Making D1 in the Modern Age

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by bucky

Do it only if:

1) You have money to burn
2) You do not mind giving up some integrity
3) You have no "life" (SO, kids, career, etc.)
4) You, once you get there and made the sacrifices of 1-3 for years, do not mind getting dropped without any explanation/communication

Good luck!

This list is utter and complete BS.

1) The money is an investment. It's not being burned. As long as you set realistic expectations and understand that camp is a great tool for improvement, even if you never make D1, that's fine.

2) Utter nonsense. Unless you consider the entire process to be an affront to your integrity, no one asks you to do anything that would bring your integrity into question. (At least, nobody asked me to.)

3) Again, this is just stupid. Camp takes several days in the summer. I did my camps with a wonderful supportive wife and a daughter. My wife loved that I had the passion to pursue it. I had a job that allowed me the flexibility in my schedule to go to camp. I had plenty of "life", but camp was important to me and my family supported that.

4) Of course you're going to mind if/when you get dropped. Everybody does; and very few leave D1 officiating completely of their own volition. (I know an official who was dropped from one of his conferences the season after working the NCAA D1 National Final.) But that doesn't mean the camp experience was a waste. You're still going to be a better official than when you started. You'll still have made friends and connections.

Set reasonable expectations, reasonable budget, and a reasonable timetable. And don't listen to Bucky.