My 2018 is interested in playing for Furman. He is playing in the Big Bear Classic Tourney (Furman attending) and immediately following going to their prospect camp. With the announcement of their head coach resigning with no interim coach, is he wasting his time? I guess he can get a feel for the school culture and program. Anyone else go through this?
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What are the dates? Often it doesn't take very long for a replacement to be named. That said, with change at the top, often change comes at the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator positions as well. If you are focused on Furman as a viable option, I'd weigh the possibility that he may not get seen by a decision maker if the events are coming right up.
Tournament and camp coming in two weeks. Going to keep my fingers crossed.
10+ years ago Furman was my son's first choice. He had a positive meeting with the coach and ultimately got an offer . He did not go because he was not their first choice and as such he had "moved on" emotionally. He committed to D3 Trinity when Furman finally called (it came 3-days after he committed to Trinity) and offered him a small scholarship.
Furman is a beautiful school with nice kids and a terrific educational profile. However, we found that there are many schools with a similar profile where there may not be the uncertainty that you are currently experiencing. Don't put too many eggs into one basket.
I'd think they will be looking at rising seniors unless someone from a lower graduating date throws 90 or is hitting bombs.
There are tons of threads on this board about prospect camps being a waste of time and not being a waste of time. Since your son is a rising Junior, he should be going to the camp to learn something. The coaching is going to look to fill their immediate needs. If you have an invite to the camp with coaches contact information and they are meeting you there for a personal view at the camp, that's different. If not, expect to only get instruction out of it. You should be able to see who is running the camp. Often it is assistant or volunteer coordinator running the camp. They proceeds from the prospect camps are part of the HC compensation package and often just used for fund raising and the paycheck.
MDSCHERT
I sent you a PM
I can't tell you how many consultations I've provided for athletes and/or parents to help them transfer to another college, when one of the first phrases I hear from them is some version of "the coach who recruited our son/daughter is no longer at the college." If the new coaching staff isn't set before the camp starts, I wouldn't attend unless it's too late to get a refund on the registration fee.
Rick
Before Ron Smith left and while Ransing was still there.....my son went to their camp. It was close and an opportunity to get some experience. I guess in retrospect we probably would not go if we had to do it over but what did we know back then? And i was not on here.
The 1 day camp was fine, my son pitched a few innings in the scrimmage and they did work inside as it was raining in the am. Ransing did a good job with the boys. I will say this, the one thing that my son said the coach asked over and over was "What does your Dad do?" I suspect they were qualifying my income potential. They wanted to offer him but basically said, we probably cant match what you will get elsewhere. Anyway, we left there with a pitchers eval from Ransing and my son kept it for motivation as it said so nice things but also was critical on others. Good camp, great school..amenities arent awesome but they did have a plan to add/improve them. I hear a young coach in south carolina may be in the running there.
I think Landon Powell would be great for that job. Former Furman assistant who seems to have done a good job at North Greenville (which has got to be a very tough place to recruit), former big leaguer who can certainly speak to the kids about overcoming the adversity that comes with being a minor leaguer.
ShoveIt, I believe the young coach to which you refer has stronger ties to the App State job (and Boone, NC in particular). . .
But you never know
Excellent choice!
