Offer experiences

More than likely your son will get a phone call from HC or the RC. He does not have to accept any offer until he discusses with his family. He will have time to respond.

You should go over the above with him so he is prepared.

Make sure he ends each phone call with "thank you".

We had a mixture of those who made offers with a time limit from as low as 24 hours to no time limit.  We never pushed back but I know those who did with mixed results.  One got an offer from dream school with a week's notice and told them he was going to wait an extra week and they told him no thank you and moved on.  Sounds cold but remember unless you are the man there is always another man.  We were told point blank by a couple schools for both sons that we had 24 hours to give them an answer.  They were considering 2 guys and son was number 1 but if not interested they would move on to number 2.  Didn't take either but did let them know within the 24 hour time period so that they would not have to make the decision for us.

The only way we would have put a different time frame out there would have been an emergency.  I think you need to know what you want and how much you will waiver from what you want from every school considered.

Ours were all phone calls with the HC except for one in-person offer. He was not given timelines although one did follow up to ask where he was in the process because they had their next option ready to pull the trigger.Good luck!!

@PTWood posted:

Ours were all phone calls with the HC except for one in-person offer. He was not given timelines although one did follow up to ask where he was in the process because they had their next option ready to pull the trigger.Good luck!!

My opinion is that the more a coach wants a player the less pressure he will apply!

@PitchingFan

I agree that there should be a prior discussion as to what and from who the player will or will not accept.

@TPM posted:

Make sure he ends each phone call with "thank you".

Solid advice.  One of my only sticking points throughout son's journey from 8U to now - say "thank you" after every practice and game.  Every coach. Every time.

Oldest son was told to come on campus and they would offer if he was ready to decide. Not on the spot but if he was ready to make a decision they wanted him on campus. We went, toured, and sat in the HC's office with the RC. After the tour they had done a pre-read and broke down what he'd likely get academically as well as what they were offering athletically. They didn't put a time table on the offer. Son accepted that a few days later.

Younger son, when he got the offer was given a week.

From your post, I can't tell if your kid is in contact with the schools that may make offers. I would recommend your kid start handling communication with them as soon as it makes sense. Your travel coaches probably want the best for him, but you don't want them in the middle when it comes time to drill down into details of the offer.

Also make sure you have all the details of the offer(s). For example one son was told, "it's a full offer" What they meant was tuition was covered, not R&B and not other costs that make up COA. My other son was told a percentage in the initial conversation with him, but they didn't detail where the money was coming from and it turned out they were anticipating some grants that he wouldn't have qualified for.

@PitchingFan posted:

We had a mixture of those who made offers with a time limit from as low as 24 hours to no time limit.  We never pushed back but I know those who did with mixed results.  One got an offer from dream school with a week's notice and told them he was going to wait an extra week and they told him no thank you and moved on.  Sounds cold but remember unless you are the man there is always another man.  We were told point blank by a couple schools for both sons that we had 24 hours to give them an answer.  They were considering 2 guys and son was number 1 but if not interested they would move on to number 2.  Didn't take either but did let them know within the 24 hour time period so that they would not have to make the decision for us.

The only way we would have put a different time frame out there would have been an emergency.  I think you need to know what you want and how much you will waiver from what you want from every school considered.

I know college baseball is a business but 24 hours is rough. This is my big concern.  It's still very early for him.  He's got a shortlist of about a dozen schools but only visited one so far.  We've definitely got more homework to do... 

@nycdad posted:

Oldest son was told to come on campus and they would offer if he was ready to decide. Not on the spot but if he was ready to make a decision they wanted him on campus. We went, toured, and sat in the HC's office with the RC. After the tour they had done a pre-read and broke down what he'd likely get academically as well as what they were offering athletically. They didn't put a time table on the offer. Son accepted that a few days later.

Younger son, when he got the offer was given a week.

From your post, I can't tell if your kid is in contact with the schools that may make offers. I would recommend your kid start handling communication with them as soon as it makes sense. Your travel coaches probably want the best for him, but you don't want them in the middle when it comes time to drill down into details of the offer.

Also make sure you have all the details of the offer(s). For example one son was told, "it's a full offer" What they meant was tuition was covered, not R&B and not other costs that make up COA. My other son was told a percentage in the initial conversation with him, but they didn't detail where the money was coming from and it turned out they were anticipating some grants that he wouldn't have qualified for.

Thanks, this is super helpful.  Particularly around offer details and sources of funding.  So far, son's been speaking directly with a handful of coaches, usually arranged via the travel coach.  Yeah, I think it's important he have direct contact and learn to hold a conversation.  Can't remember who, but someone on this forum had a good minimum 7-word rule for answering questions which son seems to do a good job of sticking to.   I overheard him on the phone with a coach a couple weeks back and thought "hmm, he doesn't sound half bad...."   

Not knowing your son situation let me clarify. All of the 24 hour situations are normally top 10 to 20 power five schools.  All of them that I know of happened after much conversation and playing at school.  Neither of my sons went on any visits other than playing tournaments on the campuses of the schools that were interested in.  

i’m the one that implemented the seven word rule and I think it has worked good for my kids now that they are way past talking to coaches but now doing interviews as a college player, a high school coach, and a college coach.  

7 word rule pf?

2023 cold called into a d2 fall prospect camp as a jr.  Got noticed and family was invited to informal visit. Told there they dont let offers sit around in the wind but if he'd like to come just let them know.  I had discussion w him about what I learned here about D1 changes and told him it sounded like a good fit.  He agreed and called them.  They made an offer and he accepted.  Done deal.  Low stress other than he blazed in HS jr season and temporarily thought he should be D1 lol.  I do think if he waited until after jr season he coulda gotten much more money.

@Zanzibar posted:

I know college baseball is a business but 24 hours is rough. This is my big concern.  It's still very early for him.  He's got a shortlist of about a dozen schools but only visited one so far.  We've definitely got more homework to do...

You have not indicated your son's grad year. You first indicated that coaches were ready to offer but then you mentioned that it was early in the process for him.

Unless your son has been identified as a top D1 prospect, with the tools to back that up, don't jump the gun too early.

JMO

My son's first offer came from a school he had been in regular communication with for several months.  The offer came shortly after attending their camp.  Most prior communication was with the RC, but the offer was given over the phone by the head coach.  No time frame was given for how quickly they needed an answer.

For all other schools that offered, he had been in regular communication for a few months.  They all said that they were ready to give him an offer when he was ready to make a decision.  He continued to talk regularly to coaches, attend prospect camps and gather information independently about each school as far as academics, campus, majors, location, tuition, etc.

When the time came, he notified schools that he was ready to decide.  Each school set up a phone call or video call and presented the offer.  All schools, except the first one, asked his parents to be on the call.  That was very helpful for us to be able to hear the terms of the offer ourselves instead of depending on our son to accurately relay them to us.  All schools, except one, the offers came from the head coach.  The other one came from the RC.  He made his decision within a few days.

My son had been in regular communication with these coaches before offers were made.  It sounds like maybe that is not the case with the original poster.  I think that was vital in the decision making process to build that relationship with the coaches and really get a feel for the vibe as much as possible.  We were always told, don't make your decision based on the coaching staff, you never know if they will still be there.  But how can that not be at least part of the equation?

I have tried to understand better why certain schools don't have a time limit and other do.  I did consider the first school's lack of time limit as an indication of how much they wanted him.  Ultimately, that university was not a great fit academically for him.  He was recruited rather early, so maybe they felt they were in a position at that time that they could keep an offer for his class on the table a little longer.  I do remember the coaches always asking him who else he was talking to and who he had offers from.  I guess they were all keeping tabs on each other.

Appreciate the responses and folks sharing their stories. Son is ‘26 two-way and has had multiple calls with coaches at several P5 schools. Several more have seen video and told our travel program they’re planning to see him play live at next tournament. As a dad, I know I’m biased so I’ll let others who know better evaluate what kind of prospect he is but the interest from strong programs seems real.

We’re told that one of the schools, the one who has had the most contact, is planning an an offer. I know other ‘26s are committing or have committed. But it all seems so early for me. I figured coaches would build relationships over a couple seasons and get more serious later in high school. So this caught me a little off guard. This school could be a good home but we haven’t done much diligence yet and it’s possible there will be more schools interested down the line. Which was why I was curious about timeframes as we don’t want to be pressured.

@Zanzibar

Since your son is a 2026, are you familiar with all the D1 NCAA recruiting rules when coaches go after players that early?

Sent you a pm.

The offer experience for your son (a freshman who's already talking to P5 coaches) is probably going to be quite different than most other kids. If you've been lurking for a while, you probably are thinking about when is the right time to commit, more so than how. There are some disadvantages to committing as a freshman. Now more than ever, coaches are cutting kids loose after being committed for years. Conversely, a coach isn't going to dump a kid who's been committed for years to replace him with similar uncommitted talent. It's a good problem to have, but still a difficult decision.

Here are some members who may have faced this decision recently, in case they didn't read your post. @PitchingFan @IAmThatGuy @KLL @PTWood @baseballhs @Iowamom23 @Go44dad @d-mac @hshuler @PABaseball

Also this thread offers a variety of opinions:  https://community.hsbaseballwe...uld-you-be-to-commit

All of my son's offers were on the phone.  Several offered him and then asked that he call them back with us on the phone, so we could go over any questions (appreciated that).  None gave my son a time table.  The only one that was different (and turned my son off) was a team that courted him for over a year.  They invited him to campus multiple times, were at his games frequently.  They called his travel coach and asked that my son call them, that they were going to offer him 75%.  He called and the coach told him they really wanted him, and when he was ready to commit, they were ready to give him a big offer.  It made him feel like they were playing games and he became pretty uninterested in them.  He ended up committing right after his sophomore year, because the recruiting thing stressed him out so much.  In hindsight, so much changed in baseball (and in the world) before he graduated. I don't see a lot of upside to committing early (other than not having to play  "the game" and make the nightly calls).  There were several top 50 players that didn't commit until after junior year, and still had every option.  If your son is being recruited this early, I assume that is his level of play.  Over the next several years, you can see how teams handle the incoming freshmen and the transfer portal and get a better idea of the reality vs what they sell you on.  I know it's unsolicited, but I would have him listen to everyone, and tell them that this is a big decision for him and he wants to be patient and get it right.  Ask around about the program from those who have been there.  Gather information.  Keep working hard and make the decision when you've had enough time to really interview the school as much as they are evaluating your son.

@baseballhs posted:

I don't see a lot of upside to committing early (other than not having to play  "the game" and make the nightly calls).  

There were several top 50 players that didn't commit until after junior year, and still had every option.  If your son is being recruited this early, I assume that is his level of play.  

have him listen to everyone, and tell them that this is a big decision for him and he wants to be patient and get it right.  Ask around about the program from those who have been there.  Gather information.  Keep working hard and make the decision when you've had enough time to really interview the school as much as they are evaluating your son.

^^^ this ^^^

My son, a 2023, committed to a P5 his freshman year. So I know what you are kind of going through in the process. End of summer before freshman year and fall of freshman year is when all the calls to his travel ball coach to have him call this coach started coming it. He was asked to come to a couple of camps and after those camps the offers started coming in. The #1 school on his list offered him, but it wasn't the offer he was expecting and you could read between the lines what they were trying to do. The school he ended up committing to was because we absolutely loved the head coach. We had some friends who were committed there and the families all spoke so well of the coach. The offers he received were laid out very well in detail. This was all pre-NIL money also. They all started out with the COA. Then they provided that X% would be baseball money and what what would pay for (tuition, books, food, etc). Then they said the next amount would be academic money. Since my son is a good student, he often qualifies for some type of academic money. Obviously as being so young, all of these offers were on the phone.

Flash forward to beginning of summer 2022 and the coaching carousel hits the school where my son was committed and we go through the whole recruiting process again this past summer. I will say for all the offers he received, the structure was pretty much the same. Provided what the COA would be. Then provided what athletic money he would get and what that was for, then how much academic money he would qualify for, and then the new piece of the puzzle "anticipated" NIL money. No one would give (or really is supposed to give) a hard number figure on that. But we often either told that he would get enough money to make up for the difference between COA, athletic money and academic money or he was told "this is the lowest amount a player on our team has" and then you could do the math from there.  Since we got take trips this time around, all of the offers he really considered were in person offers. He did get some offers from other schools that we didn't make trips to that were over the phone. Some smaller schools even made some not as detailed offers through DM on Twitter.

It's definitely a lot for a younger player being recruited. I know that the thought could be strike while the iron is hot and so that you don't miss out on an opportunity. But if a school really wants a kid, they will make it happen no matter what year he is. Unfortunately that may mean low recruit on the totem pole may get kicked to the curb. We are starting to see some of this right now with early signing day approaching. Some of the kids who committed early on are now looking for new homes or switched their commitment to a different school that was not as high up on the baseball hierarchy as their original school they committed to. No matter what you choose to do, just know it is a fluid environment. Buckle in and have fun and enjoy the process.