It's worse when the Head Coach leaves on signing day like
by Domerduck (2019-07-06 13:28:10)

In reply to: Tim Fudd's question. It is an excellent question.  posted by BTFNDGUY


what happened to my daughter planning to go to St. Mary's with Paul Ratcliffe as head coach. He chose to go across the bay to Stanford from SMC where he became the PAC12 Women's Soccer coach of the century and has won multiple NCs and gone to several Final 4s, not really realistic possibility at SMC. That said I still remember my daughter's tears that day (signing day) when he called telling her the news. He did release her and said she could switch schools.

Our options were limited as most scholarships had been filled. The UW coach who had recruited her hard said she could walk on, but was honest saying the numbers favored her playing more at St. Mary's. She went there and tried to make it work, but the replacing coach had no idea of her game and wanted taller players so her playing time was limited. It was frustrating for her and she looked to transfer, but her sport doesn't provide full rides like women's bball so a lot more factors played out. A big factor was me not being willing to fund her switching schools with another potentila year, which each coach wanted.

So you can understand how parents and kids have lot to think about with these student athletes and a lot of it is not in their direct control other than choosing their school. Transferring schools should be a part of their equation to try to make it work after the years of investment as a Division 1 student athlete. If schools are willing to fund the extra year with a full ride like they do in basketball, then you need to look at it.

As for my daughter, all's well that ends well. She ultimately switch sports mid season her junior year. She got much more scholarship money for running cross country at St. Mary's which she ended up being the team captain her senior year. As a mother and teacher in San Diego she still plays and coaches in her preferred team sport.


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