Coaches are mostly seen during the season and are often recognized for the coaching style and technique they bring on the field, but often times another overlooked, yet still valuable, skill these men and women of Dartmouth must possess is the ability to recruit.
Year in and year out, Dartmouth coaches finish one season and immediately begin looking ahead to the next. Recognizing that seniors must be replaced, the coaches take little rest in their efforts.
Because of the high academic standards at Dartmouth, however, coaches are often limited in their recruiting and must coordinate their efforts with the athletic department and admissions office.
"We have what we think based on conversations with each coach what they would like to have coming in as freshmen to basically replace what is going out as seniors or to fill certain needs in the program," Athletic Director Dick Jaeger said.
After meetings with coaches are completed, it is the athletic department's responsibility to determine the amount of priority each sport will receive. The department will tell the coaches target numbers they should have in mind when recruiting.
"We then have to outline to the admissions office what sports have a particular pressing need this year and what sports have specific areas of need," Deputy Director of Athletics Bob Ceplikas said. "By us outlining those priorities to the admissions office, the stage is set. The coaches then have the responsibility of identifying the talented student-athletes they manage to attract to apply to Dartmouth."
Therefore, coaches are not only responsible for scouting quality athletes across the nation, but they also must determine whether such athletes will fit into the Dartmouth program.
"It helps to get a good profile of a candidate who would be admissible," women's soccer Coach Steve Swanson said. "The more help you get with that, the easier it is and the more often it is going to work. I think that profile has been consistent and has been a good indication."
Even though for new coaches, the process can be difficult at first, because the recruiting process is generally similar year after year, a type of norm is found.
"I think it is always something that is in a state of flux, but there are certain common denominators that exist year in and year out," Jaeger said.
"There are, within the [Ivy] League, certain basic academic parameters that are decided upon that have to do with the student's high school record. The basic stipulation in the Ivy League agreement is that student athletes be representative of the student body as a whole," he added.
When recruiting, there are three main priorities Ivy League coaches keep in mind. First they must be look for athletes who can compete on the Division I level. Secondly, those athletes must be academically qualified. Next, these athletes must be comfortable with need-based financial aid.
When all of these criteria are met, however, individual Dartmouth coaches then face the fourth often most difficult problem -- getting the athlete to commit to Dartmouth.
"We operate on the philosophy that we know that Dartmouth is not the household name, and that we've got to be competitive with those institutions that are like Harvard, Princeton and Yale," Ceplikas said. "Our number one tool is the campus visit because you turn the tables entirely from where we are going to lose the vast majority of prospects sight unseen to these schools to a situation where we are very much in the light because this place sells itself."
Each year the athletic department allocates funds to each varsity sport from the Athletic Sponsor Program to fly recruits to Dartmouth and pay for their visits. Once again, the allocation of these funds depends on the recruiting needs of a given sport for the upcoming year.
"The prospects have got to come see this place," Ceplikas said. "They have to see the wonderful things that we know make Dartmouth unique among the Ivy League. Once they do, we are definitely in the running with any of the institutions."
Bringing in athletes from across the country is beneficial not only to the athletic department, since many times these athletes have much to offer the college as a whole.
"There are two real positive benefits to the way coaches go about recruiting," Jaeger said. "One is that they line up some people who turn out to be super performers here at Dartmouth. You are talking not only about people who have made a great impact on the teams, but also on Dartmouth College as a whole."
"Secondly, a lot of those students that the coaches find and attract to Dartmouth are probably students who wouldn't have even thought of Dartmouth if it weren't for the coaches," he said. "The coaches greatly enhance the College's ability to attract top flight people from around the country."
Although the College's well-being is an important priority of coaches, finding athletes who show potential to make immediate impact on athletic teams is the major concern.
"They have to focus on talent and ability first to see if it is there and to see if it will help the program," Jaeger said. "Then they to see which of the recruits have the academic promise to get in and then which of them based on conversations and visits really are interested in Dartmouth. If those three things are there, then it is realistic to put that prospect on their list of recruits."
Coaches will devise a list of recruits after meeting with the athletic department which gives coaches an approximate number the list should include.Given the sport and the year, numbers on list will vary for individual sports.
"They have a target number or a wish list," Jaeger said. "You put that down, but you are not guaranteed in getting all of them. If we are successful in getting them to line up prospects who meet the criteria of talent, academic capability and interest in Dartmouth, it could be that all get accepted."
Relations between the athletic department, admissions office, coaches and athletes is a key factor in the whole process. Contact is made between the parties during the entire acceptance process.
"I think the subjectiveness of the process makes it more difficult," Swanson said. "You do need a good level of coordination between athletes, parents, the athletic department and the admissions office. For our program, the process has personally been very good. Our liaison has had a good relationship and we work closely together. The standards are high. You are hoping you have people working with you and I feel that I have that."
Of the submitted lists, generally two-thirds of the student-athletes are accepted each year. This number totals approximately 170 recruited athletes per freshman class.
"I think we obviously need to submit a larger group than what we are shooting for because we can't count on them admitting all of the students we want." Ceplikas said. "I don't think being on the list makes any difference if the student is not in the ball park. If they are in the ball park, extracurricular activities put them in competition with the pool of candidates."
In submitting lists, however, the athletic department knows it must be somewhat conservative if it hopes for cooperation with admissions.
"I think they have a general number in mind that they think is a reasonable, overall total for us to admit," Jaeger said. "That is malleable to some degree. There is constant contact there though so that the coaches know that they are basically going after the right individuals and not some that are not going to have a chance at admissions."
As far as what sports get preference in the admissions process, the specific year and the size of the sport determines the size of individual lists.
"You tend to favor different sports in different years," Jaeger said. "You can not construe volume as indicative that a certain sport is more favored because the most demanding is football. You have an Ivy League agreement that you will have 35 matriculants each year. No other sport has that high of need."
When athletes are accepted and recruits choose Dartmouth, the process does not end. Yearly, the athletic department follows up on recruits to evaluate their progress.
"We like to see how well we have been in accessing the probable contributions that these athletes are going to make," Jaeger said. "Certainly if in a certain sport a lot of the kids brought on the campus because of athletic ability in part are no longer playing on the team, you would have to say something is wrong here."
Overall, the recruiting process Dartmouth uses has proven to be successful. With 13 athletic teams nationally ranked this past year, the athletic department is pleased.
"I think in recent years we have been highly successful in getting a big percentage of our athletes admitted and to enroll," Jaeger said. "That's because I think the coaches know early on which kids have a reasonable chance and which don't."
Because coaches have followed profile guidelines, Dartmouth athletes have also proven to be successful students.
"When they recruit coaches have to keep the basic nature of the College in mind and the academic guidelines of the College," Jaeger said. "Their athletes certainly have to do the work here at Dartmouth and their credentials have to be representative of the student body."
With the difficulties of finding top class athletes that meet such high academic standards, Dartmouth coaches often face one of the most difficult problems in collegiate athletics. "I think recruiting in the Ivy League is probably the most challenging of any conference in the country," Ceplikas said.
"There are no other conferences in the county in which none of financial aid is based on athletic ability," Ceplikas said. "Combine this with the high academic standards of the Ivy League conference, and the requirements are incomparable. That is why I find it remarkable that Dartmouth can successfully compete on the regional and national level."
