Coach Contact

Welcome to the site, James! ...and congratulations to your son for having caught the attention of recruiters! 

Since the invitations to call seem to be predicated upon your son's need for additional information, I'd hold off on the calls at this point. Instead, your son should make sure that he follow up with all completed questionnaires that might have been requested (or available on the schools' websites) and any information about himself that would be pertinent to his recruitment. In particular, he should ensure that they're up-to-date with his team and showcase schedules; so that they can make a point of evaluating him in person when they attend games or events on his schedule.

He'll know the right time to call because they'll become much more specific in their invitation; and, that invitation might come indirectly through his high school or travel team coach after a recruiter has intimated that he's interested in your son to the coach.

When the time comes to make the call, he should simply be himself. Let the coach know, specifically, why he's interested in his school and program. Also talk some about what he's doing in baseball and academically. It's a great opportunity to begin to build a relationship that rises above the long list of names that recruiters typically take with them to games and showcases.

As his parent, make certain that he receives all the encouragement and support you can provide; but, also do your best to make the recruiting process his endeavor. College recruiters very much want the dialogue dominated by the players, and they're invariably impressed when players take a strong interest and principal role in their recruitment.

As part of your support and encouragement, also help him appreciate the fact that good grades can be a player's best friend when being recruited. Coaches tend to have a very limited number of "chips" available with them when dealing with the Admissions Office (if any at all); so, grades and test scores that clearly qualify can make a very real difference.

Have fun and enjoy the ride! ...and best of luck to him!

James, welcome to the site.  If you use the search function you can find a lot of information about how the recruiting process works. 

I have a 2017 who we know a few schools are interested in through his travel coach.  What I have come to learn is basically this.  If the email is unsolicited and contains a phone number or cell phone number of a coach then my kid is somehow on their radar.  We have received a number of these from schools we know were at my kids organizations private showcases.  If the email is unsolicited and contains no information on how to contact the coaches other then some emails (many times a generic email) then they are the schools attempt to get my kid into their camp for his money.  At this point they really know nothing about him and have no reason to be contacting him other then our money.

So far we have limited our contact to the schools that seem to recruit out of my kids travel program.  There are about 30 or 40 of them out of the midwest that seem to be at everyone of our private showcases as well as have a few of our kids on their rosters.  The last showcase we did do an email out to the schools letting them know we would be at the showcase.  Some of these are ones that we know are interested and some are ones that we have had no contact with so far.  The ones that were there but we are not sure if their level of interest followed up with us with similar responses as you received.  Almost all of them came out of automated email systems and only contained email addresses.  Most of them contained wording like you mention. Along the lines of "NCAA rules limit us to only camp invites or questionnaires.  If you have further questions please feel free to contact us at xxxx@xxxxx.com/edu)".  

The schools that we know are more interested are usually along the lines of ""NCAA rules limit us to only camp invites or questionnaires.  If you have further questions please feel free to contact coach xxx at ###-###-#### or on his cell at ###-###-####."  Its a subtle difference but from what I am discovering it's a difference that show a higher level of interest.  

Thanks Prepster and joes87 for the great replies! There is some great information you both gave us and we will be sure to remember it. joe you stated the slight differences in the responses and that is why I was a little hesitant to think the coaches wanted my son to contact them or not. One email from a pretty big D1 school went like this, 

"To continue the process, please complete and return the attached information sheet to the address shown on the form. Thank you again for your interest and please feel free to contact me or one of our assistant coaches at (###)###-#### if you have any questions about our program. Please note, NCAA regulations prohibit us from contacting you in person or by telephone prior to September 1^st entering your junior year in High School. Please be aware that in the event you call and leave a message prior to this date, we will not be able to return your call. By NCAA rule we cannot email you until September 1^st entering your Junior year". 

We filled out the information sheet and returned it and were unsure whether my son should call them or not. 

Another smaller D1 school stated similar but just said "feel free to reach out via phone call with any questions" and he listed his c###)###-#### after his name and position. 

So we wanted to try and ask people who had been in similar situations if either of those shows real interest in my son or not? We wanted to see some of these schools this summer if possible.

If you got a phone number no harm in calling.  The worst that can happen is your son finds out their not interested. It would be good practice to contact them for when it really matters.  

BTW, your son needs to make the phone call not mom or dad.  The coaches will look down up them if your making the call. 

Keep in mind that the recruiters are right in the heart of their season; and, despite how critically important recruiting is to making a program successful, there's a good chance that they're going to be tough to reach. It's a very busy time of year.

Dig in and hold on for the ride, good luck!

Thanks everyone! I love reading all the great posts and am sure I will be seeking advice again many times while this process is continuing! 

Thought I'd ask a question within this thread. My own son is a 2018. Earlier in the year (before the season) a school called my son's HS coach (who didn't even know him yet) and had him pass on the message to call. When filling out questionnaires we, of course, put the HS coach's info, but are stumped when asked for Travel Coach. If the father is his travel coach, is it appropriate to list myself or (as I have been doing on the few we've filled out) should i rather use an assistant's name?

JMO - while I have read your posts enough to have confidence in your baseball knowledge, I would feel like it would still be best to list someone else.  At the end of the day, your son's talent will be what matters most, but in the meantime you do not want to have any perceived negative thoughts that may arise with dads that coach their players, especially in the HS years.

Roothog, JMO If your travel organization is made up of multiple teams I would put the name of the person responsible for the entire org. Otherwise I would put your name and the asst down with contact info. I  understand BFS point but a simple google search tells you who the coach is.