Great Twitter thread on understanding offers, timing and acceptance.
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I'm not entirely sure what the point of his rant is
@PABaseball posted:I'm not entirely sure what the point of his rant is
Didn't read like a rant to me, read like advice given from an insider's perspective.
@Gunner Mack Jr. posted:Didn't read like a rant to me, read like advice given from an insider's perspective.
Agree 100%. If someone thinks it’s a rant they are probably the person that needs to read it the most. What it is, I can tell you from experience, is the expression of frustration over seeing kids make bad decisions over and over because they don’t understand the process.
I read it as: It's fine to look around and try and get that "better" off but keep in mind that the offer you got from the school that checks most of your boxes won't be there forever because that school has finite slots and their clock is ticking. And, most importantly, don't lose sight of the fact that it's musical chairs and there's more players available than is needed.
The tweet is from the head coach of Millersville (PA). It’s a very strong D2 program. I’ll bet he deals with players holding out for D1.
@RJM posted:The tweet is from the head coach of Millersville (PA). It’s a very strong D2 program. I’ll bet he deals with players holding out for D1.
I’m sure he does and that would explain the frustration that was evident in his message.
My 2021 was given a good Juco offer in June of 2020. It came with a 30-day clock. What has surprised me the most over the last year, is how people reacted when I told them the offer had that 30-day clock. I have 2022 parent friends who say things like "I'm glad College X didn't put any clock on my son's offer." Viewed through one specific lens, I can appreciate their mindset. But I now look back on that 30-day clock as possibly the greatest thing that happened in my son's recruiting process. My son - like 99.99% of other recruits - was blinded by the bright lights of D1. Utterly fixated on it. Unwavering. He only targeted Jucos because I demanded a wider net be cast.
The Juco coach - which he starts playing for this coming Monday - wasn't at all trying to pressure my son with that 30-day clock. He was simply doing what was best for his program. The guy doesn't want to be anyone's "fall back plan." If you accepting his offer is you "settling," you're not the type of player he wants in his program. He told my son to take the 30 days and do whatever he needed to do. Think about the offer deeply. Explore any options you feel you should. Ask any questions you haven't already asked, but other than that, you won't hear from me. If you don't accept the offer, zero hard feelings. Best of luck to you and I will continue filling my class.
My son knew it was a good offer and a good fit for him, so he spent roughly the next 2 weeks or so continuing to play with his travel team. Those 2 weeks were his best stretch of the summer performance-wise and he got video of all of it. He kept in close contact with the D1 schools that had shown real interest in him. After 2 weeks or so, he made tough calls to his top 2 D1 targets. They couldn't/weren't ready to offer him at that point. After those 2 calls, he called the Juco coach and accepted. And thank God he did. Because he wasn't going to be loved at those D1s; just liked. Both programs continue to follow him and he may well end up at one of them post-Juco ball.
For me, any kid that needs more than about 2 months to decide, doesn't really need any time at all. Saying you can't/won't commit in less than 2 months means you're not interested. MAYBE 0.01% of kids actually use the time to think deeply about right fit and all that. The rest are clearly out there trying to find a "hotter" girl to go to the dance with. But few think about the message it sends to the first girl who was willing, but was told to hold on.
@adbono posted:I’m sure he does and that would explain the frustration that was evident in his message.
I coached 16u (the kids were all fifteen) when my son was playing. We played a 16u tournament sponsored by one of the colleges in the same league. My son was playing high school ball for one of the coach’s former All Americans. We had an interesting chat in the stands. He wanted to know if I had any players I felt had D1 potential but were likely to be overlooked due to size or missing a metric D1s would be looking for.
My top guy for him to watch was a 5’9” kid I felt was done growing who could play anywhere from catcher to short to center. The kid had speed and power.
Unfortunately, the kid started dabbling in drugs soph year and got in trouble. He didn’t play high school ball. He only played one more year of 16u the following summer.
I actually came here to post this. Could have gone in the white vs red wine thread. The answer to the question posed there is in this twitter post. Whether the offer stays good or goes bad depends so much on the timeline of the college because in the end, the have a job to do—fill their roster with the best available talent.
As a parent of a player I'd prefer a deadline for an offer, and I suspect the coach would end up feeling more in control of the process too. My son got an offer with no deadline and there was always this feeling that it might be gone tomorrow. It felt like he was given a lot of love by the coach, but at the same time it gave a sort of "easy come, easy go" feeling, i.e. the opposite of love. He also got an offer with a 1 week deadline (with a very good explanation as to why the deadline mattered), and son knew exactly what his situation was and the coach knew when he had to move on.
@adbono posted:Agree 100%. If someone thinks it’s a rant they are probably the person that needs to read it the most. What it is, I can tell you from experience, is the expression of frustration over seeing kids make bad decisions over and over because they don’t understand the process.
I'm definitely not the person who needs to read it the most. I have one currently at a P5 and another who committed two weeks ago.
I understand what he's saying, I don't understand why he's saying it. All of this should be made obvious by him when he puts these offers out.
Translation: I'm a strong D2, keep chasing that low level D1 offer, I'm going to keep recruiting.
@PABaseball posted:I'm definitely not the person who needs to read it the most. I have one currently at a P5 and another who committed two weeks ago.
I understand what he's saying, I don't understand why he's saying it. All of this should be made obvious by him when he puts these offers out.
Translation: I'm a strong D2, keep chasing that low level D1 offer, I'm going to keep recruiting.
Okay, good for you. What P5 program is your son at?
It’s easy to understand why he is saying what he said. He is tired of seeing kids make bad decisions. So am I. The marketplace tells kids where they belong but very few accept it if it isn’t the message they want to hear.
@adbono posted:Okay, good for you. What P5 program is your son at?
It’s easy to understand why he is saying what he said. He is tired of seeing kids make bad decisions. So am I. The marketplace tells kids where they belong but very few accept it if it isn’t the message they want to hear.
I see it. I know a lot of 2022s who want to play college baseball and think they are going to play college baseball but who don't have a solid offer...and NLI day is 100 days away. Many of them are still of the mindset of D1 only. Reality hasn't set in for them yet.
@Francis7 posted:I see it. I know a lot of 2022s who want to play college baseball and think they are going to play college baseball but who don't have a solid offer...and NLI day is 100 days away. Many of them are still of the mindset of D1 only. Reality hasn't set in for them yet.
That’s all true. I notice that you don’t want to tell me what P5 school your son plays for. Why is that?
My bad. Inappropriate response to you Francis. Sorry!
My son had four offers from D1s that he was serious about, along with several jucos and D2s. We basically ruled out the jucos because he had a significant amount of college credit coming in from high school. But he and I spent summer and late fall heading into senior year visiting his top choices one last time. He went to practices, spent the night with players, toured the campuses, went to classes and visited with professors. At that point, he knew what he was looking for, knew basically what each school had to offer and was just doing his last gut check before committing. I was ready to be done, the coaches were ready, he wasn't.
The last visit was with a dream school that hadn't yet offered, but made it clear they likely would if he attended one last camp.
He was very clear with each school about who he was visiting and when and when he planned to make a decision. I was really shocked by how much each school argued against the other schools rather than for their own. One coach told him that if he was serious about their school, he wouldn't need to visit any of the others. There might have been some truth to that.
It's hard process on all sides, but the coaches are going through it multiple times every year. Players and parents, hopefully, go through it once per kid. Thats why this site is so important — it lets those of us who don't know anything learn from the experiences of those who do.
@PABaseball posted:I'm definitely not the person who needs to read it the most. I have one currently at a P5 and another who committed two weeks ago.
I understand what he's saying, I don't understand why he's saying it. All of this should be made obvious by him when he puts these offers out.
Translation: I'm a strong D2, keep chasing that low level D1 offer, I'm going to keep recruiting.
I think you are mostly spot on here, he is a strong program and recruiter, to the best of my knowledge he isn't an over recruiter but to a large degree that is in the eye of the beholder...35 -37 isn't a small number but whatever. For the most part he is 4 year guy and not overly involved in the D1 dropdowns. One of his biggest competitors is West Chester who historically takes many dropdowns, I think last year alone was 10 or 11.
I do believe he has a number and stops at it, i actually am almost 100% he is being completely truthful there.
My guess is he has a kid or 2 that he really wants, his roster is filling and he doesn't have exactly what he is looking for, i could be totally wrong but that would be my guess.
@Iowamom23 posted:My son had four offers from D1s that he was serious about, along with several jucos and D2s. We basically ruled out the jucos because he had a significant amount of college credit coming in from high school. But he and I spent summer and late fall heading into senior year visiting his top choices one last time. He went to practices, spent the night with players, toured the campuses, went to classes and visited with professors. At that point, he knew what he was looking for, knew basically what each school had to offer and was just doing his last gut check before committing. I was ready to be done, the coaches were ready, he wasn't.
The last visit was with a dream school that hadn't yet offered, but made it clear they likely would if he attended one last camp.
He was very clear with each school about who he was visiting and when and when he planned to make a decision. I was really shocked by how much each school argued against the other schools rather than for their own. One coach told him that if he was serious about their school, he wouldn't need to visit any of the others. There might have been some truth to that.
It's hard process on all sides, but the coaches are going through it multiple times every year. Players and parents, hopefully, go through it once per kid. Thats why this site is so important — it lets those of us who don't know anything learn from the experiences of those who do.
Nobody could ever fault a decision that was made after doing that much diligence. But 95% of the kids I have seen go thru the process only do a fraction of what you described - and furthermore they don’t recognize a good offer when it’s presented to them because their expectations are so unrealistic.