Coaches and College Admissions

Coaches and College Admissions July 19, 2012 Not all coaches have the same sway with Deans of Admission (photo credit: Richard Howe). Do you think that all college athletic coaches have the same pull in college admissions? If you do, youd be wrong. It should come as no surprise to you that a college track or swim coach has less pull than a college basketball coach. Folks just dont care about swimming and track like they do about basketball. Its unfortunate, but it is true. This should all be very obvious but were not above stating the obvious because youd be amazed how many people ask us questions that we thought had obvious answers. More interestingly, did you know that the pull of a coach at a given university can vary from year to year? A lot of it comes down to the strength of a relationship. If a track coach doesnt get along well with the longstanding Dean of Admissions, that track coach might have a hard time landing his top recruits. His spell of recruiting difficulty could even go on for yearsuntil a new Dean of Admissions is in place. But that track coach might be out of a job before that new Dean of Admissions comes insince he probably had difficulty racking up wins without the benefit of great recruits. Youll often see a teams winning percentage go up when a new Dean of Admissions comes in. And, as often, you might see it go down. What were saying is that theres going to be more fluctuation than is usual on the year when a new Dean of Admission takes the reigns. Does that surprise you? Let us know your thoughts on the subject by posting below! While youre here, check out this post on Athletics and College Essays.