During my time in Oxford, Ohio at the USA Hockey Girls 16/17 Camp I had the opportunity to ask a non-Top 10 DI Head Coach a bunch of Class of 2025 recruiting questions. Specifically, I wanted to better understand the specifics of how the coaching staff actually went about securing commitments for the incoming class of 2025. Here is a summary of what I learned about that school’s recruiting efforts…
- Over a the first few days that coaches were allowed to talk to the Class of 2025 (beginning on June 15th) the coaching staff reached out to ~15-18 players and offered them spots on the team.
- These players would be considered the highest rated players for 2025 according to the coach.
- The coach explained that the top players are likely getting multiple offers on June 15th (or thereabouts) and in order for many schools to be competitive with these in-demand players, the teams need to make offers immediately.
- The coach told me that most of the players had never contacted their school – so the school was being proactive in reaching out to the players without knowing if the players had any interest in their school.
- In addition to the players that received immediate offers, the coaching staff reached out to another set of 15-18 players to express an interest in those players and to understand if the players interest reciprocated.
- During the weeks following June 15th, the staff is continuing to have conversations with this second tier of potential recruits. Based on how many commits the school receives from the top tier players, then conversations and visits are likely to progress deeper with the next level of recruits
- Once again, the way I understood it, a large number of the next level of recruits that were contacted had not necessarily reached out to the school directly prior to June 15th.
- The coach then explained that their recruiting efforts are likely to progress into the fall and winter. If there were spots still open after working through the first two levels in the funnel of potential recruits, then again, they will continue to scout and reach out/respond to individual players that might meet the requirements for the remaining roles on the team. This might be by position or specific type of players (e.g. goal scorer vs. puck-moving D).
- The coach also reinforced that the coaching staff was recruiting heavily in both Canada and the U.S. and that one of the challenges was being able to calibrate players between the two countries. This is likely because there are only a few events that in-season teams from both side of the border compete against each other (e.g. Stoney Creek, PIP Labor Day Fest and USA-Canada Cup).
- Note: To-date I have not heard of any 2025 players publicly announce committing to the school in question
A Few Thoughts After the First Two Days of the 2023 USA Hockey Girls 16/17 Development Camp
More Thoughts on the 2023 USA Hockey 16/17 Girls Development Camp