Behind the scenes of recruiting

I had a recruiting conversation with a top assistant from one of the programs down south during the process with my son. They already made a huge offer at the time and the call he made to us was to arrange the flight(paid visit).

The coach was very informative, and our chat expanded to recruiting tactics by other programs. I mentioned one such huge southern program that put us on a roller coaster ride and the coach mentioned he knew the recruiter from that program personally as they were once coaches together in the past.

He told me that this recruiter used to call 25 different kids on July 1 and tell each of them they were his #1 choice for their program?

I call that the "trolling" or "broadcast" method, and unfortunately for many kids, it is just a ticket to ride the coaster, false hopes, whatever you want to conclude.

Parents of recruits have the option if they feel they are experiencing this tactic to simply say this: " Wow coach, I am your #1. What are you offering me today?"

If you get an offer, then they are serious. If you get a response that differs, has a hem'n'haw in it, or some other lame excuse, then move on with the process. That coach/program has made you a backup plan player.

In one particular college's endeavor to sign my son, we experienced the gamut.

One week he would email or call and say "keep us in mind". The next week he would email/call and elude to the fact that he is their top priority.

What was going on was fairly obvious to us. He was fishing and if he got a big fish nibble, our attraction waned, but if the fish went somewhere else, he would cast frantically in our direction. (I hope Fungo and Bee appreciate the fishing analogies here )

This coach wound up making my son a very attractive offer and came in second in the derby.

I agree with OS. The recruiters can keep you on the line while they talk to other recruits. You can pick up little buzz words after awhile. If the coach is telling you how you are #1 on the list it is time to ask for a commitment in terms of money. If you are a high on the list prospect they will have the LI purolated to you very quickly.
It is understand that they try to keep you interested while they shop around.

Jerseyson was called at 6:30AM on July 1st by a top 10 school and was asked "how does a 90% scholarship sound to you"? While the school wasn't on his preferred list before, (the call at 6:30 didn't help either) but in any case he didn't pursue that school any further. He found it funny that while at the Aflac Game that just about every other player got that same call from this coach.

And we wonder why that school had 19 recruits listed for their incoming 09 class. I wonder if they all got 90%

Just like coaches play the field so do players. I have found it to be a two way street, I am not agreeing with it, but it does work both ways in many circumstances. This is why it's important to do your homework, learn about what goes on in recruiting and what are the signs to look for, positive and negative. Know about being an A,B or C recruit and accept that in the process.
The one thing I do not like, is a coach thrashing another coach or program, for any reason. In the end, my son had narroweed it to two choices, one coach continuously told him why he should play for him, the other coach told him why he shouldn't play for the other program. Guess which coach he went to play for.

jerseydad gives a nice example and all the other posts show how each school/coach has their own approach.

Like jerseydad's son, ours received a big scholarship offer, over the phone on July 1 from an ACC school. He told them that he WAS interested, but couldn't commit on that day. He never heard from them again. In retrospect, that was good because it obviously wasn't the right school/coach for our son.

But it shows the craziness of all of this and to try and put every process from every school into one basket, neatly tied up, "This is the way it is!" Well, that just isn't the way it is.

What worked out nicely for our son may not work out for yours. I will even say that the 5 schools we most seriously considered...well they each recruited in a different way...some in a vastly different way.

I say you stick to your guns. Have goals. Have principles. Ask questions, but listen carefully to the answers. Think about the long term. Don't grab offer #1 nor the BIG-$$ offer if it isn't the right one for your son.

Ever read the book "Blink?" (Not a bad read on an airplane if you're looking for something). But it kind of tells you that a lot of times your gut feel is pretty darn accurate. If your gut tells you "no, not yet!" at least stop and think about it a little more.

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I don't think many bash each other,

Its been our experience that some do if they are in competition with one another.

The biggest turn off to us was when the coach started to tell us why he should not go to another school. To me and my son we felt that if you had a great product to sell then sell your product. You never make yourself look good by trying to make someone else look bad.

This only happened a couple of times. The school my son ended up at never said anything about anyone else. They were honest and up front and very professional.

When I go shopping for anything I always tell the sales man that no salesman has ever sp;d me anything. If they want me to buy their product tell me about it and I will sell myself on it. I research almost everything I buy so that when I decide the item I want it is a matter of the best deal and benefit I will receive.
I found most coaches very straight forward but did string you along which is understandable. However I believe in getting to the point. I didn't do that with my son's 1st choice and in the ned an offer was given to a JC transfer instead at the 11th hour. We continued to market and had several options that were kept open. The college we went with was aware of our 1st choice and that we were expecting an offer. They made us an offer which we negotiated and finally accepted when we realized there was no offer cpming. Everytime the preferred college asked if we had other colleges we told him the truth and if we indicated we were seriously entertaining a school he would ramp up the retoric. He would ask for a few days more and then I just told him we had to make a decision. Looking back I noticed certain buzz words that to me are indicators of stalling.
They told me my son was an A1 prospect but I later found out that the guy who evaluated him had moved to Pepperdine and the coordinator had relied on his evaluation which was his job.
I believe in getting down to business as soon as possible and would never let a coach stall me again.
I can't say any of them bashed other coaches or programs but did promote theirs strongly. I also noticed that when I told coaches that we were accepting another offer their personalities changed and they got a little frosty.

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I believe in getting down to business as soon as possible and would never let a coach stall me again.

That is a good policy if you are highly interested in that program. If it is on your B-list, you can string them along while you wait for an offer from a school on your A-list. Two can play that game.