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Update. HC showed up alone. He wanted to see my son go through his entire pre-game ritual and told him he only needed him to throw 15-20 pitches. Interestingly, no radar gun. While he was going through his routine the coach and I spoke, but only about things like the weather and the fact he and my sister graduated from the same high school. While he was pitching, the coach walked around the mound. After, the two of them spoke out of range of my hearing. Then shook hands with him and left.

My son reported that he mainly talked about mechanics and what he did and didn't like, saying there were a couple of things he didn't like but wouldn't change unless he struggled. Then told him he'd call tomorrow or the next day and indoctrinate him on ****** baseball. 

I'm not sure what I was expecting. I figured since he flew this far to see him and we'd been told an offer was coming from the rc, that he'd want to maybe have lunch and talk. I wasn't sure if we'd simply been blown off or not.

However, the rc did text my son at about midnight asking for updated transcripts, test scores and some other information so he could put together a package. 

So, I'm still not entirely sure what happened. In the meantime, a Power 5 school we had never considered or even gotten as much as a camp invite from called him, asked if he was committed, and said they'd like to know where he was pitching next so they could send someone out. However, I think he's pretty much centered in on the A&B schools already mentioned.

To another point, when I brought up that he didn't necessarily like school A, he set me straight that he DID like the school, it was only the baseball facilities that he wasn't enamored with. 

Regardless, he's in a pretty good position and we're pretty happy with it.

fenwaysouth posted:

RJM mentioned transferring.   Transferring is the heartburn I would have by ignoring the second mantra.   Everybody is agreeing on the first mantra.   In my time at HSBBWeb (and the many baseball people I know in my little corner of the world) it seems that many more young men are transferring (for baseball reasons) from their original school than not.  It seems to me this can be avoided in many cases.   Overwhelmingly, these are D1 Power-5 or top mid-majors.  Where I'm going with this is.....why can't a recruit knowing he is going into this ultra competitive baseball environment hedge his bets (and future) by picking the better academic situation from the get go....even at the expense of a few scholarship dollars?  

Possibly, this is just my perspective.  My oldest son picked a more academic school over scholarship dollars because he was more serious about academics than baseball as a career.   He loves baseball but was willing to forego it for his degree.

How many times when a kid transfers is it because the school is pulling his money? I know that it is technically illegal in the P5 conferences, but the coaches know how to get around it by letting the player know they will not get any playing time and advising them to go to JUCO for a year to get reps. 

Root - Sounds like a good deal that the HC came to see son pitch.  Congrats on even another option.  Is the P5 school close to home or would it still be a long distance deal?  Not sure if the P5 potential clears things up or muddies the water even more with now a potential 3rd school in the mix.  Please keep us posted on where this all ends up... 

I did want to take the time to put something out there that I consider a mistake on my part. I didn't pay enough attention to some of the financial aspects when targeting schools. In the beginning, most of the attention he got and most of the targets we focused on were Midwest and Eastern schools. Coming from Colorado, it's difficult as (if you don't count Air Force), we have only one single D1 school and it is horribly underfunded (my understanding is they only fund 3.0 scholarships). People find it almost unbelievable when I tell them Colorado, Colorado State, and University of Denver do not have baseball programs. 

I sort of learned how schools recruit geographically. I'll use Arkansas as an example. The university has a reciprocal deal with every boarder state and Illinois where students from those states pay only 110% of in-state tuition. So, understandably, they will take kids from those states over kids from outside that bubble, all things being the same. Moat southern states have similar programs.

In the West, we have the WUE which includes most western states, but not every school in those states. For example, Washington State is part of the deal, but NOT U of Washington. The WUE allows a student to pay 150% of in-state tuition. It was only after he started getting a few offers from those Mid-western and Eastern schools that the reality of the difference hit me. After that, we started looking closer at these WUE schools where he was a more attractive recruit and where a 40-50% scholarship becomes a much better deal than even 70-75% at the other schools.

I read on here once that only about 50 D1 programs fully fund their 11.7 scholarship. That brings even more emphasis to bear on the importance of great grades and test scores to enable the student/athlete to maximize the potential academic dollars. WUE is an awesome program, but you have to be careful to ensure the major you are looking at is included in that WUE school's list. Otherwise you will either be changing major to avail yourself of that WUE benefit or looking at other schools.

Root, it is awesome for your son that he is going to seemingly have a choice! What an exciting time!

So, in the end, he went with the mantra "go where they love you." He just committed to School A - Cal St. Northridge. The overwhelming factor was the way they recruited him which included coming all the way out to the middle of nowhere to make sure all of our questions and concerns as a family were answered. Coach Moore and his staff made the entire process something enjoyable. 

roothog66 posted:
2019Dad posted:

Congrats Root! Terrific news!

They getting a new field there?

They are starting construction now. The field and new seating should be done within a couple of years. They have been pretty upfront that the new locker rooms and indoor facility may be three or four years out.

Huge congratulations, Root & Root JR  !!  

It's SoCal...  an indoor facility is really not a necessity anyway.  I attend Cal Poly games on occasion... will be cool to have another opposing player to watch/root for and maybe meet his folks!

So, just to complete the loop with the thread, how did things wind up with school B?

cabbagedad posted:
roothog66 posted:
2019Dad posted:

Congrats Root! Terrific news!

They getting a new field there?

They are starting construction now. The field and new seating should be done within a couple of years. They have been pretty upfront that the new locker rooms and indoor facility may be three or four years out.

Huge congratulations, Root & Root JR  !!  

It's SoCal...  an indoor facility is really not a necessity anyway.  I attend Cal Poly games on occasion... will be cool to have another opposing player to watch/root for and maybe meet his folks!

So, just to complete the loop with the thread, how did things wind up with school B?

School B was Hawaii. They made a nice offer and they certainly had a few advantages, but, in the end, he just developed a relationship with the staff at CSUN that was, in my experience, pretty uncommon. 

roothog66 posted:
cabbagedad posted:
roothog66 posted:
2019Dad posted:

Congrats Root! Terrific news!

They getting a new field there?

They are starting construction now. The field and new seating should be done within a couple of years. They have been pretty upfront that the new locker rooms and indoor facility may be three or four years out.

Huge congratulations, Root & Root JR  !!  

It's SoCal...  an indoor facility is really not a necessity anyway.  I attend Cal Poly games on occasion... will be cool to have another opposing player to watch/root for and maybe meet his folks!

So, just to complete the loop with the thread, how did things wind up with school B?

School B was Hawaii. They made a nice offer and they certainly had a few advantages, but, in the end, he just developed a relationship with the staff at CSUN that was, in my experience, pretty uncommon. 

Awesome!  One of my assistant coaches played with Northridge when they were D2 national champs many moons ago.  I think he may still have a direct connection or two if any additional info becomes helpful at some point.

Thanks to all for their well wishes. After sleeping on it, there are no second guesses. My 2018 is pretty happy and satisfied with his decision. The only bad part was he did not like having to call other schools who had offered to let them know. He was quite uncomfortable with it. Everything went fine, though. I'm not sure what he was afraid was going to happen.

PGStaff posted:

Good news, congratulations!

All the best

Thank you. The services PG offers have been extremely important in the process as well as your personal assistance a time or two. Recruiting has changed so much from when I was first involved back in the 80's. Here in my own rural area, it can be a struggle these days to get players I see with the talent necessary to play college ball at some level the necessary exposure to make it happen. Still, there are a lot more opportunities to do this than there used to be and much of that started with the Perfect Game explosion that dragged into the fold an entire industry that, much often too maligned, has certainly opened up opportunities.

roothog66 posted:

Thanks to all for their well wishes. After sleeping on it, there are no second guesses. My 2018 is pretty happy and satisfied with his decision. The only bad part was he did not like having to call other schools who had offered to let them know. He was quite uncomfortable with it. Everything went fine, though. I'm not sure what he was afraid was going to happen.

 

Letting people down and disappointing them?

My 2018 has built good relationships with several coaches who are recruiting him. He plans to make a decision in the next few weeks after a last round of visits, and is already pretty sure he knows what he will decide, but I think is already dreading letting down people he has built relationships with.

Coaches know and understand that not everyone wants to play for them, just as players have to understand coaches dont want every player they recruit to be one their staff.

Most coaches will not contact a player to tell them they are moving onto another player. Its just how it is. But they will always remember the recruit that calls them to say thank you for the opportunity. Very rarely will they give someone a bad time and they dont like players that are not up front and honest.

Just remember one thing, coaches move on to other positions so you might never know who might be filling out the lineup card.

Last edited by TPM

As I went back and reread the OP I noticed that the scholarship amount was mentioned. Probably not a good idea now that we all know the school. " Fantastic visit! At the end of it, they made a substantial offer, that, after a WUE tuition waiver, amounts to a 100%". I would suggest that you remove that from a public forum. Most coaches and RC's would prefer this information not be public. 

JMO. Again, congrats to all!

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