Female athletes have a few edges in the recruiting process

Thirty-five years after Title IX legislation outlawed gender-based discrimination at schools receiving federal funding, the playing field for aspiring college athletes has tilted in odd ways, some high school and college coaches say: These days, most women find it easier to land an athletic scholarship than their male counterparts.

The reason is simple, said Bluffton High School athletics director and former football coach Dave Adams -- since Title IX's adoption, schools have striven for parity in the number of scholarships offered to athletes of both sexes, but there are more men than women chasing those scholarships.

"College coaches are looking for (female athletes) so hard, the average girl playing in high school can get scholarship offers that won't even go to state champions in a boys sport," Adams said. "It's not unusual for me to get a call from a women's college coach saying, 'I've got three scholarships available; who've you got?' You'd never hear that from a men's coach."

When USC Beaufort announced plans to join the NAIA and bring intercollegiate athletics to campus this fall, the Sand Sharks intended to field men's and women's teams in golf and cross country. However, the women's golf team was scuttled because it couldn't attract enough players, and only one female runner stayed beyond the first cross country practice.

The Sand Sharks didn't offer athletic scholarships to any of its athletes this year, but golf coach and athletics director Kim Abbott acknowledges that when they do, it probably will be more difficult to identify and lure quality female competitors.

"High school and junior programs don't have as many junior (female) athletes, and there just are fewer athletes seeking those opportunities," Abbott said.

But those seeking the opportunity often are better prepared than their male counterparts, some local coaches say.

Hilton Head Christian Academy girls tennis coach Ray Yost, the former men's and women's coach at Mercyhurst College in Pennsylvania, said boys tend to get a later start on recruiting than girls, who also tend to choose a school more quickly. Typically, he had more commitments for his women's team during early signing period, while he frequently signed male athletes just a few months or weeks before the start of their freshman seasons, long after the national signing day.

"Girls seem much more organized," Yost said.

Before departing for Ridgeland High School's football staff, Russell Holley was an assistant football and track coach at Bluffton. He said his top track athletes, particularly females, tended to be better versed in NCAA requirements, perhaps because they believed fewer scholarship opportunities would be available to them and that big professional contracts won't await them when they're finished with college.

"They just seemed to have more urgency to get things done," Holley said.