Daughter went to a private school. High school coach knew several of the local college coaches. Some college coaches saw her play in high school games. She was approached through her high school coach in her Junior year. She was recruited by several and is playing for a Massachusetts D3 school.

Already had one go through for tennis. HS coach was very helpful but it in some ways it's similar to track - you either win a bunch of titles, go to states, etc. or you don't. We're just starting now with soccer. We'll see where that goes. Coach has tossed out some connected college names but none of them are ones D is interested in (most are local and she wants to go further afield). Not sure how we politely decline that one. Hoping club coach will have more to offer.

Currently playing in college, my high school did not help in any way, the only thing he once mentioned to me was "keep your grades good and keep playing well, you can play in college one day". Which in itself was actually really cool to hear from your coach as a sophomore in high school. My club coach did have connections, although I never asked him for help along the process, although I would use him as a reference when emailing college coaches so hopefully he spoke highly of me to those coaches.


For the most part it's really going to be up to the person looking to play in college to go out and contact coaches from a variety of levels and locations and find a fit. It can be time consuming, but worth it in the end, being offered by a coach to play for his team is a very special moment.

High school coach had no input on college recruiting for daughter. Club helped some but in the end the school she chose was as school she was recruited to after attending a 2 day ID clinic at the school. I asked a couple coaches why they don't ask the club coaches for input on a player and they both said the club coaches will just tell them how great the player is so they don't even ask. One coach did get input from her club coach.

My personal opinion is that the coaches should take a more active role, whether it be high school or club. For the amount of money you are spending on club teams, the club should have a very active role in the college recruitment process, even if it means suggesting that your child might not be a D1, D2,....or even D3 player. Our coach said our boy would be a very strong D3 player and helped connect him with very good schools with strong academics and good to excellent athletics. He did have a couple of D1 offers but did not connect with the schools overall. He is heading for D3 and happily so.

Coaches take an active role for kids that they like. I have seen it firsthand. They will do more for players they are fond of.

Completely agree!

In MOST cases, HS or club coaches do not help much. Yes, they can provide references, but as noted, many college coaches do not differentiate players that way. As we know there's plenty of criticism of the quality of HS coaches, so that mixed bag does not help. And club coaches often do not know that many college coaches, or the college game that well. In A FEW cases, a coach will be a help with college, but it's those chance situations where the student happens to like the college where the club coach knows the college coach.

Club and HS coaches should not be expected to do more. It would be great if they could advise if you're a d1,2 or 3 player, if they know the college game well enough. But, as has been pointed out, 90% of club players are not going on to a college team. Of the 10% that are, they are concentrated on a few teams.

I agree with some of this, but your generalized statements vary from club to club. The part that I agree with is the part that says that most coaches do little to help with college recruitment. This is a shame especially given the amount of money spent. It should be part of their commitment to the player. The contract works both way and the player/family is paying for a service that should be more inclusive.
As for the 90/10 split, this very much depends on the club and team. Assuming that we are discussing first teams and not the B,C, etc teams, the number of players 'recruited' to play soccer in college may be as high as 50-70% (D1,2,3) or higher.

This raises a couple of issues. One is the perception, among a vocal minority IMO, that clubs are out there "promising" how joining their team will be a path to playing in college. For coaches to do more of this kind of thing seems only likely to increase that perception, when many feel it should be toned town to the extent it exists.
Another issue is the time that it would take a coach to do this, and how to be reasonably compensated for that. On one hand, families feel like they pay a lot for club soccer. On the other, a typical club coach is not paid a lot. The large clubs at least offer a college info session, in which players can hear how college recruiting works in case they want to pursue it. To further support players individually is moving toward the realm of college search consultants, and what they charge significantly exceeds club soccer fees.
Another issue, potentially, is that a coach is then doing more for some players than others. Is that fair? Do we want to encourage that, thinking on behalf of all players on the team, not all of whom are interested in college?

Good points, and consider this:
If a coach has 20 U-16's and another 20 U-17's, is that coach supposed to consult with those 40 players on all the schools that might be appropriate for their specific circumstances (soccer fit, academic desires, financial circumstances, geographic concerns)? Further, is the coach expected to have relationships with the 40-50+ schools that might be most relevant to that broad group of people? Is it the DOC that needs to have those relationships and make intro's or recommendations or does it extend to all the individual coaches within the club? What happens when the coach from the A team is trying to get a couple of his reserves placed at the same school where the coach from the B team is trying to place his 2-3 top players? (after all, everyone is paying big $'s for club soccer - so why wouldn't all the players expect this college placement assistance?). There are a dozen ways that I could point out how the club/college placement game can't work for the clubs.

Realistically, anyone who thinks that a few years of $2,000+ in club fees should somehow also include comprehensive help in navigating the college recruiting landscape is nuts. If, on occasion, a coach happens to have a strong relationship with a certain college program or a club has sent several successful players to a particular program over the years and there's a certain familiarity with that club - then that's a nice bonus. If the club sits down with its U15-16 players and gives them a primer on college recruiting and some basic do's and don'ts, that's a good service. But hooking you up with the coach of any school that you happen to pick out of a Business Week listing is not part of your club fee.

If you are talking about U18 club players, I think the number might well be higher than 10%. By U18 most kids (at least on the girls side) who don't have the interest or ability to play in college at some level have weeded themselves out. Not a whole lot of U18 teams around. Most of the girls on those teams could play in college if that's what they wanted to do and were willing to pick a D3 school with a bad enough team. While probably less than 30% of players on U18 teams actually end up playing in college, that's not because they couldn't play at some college, but because they aren't good enough to play at the college that they decide to attend.

As has been pointed out elsewhere, yes, there are more opportunities for girls to play in college. I would say u17 is the most relevant age bracket to look at (by the u18 season, all the applications are in), and for boys, there's 50 or so club teams at that age. That's about 1000 kids, and only 100 or so will be involved in college soccer. And as you say, some others could, but they sensibly choose academics over soccer.

Wow, some of you really have very low expectations of the coaches you surround your kids with. For the money you are paying they absolutely SHOULD be an active participant in the recruiting process with both you and your child and if they are not, then they are cheating you.

You have every right to expect the following things:

1- An objective assessment of exactly what level of the college game your child should target.
2- Introductions to the coaches at those schools.
3- Assistance facilitating communication between your child and those coaches.