Just a question for the veteran parents as my oldest moves into summer's 2nd half before senior year... how common is it for coaches (D3 HA primarily) to correspond with kids, scout them in person, ask for grades/transcript, but then ultimately tell a kid "sorry, but we are not offering you a spot?" For the "average recruit," is it significantly more common than the opposite, namely getting a slot offer?
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Similar to the rest of the country: on the east coast, a straight up, up front “no thanks” is more frequent, and (to me at least) appreciated.
The “Midwest Nice” thing has coaches being pleasant and stringing you along without any real interest at all
Do you mean, tell them no rather than just never contact them again?
@anotherparent posted:Do you mean, tell them no rather than just never contact them again?
Yes, I guess I just want to know what to expect... what in general is the ratio of coaches who actually say "no thanks" to those who say "we'd like to offer you a slot?" Forget the ones that simply don't reply or ignore the recruit, that's not what I mean.
Never mind... probably a pointless question because it totally depends on who the kid is. 
@NotMadeOf$$ posted:Just a question for the veteran parents as my oldest moves into summer's 2nd half before senior year... how common is it for coaches (D3 HA primarily) to correspond with kids, scout them in person, ask for grades/transcript, but then ultimately tell a kid "sorry, but we are not offering you a spot?" For the "average recruit," is it significantly more common than the opposite, namely getting a slot offer?
Hard to say. Every situation is different.
If a coach ghosts a kid after he gets the grades, that's your answer right there.
If he keeps making contact, but hasn't asked the kid to campus, the kid is a backup plan, at least for now. If he stops checking in, that means he got one of the guys he had higher on his board.
EDIT - yeah, what you said.
Not only is every kid different, every coach does things differently, and what their admissions office does is different too.
Before covid, there was a certain flow to the summer; Ivies finished up their recruiting in late July, HA D3s firmed up their boards after that and after the last big Headfirst/Showball camps in early August. My son had sent some materials for pre-reads in early-mid July, but I don't remember him hearing anything definite from any schools until August. But that was pre-covid.
My son talked to a LOT of coaches (he has Midwest Nice and couldn't really say no to anyone until he finally committed) and I don't think any said no we're not interested. He had a few who told him that they thought he could do better than their school, but they'd stay in touch just in case he decided he valued a small D3 in northern Iowa with a great education and very marginal baseball over D1. He had several who just disappeared.
Our showcase director told us our kid would never be told no. He may not be told yes, but they aren't going to close the door on a 6'5" pitcher. He was never told no, but some schools just stopped calling.
All coaches have recruiting boards for each position needed. Recruit A is their first choice, recruit B is the choice if A says no. And C is the last choice.
Your son will know the difference between a coach who really wants him and a coach who needs a last resort.
The percentage depends on the player.
Just let the process play out. It can be very confusing but in the end it will all make sense or maybe not.
NotMadeOf$$,
That was not my son's experience. It was never that binary...yes or no. Certainly, it was more gray and coaches wanted to see him multiple time before saying anything. There was a situation where two teams who had been recruiting him essentially made no effort to talk at a HA Showcase which irritated my son. That was the closest he got to an outright no. He stepped over it and moved on as he focused on the schools that clearly were interested.
Also, I think it is a little different with HA schools as you have two hurdles to get over. Another way to look at it is both the coach or admissions can say "no". However, you are only going to hear "no" through the coach.
Day After Follow Up Comment from my post above - If they are going out of their way to tell you "no", ask them "why", so you can use that data point for future use. You don't want to make the same mistake twice as that is a waste of time and resources. Above all else try not to take it personally. I know in my example above, my son did take it personally as he couldn't wait to pitch against those teams that passed him over. But never lose sight that this (selling yourself to the right programs) is a numbers game. You start with a goal and target schools maybe 50 programs. Overtime that gets whittled down to 15, and then 5 are seriously interested or offer. My son spent 20 months of active recruiting because he changed his goal/requirements a few times. There were plenty of programs that never followed up after seeing him or talking to him at length. It comes with the gig, and truthfully I think it was a great thing. My son grew up very quickly during this whole recruiting time period. He used these "recruiting" skills to get internships and eventually a job with a Global 20 company out of college. I'm not so bold as to say "recruiting is life" but it pretty much is.
JMO.
Lots of ghosting but I can't remember any " No" actually expressed.
More like this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9z87viDmOo
@NotMadeOf$$ posted:Just a question for the veteran parents as my oldest moves into summer's 2nd half before senior year... how common is it for coaches (D3 HA primarily) to correspond with kids, scout them in person, ask for grades/transcript, but then ultimately tell a kid "sorry, but we are not offering you a spot?" For the "average recruit," is it significantly more common than the opposite, namely getting a slot offer?
Scout in person specifically to see you, or at an event where they were they were looking at lots of kids?
Son had at least 2 SEC schools tell him he would never successfully pitch in the SEC. They did not say no and interestingly he got the chance to pitch against both this year effectively. They both finished up the conversation with but we will watch you as you progress so they said no but didn't say no. Some times you are just not a fit for them. The one only recruits pitchers who are a certain body type and throw a certain speed so son did not fit his body type or speed. The other just has not been very good at judging talent, even in state talent. He passed on several pitchers which have all beat him since then. He passed on the top 3 pitchers in 2 classes in a row by PBR and PG. How do you let that get out of your hand?
@NotMadeOf$$ posted:Just a question for the veteran parents as my oldest moves into summer's 2nd half before senior year... how common is it for coaches (D3 HA primarily) to correspond with kids, scout them in person, ask for grades/transcript, but then ultimately tell a kid "sorry, but we are not offering you a spot?" For the "average recruit," is it significantly more common than the opposite, namely getting a slot offer?
Lots of great insight above. I'd add that this process you describe - correspondence, in-person scouting, asking for grades, etc. - is like dating. The coach is getting to know the kid, his talent level, fit for program, etc. Many kids don't make it through this filter. I'd say it is very common for this process to end without the player getting an offer to play at a particular school... probably more common than not.
@NotMadeOf$$ posted:Just a question for the veteran parents as my oldest moves into summer's 2nd half before senior year... how common is it for coaches (D3 HA primarily) to correspond with kids, scout them in person, ask for grades/transcript, but then ultimately tell a kid "sorry, but we are not offering you a spot?" For the "average recruit," is it significantly more common than the opposite, namely getting a slot offer?
We focused only on HA schools. Spoke to and we’re asked to send transcripts (and grade) to five schools. In the end we received two offers. And we accepted to the top ten ranked HA school that was best for major. Went for the 40 year plan.
The whole process feels pretty fickle. We had one coach say “we’d love to see you in our uniform.” Yet he never made him an offer. We also had a coach say he passed admissions, but didn’t make him an offer. I suspect they have quite a few kids lined up for each offer they make. So throw a wide net to as many schools you’d actually want to attend and play for.
That's true; and don't forget that if one player gets 4 offers, he can only take one, and then offers go out to the next players down. There is more and more action in September as kids take visits.
That part is the same as D1s. I don't think there's a D1 equivalent to the high academic pre-read of transcript and scores.
To the OP, I think you can assume that if your son was asked for pre-read info in July, that's a good sign, he meets the baseball critera for that school, and now they are checking whether he could be admitted to the school. It doesn't mean he is guaranteed an offer - the A, B, C listings on the board do still apply. It just means that he won't be removed from the board. Have your son keep updating the coach with any new information or video. A coach may have many names on his board, but he wants to know who is truly interested in his school, too.
Just know that some of these coaches keep up frequent contact, and some do hardly any contact at all, but may be just as sincere. It can make you crazy.
Coaches are also travelling too...I am not bothered, son is tylically impatient, wife is beside herself, so my family has the full spectrum.
@RHPinSF posted:We focused only on HA schools. Spoke to and we’re asked to send transcripts (and grade) to five schools. In the end we received two offers.
Thank you, this is exactly the sort of ratio that I hoped in OP to discover. Can anyone else share the same info?
@NotMadeOf$$ posted:Thank you, this is exactly the sort of ratio that I hoped in OP to discover. Can anyone else share the same info?
NotMadeOf$$,
Okay, so you want specifics about HA pre-reads. My son did in the neighborhood of 7 pre-reads across Ivy, Patriot and D3 HA schools. He was offered at 4 and did an official visit to only 1 which he did NOT select. He did unofficial visits to the others. I'm not sure that tells you much, because everybody's numbers and skills are different. If there is a singular nugget you get out of this is that if you are in the pre-read stage there is serious interest. Whether that interest leads to an offer is really about the numbers. As I stated earlier, it is a numbers game.
Good luck and drop me a PM if you want to chat.
@fenwaysouth It's a pre-read if they ask you to send them your transcripts?
LL, Fenway may have a different answer but that was our experience.
As far as successful prereads compared to offers is concerned (meaning coach says Admissions tells him the transcript/scores look good AND a slot was offered) it was 5-5 for one son and 5-4 for the other. Both are OFs. I thought their prereads would be ok because their curriculums were rigorous and their test scores were above the schools’ means.
My ‘22 has had 8 requests for prereads. He’s a pitcher. He has no test scores, his curriculum is not as strong as his brothers’ were, and his grades are good but not awesome. He doesn’t fit the profile at many of the schools that requested prereads, so he’s attempting to land at truly “reach” schools. It’s going to be very interesting to see how this plays out.
@NotMadeOf$$ posted:Thank you, this is exactly the sort of ratio that I hoped in OP to discover. Can anyone else share the same info?
Not too much help here. My son accepted the first offer he received on the spot in early July. This was at a HA D3 that checked all his boxes, so he didn't want to wait. He had had a pre-read. He visited a lower tier D1 the week before, but had not received an offer*. He had several other D3's in contact at the time, but none that he wanted more than the one he accepted.
* we found out later that this school had landed a highly touted MIF from our area a few days before the visit, which may explain the non-offer and subsequent ghosting.
@LousyLefty posted:@fenwaysouth It's a pre-read if they ask you to send them your transcripts?
Yes. The Coach will request and forward transcripts (grades, and SAT or ACT, etc...) over to the academic liaison who will work with Admissions to make a determination.
In my son's case, his 7 pre-reads were all approved. We believe the issue with two of the schools was that the baseball coaches were no longer interested as they filled his slot. So, they never offered. They claim it took two weeks to do a pre-read which was utter horsesh*t. We saw 3 of his schools do a pre-read in 3 days, clearly there was a sense of urgency there that was not with the others. It should be noted that my son was on the late side of the HA recruiting calendar because he changed strategy and course a couple times. He did take his sweet ol' time which drove me crazy at times.
Good luck!
