Asst Coaches and Volunteer Asst Coaches - How Much Influence

Great question!

Volunteer assistants and other assistant coaches attend a lot of camps/showcases, often times to make money as they tend to be paid nothing (volunteers) or very little (many assistants). 

Some camps and showcases are overwhelmingly attended by these volunteer and assistant coaches. 

IMHO and experiences three times with my boys and many times with kids and families I've assisted:

- Head coaches and recruiting coordinators are the most influential.

- HC generally is the decision maker, though we've had some RCs with a tremendous amount of say.

- Sometimes volunteers and other assistants can have real influence on the recruiting process, though we found that to be the exception and not the rule. 

- We always tried to go to camps and showcases that were primarily attended by HC's and RC's given our limited amount of time and money.

Good luck!

It isn't a "high profile" camp or showcase unless recruiting coordinators or head coaches are there.

I think it partially depends on the pond you're fishing in. For D1 you want to see the RC there, and HC is a bonus. For D3 you want to see HC.

One wrinkle though - sometimes coaches are there who are not officially there.  At Stanford last year, an assistant coach of one team that was recruiting my son was there in uni, and the HC was there in civies, not officially attending.

SD, prior replies are dead on and should be your primary takeaway. 

I just wanted to add that there can be some other interesting scenarios, particularly with smaller schools.  Recruiting happens a lot of ways.  Baseball is a tight community/ small world.  Sometimes, connections happen via club coaches, HS coaches, other players, etc.  Sometimes assistants and volunteer assistants "know about a kid" or see a kid. 

Son is a month removed from playing his senior year and has, over the last few years, presented three players to a few of his college coaches, all of whom got a serious look, two making coach-initiated visits.

That said, if you are paying for an event for exposure and expecting productive connection with decision makers, your expectations should be very tempered if the attending reps are assistants (that are not the RC) and volunteer assistants.   HC's send these assistants to these events primarily to afford them an opportunity to supplement their very limited income.

PGStaff posted:

It isn't a "high profile" camp or showcase unless recruiting coordinators or head coaches are there.

So Stanford Camp isn't high profile? Heard it is one of the best out there to attend...hmmm

SanDiegoRealist posted:

PGStaff posted:

It isn't a "high profile" camp or showcase unless recruiting coordinators or head coaches are there.

So Stanford Camp isn't high profile? Heard it is one of the best out there to attend...hmmm

Guess that would also make the PG showcase we attended not 'high profile' either as there wasn't 1 HC or RC in attendance?

lol

DesertDuck posted:

SanDiegoRealist posted:

PGStaff posted:

It isn't a "high profile" camp or showcase unless recruiting coordinators or head coaches are there.

So Stanford Camp isn't high profile? Heard it is one of the best out there to attend...hmmm

Guess that would also make the PG showcase we attended not 'high profile' either as there wasn't 1 HC or RC in attendance?

lol

One does not go to a PG Showcase (at least not the ones that are open invitation) to be seen by HCs or RCs.  The primary purpose is to be seen by PG and their scouting staff.   Don't get me wrong, one may very well be seen by coaches, but at least early in the recruiting process, that should not be the primary goal.  My son attended a PG Showcase early on and it was the best thing we could have done, and it kick started his entire D1 recruiting process/journey.  He is a rising sophomore in college now, and to this day we talk about how that one outing started it all.  It was not because of the coaches who were there (there were several but only a few saw him throw), but rather because of the scouting report and rating that was posted on his PG profile afterward.  That opened the floodgates for him with schools, travel programs, etc.  I'm happy to answer any questions on this if you want to DM me.

As is so often the case, while there may be rules of thumb to be applied here, each staff's circumstances can alter the actual significance of a particular coach's presence. Some examples:

Depending upon the Head Coach's predilection, some staffs conduct their recruiting activities and deliberations very collegially. When that's the case, you can expect the observations and evaluation by an assistant who isn't the RC to carry more weight than in many of the instances described above.

Occasionally, the travel requirements facing the HC and RC will prevent either of them from seeing a particular player who is of very real interest to them. In those cases, they'll frequently rely upon the observations and evaluation made by the assistant whose schedule is available.

There are enough exceptions captured in the above examples that, if I were a player being observed by an assistant other than the RC, I'd treat it every bit as significantly as though I were being seen by the HC or RC. 

Need another reason to take it seriously? Even in the most hierarchical of staffs, negative impressions are much more readily accepted and factored into recruiting considerations than positive ones. So, if the assistant who isn't the RC happens to return with negative observations to share, they're virtually certain to find their way into recruiting discussions in a meaningful way.

Finally, a pertinent technicality: In Division I, only 3 coaches can travel for recruiting purposes. In the vast majority of cases, this translates into the volunteer assistant restricting his recruiting activities to on-campus responsibilities and camps/clinics in which he functions as a paid instructor.

I would never say that every PG event is equal or high profile.  High profile events are loaded with high profile players.  That doesn't mean lower profile events are not worthwhile.  

Showcases are all about results.  Results are all about talent for the most part.  However, decision makers need to know about the talent at an event even if they weren't there to see it first hand.  Then they must trust the people providing the information.

We are currently looking at the College World Series Championship games, Florida and LSU.  We see the head coaches and recruiting coordinator at some events.  So far we have researched Florida,s 29 man WS roster.  Anyone can do it if they want to take the time.  Anyway of the 29 players on  the Florida WS roster... 29 (100%) played in PG events.  Even more amazing is those 29 players attended 451 PG events or an average of 15.6 events each.

We are working on LSU now, but I'm sure their roster will be somewhat the same.  That along with the draft is about results and high profile.  There can't be a high profile event without high profile players.  Once again, that doesn't mean high profile events are the only thing worthwhile.

So maybe my definition of high profile could be much different than someone else.  

Bottomline... The idea is to be identified and recognized by people that are extremely trusted by decision makers, MLB scouting departments, College recruiters, etc.  doesn't necessarily have to be a high profile event, if you are a potential high profile talent.

SanDiegoRealist posted:

PGStaff posted:

It isn't a "high profile" camp or showcase unless recruiting coordinators or head coaches are there.

So Stanford Camp isn't high profile? Heard it is one of the best out there to attend...hmmm

High Profile being a top D1 type event with higher level players; PG Junior National or PG National type events.  Stanford is a prestigious camp with a high academic orientation with a mix of AC's and volunteer AC's, and D3 HC's.  Headfirst is similar to Stanford Camp with regard to coaches attending.  

Showball Academic is another prestigious camp with AC's and and HC's attending.  They do not have volunteer AC's because they do not pay them to attend, encouraging only AC's or HC's.  

(typo: incomplete sentence)

probably depends on the school,    for instance at Texas  Pierce and all of his assistants have been together at 3 different stops.   I'm sure they are on the same page for what they are looking for.  Might depend if we are talking pitching coach who is not RC as well.   Im sure he has some say in who they are recruiting. 

Son was always recruited by the HC or RC.

Varies by coach and staff.  i.e. "volunteer" coach knows catching but isn't one of the authorized recruiters, however, HC doesn't offer to a catcher unless the volunteer coach views video and/or camp with player and gives opinion.

yes it could be that behind the scenes the asst coaches or volunteers have more say than you think,  but respect that they want the RC or HC officially handing out offers and dealing with recruits.