When a coach requests a call, what should a player expect the call to be about? This is for early recruiting calls, prior to 9/1 junior year if it matters. Thanks.
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The calls ranged from just getting to know you, we love your game, who else are u talking to, to hours of tips on video games play!!
Be ready with a list of questions about team/school. Talk to coach as an adult. Be ready to answer the question: "where are u in the recruiting process and when do u plan to decide?".
A good to great recruiter will just be checking and building relationship.
How is school going? When's your season start? (I started to say how's your season going since our HS is 20 games in by now) Who are you playing with this summer and where? How's grades?
Just questions about him to build relationship. Should be nothing deep. I put in the rule that my son could not answer any question with yes or no. He had elaborate. I called it 5/7 rule. Every answer had to be at least 5 to 7 words. You may want to ask him the above questions and make him answer them with more than 5 words. I'm sure others will add other questions. A bad recruiter will try to make the player carry the conversation but the good ones know they are talking to HS kids and will ask easy questions to allow them to get the know the player and build a relationship.
In my son's experience the calls had a wide range of different things. One of the best intro calls he had baseball wasn't even discussed. The RC only talked about family, etc.
The coaches usually lead the conversation and make it easy for the kids. Less about baseball but always end the calls with, who else are you talking to? They typically set up the next call or a schedule to call them.
No one ever asked my sons who was recruiting them. If they are doing their job as recruiters they already know who is recruiting. I would never answer that question unless you think you can use it to your advantage. I would just say I've heard from a few different coaches but don't give names.
@PitchingFan posted:No one ever asked my sons who was recruiting them. If they are doing their job as recruiters they already know who is recruiting. I would never answer that question unless you think you can use it to your advantage. I would just say I've heard from a few different coaches but don't give names.
My son's very first call as a 15 year old he was asked who else he was talking to. When he responded that he was the first call he had ever had the coach said, "Don't forget that." Lol
@PitchingFan posted:No one ever asked my sons who was recruiting them. If they are doing their job as recruiters they already know who is recruiting. I would never answer that question unless you think you can use it to your advantage. I would just say I've heard from a few different coaches but don't give names.
Crazy. I think every single coach asked my son. Many asked that he let them know before he made any final decisions. We assumed it was pretty standard.
@baseballhs posted:Crazy. I think every single coach asked my son. Many asked that he let them know before he made any final decisions. We assumed it was pretty standard.
It is pretty standard IMO. Almost all RCs have to make a case to their HC before offering a player. A big part of making that case are statements like, “he has offers from X, Y & X. Two of those teams are in our conference so if we don’t want to play against him we better get an offer on the table.”
Can I ask a follow up question? Before 9/1 is there anything else allowed beyond a recruit calling a coach? My player doesn’t have a timeline for committing but he would like to see the facilities he commits to. Is there a way to see those facilities prior to 9/1 if he receives offers?
I dont think any coach expects a recruit who hasn't been on campus to commit right away or without some type of relationship established.
If he receives an early offer they might invite on an unofficial visit or attend a camp.
Usually there is a courting period before the coach presents an offer.
I know how folks look down on college camps but it can play an important part in the recruiting process.
JMO
My son was in his recruitment when the rules changed. We did lots of camps. Sometimes they did facility tours as part of the camp. Sometimes we got private tours but not sure that’s allowed anymore.
@Northeastmom posted:Can I ask a follow up question? Before 9/1 is there anything else allowed beyond a recruit calling a coach? My player doesn’t have a timeline for committing but he would like to see the facilities he commits to. Is there a way to see those facilities prior to 9/1 if he receives offers?
Northeastmom,
In our case, we worked through the travel coach. He was the proxy.
Many times our travel coach told our son to call Coach X at a certain time (coach x was expecting the call) to make introductions. Then you can inform Coach X that you'd like to visit campus on a specific date. In all cases, Coach X made arrangements for a campus and facilities tour. NCAA "contact" allows you to visit any time, and see the facilities for yourself. The NCAA limits off-campus not on-campus. My son had visited many campuses and spoke to many coaches on their campus prior to the NCAA contact date. Remember, the NCAA recruiting methodology limits what the coach can do, not the student athlete.
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/eligib...t_Resources/CBSA.pdf (page 39)
Good luck
@PitchingFan posted:A good to great recruiter will just be checking and building relationship.
How is school going? When's your season start? (I started to say how's your season going since our HS is 20 games in by now) Who are you playing with this summer and where? How's grades?
This is spot on. May also ask for ACT/SAT, if that’s still a thing now. Heavy focus on summer ball schedule, coach.
Just a bit of a tip. I know it seems obvious but if it's not something you do very often it's easy to get nervous and forget but make sure he has a few questions for them or things he can bring up with them.
Something as simple as I saw you guys beat _____, or I heard you guys are putting in new ______ at the facility, or how is so and so doing (if you're familiar with one of the players). Beyond being polite, it shows they're talking with a mature young adult who has actually taken the time to find something to ask them about.
When coaches started calling and they mentioned that they had seen them play here or saw video or liked their game - I would have mine ask what they (the coach) if they had seen anything they should be working on. I was impressed with those who immediately had a few things to say. It was obvious the guys who said get stronger or keep doing what you're doing were the ones who hadn't been paying enough attention to them and were more interested in stringing them along as their Plan B.