Questions to ask college coach

Some random thoughts.  Maybe ask some indirect questions to get to these answers.

 

What is the conditioning routine?  Long LT? Short LT? Weighted balls? Weights? Tires? (how do you feel about that?)

 

Tell me about the trainers.  Does one travel with the team?  What do they do for pitchers?

 

What is the post game routine? Running? How far? Icing? Ice baths? Weight-lifting? 

 

Where do you see my son? (possible answers - weekend starter? weekday starter? reliever? closer? convert him to a sidearmer?)

 

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Then look through posted articles and see what the coach says about his players.  Does he stand up for them, or does he bad-mouth them in the press?

 

Look through the list of college pitch counts (can google it) and see if he abuses arms.

 

Look through the game recaps and see who his weekend starters are.  Are they JC transfers? Juniors/seniors only?  What is their velo compared to your son?

 

 

 

 

Simple question. Where is the field? How deep is the power alleys?

Who is the pitching coach? Who is the shortstop and center fielder and catcher.

 

Bob

The most illuminating question I asked any coach was, "What do you know about my son?"

 

If you subscribe to the "go where they love you school of thought" (and experience has brought me into that camp), this question will tell you who knows him well enough to love him.  

 

Some coaches make offers, especially to pitchers, based on seeing them as little as one time.  These coaches gave answers that indicated they viewed him as a commodity or an interchangeable part.

 

Other coaches really do their homework and go after players only after they decide the players will fit well in their program.  One coach had apparently talked to every high school and travel coach my son had played for--and several he'd played against. I asked him the question, and he gave a detailed five minute summary of my son's life, revealing more specific knowledge than I had about how my son's velocity had developed.  It was clear that his offer reflected a considered judgment about my son as an individual.  (Unfortunately, the academics weren't a good match, so that didn't work out.)

 

Another question that got a range of answers was, "What is the first thing you would ask me to improve or change if I were to play for you?"

 

Best wishes,

 

We asked same question as swampboy.  The answers will tell you how interested they really are.
We also asked what do you like about son.  Those answers were very interesting.
The pitching coach where son went to play told us what he liked besides his stuff which was obvious was how he interacted with his teammates.
Heres a heads up to your sons, they may be watched on and off the field. Chemistry is very important for many
coaches.

Swampboy and TPM, those are some of the best questions that I had not heard or thought of until today. Thank you.

So you have an offer.

Ok, how much information do you have about the program? Has your son had any talks with current and former players in this program under this staff? What is the make up of the current roster? What do the stats tell you about how pitchers are used? Do 7 or 8 guys get all the innings? How many Jr's and Sr's are on the roster? Does the program bring in a ton of JUCO's each year? In other words the questions you need to ask many times depends on how much you actually know.

 

Coach what do you like about my son? What do you believe he needs to improve on the most? Why do you only have 2 Sr's on the current roster? Why do you have 8 JUCO's on the roster? I see that 95 percent of your innings pitched last year were by 8 pitchers. What do you guys do to help develop those other guys?

 

Now many parents are just happy with the offer. And many don't feel comfortable asking tough questions out of fear they will PO the coach. And many dont have a clue what to ask in the first place. You can bet if they are making an offer they have done their homework to the best of their ability before making that offer. You should as well before you accept it.

Thank you all for your replies. Some great questions to ask, most I wouldn't have thought of. I will go over all of these with my son.  Is it acceptable for me to ask questions of the coach? I am going to try to leave most of this to my son, but I just know he will not ask everything.

Of course you can ask questions!

Good idea to leave "most" of the question asking to your son.  Depending on how much research the coach has done - he is also "evaluating" (to some degree) how perhaps socially your son could fit in with the team and perhaps to a lessor degree whether you are an "helicopter parent" (you know - one that has to be there all the time, thinks way too much of their child's abilities', etc.). Coaches will do some "is this a good family" research along with players specific abilities research.

 

In the end - your son is going to have to "live" with this team and this coach for his 4 years.  I think you only need to read a few of the recently active threads regarding expectations and experiences people have had to understand that side of things.

 

Unlike perhaps your high school or travel coach who parents may fear to approach or PO because it may affect play time - my experience is a college coach will 99 times out of 100 play the best player.  For him, it's all about performance and results.