Football Team & Rush

[EE-BO]

Your sons talking to the coach is a good call. It is also a good call for them to rush and make it very clear during rush to the fraternities that they are going to be on the football team. Any fraternity that is any good at all will know what that means and make their own decisions accordingly.

Srmom has it right- a good fraternity at a good school anywhere will jump at the chance to pledge a solid guy who has made a major personal committment to one of that school's sports teams.

And like she said, time and priorities will have an impact on where such individuals place their loyalties and develop their closest bonds.

All the same, your sons can find great value now and in the future in going Greek- and the chapters they choose will benefit as well. That is what it is all about.

Every chapter has guys who are at the house all the time and make it their life. And every chapter has guys who are rarely present and do not have the same direct connection while in school. But the latter group includes guys who care about the chapter but also have other obligations.

A good fraternity wants solid men- even if those solid men have other priorities in their lives. A guy who makes the committment to participate in football brings- by virtue of his efforts and drive- great credit on his fraternity that overcomes any issues with him not being at every pledge meeting or coming to every party.

So my advice for your sons is to rush if they want, but just be honest and up front about their committment to football. Any fraternity worth having them will understand and adjust accordingly. Take this advice from an alumnus of a top southern school which had many athletes in our chapter. The ones who wanted to be part of our group were given the chance to do so with genuine consideration for the demands on their time.

[DGwithagrey]

Thanks for the great advice, everyone! I've relayed it all to them and I hope these postings have helped other guys in a similar boat.

[Jim_Hoegaarden]

As someone who has been there and been on both sides of the issue, first find out if the coach has a problem with it. Most won't, but check anyways. Also, will they be walk-ons or scholarship players. That will also determine the coach's response. If they are scholarship players, they should make sure that the fraternity knows that their school is being paid by that scholarship and they need to commit to that first, and the fraternity second. Most houses understand that.

When these players rushed, they also made sure the fraternity knew, and the fraternity would make allowances for many things and would lower the requirements for pledgeship because of the football commitment. Also, your boys should already be talking to fraternities, and that is shomething they should bring up as an issue, and NOT as a way to boast. Seriously, that is a huge turn off.

Just to clarify, there aren't many football players at OU that rush. Mostly, walk-ons are the guys who rush. Very few scholarship players rush, but there have been a few.

Also, bit of advice, tell them NOT to drink during the season. It will make them drag a$$ and they will not survive long. I don't care if they did it in high school, they need to stay away from it in season. That's mostly if they would actually play on Saturdays though, if they are only on the practice squad like most first year guys, they probably can get away with it.

Hope this helps from someone who has done it first hand, and been on both sides of the issue.

[jonnydrillbit]

I say let them rush in the fall. It will give them something to take their mind of school and football when they need to. Most fraternities will go easy on them because theyre athletes. Nothing better then starting off college as NCAA player who is also a new greek.

[Entrepreneur]

Back in the old Southwest Conference days (dating myself), we pledged and initiated the starting QB. We did it in the Spring. There's zero chance he would have endured a fall pledgeship. As it was, we made a lot of allowances for his athletic commitments in the spring. Of course, the reduced pledgeship burden he endured was a heck of a lot harder and longer than any of today's pledges likely see.

I would think most houses will cut athletes slack. Some houses also have reduced dues for varsity athletes. My chapter did.

The football coach didn't have any problems with guys pledging our fraternity. I'm sure the fact that one of our alums gave a lot of money to the football team and was a hunting buddy with the head coach didn't impact it at all.

This was not our only athlete or football player. My roommate was a football player until an injury left him to choose between walking and football. I was a varsity athlete in a different sport. I pledged in-season, but was badly injured and going through rehab. If I was playing, there's no way I could have pledged. Even if I could, I would have missed a lot of the pledging experience.

Tell your sons to talk with the coach. Maybe they can rush now, but pledge in the spring. Personally, I would recommend focusing on football and school. The fraternity can come later.

Most houses will have a positive bias for football players. They'll accomodate your sons' requirements. Plus, waiting will give your sons time to make sure they're selecting the house that fits them best.

Good luck.

[DGwithagrey]

They've made their decision and will be going through, but I don't want to give any more info out. Your advice was relayed to them and really helped. Thanks!

[TechTransfer]

They should ask their coach what to do. Our scholarship athletes are typically not allowed to pledge. I had a friend who ran track, and had to wait until the end of his senior year to accept a bid.

[Tom Earp]

Originally Posted by DGwithagrey

They've made their decision and will be going through, but I don't want to give any more info out. Your advice was relayed to them and really helped. Thanks!

That is great!

My Alma Maters coach says no to Greeks but one of our now Alums was an All American Academic Scholar so he did make time and was president of the chapter.

Also remember when looking at many schools, there were many outstanding players who were GLO members!

Coaches feel that their players have to concentrait on nothing but foot ball! Being a member of a GLO takes that away from the team.

I would rather have a well rounded son who has gotten experience from something but grinding up the grass.

Another point is that GLOs have higher GPAs normaly than the schools.