Contact Head Coach or RC?

We contacted D1 and D2 recruiting coordinators (and in the rare case we knew the HC, we contacted him too).

At D3 it was almost always the HC.  Some D3 schools do have recruiting coordinators.  In those cases where the RC was known / obvious, we contacted the RC too.

We never filled out the "recruit questionaire".....we always emailed the RC directly....and if we couldn't figure out which coach was the RC, we emailed the guy with the most experience and assumed he was the RC.    If they reply and ask you to fill out the questionaire, fine....then go ahead and do it....but if you just fill out the questionaire first....I'm fairly sure you'll just fall into a big pile of kids who have done the same exact thing. 

ALWAYS email the RC.....NEVER the HC. D3 is the only exception as some programs do not have RC's . If one sends email to a HC at a NCAA D1 program or any other reputable program it is a waste of time. They do not look at it. If the HC has time ( They don't ) he may forward your email to his RC...maybe.

Also, there are serious NCAA recruiting rules with regards to contact w/Sophomores....... You might wanna read up on that. That is also partially why, at least at big National programs,  a HC does not recruit. His exposure is too high w/ potential NCAA violations.

College baseball has a clear cut internal chain of command. Not only do HC's not look at recruit email they rarely speak to recruits! At least as far as serious recruiting discussions. They are generally cordial but they only REALLY talk to recruits in the end. You only see the HC when they offer...maybe. Some programs save him till the end. To close the deal. Like Mariano Rivera

As far as email in general , you wanna make sure it's direct to the point and short.They do not talk about players the way we do. A right handed pitcher is a RHP and with Pitchers and hitters they want BODY SIZE ( Height / Weight) and GPA 

Your opening paragraph should be something like this. Just the facts:

"My name is John Smith I'm a starting Varsity RHP at Wilson HS . I'm 6'0 170 I throw 3 pitches my FB tops 87 my CB 69 and my CH 79 . I have a 3.8 GPA and will be studying for the SAT soon"

If you son is hitter note bat Left throw Right or whatever he is. List any accomplishments in paragraph 2:  "I did area code try-outs last summer, made All-League and did team USA trials"

Paragraph 3: " I'm really interested in playing for UNLV after graduation. Please notify me of any upcoming camps on campus and I'm looking forward to playing in front of you soon"

If your son hasn't done much outside of HS that is fine but my advice is to keep this stuff short and to the point.

Emails at this stage are advertisements for your sons name. Its name recognition only. The idea is to start a dialog ( With the RC not the HC )

It's a process. With several stages. And if your son is talented it is a roller coaster ride. And don't forget , The HC is the grand poobah and needs to handled accordingly. Don't email him

 Any of the above is just based on my on personal experience. There are plenty of guys here who have been through this stuff and have their own take on it. Soak up their advice!

Best of luck on your journey

Do yourself a favor and fill out the recruiting questionnaire.

Your information needs to be in their database.  Why not put in accurate information for them?

Those questionnaires do not just put you on camp lists.  They are used for compliance purposes.  They are used to track communication.  They are used to keep vital information.

You may have recently heard the news that WVU was just placed on a 2 year probation for violations.  http://www.ncaa.org/about/reso...ecruiting-violations

The coaches at fault blame their compliance software. My guess is that it might have been operator error.  But it could've easily been that a recruit didn't fill out the questionnaire because some guy on a forum told the world not to fill them out.  

Fill out the questionnaire.

Rich

www.PlayInSchool.com/bus_tour

Unless you have reason to believe that the Head Coach is already directly involved in your recruitment, send it to the Recruiting Coordinator. It's his job.

On most DI staffs, he's the one overseeing the process of maintaining the actively-recruited list and mapping out a travel strategy for seeing the players on their radar. If, somehow, the Head Coach is directly involved (i.e. camp introduction), make certain that the Recruiting Coordinator is copied on any communication with the Head Coach.

...and here's a "second" for completing questionnaires; along with sending along updates when significant news becomes available (i.e. team & showcase schedules, grades, test scores, etc.)

We send emails to the RC unless we have heard something from the HC.  My son is a Soph as well.  Be aware that the only contact allowed back to Sophomore's is an email with a camp invitation or a link to their questionnaire.  They are violating NCAA rules if they respond with anything other then those two.  However, your son is allowed to contact them.  If their response includes a coaches phone number (occasionally) or cell number (rare) then you are going to want to use that number and give them a call.

Has your son had any contact yet?  Either through a showcase or your travel team?  If your travel team has contacts with the school you might want to talk to your program and see if they can be the "middle man" for contact between your son and the school.  A program with good contacts should be able to let the coach know you are going to be sending them information and then provide you with feedback.

Not sure what you plan on sending along, but here is an example of what we send.  I would suggest keeping your initial email very short.  

Subjet:  <name> IL 6'4" 175lb RHP <city>, IL

Coach XXXX –

My name is <name> I am a right handed pitcher from <city. state>.  My fastball sits at <speed>, my curve ball sits at <speed> and has 11-5 breaking action.  My change up is currently sitting at <speed>.  In addition to being a pitcher I also play <position> and am a left handed batter.  I currently play for <high school> and <travel team>.

I am interested in playing for <university> after I complete my high school career.  I feel that <university> is a great fit for me both academically and athletically.  I look forward to hearing from you in the future and hope to see you at a showcase or camp this summer.

Please see the attached biography page for more of my information.

Thank You,

------------------------

Personal Information

Name:

Home Phone:

Mobile Phone:

Email Address:

Twitter:

Birthdate:

Graduation Year:

Academic Information

High School:
HS Address:

Guidance Counselor:

Counselor Phone Num:

Counselor Email:

GPA:

ACT Score:

Anticipated Major:

Baseball Information

Height:

Weight:
Bats:
Throws:
Primary Position:

Secondary Position:
60 Yard Time:
Fastball Velocity:

Changeup Velocity:

Breaking Pitch Velocity:

Position Velocity – Infield:

Ball Exit Velocity – Tee:

Other Sports Information

Fall:

Winter:

Baseball References

Summer Team:

Summer Team Contact:

Summer Team Email:
High School Coach:
High School Coach Email:

High School Coach Phn Num: 

Not sure on the personal statement, but a lot of the mass mailing generic ones make it sound like they are personal.  Sometimes its difficult to distinguish the ones they are mailing from a list they bought from the "real ones"

Thanks for all the great feedback, this has helped me think through how to approach this.  We are very new to the baseball recruiting world, in fact I wasn't planning on doing any of this until a major D1 program reached out to us out of the blue.  We were shocked and I didn't think any of this started until Junior year.  Since he is on the radar for one I figure we should be contacting several others and getting on their radar as well.

My son's travel team has good contacts with D1 programs, but my son has a 3.8 GPA, is in honors classes and is in the National Honor Society.  His schools and the schools his travel team has contacts with do not overlap that much.

Thanks again for all the input!

lefty at the risk of being the a-hole who provides some disappointment, can you tell us what you mean by "reached out"?  If it was an email about attending a camp at the school you are going to want to look at it closely.  The schools send out a lot of emails.  For the most part they have no interest in the kids other then mommy and daddy's money.  The invite a lot of kids to help generate funds for their program.

There is a lot of good information on this website.  I would suggest sticking around and searching for information on recruiting.  

It sounds like your son is in a good position grade-wise.   This will be really helpful during the recruiting process. 

BTW, forgot this, there are very specific contact rules for underclassman.  I would google for them so you understand what is legitimate contact and what is not.

In response to the question (not sure why it matters) : A couch emailed us to introduce himself to my son with specifics about my son in the email.  When my son replied the then responded and asked my son to fill out the questionnaire.  He then thanked my son for filling out the questionnaire and told him to finish strong with grades and that he would be in touch soon.

I know the mass mailers for camps and clinics you are referring to.  My son gets  lot of mailers for showcases, camps, and many appear to come from a coach but I can tell they are mass communications.  This is still pretty confusing to us, but the info on this site is helping a lot!    

Forgot to mention in my last reply: it was not the Head Coach it was RC/Assistant Coach that contacted us.  That is why I started this thread, I wasn't sure who to contact at other programs.

Question about the process. When filling out questionnaires or, in general dealing with frsh/sophs what do you do when the travel coach is also the kid's father? Would you use an assistant when filling out requestsfor who "travel coach" is?

BEST TO SELF PROMOTE. THEY ARE NOT COMEING UP THE DRIVE WAY!!