[M T]

Wow, the McDs were relative rare on our team and now--so many!

The girls game was added in 2002 ...

I can imagine several possible reasons for the increase in McDonald AA going to any particular school (esp. Stanford)
  1) Statistical variability
  2) Improved recruiting (more contact, energy, personality aspects, different recruiters, other contacts)
  3) Easing of admission standards (school as a whole, or for athletes)
  4) Highly visible examples of results  (NCAA  finishes, big name pros)
  5) Issues at other schools make them less attractive
  6) Focus on players that McD's also would likely choose
  7) Early (pre-school/kindergarten, etc) focus on academics as well as athletics by parents (and later by their children)
  8) Increased familiarity  with the school (PAC-12 channel, for instance)


It has long been my belief that admission was the gating factor that limited which athletes could even consider Stanford.  When just possibly admittable students were considered, Stanford got a good share of the better athletes.  If that were really the case, then I'd believe this is just due to statistical variability.  But I could consider that a larger set of parents are pushing their children academically as well as athletically, increasing the potentially admittable student population.

I can also believe that the bright stars we had about a decade earlier were models or heroes of the current high school athletes when they were just getting into the sport, giving them the extra push to want to be able to go to Stanford.

I also would not be surprised to hear that Tara is having to delegate more recruiting activity to the other coaches, and they've been able to do well.

Of course, for any individual athlete, how they came to choose or not choose Stanford (and how Stanford chose them) will be very individualized.  While the numbers are small, there might be some telling influences that someone who follows recruiting and the prospects like BobK might notice.

[M T]

Wow, the McDs were relative rare on our team and now--so many!

The girls game was added in 2002 ...

I can imagine several possible reasons for the increase in McDonald AA going to any particular school (esp. Stanford)
  1) Statistical variability
  2) Improved recruiting (more contact, energy, personality aspects, different recruiters, other contacts)
  3) Easing of admission standards (school as a whole, or for athletes)
  4) Highly visible examples of results  (NCAA  finishes, big name pros)
  5) Issues at other schools make them less attractive
  6) Focus on players that McD's also would likely choose
  7) Early (pre-school/kindergarten, etc) focus on academics as well as athletics by parents (and later by their children)
  8) Increased familiarity  with the school (PAC-12 channel, for instance)


It has long been my belief that admission was the gating factor that limited which athletes could even consider Stanford.  When just possibly admittable students were considered, Stanford got a good share of the better athletes.  If that were really the case, then I'd believe this is just due to statistical variability.  But I could consider that a larger set of parents are pushing their children academically as well as athletically, increasing the potentially admittable student population.

I can also believe that the bright stars we had about a decade earlier were models or heroes of the current high school athletes when they were just getting into the sport, giving them the extra push to want to be able to go to Stanford.

I also would not be surprised to hear that Tara is having to delegate more recruiting activity to the other coaches, and they've been able to do well.

Of course, for any individual athlete, how they came to choose or not choose Stanford (and how Stanford chose them) will be very individualized.  While the numbers are small, there might be some telling influences that someone who follows recruiting and the prospects like BobK might notice.