A mid-level Division I coach at an academic school has offered my son, a rising senior, a roster spot on the team. He told him he needs an answer by a certain date next month. Just wondering if any of you can give me a sense of how common this is, what the deadline might mean, and how firm the deadlines generally can be. My son is a power hitting center fielder, and this is his first official offer from a coach. Thanks in advance for any responses!
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JBL:
First off congratulations on the offer. Your son must ask himself, where does this school rank on his list? As a rising senior ,you are right in the heart of the recruiting for academic schools (D1) and most will be winding classes down in the summer/September. The deadline of say mid-July is reasonable, and is better than a "end of the week", or first call gets the spot. Have other schools shown interest? What are their timeframes? As a position player, I wouldn't wait too long on deciding or contacting other schools to determine if an offer is forthcoming with them. Some HA schools have fewer roster spots, though Holy Cross of the Patriot League had an incoming class of 20 (unusual) about 5 years ago. Good luck.
My son is very interested in the school, but he does have varying interest from several other schools. Your reply makes me think we should definitely contact these schools, gauge their interest and get their timeframes. Thanks JBL!
Yes, its common. And RipkenFan gave you good advice. Have your son contact the other schools. You have nothing to lose at this point.
Congrats on the offer. Agree with others it is an opportunity to seek other interest.
In addition, I would make sure you fully understand or have all the information you need from the first school to be able to compare with others. I'm going to assume your son had an academic pre-read with the first school. Does he have the academics to get in without the coaches help? Would he be in the top 25% academically of the incoming thereby possibly getting some academic money too? Have you (as parent) had a discussion with the Financial Aid office at the first school to discuss what to expect $$$ if he should enroll. If you have this information, you know exactly what you are comparing to the other schools.
As always, JMO. Good luck.
You mention interest in varying degrees from other schools. This implys to me that they are infact waiting for replys from boys ahead of your son on their board. I think the coach gave you a generous timeframe. Doesn't sound like the school is top choice, but your son needs to talk to coaches from schools that are more desired. He doesnt have to mention specifics , but he should mention his desire to play for preferred team and the deadline date. I think at that point he will no exactly where he stands. Best of luck to your son. In the end a big sigh of relief will be the result. Lol
This is the time when coaches from many mid D1 programs still areoffering rising seniors opportunities.
Don't have your son accept the offer unless he is 100% sure this is where he wants to earn his degree and play baseball (in that order).
Best of luck.
It is definitely common place for them to put a deadline on the offer, especially on rising seniors. My son was offered from a P5 and they gave him a 24 hour deadline. They were very point blank but not obnoxious. They said we want you and this is the offer but we have a list of guys under you that would love to come. You have 24 hours to let us know because our list is changing daily. He declined because they could not waive out of state and could not afford to go there even with a good offer.
Congrats but I noticed you said coach has offered a "roster spot" on the team. I would have your son reach out to the Coach and clarify exactly what is being offered? Is it a walk on position, a scholarship and if so, what exactly is the offer, etc. After your son clarifies, I think it is more than acceptable to reach out to the coaching staff to verify what info your son is telling you (as 17 and 18 year olds sometimes hear what they want to hear or dont undertand offer) and then work the equation from there. Exciting times and best of luck, but make sure you understand exactly what the "offer" is.
Mid-major HC told my son and me during a UV: "If we make an offer, we won't put a deadline on it. However, we will make multiple offers, and it's first-come, first-served." OK, fair enough.
The following week they sent an AC to see him play again, and they then followed up with a scholarship offer.
Ten days later the RC called my son and said they were putting a 24-hour deadline on the offer.
To me putting a deadline on it is fair as long as it is a fair amount of deadline according to the situation, timing in it. We expect coaches to treat us with respect and I think it is a two-way request. When an offer is made, like any offer in life, you either have the advantage or the other person has the advantage. It should not take forever to make a decision as to whether it is right for the player or not. We want time to see if there is better offers and they are in an urgency because they don't want to lose the next player on the list. We should prepare our players to know if they get an offer from X school would they accept and the amount they would accept.
2019Dad posted:Mid-major HC told my son and me during a UV: "If we make an offer, we won't put a deadline on it. However, we will make multiple offers, and it's first-come, first-served." OK, fair enough.
The following week they sent an AC to see him play again, and they then followed up with a scholarship offer.
Ten days later the RC called my son and said they were putting a 24-hour deadline on the offer.
This is exactly what happened with my oldest son. In addition, they knew other schools were becoming more interested and offering (travel coach strategically "leaked" those data points!). So it went from a loosey-goosey no deadline offer from the previous month to a we need to know about our offer within 48 hours, and we are bumping our offer from 25% to 50%. By this time in the recruiting process, (18+ months) my son wasn't concerned with any of these deadlines. He was focused on the best overall fit. Just our experience.
PitchingFan posted:To me putting a deadline on it is fair as long as it is a fair amount of deadline according to the situation, timing in it. We expect coaches to treat us with respect and I think it is a two-way request. When an offer is made, like any offer in life, you either have the advantage or the other person has the advantage. It should not take forever to make a decision as to whether it is right for the player or not. We want time to see if there is better offers and they are in an urgency because they don't want to lose the next player on the list. We should prepare our players to know if they get an offer from X school would they accept and the amount they would accept.
I mostly agree, but all situations cannot be painted with the same brush. There are so many variables...
Is it common to hear that a school is ready to make an offer if you are ready to commit? A school told travel coach the offer that was going to be made but when my son spoke to them, they said if you are ready to decide they were ready to make him an offer (which he said he wasn't, said he didn't want to rush this decision), and they said to call them when he was. Is that a normal thing?
baseballhs posted:Is it common to hear that a school is ready to make an offer if you are ready to commit? A school told travel coach the offer that was going to be made but when my son spoke to them, they said if you are ready to decide they were ready to make him an offer (which he said he wasn't, said he didn't want to rush this decision), and they said to call them when he was. Is that a normal thing?
I have heard of this this type of conditioned offer in other posts. Not sure if it is "common" though. Seems like fear of rejection lol - Coach doesn't want to make the formal offer if the player is not in a position to make a commitment. Hopefully others with direct experience with this will chime in and let you know how they responded and how it worked out for them.
It could be that the coach doesn't sense HIGH INTEREST from your son , nor is your son at the top of their board. It may be that he doesn't want to throw an offer out there without an imminent timetable, that will be used to garner another offer. Just a thought...
Not sure. I just wasn't sure if this was a common way to do things. The offer they told the club coach they were making was very good. My son doesn't play for a big power team so he hasn't been seen a lot but this school has been to see him quite a bit.
