How to Best Respond to a First Offer

Don't know but can u give more details about your son. Year, Positions, speeds,numbers,etc.

what type of school? Was it one he was interested in? Sorry for so many ? This is new to us.

Depends on how good an offer it was!  Is it purely a good financial offer but not a perfect fit otherwise?  If his coach advised to wait, maybe he thinks it's not as good an offer as he could receive.

 

No advice on how to word an "I'm waiting to see if something better comes along" response.  Perhaps a recruiter could chime in. 

 

It's a hugely stressful time for a player to not know whether to take the bird in the hand.  If only we had a crystal baseball.

I know lots of other people here will disagree with this, but I would not wait too long, especially if it is a good offer at a school that is attractive to your son and the rest of you. Offers do not last forever and sometimes the shelf life is much shorter than you might think. If your son has lots of other offers (or if lots of other offers are clearly forthcoming) then forget everything that I have said. Most of the time, though, that is not the case.

I am in agreement with jemaz.
If this offer is as good as you say it is and a good fit why would he wait? 

 

jemaz, hope all is well with you and yours.

As far as crafting a response, you (your son) will need to let the coach know why he is not willing to accept the offer given at the time.

Telling the coach that he (your son) wants to see what else comes along will most likely end the relationship. If it is for more money, then this can be in the discussion.

However, as stated most offers do not last forever, and IMO waiting until after fall events may not be the best advice, curious as to why he gave it.

 

TPM,

Sent you a PM

Didnt get it.

Sorry TPM, I resent it.

When my son got his first offer, the coaches told him they did not expect an answer right then. They wanted him to look around and make sure their school is where he wanted to go. They essentially told him they wanted an answer by the early signing date. We told them we really wanted some time to think and talk as a family and that son had a couple of other visits scheduled and would let them know as soon as we went to those visits. It turned out we liked them the best and after 2 or 3 weeks son called coach and let him know he accepted their offer. All was good.

I got your pm will respond.

Just something I wanted to say, the OP asked how to respond to the coach, in all fairness, it should be about honesty as that is always the best policy. And that is what you would expect from the coach, and I am assuming he as well.

 

One thing to keep in mind, often people want to know why coaches over recruit.

 

I feel a large reason for mire showing up than they need is sometimes being "too fair". This is all about numbers and the coach is going to run over his numbers because come the fall, he doesn't want to come up short.  He understands about recruits having to take the time to make up their mind, it is a very big decision.

So being honest is fair, IMO, to the coach, to the next guy waiting for that offer that REALLY wants to attend that program.

 

This has nothing actually to do with this situation, but just a thought I had and thought a good place to post.

Thanks for all the great responses!  Honesty is always the best policy!  Our son responded to the coach and thanked him for the generous offer, asked for a time frame to make his decision and explained that he is seriously considering the offer.  Our son will respond by whatever deadline they give.

 

Waiting made sense when our son's coach suggested it for our son's benifit; thanks for helping us to see the other side of that.

After reading your pm, it's quite refreshing to hear that you understand the realities of recruiting and how it all works and that your son understands as well and takes ownership in the process.  Good for you and him!

 

 

 

2014Prospect,

 

Congrats on the offer.  That is great.  Since this is an open ended offer (no deadline yet) this allows you to research the school further, relax just a little, and look at other options.  In my son's experience the offer is there to tell you they are seriously interested.  It is also there to tell you that they are continuing to look for recruits at your son's position.  Once they find that other recruit they will "call-in" their offer with your for something like a 72-hour deadline.  They may keep the offer % the same or  possibly bump the offer depending on the other candidates strength.  Hopefully when that time comes, you'll have more information and feel for the situation.  Good luck!

It's getting late in the cycle for a 2014.  If this is a school that seriously interests your son, your son needs to get cracking on making a decision, or he may miss the boat while he fiddles around.

 

First step:  Son sends an e-mail to the offering coach:  "Dear Coach _____, I just wanted to thank you for the time you spent with me.  I am particularly grateful for the offer you extended.  I want you to know that I am very interested in ____ University and your program.  I am now discussing the offer with my family and would like to get you a decision very soon.  If there is a particular date by which you need to hear from me, please let me know, but in any event I should be back in touch with you within a week."

 

Second step:  Son sends an e-mail to the coach at each school that he would find preferable to the offering school:  "Dear Coach ____, I want you to know that I am very grateful that you have been willing to consider me for a spot in your 2014 recruiting class.  I remain interested and hope you will continue to consider me.  I do need to tell you that I have recently received a firm offer from another school.  Confidentially, I would actually prefer to attend your school and play for your program.  But I fully understand that there are no guarantees that you will have a spot in your class for me.  I would appreciate it if you could give me your candid assessment on where I stand with you, so that I can determine whether I should accept or decline the other school's offer.  I thank you again for your consideration and hope to hear from you soon."

 

Two tips:

 

1.  Before he clicks "send" on the second note, your son needs to understand that none of this gets discussed with friends or anyone else.  If word of # 2 gets back to coach # 1, bad things could happen.

 

2.  If your son has no one he would send # 2 to -- no one he would find preferable -- then he should stop hemming and hawing and just accept the offer.  At this stage, it's too late to spend weeks weighing your options. That should've happened months ago, and other people are not going to wait while he does research that's long overdue. 

 

Follow this path and you'll be done with this before school starts, and all stress will disappear.

Just were at this same spot recently with my 2015.  School of interest said they wanted to extend offer but told him that when they did, he would have a 4 week timeframe to make a decision.  If they did not hear back in 4 weeks, his decision was made for him.  Another school had offered a scholarship to a teammate of his with no specifc timeframe, the player wanted to think through it and also get another offer or two from another interested school, but school called back within a few days and rescinded their offer because they offered to someone else for that position.  So I think it helps to have a short list of where you really want to go and understand where is a good fit for you before you start to get offers.

There is often a fear that even the coaches will talk (baseball is a small world, etc.).  That even though the player has asked for the email to remain confidential, that word will get back to the first offer coach that he is a "fall back"  option.  (so glad this process is done with for my son!) 

Coaches do talk to each other about players.  Often coaches at what are now rival programs once worked together or played together in the past, and they share notes and swap stories.  Sometimes they will pass along info on a player that they like but cannot accommodate.

 

But I have always felt like these sorts of communications were kept private.  Coaches seldom reveal much about whom they've offered and how much.  I don't think they even tell their wives.  I've even seen times when the head coach held his cards so tightly that his assistants knew an offer was out there but had no idea what amount it was for.  So I don't think this is a big worry in this narrow context.