[BostonCard]

Well, the coaches only have limited control over that denominator.  The athlete still has to apply and get admitted.  The admission process itself can be considered a bit of a pre-comitment, and one the coaches have limited influence on.  The real denominator under the coaches control contains a lot of players who were extended an offer (conditional on admission),  and either decided they didn't want to apply, or applied and did not get admitted.  That number is necessarily larger than 22, and we hope a fair bit larger than 22.  If only slam dunk admissions were applying, it would be a sign of insufficient aggression.  And if only players who we knew were going to apply were being offered, also a sign of insufficient aggression.

That a large proportion of students who applied and got admitted then sign is not a large surprise.  Because of the commitment involved in filling out the application (not to mention taking AP classes and the SAT, sometimes multiple times), by the time they get accepted, the prospect has to have a serious interest in Stanford.  It requires no effort to keep any school not named Stanford that has extended an offer into the final (and in the case of a local powerhouse, it might actually be more difficult to take a school like LSU out of the running for a Louisiana kid, for example), so the odds of picking Stanford once an athlete has applied, visited and been admitted, are pretty good.  The only exceptions I can think of: parental pressure to at least apply to Stanford and the ego of wanting to say you got into Stanford, and, potentially being completely blown away by another school on a visit.

BC

[BostonCard]

Well, the coaches only have limited control over that denominator.  The athlete still has to apply and get admitted.  The admission process itself can be considered a bit of a pre-comitment, and one the coaches have limited influence on.  The real denominator under the coaches control contains a lot of players who were extended an offer (conditional on admission),  and either decided they didn't want to apply, or applied and did not get admitted.  That number is necessarily larger than 22, and we hope a fair bit larger than 22.  If only slam dunk admissions were applying, it would be a sign of insufficient aggression.  And if only players who we knew were going to apply were being offered, also a sign of insufficient aggression.

That a large proportion of students who applied and got admitted then sign is not a large surprise.  Because of the commitment involved in filling out the application (not to mention taking AP classes and the SAT, sometimes multiple times), by the time they get accepted, the prospect has to have a serious interest in Stanford.  It requires no effort to keep any school not named Stanford that has extended an offer into the final (and in the case of a local powerhouse, it might actually be more difficult to take a school like LSU out of the running for a Louisiana kid, for example), so the odds of picking Stanford once an athlete has applied, visited and been admitted, are pretty good.  The only exceptions I can think of: parental pressure to at least apply to Stanford and the ego of wanting to say you got into Stanford, and, potentially being completely blown away by another school on a visit.

BC