First Offer

Why hasn't he looked at other schools yet? As a Jr., should be doing that for academic reasons, and see if he likes program in preferred major, even before he thinks about baseball. When is plan to visit them, soon better than later I hope. 

He has not played jr. season yet. Remember  it would just be verbal commit since he cannot sign until Nov of Jr. year.

Playball, we have been looking but some of the others that have shown interest are recent developments like the offering school. 

My son had several offers going into the fall of his junior year, two of which he was strongly considering.  He also had a number of schools following him quite closely with some talk of offers to come.  He ultimately decided that one of the schools was a place where the following things were clear:  They really, really wanted him, the school is one he would have attended without baseball, and it was an acceptable distance from home. 

 

With all that said, we told him that no matter what any coaches told him, he shouldn't feel pressured to give a yes or no before he was ready, that there was a third option, to say that he wasn't yet ready to make a decision. The coaches could then decide whether to pull the offer, extend the deadline or continue to watch him as time went on.

Son had offer from mid major D1 summer before Jr year, waited a while and did not accept it. Wasn't the school for him. IMO, i would not take the 1st offer unless he is super excited about all aspects of that school, staff, location, education etc.

 

I would wait till summer after junior year to field as many offer as possible to evauate the best one unless of course, his dream school makes an offer.

Also, with an offer at this point in the process do you think they will only give him a week to decide? Did anyone have a similar situation?

One HC told my son he had two weeks to decide. He didn't want us using the offer as leverage with other schools. Another told my son he has two days but if he committed within 24 hours, the offer would increase 10%. My son is playing for neither school. If they really want your son now, they will want him in a few months.

I wouldn't think you'll bet a one week ultimatum with your son being a 2016...but who knows. If it's not a school he's excited about...then you'll have to take the chance of losing it...or worse, not getting any other offers.  My son visited a school....loved it and was willing to commit that day if he got an offer.  He didn't get an offer then...but did over the phone 2 days later....and committed to the school that made him his first offer.  They always say "you'll know" when it's the right offer...and from talking with my son's friends and their parents who are playing in college...everyone feels exactly that way. If your son doesn't think that the offer is "the one"...then hold off....yes, you could lose an offer...but that's a better option than going somewhere he won't like being at for 4 years.

Wouldn't the early signing period be Nov. of his senior year?

Rover - We had a nearly identical situation and time frame with our younger son.  It was a school he had high interest in - but he wasn't 100% sure.

 

What did we do?  1) We met with our HS coach (who was very well versed in recruiting), 2) we met with travel coach (also very well versed), 3) we communicated very honestly with other interested schools, letting them know that there was an offer from School-X and that the decision time frame just just sped up.

 

#1 and #2 were easy and we got GREAT advice from both.

 

#3 resulted in one school asking him to wait as long as he could so they could decide (they never did), another school basically saying, 'good luck!', yet another one getting ticked off but not moving their needle and a fourth school speeding up their time frame to compete - which they did very significantly.

 

My basic advice - honestly communicate.  No, not what the details of offer #1 are, but that you have an offer and its good enough (if it is) to take it if nothing more desirable happens in the meantime.

 

BTW, we did not have 1 week to decide.  More like 2 months.

 

In the end, he committed too and attended the original offerer as it was in fact one of about 3 'dream schools' for him. We also learned later that other schools were about to get interested and probably offer - but we never looked back.  He's a college senior now and very, very happy.  Maybe we got lucky?  Maybe not?  We often wonder if it was luck or the great advice we got along the way.

 

Good luck to you and your son!  

Rover - I have heard of all timeframes to provide a decision.  As short as 48 hours once!

 

My son was lucky - got first offer early junior year and school said we could take our time while we made sure it was the right school/right fit.  8 months later...lots of visits, other offers, traveling...he committed to the original school.  The timeframe itself they provided gave my son a feeling of their sincerity of really wanting him for their program.  That is just our story - there are a ton out there.

 

Good luck!

From what you're saying, I take it this would be an unsolicited offer.  I sure hope your son isn't out there encouraging people to make him offers when he's not ready to decide on them.  (That would be another entire topic in and of itself.)

 

The first thing for your son to do is, have his travel coach communicate with the college coach to hash this out for him.  That allows investigation of time tables without your son having to risk him being the guy giving offense.

 

The second thing for your son to do is, make it his top priority to think about this school, whether it's the right one for him, whether it's not, what schools he might prefer, or whether he needs more information to decide.  If your son is a junior and a high enough caliber player to be getting offers already, then he's behind the curve in terms of getting this done.  Well, now is crunch time, so there is no excuse for not getting focused and starting to make decisions.  (It's the same decision he'd have to make a year from now if he weren't a baseball scholarship player, so we all have to reach this decision making juncture at some point.  For your son, that point is now.  Actually, it was some months ago.)

 

If your son concludes that this school is right for him, then the only remaining question will be whether the offer terms meet your family's needs.

 

In the other scenarios, your son should prepare himself to receive the offer and respond along these lines:

 

"Coach, that is wonderful.  I greatly appreciate your offer and your interest in me.  To be honest, I am caught a bit by surprise in getting your offer even before my junior season has started.  I would like some time to talk this over with my parents to make sure I am doing the right thing.  May I ask, when would you need my answer?"

 

There are multiple goals served by this. First, your son posits himself as the point of contact, which is very important in terms of conveying the impression of him being mature enough to handle his own affairs.  Second, your son is at all times respectful of the coach's authority position and therefore deferential in all phrasing.  Third, this should both buy your son at least 7-14 days while also making it clear to him what his deadline is if he doesn't want this offer to evaporate.

 

The 7-14 day period becomes the time when you would do things like visit the campus, watch a practice or scrimmage, do a "junior day" overnight visit (rooming with other players or some such), or even contact other schools your son might consider preferable.  Those contacts can be handled via the travel coach, or by e-mails that would look like this:

 

"Dear Coach ____, you may recall that I have long been interested in your program.  Today, I received an offer from another school.  Confidentially, I would prefer to attend your school and to play for you there.  However, in the event that you might not see me as a prospective member of your 2016 recruiting class, I would not want to lose the offer I have just received, as it is a very good offer in its own right.  As I consider that offer, may I ask you whether you do see me as a member of your 2016 class?  I must reply to the other school by [date], so any response you could provide before that time would be greatly appreciated."

 

 

Great comments thanks!  This was an unsolicited offer and he is seriously considering the school. There aren't any negatives at this point and he very well may accept it depending on the offer of course. It just has come sooner than expected and we hadn't really finished the process of looking at schools. My son has handled all communications and will continue to do so. My hope is that they would give him some time to finish looking at schools to make the right decision for him. I guess we just have to adjust to a more sped up time frame at this point.

2016 was told 2 months but not more than 3.From a good D-1.If he would have bbeen told days.I could have answered for him.Thanks but no thanks.

Son's teammate had a different experience with a major D-1. I'm sure this is not typical but he was told they needed an answer on the spot. I guess they really wanted to lock him up. He was taken by surprise and really felt the pressure. IMO be prepared for all the possibilities mentioned above.

It's a game of cat and mouse, if they really want your kid, they will wait. I've been told from that mid-major D1 (1st offer) that he NEVER waits or have ever had to wait (including his time at a very popular D1 ACC school) more than 2 weeks for a response.

 

I have also heard from a friend, that 2 weeks was the max and kid was shown the depth chart on the coach's wall to show him who the next guy was if he didn't accept with time frame. Parents asked for more time and eventually accepted after about 3-4 weeks and coach was fine with it.

 

Take your time, evaluate all of your options and "Never let em see you sweat!"

It's difficult to generalize about this sort of thing. Each offer is extended from within a broad context of factors and considerations; one that consists of elements like (1) the number of open positions at the time of the offer, (2) the remaining amount of money in the scholarship pool, (3) the offering school's assessment of the recruit's tools and fit with the need they believe he addresses, (4) the number of similar players being considered for the slot being offered, etc. To complicate matters, there's often a fair amount of interplay among these factors, and the whole situation tends to be very fluid.

 

Common sense dictates that the more, similar players the coaches feel they have available for a particular need, the less time they're apt to give to a recruit to respond to the offer; but, the factors that go into their assessment are varied and specific to each program's circumstances.

 

Coming from a world filled with uncertainty, coaches are going to tend to want to create as much certainty around their recruiting class as early as they can. Offer deadlines are viewed as one method of creating that certainty. 

 

Meanwhile, my general advice to each recruited player would be to not allow an offer deadline to push the player into a premature decision. If it feels "right," fine; but, try not to let tactics like deadlines become major decision factors.

Tons of excellent advice here.  All that said, Midlo's is the best (no surprise), IMO.  My 2016 (now committed) had same situation in Nov.  Very attractive, yet unsolicited offer from a school that he/we like a lot...really, nothing not to like about it, but it wasn't in his Top 3 prior to the offer coming in. I don't want to name names, but this school deserves an A+ in how they handled it.  Basically, they said "We won't give you a hard deadline, but we want YOU to let US know a date by which you will make a decision...so, there is no pressure, but there really is, because the longer you wait, the more we will look for another player at your position." It was very open, honest in both directions and handled professionally.  The way they handled it made him actually more interested (integrity, honesty, class, etc.)  Back to Midlo:  my son basically said (the truth) along the lines of "this has taken me by surprise and I didn't expect things to happen this quickly, and while I am flattered and very, very interested, I'd like to take more time to make sure of my decision."  Another thing he told them, which was also true, is "I currently don't have an offer that I would take over yours."  He had 3 or 4 offers, so that made them feel comfortable, I believe.  As it turns out, my son's #1 came through and he committed there, but that does not take away from the experience.

One thing to keep in mind... If one school makes you an offer it is highly likely that several schools will make an offer.

 

If you are one of those very talented underclassmen, you will have many schools wanting you.  

 

The reason for bringing this up, is there's no reason to panic and wonder if you'll ever get another offer.  Also, if they want you now, they more than likely will want you later.  Maybe even more if they feel their first assessment was correct.  

 

There are different types of recruits.  You will know which type you are based on the attention you get.  Highest level players get interest from many colleges.  They get the best offers from those colleges.  So if you are one of these types, chances are you have been seen a lot and recognized as a very talented player.  Then again, if you haven't been seen a lot, it is possible that colleges near where you live will make a low or decent offer. Often players don't understand that even the local college has to up the ante when many other colleges know who you are and show recruiting interest.

My sons first offer as a junior ended up being from the school he attended. 

 

He told the RC that he really didn't know anything much about the program and he needed time, and they gave it to him, he ended up committing a year later.

 

I realize things have changed, but what happened to the days when the coaches really got to know their recruits and the other way around?  If someone really wants you, they will give it time, especially is it is a very early committ.  

 

I know its business but telling someone that they have 24 hours to commit and the scholarship increases is just plain awful and sounds desperate.  Has to be another way.

 

My motto is if it doesn't feel right don't do it.

 

Yes meant Sr., thank u