Contacting coaches again?

You or your son can call at any time, as soon as he enters HS. The coach just can't return your call until July 1 after his Junior year. Lots of people get confused with this one. Although you would have to catch the coach in his office, I think it is OK to try and call and see if he received your letter. At this point you are trying to establish a rapport with the coach. Email might work better.

My guy is a freshman and on one call to a school, I used it as an opportunity to learn what the schedule is at this time of year. In general, between 9:00 and 12:00 works and not so much in the afternoon because they are working out in the afternoons most days.

Also right around this time of the year it seems they are all running those January weekend prospect or pro/scout camps.

This is just a guess but, when you run out on a Saturday or Sunday to a coaches convention or to help out with your own showcase or someone elses showcase or to give a speaking event, you probably dont get in first thing on Monday.

Right now, I get the sense that they cant stay on the phone that long because they are trying to seal the guys higher up on their depth charts.

School also have spring break camps/trips coming up.

I am just piecing this together from snippets of information I've picked up lately. In general though, I sense they are pretty busy relative to normal.

There are a bunch of guys on this site who will know more precisely all that is going on at this time of year.

Right now I'm trying to piece together which are the two low-cost events for my son to attend next fall and spring that cover the majority of his target schools. I've found that these guys will talk pretty much about anything, as long as you initiate the conversation.

quote:

Right now, I get the sense that they cant stay on the phone that long because they are trying to seal the guys higher up on their depth charts.

They are very busy right now and in addition to that they really don't have much time to chat with parents of every player who wants/dreams to come to their school someday.

As to the original question...you sent the letters, let it be for now or at most, have your son send an email with his HS schedule attached.

quote:

Originally posted by justbaseball:
They are very busy right now and in addition to that they really don't have much time to chat with parents of every player who wants/dreams to come to their school someday.

The above is correct. Coaches are always busy but usually will always find the time to talk to who they really want to talk to. You will know when they really are interested and when they are just being polite.

Remember, coaches recruit players, not the other way around.

Good suggestion from JB, email and send schedule, that's all you can do at this time.

Notlongtilicantcatchim:

You pieced that together very well. That's a good description of the very busy schedule coaches live at this time of year.

Thanks for that confirmation Prepster.

We live about an hour from Toronto, Ontario, and I have been trying to piece together a plan of attack for the next couple of years. As far as the two Prospect Camps go for next year (sophomore): I believe the Blue Chip Prospects (Buffalo in October) and the Cangelosi one (Chicago, Jan. 2012) will give him exposure to coaches from 40 different schools and about a half dozen MLB Scouts.

The process for the organization we belong to, has our guys doing gym/weight room workouts until mid-Jan; then throwing from the flat/pitchers-power-drives and we should be on the clay starting sometime this week. Thus, most of these one-day Prospect Camps are not timed well for our guys – even the ones in the northern US.

Our new facility has twelve clay indoor mounds and there are about 20 catchers and 35 pitchers during our sessions. There have been MLB scouts in from four different clubs over the past few weeks for the older guys and there will be a bunch there at the end of next month, followed by our Florida camp in March.

At 17U and 18U, our guys schedules are packed year-round. Many of the 18U’s miss 21 days of school in the fall term of Grade 12 alone.

Eventually, Not-short will be up on the PG stats list but, I figure these two shotgun blasts next year may give him a face-to-face sense of a lot of the coaches from schools that are not covered during the vortex of 17U and 18U. I am hoping that in the junior year we might be able to get him to specific nearby camps as a result of the ones he goes to next year. Schools from farther afield will come through our club team.

We have identified 20-30 schools already that we are strongly interested in, and have a lot of information about those schools. Calling a few of them has helped us understand things a lot better and to put together our plan.

another question: When sending resume's and especially high school schedules, is it better to send as an attachment or a second and third page along with the cover letter explaining what you are sending?
this always confuses me. do coaches take time to open more files or would they rather just scroll?

We always had my son send things such as a profile or schedule as attachments. Easier to work with IMO. Also, sent letters through "snail mail" as an initial contact letter (similar to what is shown here on this website). This may work better with older coaches who may not have embraced technology as much. Young coaches may prefer to get email. My son did it this way, and it seemed to work out.

If a player's far enough along in the recruiting process and fortunate enough to be on a program's "A List" of recruited players, what's one of the features you've noticed about their approach?

They write handwritten notes to the player. They want their correspondence to communicate the strong, sincere interest they have in him.

Note that they'll almost always personalize it. For example: "I saw you at the All World, Super-Duper Showcase."

So, take a lesson from the recruiter's book. If there are two or three schools/programs that stand head and shoulders above the rest for a player, attach a short, handwritten note to a questionnaire, summer/fall team schedule, etc. that's headed their way.

Keep it short and sincere; and personalize it if there's something about the team/school that really impresses you. A recruiter will read it and pay attention to it.

Personalized notes to the players a coach is interested in? Yep, very much so.

Handwritten? Not so much. I think that these days most players and coaches have email available in their phones, and the convenience and speed of response of email wins out over snail mail, even if it is handwritten.

In fact, the handwritten correspondence my 2011 son received was either from folks wanting him to spend money, or, in one case, obviously written by a female student employee. On the other hand, responsiveness seems to have been an accurate indicator of interest.

While not the lead recruiter for his program, my son is in constant communication with the players they're recruiting. As you suggest, the vast majority of his communication with recruits is via text, email, or phone.

However, just two nights ago, I was talking with him on the phone about a player they're very high on. The first thing he said to me was "I've sent two handwritten notes to him."

If you really want to stand out, you'll do something that distinguishes itself in today's electronic environment even more than it once did.

One of the better things my son's coach did was keep accurate, detailed, and up to date stats on maxpreps.com . This was very helpful, as my son was able to update coaches very easily be including a link to his personal stats in an email.

I graduated in 2009 from Binghamton University and learned a great deal throughout the process about contacting coaches.

These coaches are very busy and get tons of calls, emails, and videos every day ( my coach used to joke that they would use the recruit tapes to record our hitting sessions) that you have to treat getting their attention like marketing any other "product".

It is always easier to get recruited, than recruit, meaning if you can get some coaches noticing you (through high school, showcases, etc) your life becomes much easier because the coaches are the ones struggling to get in touch with you.


That being said, this is not always the case. I emailed the various coaches my "showcase schedule" of the events I was going to over the summer so hopefully they at least recognized my name when my turn came up.

I did not have any outstanding qualities that immediately set me apart from everyone so I called a lot of coaches, sent a lot of videos, and emailed a lot of schedules. Still, once a certain school showed (even mild) interest I went into high gear making sure I would talk to the coach at least once a week and stay in communication with them. It such a "loud" world making sure you are always on their radar is important.

I would be more than happy to answer any and all questions you or your son might have as I am trying to me a resource I never had going through the process. As I said I went through it myself, and also wrote a book on my college baseball experience, so I do have a good amount of knowledge that might help!


Ken Jacobi
- Author of "Going with the Pitch:Adjusting to Baseball, School, and Life as a Division I College Athlete"

I know we can call, email, write any time we wish and that coaches can only return calls after July 1 junior year. Is it the same with email or can a coach reply to an email any time?

A coach can send recruiting emails (as opposed to camp invitations) only after September 1 of the junior year.

Hi, I found this schedule that gives a pretty good break down of timing depending on how old your son is.

http://ncaacollegerecruitingrules.com/page13.html

Also, from Livestrong.com

Freshman and Sophomore
When you are a freshman or sophomore in high school, you are permitted to telephone a college baseball coach, but he cannot contact you. If he is not available and you leave a message, he cannot call you back. Recruiters can send brochures, educational information or questionnaires, but no written recruitment literature. Freshmen and sophomores can make two unofficial visits to campus and can speak to a coach, but only on campus.

Junior
As a junior, the reins are loosened a little, but not by much. From Sept. 1 of your junior year, recruiters can send you information about the school, the athletic program, schedules, media guides or official school publications. You are also permitted to answer and receive emails from a coach. After July 1, and after you have completed your junior year, it is OK for a coach to make contact. This includes one phone call per week to either you or your parents.

Senior
Senior year is when the final push takes place to get you to a specific school. After the first day of school on your senior year, you can take five official expense-paid visits to the campus that can last up to 48 hours each. The coaches must have your ACT or SAT scores before you can visit. Coaches can phone or write you under the same rules as your junior year.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/arti...iting/#ixzz1NDtvYnJb


It looks like emails are permissable ( text messages are no longer) after September 1.

Hope this helps.

Ken Jacobi
- Author of "Going with the Pitch:Adjusting to Baseball, School, and Life as a Division I College Athlete"

Good advise so far..I have a 2012 and he has had good communication through emails from college coaches starting the summer after his Sophomore year. We already have an idea which coaches has shown some interest after 1 year. Some more interest than the others but you'll never know until they show further interest after July 1st.

I am not sure if I read it here but correct me if I am wrong.... D3 schools can contact you after June 15th? Are they also limited to 1 phone call a week?

Ken, BTW, I got your kindle edition last night and I am on Chapter 3. Good stuff. Perfect timing for my son who is now a Rising Senior.

Hi, I hope you and your son are able to get something out of the book. My experience was far from easy but if my book helps one future student-athlete it will be a huge success! Good or bad I would love to hear your opinion on the book once you finish.

I did some research on your last question and found a pretty good website. From what I gathered ( I checked a few sites and called some of my friends who played DIII) there are very few restrictions in terms of contact at the D3 level. Without athletic scholarships the NCAA is not as concerned with these types of things. I tried to find the official rules through the NCAA but that portion of the site is down. The site I attached is good but as always unless it is the NCAA official guidelines, you may want to double check points with other people as well. I do not want to give you false information on specific days until I can get access to the NCAA site, so I will try to get back to you on the exacts, unless anyone else in the fourm knows 100% for sure.

http://www.associatedcontent.c...ng_rules.html?cat=25

Ken Jacobi
- Author of "Going with the Pitch:Adjusting to Baseball, School, and Life as a Division I College Athlete"

This is great information, thanks. Any pointers to a similar recruiting rules table for NAIA schools?

NAIA Baseball Scholarships: 12

The NAIA has no clearinghouse like the NCAA Eligibility Center. That said, there are NAIA eligibility requirements: (1) you must have graduated from high school; and (2) meet two of the following three: have an ACT test score of at least 18 or an SAT of at least 860, have a GPA of at least 2.0, and finish in the top half of your graduating class

The NAIA has a website that has a lot of the rules spelled out.

http://naia.cstv.com/member-se.../RecruitingRules.htm

This is not my area of expertise but it looks like the main contact rules for NAIA stem from recruiting kids already in another NAIA program


Ken Jacobi
- Author of "Going with the Pitch:Adjusting to Baseball, School, and Life as a Division I College Athlete"

Hope this helps.

New NAIA eligibility center:

http://www.playnaia.org/

Thanks for the help "Outfielder"

Great team effort!!!

Ken Jacobi
- Author of "Going with the Pitch:Adjusting to Baseball, School, and Life as a Division I College Athlete"

Thanks everyone for the information. For a variety of reasons, NAIA might be a good fit for my son, so I really appreciate this.

So from my read of the NAIA rules, there are essentially no rules governing when a NAIA coach may or may not contact a HS player. My 2013 may begin reaching out to a few schools in the next couple of weeks and understanding what level of responses are possible from schools is good to know.

quote:

Originally posted by 99gitf9:
This is great information, thanks. Any pointers to a similar recruiting rules table for NAIA schools?

What are the rules for JUCO's contacting high schoolers???

This is a really interesting set of stats that I was suprised to see. It is staggering to see how mant JuCo programs there are out there.

Baseball by the Numbers

Schools Offering Baseball
NCAA Division I 300
NCAA Division II 242
NCAA Division III 376
NAIA 209
Junior College 400
Total 1,527

Athletic Scholarship Opportunities
Division I (per school) 11.7
Division II (per school) 9
NAIA (per school) 12
NJCAA (*varies per school) 24

Student-Athlete Participation
NCAA Division I 9,710
NCAA Division II 8,412
NCAA Division III 11,694
NAIA 5,411
Junior College 10,950

Not being part of a JuCo program I do not know the exact rules but I had a lot of friends who went from JuCo to D1 who evetually got drafted. I would check out this link I found.

http://magazine.stack.com/TheI...ball_Recruiting.aspx

Ken Jacobi
- Author of "Going with the Pitch:Adjusting to Baseball, School, and Life as a Division I College Athlete"