Dad, I could interpret the coaches comment a couple of ways.
One way would be that your son can compete in the classroom at Cal Tech, but the baseball experience won't be much different than what he is doing now in HS.
If that is along the lines of what the coach meant, it actually sounds accurate. Right now on the D3 message boards a number of SCIAC posters are commenting that the Cal Tech baseball team does not belong in the league and is just not close to competitive, with one poster suggesting they would struggle to compete in most HS leagues.
I could also interpret the comment that your son can indeed compete in the very best college classroom and the coach feels your son can compete in college baseball with some very good teams at very top academic schools, and challenging him that direction to open his options in the classroom and on the baseball field, because he has upside in both.
Either way, it sounds like a coach who could very much care about your son and his future in college and college baseball.
As a HS sophomore who is starting to look at college and college baseball, I would think the past record should be very important. Unless Cal Tech changes how they have approached college baseball for the last 15 or so years, your son would need to look at the situation and determine if it can be turned around or whether he will be satisfied, from a baseball perspective, with a program more likely continuing its current direction than any other. The baseball at Cal Tech may be fine for your son, with the experience more than offset by the classroom experience and beyond.
Better to look at all options first, though, I would think.
What he said!
I am a very firm believer always education first, but I also believe that one must be happy. Because I know how much time is spent on baseball, you have to be happy, or it doesn't work, or it least would not have had for son. Staying in the game as long as you can doesn't mean much if the player is not satisfied.
As far as your OP, should a coach care about a players futures goal, absolutely, and I still don't think his comment meant he didn't care, just was a little bit not too pc in his reply.