Do college coaches call high school coach?

Yes they call.  Both HS and travel coaches.  They may also call other area coaches that they know well to get their view too.

Typically they call after they have decided they have some interest in a player.

What you really want is an honest evaluation for the level of the college coach who calls.  If your son is not an SEC/Pac12/ACC type of player, thats what the HS/travel coach should say.  It does no one a favor to stretch the truth...including your son.

You can get an idea of what a coach will say by asking him.  Something like, "Coach, I'd like to put you down as a reference but first I'd be curious as to what types of schools you feel we should be targeting?"

Our experience has been that a lot of the initial college coach dialog happened with our travel coach.  2015 only had one college coach actually call the high school coach and it was more about type of student, character, etc. and less about baseball skills. 

Our experience has been that they do call the High School coach as the appropriate conduit of communication. But as already stated, it's because they have interest in the player as an eye witness or input from someone they trust in the baseball community. It is important to join the highest profile travel team possible that plays in PG events and to keep your PG profile updated.

As a high school coach my answer is yes.  Mostly the conversation revolves around how they are at practice, as a teammate, and in the classroom.  They can see everything else.  They can not see that. 

I have to agree with this.  I typically talked to several college coaches per season.  Of course, most if not all of my players counted on me to help in the recruiting process.  In doing so, I was often called by college coaches not only about players in my program, but also players in the area. 

Batsmith,

All of the schools still interested in my 2014 have called his HS coach.Most of them have called his summer/fall coach, and some have even called his coach at The Stanford All Star Camp as well.

These are some of the questions they have asked :

* What position do you see him playing  in college ?

* What is the character of the player ?

* Is he a team player ?

* Is he coachable ?

* What is his his work ethic like ?

* What are the parents like ?

These coaches have already seen him play live, and already had his grades and test scores,

One thing is for sure and that is the coaching/scouting fraternity is a small tight knit one.They all seem to know each other !

That saying that everyone around here loves "You never know who is watching" rings true time and time again.You also never know who knows who in the coaching world.

One more thing, these coaches DO check Facebook,Twitter,Instagram, and all that social media stuff.Make sure your son does not post anything offensive,insensitive, or just plain stupid.What's funny to a 16 or 17rd old may not be so funny to a 50 year old college baseball coach.

Hope this helps.

Son's former HS coach and another coach close friend talk to dozens of college coaches.

Some call asking about a specific player.  HSHC will also recommend other players to them.

Some call looking for positions/skills, "hey, I need a fast OF", "I need a LHP", etc.

Thanks for all of your replies. The last Varsity coach is no longer with us. He announced he was moving to another high school to coach. Would this coach care anymore about a past player and would he be willing to help him? My son never gave the ex-coach trouble, is a pretty good player, was moved to a position never played before and performed well. We have been told he is very coachable. Never a problem. This coach only saw and coached my son for one season. We have an Assistant Coach who has two sons on Varsity. He is also President of Booster Club. I would not feel comfortable giving his name for a recommendation. There was and is a great deal of favoritism/nepotism/politics so I am leary.

College coaches are smart about if the coach knows his stuff or not.  In our case coaches have called our summer coach, summer organization director and private pitching coach.  They have not called the school coach because he doesn't know the game well and they know it.  So I would say they will call who they know and trust first, that may be school coach or summer coach, Just depends.

Sad but true story.  My son's HS coach came up to him one day and said "Hey, this coach from XXXXX College has been calling me and leaving messages he wants to talk about you for the last month or so, do you know what he wants?" 

One of my son's friends gave out the high school coach's number. A mid major college coach called. The high school coach proceeded to break down every flaw the player had and summed up by telling the college coach the kid can't play at the mid major level. Said he was a D3 player. The kid signed and plays on a major conference team who called his travel coach. 

Sounds like a driver's ed teacher to me. 

My son has been to a couple college prospect camps - and though they all advertise about being "instructional" and "working with college coaches and players" there seems to be very little interaction - setting up the situations and watching the kids play.  So all of the intangibles -  such as character, being a team player, work ethic, being coachable -  are left for later, after a player has been identified as  having a good skill set?  Are these things the college coaches learn solely from the high school coaches and then confirm on official visits?  Thanks!

Based upon the feedback you've received, and my oldest son's experience your mileage may vary.   College coaches called both his high school and travel coaches wanting to find out character traits, temperament, and work habits on the field and off the field.  High school coach didn't bother to return any college coaches calls.   We found out later in the summer, the High School coach was fired and replaced.   Travel coach returned all calls and initiated many calls on behalf of son.  Travel coach was a tremendous advocate for my son.  BTW....We saw his old travel coach this weekend at a showcase and he was asking twenty questions about my oldest son.  I honestly felt that he treated my son like his own in this process. 

Best case would have been both high school coach and travel coach giving positive feedback.  But sometimes you can only play the hand your dealt.

Good luck!

Sounds like the son didn't talk to his coach about it first.

YES they do!  We found that high school coaches are asked more for the character of the player, are they a good kid, good student, work ethic.  And of the many many coaches I know - they tell the honest truth!  No HS coach (or travel coach) wants to give bad information (just to benefit a kid) and then the college coach will discredit any future info/insight ever provided from that coach again.

We have an upcoming D1 prospect in our program...and our HS HC has talked to him honestly about needing to work harder, get better grades, etc.  He has explained to him that one day....a college coach is going to ask what he thinks about him...and he will tell the truth.  What he tells the HC is up to the kid...

Yes they do.  And, they also call other coaches in your kids conference.  We had one kid being recruited by a D1.  It was frustrating to learn about what the D1 coach said about our high school coach…..He learned more about the player from another coach in the conference than he learned from the players own coach!  We can't do anything about our coach, but it's a reminder to players to carry themselves well in every situation.  You never know who's holding the key to your future.

  I have heard this story many times about the HS coaches doing nothing as far as helping a kid with his recruiting. I assume it's because it is not his job to, and therefore he don't have time for something that won't pay extra. This is why parent's can't sit back and assume it will all work out.

 If I were a HS coach I would be proud that I helped a young man land in the right program at the next level. I enjoy receiving a text of (Hey coach I made varsity!)

I'm surprised you haven't been banned yet. Care to share your personal experience of why you hate high school coaches so much that you demean them every chance you get?

Myself and 99.99% of other high school coaches loved to see our players continue playing after high school and have success. I have no problem at all talking to a college coach that is potentially recruiting a player. I do want them to let me know that I might be receiving a call and what sort of contact they have had with this coach already. This is to make sure we are all on the same page. When a kid enters his junior year I sit down with him before the high school season and discuss with him after tryouts that his primary focus needs to not be on the future whether that' showcases, summer ball, college  but to focus on being the best he can be on and off the field with our program and provide excellent leadership. If he can meet my requirements of essentially being a great teammate and not mailing it in I will do everything in my power to help him find the right fit. 

Also every coach in our conference has a program between 60 and 80 kids to worry about not to mention parents. Summer coaches have 15-18.I coach both and as you can imagine one takes up significantly much more time than the other. 

Son didn't know about calls from this particular college

 I was always told that it wasn't required of them to add this to their daily schedule. However I knew that some coaches went the extra mile to help kids in this area.

 So what 19coach is saying is that coaches are suppose to do this and they still refuse.....thats worse than I thought.

It isn't required.

That isn't what I said at all.

Banned?  That's a bit much, isn't it?  The good doctor?  He's definitely guilty of coach needling.  That the reaction is so strong is entertaining.

My kid is not in high school yet.  No clue if he is really a player.  But if he is, I'll ask the coach how he handles inquiries from college coaches/recruiters.  I'm sure most of the hs coaches are good about it, but not all. 

Banned was probably a bit much for sure. 

Yes they do. They call the travel coaches as well but most of the time they speak to you one on one at the venues your playing at. They also call and ask you about other players. Have you seen him, do you know him, etc. Sometimes its just to get information on players to check out. Sometimes its because they already have interest in the player. Some HS coaches have real credibility with college coaches. Some are unknown. Some have no credibility. The same can be said for travel coaches. College coaches get as much information as they can get regardless. Some of the best and most important feedback is from current and former college players. And yes they always ask about the parents.

Nearly every college coach who was interested in my son contacted his high school coach and summer coaches.  Some who knew our school and program asked specific question about how he compared to kids who had come through the program before: "is he as good as so and so?" In addition, son was injured for Junior season, so the character references about how he handled the injury and recovery were enormously important.  Luckily our high school coach let our son know every time a school reached out.  He told my son exactly what was asked and answered in those convesrations.  We were quite lucky.