NCSA Blog

 Many of the student-athletes I work with are unaware of the NAIA level and I want to make sure you know a few things about it:

-NAIA stands for National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics

-NAIA is a separate association of colleges who compete in intercollegiate athletics; similar to the NCAA

-These are generally smaller schools, but NAIA schools can give athletic scholarships, unlike DIII schools. If an NAIA program is fully funded it can offer 12 scholarships (more than DI and DII fully funded programs)

-Many of these coaches also rely on their own camps and showcases to recruit players. Like NCAA DII, NAIA coaches are allowed to invite players to workout for them at their schools to get a better look

- In the event the student-athlete feels that the school or team is not the right fit, he can transfer to another NAIA institution and compete the next season without sitting out a year. The same is true if an NCAA player wants to transfer to an NAIA program

-Some NAIA schools are playing at a DI level, while others are competing at a lower DIII level. The majority of the time, it is compared to DII baseball. Many of the top notch NAIA players are being drafted

A great example of a top program in NAIA is Lewis and Clark State College (LCSC). They have won 16 national championships, the latest in 2008. In comparison to the 2008 College World Series Champions, Fresno State University, Lewis and Clark State had four players drafted in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft as Fresno State only had two.

It’s important to research colleges and learn about all of your options at the next level instead of just playing the “Name Game” by limiting where you think may be able play. I encourage you to check out the NAIA level and expand your options.

The Pac-10 Conference is called the “Conference of Champions” for a good reason.  In 2007-2008 the conference captured 13 NCAA Team Championships far more then its runner up, Big Ten (5).  These 13 championships is one shy of the record 14 set in 1996-1997.  The Pac-10 has lead the nation in NCAA Championships 41 of the last 47 years.  They also finished second five times in that span.

The college recruiting experience has many twists and turns.  There are many factors that play into recruiting for a student-athlete but one they have control over is doing the research.  Every student-athlete’s process is completely unique and different.  Doing research on the colleges and the process should be one of the top priorities!

Not only is the Stanford University one of the top academics schools in the country but it is also one of the best athletic programs (Stanford has won 14 consecutive Directors’ Cup).  The Stanford baseball program is a regulaly in the College World Series and is a two time National Champion. 

The Baseball Assistant Coach Dean Stotz at Stanford talks about the importance of research and choosing a college; “I have been doing this a long time, and if I may be so bold, I would like to help you simplify the process of selecting what college you will attend. First of all, please have respect for the magnitude of this college decision. You will live with this decision THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! This is not a “four year” decision, but a “FORTY YEAR DECISION”. There are no “mulligans”, no “do-overs”. Consider the task as if you are doing the most important research paper of your young life. The title of your research paper is: Where will I attend college? Now, how do you do well on a research paper?–RESEARCH!!!

There are three broad areas of risk in your college decision. You must decide what type of “academic challenge”, what type of “baseball challenge”, and what type of what I call “social challenge” you wish to take on.  In Coach Marquess’s and my 31 years we have not graduated 9 people who attended Stanford for four years.” What do you think?  Please post a comment on this topic!!

So you think you are being recruited because you received a questionnaire?Did you know that the Mississippi State baseball program sends out an average of 1,500 prospect questionnaires each year?

 Last Monday night NCSA got an excited call from Dion Dinsmore, one of our former recruiting coaches and scouts, telling everyone to make sure we had the College World Series on TV.  Dion was settling in at home to watch Game 1 when he realized the starting pitcher for Fresno State was NCSA alum, Sean Bonesteele.  NCSA’s eyeballs were glued to the television for the week watching Fresno cap off perhaps the greatest upset in the history of college sports.

I had a chance to catch up with Sean on Friday to discuss his incredible experience.

Brian: Any one moment that really stuck out?

Sean:  The whole thing was an absolute blast. You grow up as a kid, even all through high school I remember watching on ESPN thinking I wish I could be there, I wish I could be one of those guys.  I was thinking of taking the trip out there my senior year just to watch.

Just going to the field and seeing all the fans, signing autographs and playing with the guys that you spend hours and hours a day with. It’s just an awesome experience and then to see everyone play well is just amazing.

Brian:  What did you think of the much discussed skullet?

“I guess it worked for us, but I wouldn’t recommend it anyone doing it for karma purposes.

Brian:  How did your recruiting experience play out?

Sean:  I’m glad how it turned out in the end, obviously I wanted to go to a top 25 school so I could compete and try to get to a World Series. I guess I got kind of lucky.  But going to showcases and getting my name out there I think really helped in the process.

I remember you guys [NCSA] saying take every opportunity, take every chance and make the most of them. Play well in the showcases and make sure that I got my name out there for the coaches to see and that’s what I tried to do.

Brian:  Any advice you would like to share with future recruits?

Sean:  Dream big, Fresno St. wasn’t really on the map until this year. So if you see a school you are interested in and you see a school that you can play for and you think it has a shot to compete, go for it. Don’t just go for the big name schools in the Pac 10 there are a lot of other good teams out there.

Fresno State is your new Baseball National Champions with the lowest regional seed and the most loss ever to win a national title.  This solidifies how tough the baseball is in the west.

Last year’s champion, Oregon St., was a three regional seed and was one of the last teams in the tournament out of 64.  Stanford was picked to finish sixth in the Pac 10 this year and was in the College World Series.  At one point this year at least 10 teams from California ranked in the top 25 (Stanford, Cal, Fresno, Long Beach, San Diego St., U. of San Diego, Irvine, Pepperdine, UCLA and Fullerton).  Other teams included in the west are Oregon St., Arizona St., and Arizona.

 I have not mentioned the quality DII, DIII and NAIA programs in the area.  Also, lets not forget all the great college players across the country that have to leave the area to get a chance to play. What region do you think plays the best baseball in the country?  College or High School?

This is what college sports is all about!

Every year on the center stage of collegiate sports, we hear the story, often told by television announcers, of the touching tale of the courageous walk on.  Visions of Rudy instantly come to the forefront as the journey of the underdog warrior starts to unfold.  “He was never recruited out of high school by any of the major programs . . .” says the announcer during his crescendo to the game breaking play.  “He has waited his whole life for this moment, battling disappointment after rejection.”  It is heartwarming.  Life is fair again. That could have been me.

There are few stories that compare in nature.  There are fewer that compare in occurrence.  The closest relative to Rudy would be the 71 year old retired truck driver who on his last few dollars cashed in on millions playing the random pick’m game at the local gas station.  The only difference is, that story happens more frequently!

For the serious competitor, walking on to a collegiate athletic team can be compared to earning a medical degree and then working as a custodian.  You both work in a hospital but unlike all of your classmates, you’re not actually doing what you trained so hard to do for so long.  Most collegiate athletes have played their sport since before they could remember, years and years, always starting, usually better and often in the spotlight.  To cash in a lifetime of hard work and natural talent for a dream that was forged from within a child’s perspective seems foolish.

Take football for example.  There are over 800 colleges that offer football as a varsity sport.  Most sports fans in this country can name up to fifty.  In baseball there are over 1000 colleges that offer the sport.  How many can you name?  There are numerous opportunities to explore if the desire to actually play exceeds common ignorance and childhood fantasies.

Walk-ons, just like custodians in hospitals, have vastly different experiences than the scholarship players.  First, the ceremonial National Letter of Intent signing day - that does not happen.  Next, the preferential class scheduling - no.  The second, third, or fourth pair of coaches’ eyes watching you to make sure that you’re taken care of - not so much.  You are a necessary tool to help the real players practice, rarely taken serious, rarely awarded a scholarship and sparingly shown respect.  Rudy was a great film but I hope it is not your story.  Below is a short video of how USC treats its potential walk ons.  There are a few questionable language choices in this clip so do not watch if you will be offended.  USC Walk On Clip

In summary, if you work your entire life to achieve the goal of becoming a college athlete, find a place where you are wanted.  Find a school where you will play and make an impact.  Go somewhere that will set you up to have a great experience while you earn your degree, an environment that will help provide you with teammates for life.  Step outside of your comfort zone and learn all you can of what is out there.  You just might find something that is priceless.

Why do people play sports?

Some play for fun. Some play for glory. Some play for exercise. Some play for competition.

And some play so they can dream. This is one of those stories.

On the field of play, anything is possible. On the field of play, everyone is equal. On the field of play, anyone can win and anyone can lose.

Fresno State’s baseball team did a lot of that this year, losing that is. 27 times in 60 regular season games the Bulldogs came out on the wrong end of the final score. They were wildly inconsistent at the least, underachievers at best. In a word, they were average just like each of us. But that’s the thing about sports, even the most average of players, the most average of teams, can become something more. All it takes is some collective dreaming.

A month and a half later, the Bulldogs are still dreaming. With a record of 33-27 heading into the WAC tournament, they weren’t even under consideration for an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament. But my how things have changed.

Do or die in the WAC tournament? No problem. Four straight wins later and their prize was the #4 seed in the four-team Long Beach Regional, which featured three nationally ranked teams. Only one #4 seed had ever won a NCAA Regional. Strike that. Make that two. From there it was on to Tempe, AZ for a date with the Sun Devils of Arizona State, the nation’s #3 ranked team. After dropping the first game and facing elimination, they reeled off back to back wins and a berth in the College World Series. Once in Omaha, down went #6 Rice, #2 North Carolina, and last night #2 North Carolina again, in a winner-take-all bracket championship game.

So that brings us to tonight. The giant-killers from Fresno will take on the other Bulldogs, the ones from Georgia, in the first game of the Best-of-3 College World Series Final.

This team wasn’t supposed to be here. #4 seeds aren’t supposed to make it out of the regional. They aren’t supposed to win 8 NCAA tournament games, all against nationally ranked teams. They aren’t supposed to do all of these things without one of their stalwarts, senior SS Todd Sandell who was thrown off the team mid-season.

But they are, and they did.

The beauty of college sports is that it gives 18-22 year-olds in all corners of the country the opportunity to run with a dream like Fresno State has this month. Any opportunity to compete is an opportunity to dream.

Some play sports for the love of the game. Some play because it is what they are good at.  Some play sports in hopes that greatness is just one play away.

Dream on Fresno State. Dream on.

   For people who have been around the game of baseball for many years, a bad call by an umpire is about as expected as a Cubs season without a World Series title.  In other words: get used to it. 

   Managers, coaches, and even players have been thrown out of countless games for arguing every kind of call under the sun.  But never before have I seen players take matters into their own hands as the kids at Stephens County High School did in the Georgia Class AAA state championship game last month.  Never before have I seen kids play such a beloved game with this much blatant disrespect.

   I’ll let Rick Reilly tell the whole story, because frankly he tells it much better than I could.  The gist of the story is a group of baseball-playing punks taking the law into their own hands at the expense of a defenseless umpire.  You can watch this disgrace for yourself on YouTube.

   This pitch has been the center of debate for weeks. It has been covered by everyone from ABC News to the Atlanta Journal Constitutional to countless online chatrooms. Yet through all the controversy, the most important aspect of the story for every prospective student athlete is what happened afterwards to the catcher, Matt Hill.  Reilly explains…

            “Then some payback came for Hill, who was planning to walk on at Gordon College in Barnesville, Ga., next season. He got the word from Gordon coach Travis McClanahan, who said, Forget it, we don’t want you. “I’ve seen catchers get crossed up before,” says McClanahan. “But he appeared to be blocking a curveball in the dirt. I was shocked. I’ve never seen that happen. I’ve never heard of a player even suggesting doing that.”"

   For the record, that’s countless hours of time in the batting cage, weight room, and classroom all wasted because of an instant of stupidity. Was it worth it?

   Many kids these days are immature.  They lose focus on the big picture and act out on their emotions.  But in this day and age of big-time college recruiting, a few seconds of immaturity can cost them a chance at fulfilling a dream.  College coaches are not going to waste their time on someone whose character has been questioned.  They will simply go out and find another player who can play the same position just as well and whose grades are just as good.  There are hundreds of them around the country.  Character counts, whether you want to believe it or not.

   Playing college sports is not a right, it’s a privilege.  If you don’t always keep that in mind, you will be watching from the sidelines instead of fulfilling your dream.  Life will throw you its fair share of bad calls.  It’s how you choose to respond in those moments that will ultimately define you as a person.  Choose wisely.