Playing the Game: Inside Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League

by Chris Lincoln, Jay Fiedler (Foreword)

Playing The Game offers readers the first detailed, inside look at exactly how the
athletic recruiting game is played by coaches, prospective students, parents,
administrators, admission officers, and even college presidents in the Ivy League
and its Division III counterpart, the NESCAC. Here is the inside story on why this
specialized process has caused so much controversy on campus and off.

257 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

Reviews

[Anita Pomerantz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book inexpensively as a Kindle deal, and I was attracted to it since my son plays baseball. Realistically, I don't think he has any shot at playing D1, nevermind at an Ivy, but I thought I might learn something interesting about the recruiting process.

There were some nuggets in the book that were of interest. Ivies don't give athletic scholarships so their coaches need to work extremely hard to find the caliber of athletes they need who can also meet the academic requirements. The coaches actually have less wiggle room than I thought on the academic front.

The problem I had with the book is that given my level of interest in the topic of recruiting - - I thought the book was written in a boring fashion. Edited, it could have been an amazing article in Sports Illustrated. There was one great story about a kid from a horrendous background who managed to make it in Ivy league sports at Brown that was fascinating and which could have held together a long article. But the book essentially just said the same stuff over and over again with different examples from different sports - - and to me, it just wasn't engaging enough to be enjoyable.

It is also a bit dated as it was published almost 10 years ago now, and I suspect things change rapidly in this world of recruiting.

So, bottom line, wasn't sorry I read it, but didn't really enjoy it and wouldn't recommend it unless you knew you had a true Ivy league prospect on your hands. And if you do, then I do think this book would have enough value that it would be worth the read.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because my daughter was in the first stages of being recruited by an Ivy League school so I was curious about how things work in athletic recruiting in this environment. I found this book to be very interesting and it appears to be well researched although the author certainly has his opinion about athletics in the Ivy League - but makes it obvious so you can read it in that light. Our experience is that the schools tell you that athletes are treated like part of the student body - no special consideration - but this book sheds some light on the fact that that is not necessarily the case and how hard it is for both coaches and recruits to handle the restrictions and processes that result from the effort to make it appear there is no special consideration given to athletic recruits.

[Craig Brantley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read just before football season.