A Moment with Coach Davis

Wisconsin Wrestling Online: Barry – as a coach, what are some of the obstacles that you encounter when you are trying to recruit an athlete?

Coach Davis: Well, one of the biggest challenges that we face in recruiting is first of all making sure that the kids are academically eligible to enter the University of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Wrestling Online: Bring me up to speed on what you mean by ‘eligible’.

Coach Davis: The NCAA rules say that to be a qualifier out of high school you have to have 16 core courses (Wisconsin requires 17) that consist of the following: 4 years English, 3 years Math at the Algebra level or above, 2 years Natural/Physical science, 2 years Social Science, 1 year of additional academic courses in either English, Math or Natural/Physical Science, and then 4 years of additional academic courses in any of the above areas or foreign language, philosophy or non-doctrinal religion.
Just a side note – you need a minimum of 2 years of a foreign language. This is very helpful when applying to the University of Wisconsin. Also, class rank is VERY important. Athletes need to understand the importance of keeping their grades up all through high school – not just one year.

The NCAA works with a sliding scale with Core Course GPA. For instance, if you have a 2.0 GPA you need a score of 1010 on your SAT or a sum of 86 on your ACT. If you have 3.0 GPA in your core courses, you would have to have a score of 620 on your SAT or a sum of 52 on your ACT.

Wisconsin Wrestling Online: Wow! It’s a lot more complicated than I thought.

Coach Davis: The first thing that we look at when we are recruiting a prospect is what his academic standing
would be at the University of Wisconsin. If we can’t get him into school, there is no need to continue to
look at him from a recruiting standpoint.

Wisconsin Wrestling Online: You mentioned “qualifier”. What is a qualifier?

Coach Davis: A qualifier is someone that meets all the core courses set forth by the NCAA standards. That means he can practice, compete, receive financial aid and have four seasons of competition. A non-qualifier cannot practice, compete, or receive financial aid the first season and only has three seasons of eligibility instead of four.

Wisconsin Wrestling Online: I don’t think very many coaches or parents understand – or even athletes – the importance of doing well in school.

Coach Davis: Yah – I know we have been criticized for not recruiting certain individuals within the State of Wisconsin – but some of the athletes in question were not eligible due to academic standards.

Wisconsin Wrestling Online: Now you guys are starting to recruit for the next season again here shortly, right?

Coach Davis: July 1st is the first time we can meet with a prospect face to face at their home. This is considered an official contact. We can watch them compete and wrestle before that any time we want – we just can’t have personal contact with them until July 1st after their Junior year.

Wisconsin Wrestling Online: What do you mean by contacts?

Coach Davis: The number of times that a coach can contact a prospect is put in place to protect the prospect from being inundated with visits during his school year. You have three different periods. A contact period is when coaches can make in person off campus recruiting visits to an athlete’s home or school.
An evaluation period is when a coach can evaluate a prospect during his practices or competitions. The third period is called a Dead Period. This is a period when a coach is not allowed to make any contact face to face contact with a prospect. It begins Monday at 8 AM – 48 hours before the signing period and ends Friday at 8 AM – 48 hours after the signing period. The signing period is always on a Wednesday and begins at 8 AM. That is the period when a prospect can sign a National Letter of Intent.

Wisconsin Wrestling Online: Whew…………I think that’s enough info for one day. I can see that recruiting is a lot more complicated than people would imagine.

Coach Davis: I hope this will be helpful for your readers and give them an opportunity to better understand what goes on in the recruiting process. Believe me………it’s complicated for us and we do it all the time!

Wisconsin Wrestling Online: Well maybe in your next interview we can talk about scholarships and how that works.

Coach Davis: Get ready for more complicated lingo!

A moment with the Coach

Time out with UW Badger Coach Barry Davis