The recruitment is coercive? How so? My spiritual director is an LC priest, and he never forced my hand in any decision. All he did was help me be decisive. He made it clear to me that the LCs is always an option. But when I decided to apply to a diocesan seminary, he seemed rather convinced that that was my vocation, not the Legion. If the recruitment practices are so coercive, then why didn't he try to convince me more to join the Legion. I think the recruitment methods are actually quite good because they confronted me with the decision I had before me and helped me to evaluate where I was spiritually at different points along the way. He was persistent, however, and persistently asked me where I thought I was in my discernment. Maybe this persistence is what people mean by coercive.
Perhaps my case is the singular exception. But I think that the LC priest was simply very sincerely concerned with helping me discern my vocation, whatever it was to be.
"Perhaps my case is the singular exception."
I am sure there are other cases similar to yours.
As a lay RC member who assisted in their vocations apostolate, I can assure you that for the vast majority of cases in which I pointed them toward young men who were potential priestly vocations, their recruitment tactics were coercive. The same in the middle and high school seminary. Perhaps I was part of the problem. However, I am now rectifying on solving that.
Personally, as someone who has assisted a few young men with their decision, I would be wary of anything other than the FSSP or ICKSP. The Novus Ordo seminaries, even the "conservative" ones do not provide the proper philosophical education nor formation that will be needed for priests in the next 50 years to combat the battles about to come.