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Our Recruitment Plan

S SpeedsDad10+ posts
I just posted this on our related thread "Players Recruitment video" and thought I would start a separate thread seeking your opinions regarding our overall "plan". Feel free to disagree or criticize as we are open to any/and all advice if it helps Speed obtain his goal.

Right now we have the following plan, which is based mainly upon the advice, suggestions and experiences I have picked up from the numerous posters on this site.

Fortunately, we are able to identify Speed's target schools based upon his desire to stay within 4 hours of home, his preferred major, academic and baseball ability.

This Fall he attended Camps/Showcases that he knew these schools would be holding and/or attending. He has made email contact with several of these schools to let them know he would be attending, tried to meet the Coaches personally and introduce himself at the Camps/Showcases and sent followup emails thanking them for their time and consideration.

Recently, he emailed the targeted schools about his BeRecruited website and the video downloaded there. We are currently trying to schedule on campus visits on Home Game Days to these schools during his Spring Break.

He is attending the PG NorthEast Sunshine in June and he is on a regional summer travel team that plays in many of the "high profile" tourneys this summer, the current video is from this team. I hope to make a less formal "game action" video this season to add to the BeRecruited website. Lastly he plays for a local travel team that has a remarkable, traditional relationship with the State schools. They do not play in "high profile" tourneys but hold their own invitational tourney/showcase that is extremely well attended. Practically every Tri State school has players on their roster from this program.

Well that's our plan, now let's see how it works!!!

I do have a question, in notifying the Coaches about the video we have been sending the link to his BeRecruited website. Do you think he would be better off setting up a separate YouTube link with just the video? Once again any suggestions and/or criticisms are GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks
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SandmanSandman500+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by SpeedsDad:
I do have a question, in notifying the Coaches about the video we have been sending the link to his BeRecruited website. Do you think he would be better off setting up a separate YouTube link with just the video? Once again any suggestions and/or criticisms are GREATLY appreciated.

Your plan sounds very good to me, and is quite similar to our plan. (We're not sure yet if son will do PG Sunshine.)

We've already created a berecruited site and we're considering adding YouTube one too (because some coaches might prefer to use an iPhone app to view YouTube videos, but can't do the same w/ berecruited). Both of these links are provided in the student/athlete bio.

I've created a spreadsheet w/ over 200 Northeast schools in it, that captures a ton of info about schools, plus their baseball programs. There's a Rating column in it in which we score each school from 1-5. Then we sort them, so that the ones with ratings end up near the top, and that facilitates selecting which ones to include in the form letter mail merge that merges w/ the spreadsheet to create "personalized" intro letters to coaches. Also have a one-page bio w/ academic and baseball info, and another doc w/ HS and summer team schedules.

If anyone would like a copy of anything, feel free to PM me.
Last edited by Sandman
ClevelandDadClevelandDadHSBBWeb Administrator
quote:
Originally posted by SpeedsDad:
I just posted this on our related thread "Players Recruitment video" and thought I would start a separate thread seeking your opinions regarding our overall "plan". Feel free to disagree or criticize as we are open to any/and all advice if it helps Speed obtain his goal.

Right now we have the following plan, which is based mainly upon the advice, suggestions and experiences I have picked up from the numerous posters on this site.

Fortunately, we are able to identify Speed's target schools based upon his desire to stay within 4 hours of home, his preferred major, academic and baseball ability.

This Fall he attended Camps/Showcases that he knew these schools would be holding and/or attending. He has made email contact with several of these schools to let them know he would be attending, tried to meet the Coaches personally and introduce himself at the Camps/Showcases and sent followup emails thanking them for their time and consideration.

Recently, he emailed the targeted schools about his BeRecruited website and the video downloaded there. We are currently trying to schedule on campus visits on Home Game Days to these schools during his Spring Break.

He is attending the PG NorthEast Sunshine in June and he is on a regional summer travel team that plays in many of the "high profile" tourneys this summer, the current video is from this team. I hope to make a less formal "game action" video this season to add to the BeRecruited website. Lastly he plays for a local travel team that has a remarkable, traditional relationship with the State schools. They do not play in "high profile" tourneys but hold their own invitational tourney/showcase that is extremely well attended. Practically every Tri State school has players on their roster from this program.

Well that's our plan, now let's see how it works!!!

I do have a question, in notifying the Coaches about the video we have been sending the link to his BeRecruited website. Do you think he would be better off setting up a separate YouTube link with just the video? Once again any suggestions and/or criticisms are GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks



Outstanding. You have earned a PhD in recruiting and you obviously know 100 times more than I did at your stage of the process.

As to your question about youtub or website, why not provide both links in your e-mail. Make things as convenient as possible for the coach. Maybe say here his his/my website for future reference and here is a quick link video for convenience. Well done.
TPMTPMHSBaseballweb Member since 2003
I think that is so GREAT that you guys have made a plan.
That is why it is so important to sit down with your player whether sophmore, junior year depending on ability and talk about options, let them know your financial situation, his career plans (other than baseball), geography, etc.
It is important for everyone to have a plan, regardless of players ability. There are so many things that affect rosters these days, one can't just rely on their dream schools being interested. By dream school I mean the school that you grew up being a fan for sports, or your parents were alumni, etc. Being realistic is the best reality of the whole process.
I don't know much about the video stuff and who to contact, however, I always think that proper etiquette is contacting the recruiting coordinator, you can call the office or AD and ask if there is one for their baseball program, or if son is a pitcher, send it to the pitching coach, etc.

Good luck, I think that you all will have a successful ride, and I think you are educated enough to realize if thihngs aren
t working, make adjustments.

Good luck!
justbaseballjustbaseball10,000+ posts
Speedsdad - Having a plan is good and you've thought through that. That will give your son a leg up on a lot of others.

For both you and Sandman, the one thing that I would caution you about is that both of your plans come across to me as 'marketing plans.' While it is true that is what is needed in many cases, I would be careful to not come across that way with coaches.

Any of us involved on the receiving end of a recruiting adventure should be able to recognize the 'personalized' form letter that isn't so personalized. Bank on it that college coaches can too.

I remember some of the advice I got from a former D1 player and a former D1 coach was for our son to write personal letters to the 8-10 schools he was most interested in. Not 30, 50 or 100 or more. I think one of the things that happens when you target a large number of schools is your son's letter does in fact come across as a "form letter that merges w/ the spreadsheet to create "personalized" intro letters to coaches."

Just be careful not to fall into that category.

Good luck! Wink
Last edited by justbaseball
S SpeedsDad10+ posts
Thanks Just Baseball

That is a concern, so far we have used the "Notification System" on BeRecruited Generally and sent personalized emails to those schools at the top of his list, that he has had personal contact with and the ones who have shown interest in him.

When we figure out his Spring Break schedule he will call the Coaches of the schools we are going to see and speak to them directly to tell them we will be there and he hopes he gets the opportunity to meet them. I'll back away from that stuff, it's up to him to meet the Coaches and see if they "fit". I'm mainly just helping him with the ideas and the computer stuff.
SandmanSandman500+ posts
Good points justbaseball and thanks for the warning.

I'm not sure that my son would customize anything different for each school than this though??? Does this come across too "form letterish"? And if so, what is needed to make it more personal? Try to find something unique to comment on about each school's baseball program?

Dear Coach «HC_Last_Name»,

My name is ____ and I am a junior middle infielder, class of 2012, at ____ High School in City, State, which plays in Division 1 Central. I have recently started my college search and with baseball an important factor, I am very interested in «College».

I have completed the Recruit Questionnaire form on your website and I’ve also attached my student-athlete bio, as well as my high school and summer baseball schedules.

I would appreciate it if you would please send me any information regarding the «Team_Name» upcoming college prospect camp schedule, or any showcases or tournaments you are attending this summer and fall so that I may have the opportunity to show you what I’m capable of contributing to the «Team_Name» program.

Thank you very much for taking the time to consider me. I look forward to learning more about «College», and the «Team_Name» baseball program.

Sincerely,
Name
Address
Phone
email

And I've seen others recommend casting a wide net of 30-50 schools to initially contact. It just doesn't seem productive/necessary to start each of those emails from scratch? Confused In the end, no college coach really thinks their school is the only one the student is applying to, do they?
Last edited by Sandman
SandmanSandman500+ posts
Ok, I just found this in some notes I'd pasted from recruiting info on this site (I added boldfacing):

Write letters of introduction that are personally addressed to a head coach or recruiting coach, citing his conference, his record, and team nickname, plus other information indicating to him that your letter isn't a form letter. State why he is interested in that school and athletic program, which will set him apart from 90 percent of the other players wanting to play in college.

So maybe I can add a "custom comment" column to our spreadsheet, where my son can highlight something about the coach, the team's record, etc., and include that in the form letter template? Smile
justbaseballjustbaseball10,000+ posts
This is what I remember.

Aside from the "I am very interested in your school" type of statement, he wrote a paragraph about why he was interested in each school. Not a sentence, but a paragraph.

In one case, for the school he ultimately chose, he talked about the academics and why he thought THAT school was for him and then went on to talk about a player he knew from that school and how much he admired him and something like 'if thats the type of person on your team, I want to be one of those.' He also talked about a personal connection he had to the pitching coach (he knew the previous pitching coach, attended a camp and knew someone who knew the pitching coach well, etc...).

With other schools, especially those that were farther away, he explained why they were of interest to him. He told them if he had ever been on their campus or attended a game and why those visits had drawn him to that school. In one case he explained how he had aunts, an uncle and a grandparent living near that university and how he would feel very comfortable there.

In case you think they don't really read these letters, I can tell you that as of a few years ago they most certainly did! I specifically remember one coach who visited our house...and we visited their campus (out of state), how that coach specifically referenced comments from the letter and from their questionnaire.

sandman - I'm not sure how to fully respond to your sample letter, but I would certainly see it as a form letter if it came to me. I really do not mean that as a criticism, I am just suggesting that a short paragraph with some of the types of things I mentioned above would be nice. No novels, just 2 or 3 'connectors' for your son to that school. Coaches do notice.
Last edited by justbaseball
SandmanSandman500+ posts
Agreed justbaseball. I'll have my son find something that he likes about each school's baseball or academics or location, etc. and include a personalized paragraph for each school.

FWIW, we used this site's sample intro letter as a base. Perhaps someone might want to consider adding some of the "personalized" paragraph suggestions to the sample? Just a thought.

Thanks again.
Last edited by Sandman
fenwaysouthfenwaysouth10,000+ posts
SpeedsDad,

You're off to a great start! Plan A looks very good with specific goals. Sometimes that is the hardest part to define, but you seem to have mastered that.

One bit of advice, don't be shy about modifying the plan a little bit based upon results, feedback & responses from college coaches. For example, we ended up modifying one goal in a big way (distance from home...son wanted to stay in VA) because we couldn't find the right fit based on the other more important (to us) factors.

Recruited = Skill + Passion + Exposure + Persistence + Luck. Make sure your son keeps after it, and he rubs some rabbits feet on the way to every ball game! Best of luck.
TPMTPMHSBaseballweb Member since 2003
quote:
Originally posted by AntzDad:
My son wrote, "I want to play at X because I hate Y."

The X coach wrote back, "That's the kind of player we want!"


I don't think that is really great advice.
The best recruiters are the ones who are never negative about another program. My son was being recruited by a big D1 program, all one coach (not the HC) did was bad mouth the other programs son was interested in.
JMO.
Last edited by TPM
CollegeParentNoMoreCollegeParentNoMore1,000+ posts
Sandman
quote:
In the end, no college coach really thinks their school is the only one the student is applying to, do they?


That's certainly true, however when your son makes first contact the coach he should demostrate that he knows something about their program...... that stands out to him. I am also not sure asking for recruiting/camp material is necessary as most programs have that info posted on their website and might wonder how interested he really is if he didn't see the brochure on their web page.

I will admit the whole letter writting thing never really worked for my son so the value of my opinion/advice maybe suspect, but I think sending out mail merge letters can lead to "memorable" problems such as using a fired coaches name, coaches name of the wrong school etc, including a sentance about another school etc....I also think you have information overload by keeping track and rating/ranking 200 schools which signficantly increases your chances of making multiple errors and using stale dated info in your mailmerge documents.

Good luck
SandmanSandman500+ posts
The main reason for us asking about camps is that most schools don't have any listed on their site, yet the coach might be attending OTHER schools' camps or tourneys, etc. Just trying to learn how to be seen by the coach when their site doesn't list any.

As for the risk of using stale data, if we just pulled the info off their site shortly before sending emails, then it should still be accurate. I don't see that as a mail merge issue. Whether my son copies and types some personalized info into a spreadsheet column or he types it into an empty email, the timeliness of the data is what it is, no?

BTW, the 200 schools in our spreadsheet are because we began with NCAA lists of all schools within a few hours from us. But more than 80% of them fell off the list quickly without further detailed research.
Last edited by Sandman

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