A list of the top classes arriving at NCAA campuses in a few weeks
1. Johnny Hopkins (and Sloan Kettering)
2. Virginia
3. Harvard
4. Syracuse
5. Notre Dame
6. Georgetown (where good recruits go to die version 1.0)
7. North Carolina (where good recruits go to die version 2.0)
8. Duke
9. Maryland
10. Cornell
For more analysis click here
How far away is the MCLA from having recruiting news followed closely?
How far away is lacrosse from having a pay for content website like rivals.com?
Visit 4onetwolax.com NEW SITE 
Why do you end ever post with questions, instead expand upon these ideas. No offense but you don’t have a big enough of a following to get a big discussion going on each post. I know this was harsh but I am a fan of the site and check it daily, just a little (hopefully) constructive criticisms.
Expanded thoughts coming shortly. Its Head Coaching Interview Week here at Pitt so my head is elsewhere
Agree with deoh9. Would like to hear more of your take aside from which kits are cool (don’t really care about that personally) and that you don’t like IL (why?).
I’ll get this discussion going though. Will D1 lacrosse ever generate interest in recruit signings among the masses? In short – no way. Football is unique in college sports. It’s so big and fans are so passionate. Basketball even pales in comparison. Lacrosse is still a fringe sport. We’re lucky Inside Lacrosse is making an effort to follow recruiting. Without them, that kind of info would be impossible to find.
As for the MCLA, as far as I can tell there are only a handful of teams that really recruit (Michigan and a few western teams). Until MCLA teams are recruiting there’s no reason to follow that part of the league. Most MCLA teams can barely pay their coaches, much less generate recruiting budgets and influence the admissions process.
UMD Recruits – as do many others – not just “western” teams.
UMD brought in a kid from California.
They definitely recruit.
“Does he even know where Buffalo is?”
– Tony Kornheiser on TO signing with the Bills
Did UMD really “bring in” that kid from California? Where did they first see him? On the road at a recruting event, tournament or game? Did they help with admissions? Did he do some kind of campus visit that the team helped arrange and schedule (like an un-official NCAA visit). Did they send him some recruiting materials? Did UMD coaches call him throughout the recruiting process? THAT is recruiting. My guess is that very, very few MCLA teams do all of that, or even some of it.
Not trying to criticize UMD here. I’m sure they do recruit regionally. Glad to hear it Coach Graff, thanks for the clarification. (Although, being from the east coast, I consider Minnesota the west.)
B-more – you asked….
Here’s a short summary of some of the things we do at umd:
First, we have lists – 3-4 year excel spread sheets (players that are freshmen and above) of players we track to identify recruits. This process is assisted by the fact that our grads are HC’s at many major MN high schools with strong lax programs. We know quickly who has potential and where they are going to school. The lists are consistently maintained and as you would expect, broadened as players get older.
We send out recruiting letters, and have prospects in for weekend visits. Those visits include watching the players practice, tours of the school, meeting with admissions/coaches and discussion of the program and school. We’ve also invited a player to our Alumni Banquet when we thought it was important to the process. We are getting away from “snail mail” soon – environmentally bad, and recruits want immediacy.
We make personal contact with parents and players via e-mail, phone, text and in person throughout the year. This now includes, where appropriate, sending a CD of a power point presentation. In the past, such a fact sheet was paper.
We hold a summer camp where we bring in players from all over. This camp has been instrumental in developing relationships with Canadian players as well as exposing the school to prospective USA players.
We invite interested players to private spring practices and have them observe, with a coach,what we practice and why.
Our website has a specific area, like all do, to indicate a prospective student’s interest in UMD, and allows us to contact that student in rapid course.
With respect to our Californian incoming player: he contacted us via the web, we stayed in contact with him, we arranged a visit with him while we were in California, where he watched the team and met the staff. We contacted his HS coach and spoke with him a couple of times. He made a campus visit. I think we sent him some recruiting materials and I’ve stayed in contact with him throughout the year. And he’s only one recruit. Our website has an announcement of the class, not including transfers. 412Lax has quoted that release in the past. (thank you for that mention by the way)
We have players coming from Thunder Bay, Ohio (a t-fer), Wisconsin and Minnesota, in addition to California. For next year, we have interest from players from Minnesota, Texas, New York, Wisconsin and Canada, to name a few other locales. We are also going to see if Illinois may provide potential recruits. But our bread and butter is players from Minnesota. That will always be our focus.
In all seriousness, and with out rancor, I hope this clarifies what we do – and I know that many other schools do much more.
Finally, I too am from the East (ward melville hs), and was recruited – turned down dartmouth, brown, hofstra, yale and duke – I played at Harvard.
Also, I recruited as the lead assistant for 2 years at Drexel’s D-1 program from 1988-1990.
So – BMore – with respect, I promise I know what recruiting is.
Coach, thanks for you candid response. It’s fascinating to hear behind the scenes information.
i think IL can do a MUCH better job. they do it enough to cover the bascis. i mean if lax is such a small sport, why not go in more depth? i would love for them to do that.
and with the MCLA, it may take a while, because the college club level is so huge. but it would still be very interesting to hear abt.
and i love lax period.
Wow. I did ask, and you definitely answered. Thanks for the info, and congrats on what you’re doing with the program.
I wonder though when we will start seeing coaches from club teams other than Michigan at recruiting events in the east. I know that regional kids are the bread and butter for most MCLA teams, but you can’t argue with the advantage of having some east coast kids in your program (if they are the right kids of course) and with UM’s success.
I want to see the sport grow, and I love what the MCLA is doing. Just as many western folks complain that varsity lax doesn’t recruit their regions hard enough, I think the opposite is also true. Many eastern kids have no idea what is available to them outside of the traditional lacrosse destinations.
B-More. I know that Lindenwood and a few other schools (ASU to name one) send their coaches to various recruiting camps. Most, but not all of the camps are in the west (as you define it), but not all are. But don’t neglect Florida State, Florida, Georgia Tech, Boston College from your view. FSU and BC have some outstanding talent from traditional powers (Malvern Prep, Ward Melville and others) attending their schools.
I agree with your comment that more can be done to broaden the recruiting reach of the MCLA.
I got looks from Lindenwood and Simon Frasier, and I live in Texas, so they definitely do some recruiting.
not to get all homer on you Bmore special, but check out this roster of a school in dallas, texas.
http://smu.ialax.com/index.php?section=roster
Landon, G-Prep, Christian Bros, Potomac School, St. Paul’s School, Gilman, St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School, & Avon Old Farms are all traditional east coast powers and have a presence on the SMU roster. I think you’ll find similar rosters in the MCLA if you did some investigating
When the school’s nickname is Southern Millionaire University its not surprising that lacrosse players from private schools would be attracted to a higher institution located in Texas. Hitler Youth Rally at Champagne Brunch before the football game?
PC or not, pantherslax is right. Kids from those schools are going to end up at SMU and Vanderbilt and similar schools. I’ve never seen any SMU coaches out here in MIAA and IAC land doing any recruiting. No disrespect intended, bu I don’t remember any of those kids’ names, so I doubt they were impact players in high school. SMU is not exactly tearing it up in the MCLA (although they are seemingly getting closer to a low-seed national tournament berth). We’re talking about recruiting, not where players played (or rode the bench) in high school.
I received looks from Lindenwood out of our very own 412 area code and seriously considered visiting before committing to play at the varsity level. Lindenwood’s recruiting materials were as impressive if not more than multiple NCAA div III schools.
The only negative against Lindenwood is it isn’t nationally known academic school. The lacrosse program is run better than a lot of NCAA programs.
I am quite sure the SMU coach is working his pipelines back to the east:
http://www.umterps.com/sports/m-lacros/mtt/poole_alex00.html