In mid-April, the NCAA will vote on a proposal that halts early recruiting for both men's and women's college lacrosse.
The women's collegiate lacrosse coaches' association (IWLCA) led the effort to draft the proposal to regulate early recruiting. The proposal was submitted to the NCAA in the fall of 2015. Since then, the support from the lacrosse community has been pouring in, including from the collegiate men's lacrosse coaches (IMLCA) and the Ivy League athletic departments.
Ann Kitt Carpenetti, the vice president of lacrosse operations for US Lacrosse, said that as the governing body of the sport, US Lacrosse fully supports the legislation the NCAA is considering. It would turn back the time table on recruiting, restricting communication between coaches and recruits until September 1 of the student-athlete's junior year.
Currently, a college coach cannot formally initiate contact with a recruit until September 1 of their junior year, but coaches can respond to correspondence initiated by athletes. For example, recruits can email coaches and coaches can not only respond, but they can suggest a good time to call or visit campus.
This loophole has led to earlier and earlier verbal commitments. Just this year, an eighth grader verbally committed to play at University of Maryland.
Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse head coach Dave Pietramala said he's been vocal about his displeasure for early recruiting, but also the part he's played.
"We are a guilty participant of it... it's a necessary evil," he said. "And quite frankly we're at a point right now where we're starting to go the other way. We're starting to get frustrated with de-commitments. We're starting to get frustrated with maybe making some mistakes. We're starting to get frustrated with not getting to know the young men like we used to."
Although recruits can commit to colleges five years before they graduate high school, there's nothing binding them to the school and they can change their mind.
And the timeline for recruiting, eighth, ninth or even tenth graders has frustrated athletes and coaches alike.
"The window of opportunity to get to know a young man and his family was much greater years ago," Pietramala said. "And you could get to know them over a two to three year process and coaches."
Carpenetti says US Lacrosse is doing everything it can to address concerns about the negative effects of early recruiting.
"We are concerned about the impact that early recruiting is having on young athletes," she said.
She fears kids are deciding to specialize in lacrosse too early, thinking that will make them more attractive to college coaches.
"Kids are just burning out. The way things used to go, you'd be able to play multiple sports, be able to go to handful of recruiting events and by the time you were a junior or senior, you'd make a decision on where you wanted to go to school and play lacrosse," Carpenetti said.
Ironically, college coaches say they prefer two and three sport athletes. Pietramala says he's looking for athletes that have experience with sports outside of lacrosse.
"For us, we're looking for young guys that have different experiences," he said. "We want young men that quite frankly haven't been playing lacrosse all their life."
Pietrmala says he's been burned by early recruiting and de-commits, he's hoping the NCAA passes the recruiting legislation.
"When they're 13, 14, 15, they're in such formidable years, I think the decisions that will be made will be more educated decisions," he said. "I think they'll be more firm commitments and the word 'commitment' will carry greater meaning. I just think we're on a very slippery slope now."
Carpenetti echoed coach's thoughts. She says this isn't something folks are doing to look good, it's just out of control.
"They can barely decide what they want for dinner, much less where they want to go to college," she said.
One of the unique things about lacrosse is there's so many opportunities to play in college, unlike many other sports. It's the fastest growing sport in the nation and if you want to play in college, there's a program for you.
Carpenetti said there's clearly a demand for competitive lacrosse, she just hopes it will exist without the emphasis on recruiting.
"There's no bad guy in this," she said. "The sport has grown in popularity and coaches are doing the best they can to find the best talent."
The vast majority of college coaches support the proposal sent to the NCAA. They're looking for the NCAA to show leadership and change the landscape of lacrosse recruiting for the better.
One of the major concerns from the NCAA is enforcement and compliance. Carpenetti said there's no such thing as 100 percent compliance, but she believes that with the majority of coaches behind the change, they will follow the rules.
"It's in the NCAA's hands at this point," she said.
If approved, the recruiting timeline will go into effect in August.
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