College Retention Rates

[Unregistered]

Do not feed the trolls --

As there was a comment to the effect that better teams would have lower turn over I took a look at the current top 10 ranked teams. Overall 55 seniors are still around out of the 89 freshmen who started out in the 11/12 season. That is about a 62 percent retention rate.

The grim reality in college sports, especially high level D1, is that the coach is attempting to replace you every year. They will recruit 7-10 kids who are younger, hungrier and have limited academic loads as Freshmen. Those that came before may be replaced, or have to work their butts off to remain relevant. If they are a two year starter, they may end up as a bench warmer because of a hot recruit. No loyalty and no promises. Tough business.

If you have a bad practice, bad game, bad week, you could see limited or no minutes. Especially if you are a bubble starter, as in life, the stars get a little more of a rope. If your replacement plays well, that could be it for you. Next man/woman up.

[Unregistered]

The grim reality in college sports, especially high level D1, is that the coach is attempting to replace you every year. They will recruit 7-10 kids who are younger, hungrier and have limited academic loads as Freshmen. Those that came before may be replaced, or have to work their butts off to remain relevant. If they are a two year starter, they may end up as a bench warmer because of a hot recruit. No loyalty and no promises. Tough business.

If you have a bad practice, bad game, bad week, you could see limited or no minutes. Especially if you are a bubble starter, as in life, the stars get a little more of a rope. If your replacement plays well, that could be it for you. Next man/woman up.

The above is no different in D3--the coach is always looking to recruit your replacement, and they do not care what year you are (Sr or Jr) the best players play and you may only get one shot at an opportunity and then it may be gone. You could be the Sr Captain and if a Freshman is better, then the Frosh plays and you sit. Above poster is correct. No loyalty. No promises. Tough business---even at D3.

[Unregistered]

Basically he was the runt of the litter when it comes to soccer players. But hey, dad can still come here to lament the evils of D1 soccer and champion the ideals of the scholar athlete.

Wow!!! What an ass. Do you hug yourself and speak of your greatness in the mirror. The thread was addressing the dropout rate, which is higher for D1 athletes than D3. Unless you are getting money, it makes little difference where you are. Keep in mind, however, that an athletic scholarship is only given when the athlete is on the team that brought him/her to the school in the first place.

[Unregistered]

The grim reality in college sports, especially high level D1, is that the coach is attempting to replace you every year. They will recruit 7-10 kids who are younger, hungrier and have limited academic loads as Freshmen. Those that came before may be replaced, or have to work their butts off to remain relevant. If they are a two year starter, they may end up as a bench warmer because of a hot recruit. No loyalty and no promises. Tough business.

If you have a bad practice, bad game, bad week, you could see limited or no minutes. Especially if you are a bubble starter, as in life, the stars get a little more of a rope. If your replacement plays well, that could be it for you. Next man/woman up.

Sounds just like our club experience.

[Unregistered]

Wow!!! What an ass. Do you hug yourself and speak of your greatness in the mirror. The thread was addressing the dropout rate, which is higher for D1 athletes than D3. Unless you are getting money, it makes little difference where you are. Keep in mind, however, that an athletic scholarship is only given when the athlete is on the team that brought him/her to the school in the first place.

I wonder how high the drop out rate is affected by the size of the rosters. Is there an average difference in size of the rosters from one divison to the next? I'm going to guess there is because I know some D3 schools who have had to go begging for warm bodies to fill out their rosters. Obviously not the top programs, but many of the rest.

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I wonder how high the drop out rate is affected by the size of the rosters. Is there an average difference in size of the rosters from one divison to the next? I'm going to guess there is because I know some D3 schools who have had to go begging for warm bodies to fill out their rosters. Obviously not the top programs, but many of the rest.

BU has a roster of 27 or so. Probably another 5-6 redshirt/injured who are not listed. Typical rosters are in the mid to high 20's for most competitive programs.

[Unregistered]

BU has a roster of 27 or so. Probably another 5-6 redshirt/injured who are not listed. Typical rosters are in the mid to high 20's for most competitive programs.

Why wouldn't the injured/redshirted players be listed on the roster? If true, that is quite unusual.

[Unregistered]

I wonder how high the drop out rate is affected by the size of the rosters. Is there an average difference in size of the rosters from one divison to the next? I'm going to guess there is because I know some D3 schools who have had to go begging for warm bodies to fill out their rosters. Obviously not the top programs, but many of the rest.

Most schools have rosters > 20.....up toward 30. About 8-9 barely see the field each season. If they are freshman then there is a chance that they will stay. A big contributor toward drop out is the absence of Junior Varsity squads and schedules. A long, long, long time ago, when I was in college there was JV and V. Most of the freshman played JV and move up within a year or two. The great part was that practices were combined, and we were always playing in games. There are no JV teams or seasons anymore.

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Team will not go far, if you can't manage the bottom 1/2 of your roster. The more numbers you have, the harder it gets to manage the ones who dont play. They're the ones who go back to the dorm, and complain about time, the coach, team mates. Hard to manage the expectations with a roster of 22-25 players let alone 26-30+ players. JV teams would be great, but are very hard to recruit a player to play on, in today's world, if JV is the best you can offer. #1 on JV is just #19 on the V roster!

[Unregistered]

Most schools have rosters > 20.....up toward 30. About 8-9 barely see the field each season. If they are freshman then there is a chance that they will stay. A big contributor toward drop out is the absence of Junior Varsity squads and schedules. A long, long, long time ago, when I was in college there was JV and V. Most of the freshman played JV and move up within a year or two. The great part was that practices were combined, and we were always playing in games. There are no JV teams or seasons anymore.

It's too bad too. Having freshmen basically sit (and be unhappy about it) isn't a good way to develop them for your program later on. I'm sure some of those players would eventually get on the field but some aren't willing to wait or unwilling to take that chance. For some it might not ever happen.

[Unregistered]

Team will not go far, if you can't manage the bottom 1/2 of your roster. The more numbers you have, the harder it gets to manage the ones who dont play. They're the ones who go back to the dorm, and complain about time, the coach, team mates. Hard to manage the expectations with a roster of 22-25 players let alone 26-30+ players. JV teams would be great, but are very hard to recruit a player to play on, in today's world, if JV is the best you can offer. #1 on JV is just #19 on the V roster!

Your last sentence, while true, does not reflect the bigger picture. On the one hand, if you are a freshman trying to break into the Varsity roster, but not yet ready, the playing a JV season is great. This even goes for sophomores on the cusp. For the older kids, then the sentiment is different as it is less likely that they will make a significant impact on the Varsity squad, however, if you really want to play then JV still offers that stimulation.

With a roster of 25-30, having JV (or JV like games) offers those on the Varsity roster an opportunity to get some more playtime that they might not have otherwise gotten.

[Unregistered]

Not an expert, but I am aware that many schools, including D3s, have reserve teams on which kids who see little varsity time play. And, even kids who see a fair amount of time may play too as ncaa game limits can mean there is a need even for varsity starters to play some reserve games.

[Unregistered]

Not an expert, but I am aware that many schools, including D3s, have reserve teams on which kids who see little varsity time play. And, even kids who see a fair amount of time may play too as ncaa game limits can mean there is a need even for varsity starters to play some reserve games.

I don't know of any such schools in this area. Which ones might you be referring to? Is it only D3?

[Unregistered]

Not an expert, but I am aware that many schools, including D3s, have reserve teams on which kids who see little varsity time play. And, even kids who see a fair amount of time may play too as ncaa game limits can mean there is a need even for varsity starters to play some reserve games.

Really? Some examples, please.

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The only time colleges had a second team was when the NCAA prohibited freshman playing. That rule was changed in the 60's and you haven't had any of those teams since then.