Inside An Official Visit From A Parent’s Perspective: Part II
In April, we took you inside an official visit from a parent’s perspective of committed prospect, and now we give you a look from a parent of a prospect that is looking to make a commitment.
Inside An Official Visit From A Parent’s Perspective: Part I
Anthony DiCosmo is the father of 2019 Bergen Catholic (N.J.) defensive end Aeneas DiCosmo. He has been on countless recruiting trips, but DiCosmo also went through the process as a player himself.
We caught up shortly after the DiCosmo’s official visit to Notre Dame to see just how the weekend goes for a family getting their first real look at the program.
“The visit has a reputation, and I know a few other parents and kids that have taken the visit,” DiCosmo told Irish Sports Daily. “They said Notre Dame is just different and it feels like a family. I think they met those expectations by keeping it very intimate and showcasing the family piece of it.
“Notre Dame has some solid dudes on the coaching staff that are just good men. It doesn’t take long to cut through it and see a good human being. That’s important because those are the types of men I want my son to be around.”
The intimacy of the Notre Dame visit was something that stuck with DiCosmo as there were several parts of the trip the staff did a little different than other trips.
Defensive line coach Mike Elston had prospects over to his house to interact with other players but also his family, but head coach Brian Kelly also hosted all eight official visitors and their families to his lake house on Saturday night.
“It was interesting because it was my first real interaction with Brian Kelly,” DiCosmo said. “It was really smart of them to have the parents and recruits go to Coach Kelly’s house and see him in an element outside of football. The recruiting process is about X’s and O’s, but there’s another layer of getting to know the coaches and who they are because you’re trusting your kid to be formed into a man.
“The other prospects are going to be close friends to your kid for the rest of his life, so spending time with the guys in your class is important. Spending time with the men they’re going to be around and seeing their philosophies with their family, and their work/life balance is also important.
“I thought it was interesting to see and I thought it was a very intimate way of doing a recruiting trip.”
DiCosmo is no stranger to big-time college football as he played at Boston College and he’s seen some great environments over the years, but Notre Dame was able to stick out in two areas.
“Notre Dame has an unrivaled tradition in football,” explained DiCosmo. “There are few places you can go that can say they have a tradition as strong as Notre Dame and you feel that in every part of the University.
“Touchdown Jesus is a very iconic piece of art that’s on campus, but there’s also the Holy Handoff and First Down Moses. These small nuances, you smirk and giggle at them, but it shows how much football is in the fabric of Notre Dame.”
The second aspect of the visit that stood out was the educational opportunities his son would have at Notre Dame, but the effort to show an in-depth look at the academics wasn’t lost on the DiCosmo family.
“It was clear academics are a priority, and Coach Kelly has done a good job of creating a curriculum where student-athletes are graduating in three and a half years,” said DiCosmo. “They did a good job of breaking down statistics of their competitors and where they are with graduation rates.”
The DiCosmo family wasn’t expecting to meet with the Dean of the Business School, let alone seeing a presentation catered just to the Bergen Catholic student-athlete.
“Meeting the Dean of the Business School was really cool because aside from him being a great professor, he was one of the guys that invented the Keurig,” stated DiCosmo. “This guy isn’t just teaching theory about Business. He’s an entrepreneur that launched a multi-million-dollar company.
“He put a lot of thought into the presentation he delivered, and it was tailored specifically for Aeneas. It showed even the Dean of the Business School was invested that much into the football players and that goes a long way with it being one of the toughest Business Schools that exists.”
Another piece to the academic puzzle was the ability to get out of the USA and study abroad. As a college football player, the chance to get extended breaks is primarily limited to three or four weeks after classes end in May.
Most kids go home during that time, but Notre Dame has created a way for its players to visit various countries to study or intern for those weeks.
“I know they had Brandon Wimbush go to Russia, which was like ‘Wow,’” DiCosmo said. “You wouldn’t think a football player would show up there, so that was cool from a cultural standpoint to have those opportunities. Players can spend a month over there and embrace the culture.
“When you talk about having a well-rounded experience for your players, I think that’s the one thing that was missing back when I was playing. We didn’t have those opportunities. I would have loved to have that experience and I would have dramatically benefitted from that.
“To see your kid have the opportunity to do things like that is potentially a game-changer. They can expand their mind on what they think is possible for them. I think that’s the important piece of the college experience.”
Notre Dame and Stanford compete for recruits each year, and while the two programs have great degrees, DiCosmo knows both are a little different after seeing the academic plan for his son.
“You can clearly feel an academic different when it comes to philosophies at Notre Dame and Stanford,” stated DiCosmo. “It’s not that one is better than the other, but it’s very different and very different institutions.
“You go to Stanford, and it seems like for two years they are encouraging you to learn interdisciplinarily, and that’s a Liberal Arts philosophy. If you go to the Business School at Notre Dame, you’re stepping in and having a structured curriculum.”
The trip to Kelly’s lake house is the highlight for many prospects and families as it’s a chance to unwind and have an enjoyable evening. DiCosmo saw it as an opportunity to have a good time but also to see each other in a relaxed environment.
“It’s very disarming to leave the campus and leave the comfort of the environment that is Notre Dame and go somewhere else to have a chance to not only talk to the coaches but talk to the other parents,” explained DiCosmo. “The kids can interact with one another in a way that feels like it has nothing to do with football at Notre Dame. It's healthy for them to get to know each other in that way."
While the trip to the lake house might be seen as a recruiting tactic, DiCosmo also added the coaches could also see who fits into the program in an environment outside of football.
“I think the disarming environment gives the coaches a chance to get to know a lot of the parents and the kids,” said DiCosmo. “There is a significant investment monetarily but the coaches are investing a lot into the kid. These players represent the program, so I think they want to get to know these kids in that kind of way.
“I would assume it was mutually beneficial. As much as the parents and recruits are getting to know the coaching staff and the university, the same can be said the other way around. There is going to be a real first impression of who the family is and how they interact with one another, other adults, other kids and the players on campus."
DiCosmo also saw it as a benefit as he could see how the coaches interact with those around the program, but also outside of the program.
“For someone like me, I’m paying attention to small things like how the coaches interact with people in the dining facility that are putting together every last detail," DiCosmo said. "It’s not just about how great you treat the prospect. When you’re looking at the kind of people your kid will be around, it says a lot about how they treat the other people during the two-day visit.”