Recruiting Information
Thank you for your interest in University of Oklahoma Men’s Lacrosse, a program on the rise! We are excited that you are interested in being a part of our continued success and invite you to be added to our official recruit list, by filling out our recruit questionnaire here.
Below you’ll find some important information on what it means, and what it takes, to be a part of the Sooner Lacrosse Family!
Admission to the University of Oklahoma
Your experience as a student-athlete at the University of Oklahoma really begins with your decision to apply! Determining your collegiate home for the next four years is one of the most important decisions you will make, and we want to make sure, as a University, that we can provide you with as clear a picture as possible so you and your family can make the most informed decision! Our University’s office of Recruitment Services can provide you with all the information you need regarding the OU admissions process. Their site can be found here: http://go2.ou.edu
Our lacrosse program shares a deep connection with the Recruitment Services office as the current Director of Recruitment Services served as the club’s advisor when it was resurrected after several years of dormancy in the 80’s. While we cannot offer any influence over the admissions process, we do; however, have the ability to put you in touch with the right people to give you the best possible chance to succeed in your goal of becoming a Sooner!
If you have any questions about the admissions process, please do not hesitate to contact Head Coach Brendan Klein via email at brendanfklein@ou.edu
Profile of an OU Lacrosse Student-Athlete
Here at the OU Men’s Lacrosse program, we not only have a goal of winning a National Championship, but we also have a special way we want to go about it, an ethos! Among other traits, we are looking for young men who demonstrate loyalty, responsibility, humility, integrity, leadership, and innovation. In short, to borrow a phrase from our Navy SEAL friends that we picked up while training with them during the 2013 season, we are looking for “common men with an uncommon desire to succeed.”
As such, our recruiting process and philosophy is based on honest two-way communication and specific performance metrics that we have found in our most successful student-athletes. As stated before, we want our potential student-athletes to make the most informed decision possible when making their college selection and we believe the best way for us to help in that regard is to inform potential student-athletes about our program and university and to evaluate them as best and honestly as we can.
In summation, we want student-athletes who want to get an outstanding education at OU, who want a great overall university experience, and most importantly who really want to be a part of our lacrosse brotherhood and family!
The Recruitment and Evaluation Process
The best way for our lacrosse staff to evaluate your potential fit in our program as a lacrosse player is through game film. If you’d like our staff to evaluate your skills, please compile a short highlight film or your best quarter or two of full game film, post online and send us the link in the “additional comments” section of your recruiting form. We will respond to every inquiry with the goal of being able to provide some clarity about what your career at OU might look like as a player if you chose to be a part of the Sooner Family.
We do attend certain recruiting events in the fall and summer, most notably T99 in the Dallas/Forth Worth Area as well as other events throughout the state of Texas and the Midwest, so please contact the coaching staff to find out if we are going to be at an event near you!
After we receive your recruit questionnaire our primary means of communication will be through email to keep you up to date on all of our events and to help you through the admissions and lacrosse selection process.
We typically host one major recruit weekend every fall where we invite recruits and their families to campus on a home football weekend. We set every recruit up with an official campus tour and the chance to speak with an admissions officer, as well as a tailgate and chance to meet and interact with the current group of OU Lacrosse student-athletes. The weekend also includes a recruits showcase where the coaching staff can evaluate your abilities and give you feedback on how you might fit in.
We also welcome and encourage potential student-athletes to schedule a visit to our Norman, OK campus at any time for an official campus tour (which can be scheduled here: https://ou.askadmissions.net/Portal/EI/Search ) with our Recruitment Services office and then once you visit we would gladly pair you up with a player-host for a night so you can get a sense of what we are all about.
Making the Team
Our program policy is that we will not make cuts, but there are no guarantees either. Anyone can be a part of the team, but it is a significant commitment. We have mandatory study halls, workouts, and practices that are required of all our student-athletes in the program. We understand the importance of a well-balanced collegiate experience and as such, we do our absolute best to work around student schedules, but we do expect our student-athletes to make lacrosse a large priority if they are going to be a part of the program.
Our fall program is spent establishing our team ethos and a high base level of individual technical proficiency. As mentioned before, it is program policy that we do not make cuts, but we do ask all incoming freshmen, transfers, new players, and returning redshirts to participate in our Indoctrination Week (Indoc) during our first week of lacrosse activities. During Indoc Week, we do our best to evaluate every player against specific performance metrics and let them know where they might fit on the team. There are three general classifications of players during Indoc Week:
- You are going to play and you are going to make a big difference in what we do. We really want you to play.
- Not sure exactly what your role will be, but you can be an effective player for us over your career.
- It’s going to be very difficult for you to play at this competitive level this season. Because of our “I Will Not Fail” team ethos, you are welcome to try, but it’s going to be tough.
Upon completion of Indoc Week, the whole team then begins our fall program. Upon completion of our fall program, our roster will have solidified and we will have the team that we will take into the spring campaign.
Even though we don’t make cuts, our roster during the spring season is typically between 30 and 40 active (not including redshirts) players. In the fall, it is not unusual for us to have as many as 15-20 incoming freshmen, transfers and returning redshirts that go through Indoc Week.
Program Funding and Financial Requirements
Our program is almost entirely funded through player dues, though we do participate in various fundraising projects throughout the year and we do have many generous benefactors. Active player dues are typically around $2,200 and redshirts pay about half that amount. We do offer payment plans and we do our best to work with players because we understand this is a major financial commitment.
Redshirting
The option to redshirt is new to our program here at OU. Redshirting means that a student athlete can be a part of the program in a big way by attending practices, learning the team ethos and concepts, acting as game day staff and many other opportunities! Redshirts pay a reduced set of dues, but get most of the gear that the active players receive (outside of game jerseys). They basically do everything the rest of the team does except for dress out for games. The most common instances that we would recommend redshirting would be for anyone in the following categories:
- Injured in the fall or early spring and will be unable to compete in the spring
- Going to be at OU for five years for your degree
- Need to focus on academics/personal issues but still want to be part of the team
- Not quite up to speed as a player and needs time to develop
- Looking to save some money while doing any of the above
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