coach interest USNA

Roxymom

5-Year Member
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Aug 19, 2012
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My prospective 2013 DS got a positive response back from a head coach asking for some more info and wanted to know when he is visiting.


Can this help his application? Can the coach access his info?

He hasn't had BGO interview or Nom board yet. He has completed CFA and domerb (but don't think it's updated yet.) Nomination seems like the impossible dream.


Thanks for input.
 
It is helpful if the coach wants you. However, it is NOT determinative, especially if the sport is other than football or basketball. I have had more than one recruited athlete with great "stats" be turned down.

Take it as a positive sign but continue to press forward as if you didn't have any support from the coach.
 
coach interest

Can a coach access his application to check stats scores, etc? -thanks
 
1985 knows Navy. Trust what she says.

I'll put a bit more positive spin to it ... All other things equal, being a coach-recruited jock beats going it alone every time.

But absent being competitive and apparently "wanting" USNA above and beyond athletics, it won't mean a hill of beans for All-American croquet whackers. But if THAT IS the case, might want to double up for a visit to St. Johns College, across the street. They are forever hungry for world-class malloteers! :confused: :cool: :thumb:
 
Thanks! He's definitely continuing to forge ahead. His goal is the academy!
 
Blue Chip recruit vs coach interest and NAPS

I felt a need to provide some practical observations after reading a couple threads that are quite negative regarding recruited athletes. This is not meant to dispute information from an experienced source on the forums, but there is a huge difference between a legitimate recruited athlete from any sport and a coach just showing some level of interest. I know from recent experience (non-football or basketball) that legitimate recruits are given a serious bump in the entire process, and if they are academically qualified they will likely get an LOA. Some may not get a traditional MOC nom, but may find a nom from another source. High profile sports get more recruits, obviously, but just about every NCAA sport gets at least a few blue chips that coaches do submit to admissions. As you will see from my comments below, I am confident this is a very good thing for several reasons.

To those who have posted on this thread and the recent NAPS thread with some level of sarcasm regarding "lower" standards for recruited athletes, simple question: have you ever served with a USNA, USMA, or USAFA graduate who was a varsity athlete at a Service Academy? I have -- went to USMC OCS, TBS, and IOC with plenty of these men/women and served with them in the Fleet Marine Force and on deployments in combat. I also trained over 3,000 Lieutenants at Quantico and without a doubt, the former Academy athletes performed far better than their non-varsity athlete counterparts.

Why? Probably many reasons, here are few:

- Better at time management, setting priorities and multi-tasking.
- They are far better at pushing themselves to perform during strenuous training and combat environments. Simply put - most are physical bad asses.
- They have many years of practical leadership experience in their chosen sport. Many are winners who don't give up and know how to motivate their peers and subordinates.

True, there are some recruits who get into USNA via NAPS who have less than stellar GPA and SAT/ACT scores. If they are admitted and graduate from Navy, they are likely to be one hell of a good officer, which is the point, right? Think a Sgt in the Marine Corps or a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy cares what your SAT score or class standing was? But you better believe the enlisted men and women have serious respect for an officer's ability to lead physical training sessions, make timely and sound decisions and communicate them effectively and look out for them as a teammate.

For those who plan to respond and continue to criticize the admissions process for recruited athletes, remember that NCAA athletics is an important part of the entire U.S. collegiate program/culture and our nation's service academies have a long, proud tradition of competing. Most importantly, these Midshipman that graduate typically do quite well serving our nation.
 
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Good words.

+1,000,000.

As soon as I saw the title of this thread (and the NAPS thread) I was wondering how long it would take before someone NAPS or varsity athlete bashed in the thread.

I was a NARP (non-athlete) for all my years at USNA but, by and large, I was actually pretty impressed by the quality of the athletes at school. Teamwork, dedication, and fitness go a lot farther in my mind than being some weedy nerd who got straight As in high school but can't talk to people. And I say that as someone who is more "weedy nerd" than athletic.

Yes, there are a few bad apples who give athletes a bad name. The same can be said for pretty much any group that comprises a relative minority in the Brigade. NAPSters, females, and, frankly, minorities. It's mostly that, by being in a subset of the Brigade that's not white non-athlete males their failures are a lot more visible. But the bottom line is that the majority of mids, regardless of whatever "other" status they have, are there for good reasons and if they're not they either leave or figure it out.

Some of my best friends at school, including my roommate of four years, were varsity athletes. Most of my (Academy) classmates at TBS are athletes. They're all great people and just as motivated to serve and put out as the NARPs.
One of my good friends, a recruited athlete who probably would not have gotten in on high school grades alone, is without a doubt one of the best natural leaders to come out of my company. She was team captain our 1/C year and IMO is going to be a phenomenal officer. She also missed every Thanksgiving break, most of every Christmas break, most spring breaks, and countless weekends in order to play for Navy.

So, yes, please, continue to try and tell me how varsity athletes/NAPSters/whatever are uncommitted or somehow "unworthy" of attending a service academy. :rolleyes:
 
Amen.....the bashing of NAPS /diversity/recruited athletes gets really old after awhile. Leadership ability is about far more then your GPA.
 
You may be onto something. Would you care to lend some specifics to your contention? Put some meat on the bone? USNA might welcome a nugget for how to better ID its officer candidates.
 
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As one of those former blue chip athlete's for a major sport, yes there are bad apples everywhere. Both recruited and not. Would I have gotten in on my academics alone... not sure. I was a principal nominee, I was qualified, but not genius material. I had a classmate who was a football player who I would rank as one of the worst Midshipman in our class. Today he is one of the most phenomenal Marine Corps officers ever. He was honor grad at IOC and has a chest full of valor medals that is more than impressive. Rebel and Hurricane bring up some great points. At the end of the day no one cares how well you did at USNA, what your degree is, how you scored on your SATs, etc. This board and the focus for admission is very academically focused. Just as when a kid walks into I day no one is going to sit around and discuss their academics from high school, because no one cares. My Marines never knew I played college basketball until the last week of deployment I finally played a pick up game. Let's just say they were shocked and finally asked where the heck I learned to play like that.

Every sports team requires a different level of commitment. Basketball runs in season from Oct-March generally. That is the majority of the school year. I never got Thankgiving, missed 2 of 4 Christmas leaves, missed most of spring break every year. I had practice, films, weights, or therapy every morning, lunch time and after school. Most of us gave up part of our summer leave to help out summer camps and train. We missed so much class one year they finally added it up. Our team missed 25 more days of class one year than any other team on the yard. The football team actually misses very few days. They only play around 10 games a year, half being on the road and they have charter flights. They fly out on Friday and most of the time back right after the game on Saturday.

My room mates were all non-athletes. At the end of every year they all admitted they had no clue how much time it took for me to play basketball. They all used to laugh that heck you may get out of drill, team tables and formations sometimes, but you never get leave, barely get liberty, and have half the amount of time they did to study. Not to mention the beaten up bodies, lack of sleep, long road trips, missed class time, etc. I would never trade that experience for anything. My time management skills and ability to do an enormous amount of work in a short time span are huge to my success in my job today. I attribute that to being a varsity athlete.

Back to OP... yes the coaches should be able to access his records. Having their endorsement is good, but it all depends what sport he plays and if he is one that is high on their list of recruits or someone they are going to watch. Coaches only get so many applicants they can really push for. If he can get in on his own, they may let that play out. If he is really high on their watch list then they may go to admissions and really push for him. This is only MY OPINION. This isn't a process that is documented or really discussed, but anytime you can get another endoresement, it is a good thing.
 
There you go WP...you have the testimony of three Marines (or 2.5...as a Lieutenandate I don't know if I count). What more do you want?:wink:
 
You may be onto something. Would you care to lend some specifics to your contention? Put some meat on the bone? USNA might welcome a nugget for how to better ID its officer candidates.

There is no magic nugget, nor does USNA need one, the system works. Meat on the bone? Below links to just one example of a recruited athlete, there are hundreds more based upon personal observations of officers who have served alongside USNA, USMA and ROTC graduates who also happen to have played a Division I sport.

Read about this hero:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_A._Zembiec

And try to live by his words:

"Be a man of principle. Fight for what you believe in. Keep your word. Live with integrity. Be brave. Believe in something bigger than yourself. Serve your country. Teach. Mentor. Give something back to society. Lead from the front. Conquer your fears. Be a good friend. Be humble and be self-confident. Appreciate your friends and family. Be a leader and not a follower. Be valorous on the field of battle. And take responsibility for your actions. Never forget those that were killed. And never let rest those that killed them." > Major Doug Zembiec
 
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