college recruiting

quote:

I didn't say calling a coach to ask about a commitment is wrong, but I think that it should be done between the recruit and the coach. If a parent has a question afterwards, no problem. No coach that ever called discussed offers with us, only son.

We have to agree to disagree on this point. Generally speaking what you say is correct but there are exceptions. Initially I felt players should handle all communications but during the recruitment of my son the University of Tennessee recruiting coordinator, Randy Mazey, asked my son if we had saved enough money for his college education. My son put down the phone asked me that question. At that point I picked up the phone and decided I needed to get involved in the financial aspect of the recruitment of my son. Parental involvement in recruiting is a personal thing and as I indicated in my previous post the intensity of the recruiting can dictate whether the parent should get involved. There is no way my son could have handled all the college and professional activity and maintained any focus on his baseball. I actually had to call one scout and tell him to cease talking to my son and talk directly to me because of his constant badgering about pro vs. college. Knowing what my son had to put up with, it would be impossible for a first rounder to personally handle all the communications with college and pros scouts.

Fungo,
I wonder if sometimes you don't like me.
Taking the phone from son and helping to answer questions, I don't feel is the same, as a parent taking the initiative to call a coach and ask what they are going to offer.

Not that is not ok to disagree.

Bullysmom stated:
"My advice, call them yourself and ask what the offer is. If they dawdle, ask them what the holdup is if your boy is their # 1 guy????"

TPM reply to Bullysmom:
"I tend to disagree with you, there is a lot wrong with a parent picking up the phone to call a coach and ask what the offer is without an offer. That's up to your son. There's no harm in a parent asking where their son stands in coaches plans, but I wouldn't initiate a phone call for an offer. Most likely you are not going to get the answer you want to hear. Something about a parent picking up the phone to ask how much they are offereing without an offer just doesn't feel right for most coaches".

That's what I said. Parents should by all means be involved in the process, but I think, IMO, there are places you just don't go.

I just can't see Fungo picking up the phone to initiate a phone call asking, "if my son is your #1 guy, what are you going to offer him". Well, maybe I could see that a few days before signing day.

We're still new at all this...but, when my son got his first offer(from a coach he was very comfortable with-had been in contact with for a couple of years)he -and mom and dad- felt very comfortable asking his advice as to what to do now as this was all so confusing. He knew who else was talking to my son and that they were making the first offer. He did not give my son a deadline but the offer was in writing-he told him to take his time and make sure he made what he felt like was the right choice for him, but to understand that they would not be standing still waiting. He was very upfront and honest about the whole thing-have always felt (and heard) he was a great guy. He told my son to call the other coaches and just ask "Where do I stand with you? Do you think you'll be making an offer at some point?, etc."

My son did that (not his parents)and the other coaches were very honest with him and told him it was still very early. If this was not his dream school making the offer, to wait - if it was, go for it. He felt good about what they said in regards to the possiblity of an offer from their schools-but knew they weren't, at that point, going to rush an offer just because he had gotten one from someone else.

He did wait and ended up committing to one of these schools-but not the original one. I felt the coaches he'd been dealing with were honest with him and us, luckily. Letting the first coach know after he'd committed elsewhere was very hard-and actually kind of sad -as he has had a connection there for a longer time and really felt the coach was a friend.

Has this all been fun? No! And he has had a couple of times we've felt like other coaches were less than honest with him. But ultimately the schools who were serious about him, we felt were very upfront about this whole thing. And everyone's right that the mail-even if it's weekly- is nice, but doesn't mean there will be a phone call.

TPM, hey this all for the sake of a good discussion on recruiting. You KNOW I like you.

This message board must have differeing views in order to spark discussion from these great threads you start. You know it has to have the good guy / bad guy element in order to continue? Next time I promise you can be right and I'll be wrong .
Fungo

Must be the end of baseball season that is making everyone so sensitive !!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Fungo:
TPM, hey this all for the sake of a good discussion on recruiting. You KNOW I like you.

This message board must have differeing views in order to spark discussion from these great threads you start. You know it has to have the good guy / bad guy element in order to continue? Next time I promise you can be right and I'll be wrong .
Fungo

fungo,
I was just teasing you. I like when you post, brings more "views". Personally, if I hadn't listened to you on ocassions when I was going through the process, I would have gone bonkers!
Next time is on me, you can be right, I'll be wrong!
Seriously folks, there is never a right or wrong answer because every situation is personal. You take a little bit of this and a little bit of that, mix it up and come to your own decisions based on your own circumstance.

Ormom.
Great post! Thanks.
I do beleive what you posted was a very good example of what takes place, when coaches are honest but not going to bend to you because one other school has asked you to committ. Coaches will make offers, tell you to take your time, but not going to stop looking, that's for sure. And it works the other way, a coach may tell your son that they are not ready to make an offer, and that shouldn't let that stop the process.
Lots of lessons to be learned. Is it FUN! NO way!

Hmmm.... All of you are making me nervous. To refer back to Tiger Paw Mom's earlier comment about A,B,and C recruits. I guess our 07 must be a B or B+ Yeah he gotletters and text messages and emails, but no offers yet, although several of his friends have verbally committed. But all of you have always said be patient, so we have been. Just want him to get ready for a terrific season, go to one more PG showcase, and the rest will take care of itself?! Now I'm not sure, as I read about offers made and withdrawn, overrecruiting, pushy parents, and advisors, coaches and agents with an agenda. Someone in an earlier thread described it as a roller coaster - isn't that supposed to be fun?

quote:

Someone in an earlier thread described it as a roller coaster - isn't that supposed to be fun?

Yes, But your on the ramp leading up to the top.
a slow, dragged out accend to the top.
Just keep climbing. EH

quote:

Lots of lessons to be learned. Is it FUN! NO way!

WOW! Finally, someone admitted it! I was afraid that I had somehow missed the boat on this one...

But, when you get to the bottom and look back, you'll say......

Fun, ain't it?!



But, it is a business.

And, time will kill you.

quote:

This process would be better done a second or third time through! This first time is hard, hard, hard.

Most offers (of any kind) frequently have terms, usually including time.

Markets move faster than most realize.

In my opinion, successful negotiators understand the position of the offeror the best that they can.

Coaches are trying to put together the best team of talent in an environment where the top talent is taken quickly.

As much as parents and players look for interest from coaches, coaches look for interest from players.

Because the market moves quickly, when coaches detect hesitation, they must move on.

So, the extremes are coaches that want a decision by in the morning and players that want to mull all the offers that they might get until the morning of signing.

The completed deals happen somewhere in between that time frame, frequently much sooner and faster than the "first timers" realize.

Understand that the coach needs to know an answer so he can move on to the next player, if needed.

quote:

quote:
Lots of lessons to be learned. Is it FUN! NO way!

Fun to me is a positive experience and then top it off with the fact you can do it as part of your sons fulfillment of his dream. Very few can go on that ride so what can get any better than that?