High School coach recomendations

This could go either way, IMO. If a player has taken care of business, even with a conflict, the coach should be honest in his evaluation and recommendation.

Perhaps some of the coaches here can elaborate better on your question.

Don't short change the coach. My son was not his "favorite" but when the time came and he was asked about my son, he gave an evaluation based on his perfomance in his program (classroom, practice and games). As a parent that is all you want or need.

Ultimatly, if a coach is asked about a given player, those that are making the inquiry have a good idea what they are getting. The call to the coach is generally to validate what they have already learned.

ILVBB, that sounds very logical to me. Thank you very much.

Popup: Ours had no internet skills, and the college coaches we talked to told us he was unresponsive. It bothered me for a little while, and then we just determined that it wasn't about the coach, it was about the player and our son ended up at a D1. I would say your summer team coach can be the main contact if the high school coach is less than ideal.

I agree with ILVBB that most coaches will want to promote their players and their programs, but they will also "protect" their programs reputation too by not promoting someone they think is not that good.

If you want your opinion to matter then you have to have credibility. And if you want to have credibility then you better make sure you are honest with those that you want to value your opinion. This goes for hs coaches as well as summer coaches.

A parent will have their opinion of their child. The coach will have his opinion. Sometimes they will be pretty darn close. And sometimes they wont even be close. But that is one persons opinion. The college coach is going to see a player play. They are going to formulate their own opinion of the players ability. They are going to check other sources not just the hs coach. If they get the same feedback from several sources then it starts to come together. If they get several different opinions on the kid as a person then they eventually are going to have to make a call based on their own feelings based on the contact they have had personally with the player. And then they will weigh the credibility of their sources as to which they trust the most as being accurate.

Seeing if a kid has tools and seeing if a kid has the ability to play is not that hard. The intangibles are where the sticky part can come in. Its important for kids to understand that the impression they make on the coach or coaches may be the deciding factor when everything is said and done.

Coach May, very good response. I really don't believe son has done anything at HS team other than overshadow coach's son on the team. He did mention that some players are goof offs or lazy. He evidently takes his BB seriously.

Many of our kids have us, the travel team, fill out the questionnaires---for whatever the reason they feel more comfortable with us doing it---also we play twice as many games, at least, than the HS team and we play better competition on every weekend

we feel honored!!!

HS coaches have given less than favorable recommendations. It may not have anything to do with on field performance. It may be that they were angry that the kid played on another team in the summer versus the hs team.

When my older son went through this the college coach opened our eyes. He told us the hs coach was not positive. However, he talked with several teachers and other hs coaches and they all came back very positive. Before they give out money college coaches usually do their homework and want to know if the kid is not only a player but a good citizen.

TR and Shamrock, I agree 100%.

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HS coaches have given less than favorable recommendations. It may not have anything to do with on field performance. It may be that they were angry that the kid played on another team in the summer versus the hs team.

Quit stereotyping. Travel coaches have been known to badmouth people because that person wouldn't go along with their BS.

If you think you can do such a better job than the high school coach, then get certified and prove it. There's plenty of spots open.

Yes Bulldog, you are correct. But maybe they deserved the press? From our experience the cream rises to the top. Unfortunately for our HS team my son is the cream, which means we need higher quality of cream of more of it. My name isn't Pop Hitter Dad for no reason, hah.

kbat2012, yes three of them, however you can be a bench player and get one, and everyone in the "business" knows our league is weak.

I take my hat off to HS coaches and what they go through with certain parents. However, when they start telling us as parents that we can not take our kids to pitching or hitting coaches to get help.

When the HS coach is too busy to help kids with catching, hitting etc they should be happy parents are willing to spend money to do the lessons. It only makes the kids better for their teams.

I am a high school baseball coach who has players go to every level straight out of high school, including pro ball. It is not my job to give a favorable answer to recruiters. It is my responsibility to give an honest answer. This means both on the field and off the field. If I have a player that is all world but he has bad character or bad in the classroom. College coaches and/or scouts will find out. If I with hold this information from these word then means nothing. IMO parents would rather have a travel ball coach fill out or talk to a college coach because a travel ball coach does not seen all aspects of a player's life like a high school coach does. As long as the coach is honest there should be nothing wrong with that. If it is honest and the parent is not happy maybe the parent should look at themselves and their son with an honest effort.

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When the HS coach is too busy to help kids with catching, hitting etc they should be happy parents are willing to spend money to do the lessons. It only makes the kids better for their teams.

Sometimes...

As a high school coach, we sit down everyone of our seniors and sometimes juniors and talk to them about the next level. We give them an honest assessment. We give them the questionares back and let them make the call on if they send it in or have someone else fill it out. I have the pleasure of being lied to on a consicent basis during the summer form parents and summer ball coaches.

The best advice is give it to the most honest coach you have. There are bad and good coaches at every level of baseball.

I think you hit it on the head if the coach is honest. But as we all know there are good honest coaches in HS and then there are the guys that may have an axe to grind because a kid may have decided not to play for his summer program.

It just makes me laugh that there are certain HS coaches that egos will not allow their kids to go play for a different team in the summer.Last time I looked I did not see the HS coach paying these kids. If the coaches ran a good compeitive program in the summer the kids would not leave. Also, what about the kid who wants the opportunity to play a different position. I know coaches that determine a kid is not a pitcher or whatever. What is wrong with that kid going else where to get that opportunity. Baseball is suppose to be fun since the majority of these kids may not go play college or pro.

I doubt that any high school coach's recommendation is the single determining factor. The recruiter has an idea of what he thinks the player is. Most often, this is either confirmed or debunked by other opinions, including the HS coach. My view is that if there is something bad about the player, it is hard to hide it. If a HS coach and a summer coach come up with 2 very different assessments, that is going to cause the recruiter to do more due diligence. I would think if anything, most HS coaches are guilty of being a little too positive, but not to the degree of misrepresenting a player's talent. My son and his HS coach had conflicting personalities, but I think the coach was very fair in his assessment.

You all can quit claiming that high school coaches are the only ones who are "selfish" about their players.

We've had one travel coach here who told his players to NOT play ANY other sport but baseball...

In a bit of a unique position here. Our newly appointed Varsity coach had been the Varsity Assistant coach the last several years. His son and ours both play the same infield position as their "primary" positions. Our son is probably a little more versatile with respect to playing various positions. Both players are hard nosed, competitive players so it will be interesting to see how it shapes up this Spring.

We chose to have our son's travel coach send in a recent questionnaire to a college coach. We just felt more confident that he would provide a more truthful, unbiased opinion on our son's behalf!

Who really knows??

You'll find good and bad coaches at every level, in travel ball as well as school affiliated coaches. Neither side or level has a monopoly on good or bad coaches.

Baseball is a 'people business' in more ways than one. College Coaches depend on the opinions and advice of people they know and trust, and it is as simple as that. They'll gladly take an evaluation from a coach they don't know, but they are going to investigate even further if they don't know they can trust the opinion they're getting. It takes a lot of time and effort to develop relationships with college coaches, and there are more lower level coaches who don't have them, than who do. The fact of the matter is that college coaches have to rely to some degree on coaches they don't know well to evaluate prospects, and those lower level coaches have an obligation (not all of them live up to it) to provide information that is as unbiased and honest as possible. One of the worst things a lower level coach can do, in my opinion, is be dishonest with a college coach about one of his players. Not only will his credibility be shot, but he'll harm the player in question and every player coming along in the program in the future will have a bigger burden to overcome if his coach isn't known as dependable, honest and at least a decent evaluator of talent.

In the current day and environment, there are probably more summer travel coaches who know college coaches than there are high school coaches who do, as the college guys tend to follow the top travel teams a lot, and not spend as much time scouting high school teams. That said, some of the most trusted and well connected coaches I know are high school guys. They also happen to be some of the best coaches and teachers of the game that I know. A common thread they all share is that they've been doing it a long time and are passionate about excellence.

Sorry for rambling a bit, but the point I wanted to get to is that you really want to have both coaches provide information if the college coach is interested. I'm seldom asked to fill out questionaires or evaluation forms, but I get a large number of phone calls and emails from college coaches asking about not only our players but also those whom we play against. Perhaps that change in communicatin styles is just a sign of the times, I don't know; we just seldom see any paper forms anymore. Either way, the coaches get an honest and objective assessment of the player, whether positive or not so much.

Keep this in mind: The high school coach has the unique perspectve of perhaps being the only coach who is around a player in a true team dynamic.
How a player handles daily practices,relates to his teammates, demonstrates leadership intangibles, receives instruction, while balancing academics...all of this stuff is highly important to a college coach. I think this is the most important intel that a HS coach can provide a college program.
Don't shortchange the HS coach's role in the process.

Thats a great question. I actually had to do a bunch of research on this for a recruiting website. I guess I was lucky I had a good HS coach (now coaches a D1 in FL) so his word was well respected, but it is definitely in the coaches best interest to be as honest as possible. If they oversell a player, that college coach will be unlikely to trust his recommendations in the future. Even so, I had a ton of college coaches tell me they are almost never undersold and coaches doing things like overstating a pitchers velocity....by a lot, happens quite bit. Every situation is different. Some college and HS coaches have a relationship where the HS coach can give a recommendation and the college coach will take a player sight unseen. Other times, the college coach will make their own decision no matter what the high school coach tells them. Either way, I think it would be tough to get any details of the interaction between the two. Id ask the HS coach and a couple college coaches for an honest assessment of what level your son can play at and work off of that.