Question Regarding Letter From Head Coach

On the front end it sounds good. Did the coach say anything specific about your son in his letter or was it more of the generic type? The hand written letter makes one believe there is interest in your son. Of course innovative coaches know hand written notes have more impact and may use this technique to generate more interest (and money) for their camps. Instead of just wondering ---- you can more accurately gauge their interest by picking up the phone and calling the coaching staff. Explain that your son has received an invitation to the camp and you would like some more information. Mention your son’s first name and mention his high school and see if they automatically fill in the blanks. You can ask a variety of questions without coming out and asking “Are you interested in my son?” (You can ask that too if you like). Ask about the number of attendees and if any other college coaches will be there. Who will be giving the instruction yada yada yada. See what happens
Fungo

Fungo,
The player is an '09. I thought they could only send generic letters until this fall.

You're correct TigerPawMom. My '09 has received numerous letters, many in response to his introductory letter of interest. All thanked him for his interest and invited him to a summer camp. Although one didn't mention anything about a camp. Coach mentioned he saw my son at a PG showcase and liked what he saw. I was surprised it wasn't the typical letter he'd been receiving as an '09. Things should pick up for him, I hope, on Sept 1.

TPM ---right as usual! 13.4.1 Divisions I and II-Printed Recruiting Materials. A Division I or Division II institution may NOT provide recruiting materials to a prospect (including general correspondence related to athletics) until September 1 at the beginning of the prospect's junior year in high school.

Its a little gray, but if the hand written note is a "Hey, we like to see you at our camp, signed Coach xyz" He may send that w/ all camp letters (may not be handwritten, just may look hand written).

Either way if your Son has interest in school u may look at attending, if not then no.

Also just an FYI... in my opinion, if it is an infraction, it has no impact on the athlete, only on the coach and school (as based on what has been said in this thread).

It is the coaches responsibility to adhere to contact rules, not the recruits, in these generic type of contacts.

An invitation to a camp sounds pretty "generic" to me.

We received several invitations to various camps, but only one that was sent along with a hand written note from the head coach saying he would love to see you at the camp.

I would take something like that as specific interest in your son. If you and son are interested in the program take the opportunity to communicate directly back to the head coach!

Remember, you can contact them as much as you want or like to. Go visit by asking for unofficial visit to tour their facilities, campus, talk to them; this lets them know or think that you are really interested in them.

quote:

Originally posted by Fungo:
TPM ---right as usual! 13.4.1 Divisions I and II-Printed Recruiting Materials. A Division I or Division II institution may NOT provide recruiting materials to a prospect (including general correspondence related to athletics) until September 1 at the beginning of the prospect's junior year in high school.

I do not know if I am right because the above says printed recruiting materials and GENERAL correspondance, but I am sure coaches have a way of getting around the rule these days.

Sounds like a personal invitation to camp, where he wants to see your son and there is nothing wrong with that, many coaches recruits from their camps.
I would have your son call him personally (rmember he can't call you) and try to get a "feel" for the interest before you decide to send him.

JMO.

Thanks for the comments. The coach had seen him at a showcase last winter. The letter basically gave a brief overview of the program and personally inviting him to camp so the staff there could evaluate him.

"Handwritten" notes are nice scrap book material, but don't read too much into it. Some coaches send a lot of handwritten notes, others don't; both of my guys got big time excited when they received handwritten notes from the head coach of the D-I of their choice, but neither ever received serious recruiting interest from that school. One school's coach sent a handwritten note practically every week for 6 months, then utter silence, starting right around July 1. We later learned he left the school for another job.

It's just like playing baseball-don't let the highs get too high or the lows too low. Just keep moving forward.

Not to hijack this thread but...along these lines if an "09 gets an e-mail from the recruiting coach at a D1 that asks if recruit is interested in the school and would like to verbal early is this allowable by the NCAA????

As far as I know, there are no restrictions on emails whatsoever. They can be sent whenever and to whomever.

quote:

by Cabb: if an "09 gets an e-mail from the recruiting coach at a D1 that asks if recruit is interested in the school and would like to verbal early is this allowable by the NCAA????

early verbals ARE allowed ...

re: the too early recruiting contact .. it's to protect the player, so I didn't hear or see nothin'


ncaa: " E-mails and faxes would be exempt from the new (text msg) rule but would be limited by current NCAA guidelines" - ie: no recruting material til Sept 1, jr yr

Back to the poster's original question. Anything even remotely resembling hand-written should be pretty exciting for a kid..particularly an 09. If he's interested in the school (or even not..because all that could change), I agree with TPM, call the coach and have your son "test the waters". It's good practice. These coaches know they're going to get a few "cold calls" from nervous kids. Maybe the coach wants him to come camp...if your son is interested in the school and you can swing it, have your son make the phone call, go to the camp and you might have the beginning of a relationship. How can you lose?

I well remember pondering over these letters and wondering about the deeper meaning behind a coach's signature, or personalization of the letter or the little numbers/letters in the top corner. In the end, however, it is whether you're son is going to act on these "signals" or not. How many kids actually write letters to coaches? How many get responses? How many do NOT write letters? And how many of those get responses? You can only up your odds by writing and following up.