Zev Taublieb argues that your relationship with the coach matters more than whether you play Division I or III. A bad coach can wreck your college career even at a prestigious school. Before committing, attend a coach's camp to see if you actually click with them.
In 2 years, that friend of yours that committed to a Division 1 school is gonna be looking on your D3 commitment with envy because they are riding the bench and they're now having to go through the transfer portal. Meanwhile, you're getting a world-class education and you're starting. D1 is not all it's cracked up to be, and I went to 2 different Division 1 schools. I'm not saying it's bad, I loved it, it was great. But for a lot of athletes in the recruiting process right now who are so consumed with Division 1, just remember that it's not about just getting to that school, it's about what happens when you get there. For a lot of the athletes that you're seeing commit to Division 1 schools right now, they are not gonna be at those schools in 1 year or 2 years, and even if they are, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're having a good time.
Yeah, this is really true, especially as you've seen in the transfer portal. This is why it's so important that we prioritize your coach first. Parents say to me, Zev, what do you think is more important, academics or your coach? And I say academics, but really I mean their coach. If you don't like your coach, you have a miserable experience, no matter if it's Division I or Division III. Now, there is a ranking system online where you can find out which coaches are told that they're good or bad based off of other people's opinions, like Rotten Tomatoes of coaches. Hard to know how accurate those sites are because, look, you might have your own experience with that movie, if it was Rotten Tomatoes, or with a coach. So my strong advice to you is go talk to the coaches, go to their camp, not to get recruited, but to see if you actually would like to be coached by that coach. If you want to know which camps I would recommend you should go to, then comment the word quiz and I'll send you a quiz so you can figure it out. Or call me, links in the bio.
