Playing the Game: Inside Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League [Paperback]

Chris Lincoln (Author), Jay Fiedler (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2004

This inside look at the athletic recruiting process reveals exactly how the athletic recruiting game is played by coaches, prospects, parents, administrators, admissions officers, and even college presidents in the Ivy League and NESCAC. This book tells how Trinity College became better than Harvard, Princeton, and Yale in squash by recruiting around the world to capture the national title; why a Brown lacrosse coach left the Ivy League recruiting rat race to seek a more sane lifestyle at Bates; and how the admission deans at Princeton, Brown, and Dartmouth view the whole athletic recruiting process. A compelling combination of profiles, stories, and excerpts of interviews reveals why Ivy League coaches have to work so much harder than their Division I peers to identify qualified student athletes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

You don't need an Ivy League education to appreciate Lincoln's in-depth look at recruiting in this elite conference, but it helps. A good part of Lincoln's analysis centers on the Academic Index (A.I.), a system devised by Ivy schools that uses stratified bands to limit the number of student athletes schools can admit in certain academic ranges. The A.I. formula is complex and serves to make a difficult recruiting situation for Ivy coaches even harder, Lincoln argues. Because the Ivy entrance requirements are higher than for most other colleges in the nation, before the A.I. was introduced in the early 1980s Ivy coaches had a limited pool of athletes to choose from. Despite being refined several times, the A.I. is still flawed, and Lincoln proposes that it be replaced by a firm minimum standard that would simplify the recruiting process for both the schools and students. Another important factor Lincoln examines in the recruiting wars is financial aid. Since Harvard, Yale and Princeton have the largest endowments, they are better positioned to secure the students they have targeted. In this sound book, Lincoln finds that while the recruiting process is cleaner than most other Division I conferences, the Ivy League is not without its own problems.
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Review

"A fun read for anyone interested in the inner workings of college sports, and a must read for anyone interested in being an Ivy League athlete."  —The Nashua Telegraph

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Nomad Press (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972202668
• ISBN-13: 978-0972202664
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #316,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like Halberstam's The Amateurs, June 24, 2004

By A Customer

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This review is from: Playing the Game: Inside Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League (Paperback)

Lincoln's book reminded me of Halberstam's The Amateurs and I recommend it just as highly. Halberstam examined the character and discipline of a handful of rowers and coaches; Lincoln takes a broader view, detailing the methods whereby talented athletes are identified, recruited and then cosseted at Ivy League schools. Both books provide compelling personal stories. Both reveal highly specialized but hidden worlds. And both are about a lot more than sports.

In fact, Lincoln--equal parts jock, reporter, ethicist and diplomat--has written a book that can be read with profit from several perspectives. For a young athlete, Playing the Game might be used as a guide to unmarked gates at Harvard, Yale and Princeton. For anyone considering a career as an Ivy recruiter, Playing the Game is a hair-raising foretaste of the stresses to come.

Or, if you've ever sought insight into the upper echelons of Wall Street and Washington, where so many Ivy Leaguers flock, try reading this book about squash and lacrosse. Ethical relativity starts early.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for any athlete or coach interested in the Ivies, June 16, 2004

By 

Mark Wheeler (Paris France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing the Game: Inside Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League (Paperback)

This remarkably well researched and engaging book reveals the surprising importance of athletics to gain admission to the Ivy League. Chris Lincoln is a talented writer who has chosen as his first effort to tell the story of athletic recruitment practices at places where one might think that it's 'grades first, sports second' . This morsel of commonly held wisdom is thoroughly debunked.

The story is told through the eyes of the coaches and players themselves, as well as a sprinkling of the opinions of the folks from admissions departments and administrators(including a few college presidents) that are so frank they have an 'off the record' feel. Bottom line: athletics count, and can count big time no matter what anyone tells you.

The complicated and lengthy process of how players are recruited is unveiled, and from this base the author draws an easy to follow path for any athlete wanting to scale the Ivy mountain. If I were a coach or a young athlete with aspirations in that direction, I could hope to find no better resource than this.

And I read it in one sitting. The guy can write.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Playing the Game, July 18, 2004

By 

Patrick K. Freeman (Vermont) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Playing the Game: Inside Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League (Paperback)

If you have children in junior high school or high school that will be going to college, then do NOT skip reading this book.

"If asked, 'Want to read a book about the college application process for athletes in the Ivy League?' I am pretty sure that most of the time I would have said "Thanks but no thanks." However if you are a parent with kids that are just like mine -- not likely to play a varsity sport at college -- then check out this book. The book should almost be required reading for the parents of student athletes, and the students as well.

One of the interesting themes this book carries is the value and need for a "hook" to get the attention of admissions offices when applying to college. My kids are all great students. They do not have the athletic "hook" that is going to get them lots of attention from college coaches and athletic directors or land them big scholarships. But they will be competing for those admission slots with the kids that do.

Mr. Lincoln's book is surprisingly interesting, an easy read, and well written.