“match” day for recruiting?

[Roy Rangum]

As I see the madness of college sports recruiting (that is only increasing with the transfer portal and NIL deals), I have had a thought now for a while that I wonder if it could help improve things for teams and players.

I’m in medicine, and something that happens when you graduate from medical school is you go through a program known as “the match” that determines where your next step of training will be (which is known as residency).

How it works is you apply to residency programs you are interested in, programs choose who they interview, and then after the interviews are complete, each applicant makes a list ranking the programs they interviewed at, and programs do the same for everyone they interview. Then an algorithm is applied to this massive number of different rank lists for both programs and applicants, and determines a “match” for which program an applicant will go to. Rank lists have a certain time frame in which they need to be competed, and where everyone matches is announced all on the same day. The match is completely and totally binding and neither applicants nor programs can go outside the match. It’s worked well for doctors for a long time now and it essentially guarantees both applicants and programs each will get their highest possible rated position / person.

For example: if Utah is my number one choice as an applicant, and Utah has 30 spots to fill, if I’m in Utah’s top 30 of applicants on their rank list, that’s where I go. Even if I’m not top 30, I could still end up at Utah if enough people ahead of me on Utah’s list have ranked other programs higher and they match elsewhere (the algorithm always gives preference to the applicants rank list, not the program). If I’m not accepted at Utah and I put Colorado as my 2nd choice and I’m high enough on Colorado’s list, then that’s where I go. If not, then the algorithm keeps going down my rank list to my less desired programs until it finds a program that has ranked me high enough to match.

In college sports I realize you have to recruit the best possible athletes, but I feel terrible for guys who commit to the program, who then shortly after get overshadowed by an even better recruit and they then end up transferring elsewhere. If you had a match like medicine, that scenario doesn’t happen (at least not in that way).

Also, I would like to think it dampens the effect of teams essentially buying players through the NIL as it’s harder to cut a business deal if neither knows for sure if the kid is coming to them or not until match day, and after the match has happened, the player is stuck with the team regardless (so giving them a bag of money at that point doesn’t do as much). Transfers could put their name into the match, and find out their new destination at the same time all the new guys find out too.

I think a sports match would have to introduce new variables to account for the need to have players at different positions, but I don’t think that’s impossible.

But what do you guys think? Am I missing something?

[Roy Rangum]

Also, I apologize I clearly can’t figure out how to make new paragraphs…

[2008 National Champ]

The biggest problem with your match system is the huge disparity in perceived quality of program. I would imagine that hospitals are much more similar across the country than the SEC v the MAC. Or to be more regional, the SEC v the Sun Belt. Many of the schools are in the same states and in cities of similar sizes. But if you did a straw poll, you will have a lot of applicants to Alabama or Georgia and a lot less for South Alabama or Georgia State.

The best players will still go the the best schools so I don’t know how your match system would spread the talent out better. The only way to truly spread the talent would be a reverse draft where the worst teams get the first picks in every round which none of the P5 conferences would agree to. Why would Alabama give up its normal 5 out of the top 30 players every year for the 130th, 260th, 390th.,, best prospects?

[Roy Rangum]

I assure you – the disparity is just as wide in medicine. There is a huge difference in being competitive for a residency at Harvard (or other large academic programs) versus a residency program at a community hospital in the Midwest (or any other out of the way place).

The first way the disparity is sorted out is candidates from the get go have a pretty good feel for where they will and won’t be competitive, and apply accordingly. Secondly, programs don’t interview everyone who applies. And lastly, both programs and applicants will interview for those that are a reach, and those that are a backup (as candidates really don’t want to go unmatched, and programs don’t want to be left with open spots).

At the end of the match, typically the only programs with open spots (Ie, they couldn’t get enough people) are the bottom of the barrel places and / or programs with known significant issues.

And, they actually have another system (called the scramble) where unmatched applicants can get into programs with remaining open spots – but neither programs nor applicants like to resort to that.

[DrJazzy]

I am in medicine as well and I like it! 

Some things that might be problematic…

 

1) I still have no idea how the match works and whether or not you should strategically rank your programs ie only put a couple long-shot programs in top 3 or risk missing out on matching at all. 

2) Positionally, would be a nightmare. A school could end up with like 5 QB’s for example. BUT this could be fixed by treating each position as a medical specialty and having each only a few spots available for each position – ie 1-2 QB’s. 

[Johnny]

I was only 17 when I joined the Navy. What could have been if I joined the Army? 

Who knows. Bottom line, I want men teaching young men how to be better men. I think the University of Utah has one of the best structures in the Nation. 

Ranking 15 year old kids is weird. Stop it.

[Roy Rangum]

It’s an interesting point, that a big part of recruiting is trying to land a prospect early (which can get weird in its own right). I’m not sure this entirely changes that, although it does change the process of “committing” to a program.