the only reason he isn’t playing is because the guy ahead of him has got a scholarship’.”
The contract stated the following:
- 1) There are no promises about scholarships
- 2) They understand the rules of the NCAA in regard to walk-ons
- 3) There is no promise that you will dress, there is no promise that you will travel, if we go to a bowl game there are restrictions on the numbers of guys we can take as a part of the official party, you may be a part of that group or you may not be
“I wanted everyone to come in with their eyes wide open and know exactly what the rules are so that later on we don’t have some criticism of the program or the coaches or that promises were made that weren’t adhered to. So we made no promises. None.
“I didn’t ask them to sign to make it binding. I asked them to sign it so I know they read it.”
“A lot of times what would happen with walk-ons is after a year they would walk in my office and say coach do you think you could call so and so for me at d2 or d3. They tried and it didn’t work.”
Coach’s answer to the million dollar question, “would you want your son to walk-on?” highlights the complex nature of the decision.
“I don’t think you can paint that question with a broad brush. It would depend upon on a particular relationship that I may have with the school and know the coaches there would take care of him if he decided to walk-on.”
“Also what are the other opportunities, and if that school is so high-ended in what I want academically than I would say go take the shot.”
“The other thing you have to think about is if you are an in-state walk-on obviously in state tuition plays a role. And private versus public plays a role.”
“But the whole deal with walking on is get it all down on paper, get everything set, set nothing to chance when you make that commitment. Know what the chances are. Know if you are going to get academic support like guys on scholarship. Know if you are going to be able to eat training table when it’s legal with the NCAA.”
“The very best way for anyone that wants to walk on is to ask the coach that is recruiting you to talk with a couple of walk-ons. I always welcomed that.”