Questions about calls

First thing


Be happy that the calls are coming in for your son
Calls do not mean offers!!!!

Second Thing

Do not assume anything--calls are calls of interest but tommorow he, the coach, may see a player he likes more at your sons position


There are no givens---keep working hard and keep the lines of communication open---one never know what can happen

Congrats on all the calls you are receiving! I know it has to be very exciting for all.

Why not go out on a limb during one of the calls and let the coach know your son is getting a good bit of attention, and while you have appreciated every call he has made (as promised), how exactly are they looking at your son for their program, would he be willing to schedule an "official" visit, etc. Maybe you've already done this.

It just seems to me that you are in a position to push the envelope just a little more than most parents and I'd make the most of it. IMO

Best of luck!

YGD, infield might want to roleplay with his son to find a comfortable way for him to ask (I'd really like to see the facilities, coach) such questions, but it is always true that coaches continue to look, as that is in their interest.

Keeping your options open at this point is always a good idea.

The way your post was written seems to imply that the parent is talking to the coach. Coaches want to talk to the player; their initial phone introduction with a parent will be brief and then only if that parent happens to answer the phone.

The players, and their talent, do the talking.

You are getting good advice. Calls are calls and not much more. Offers come in all forms. They come over the phone early in the process or at the visit. We always encouraged our son to impart a sense of urgency to the coaches calling. Some continued to call weekly through July and August without offers of visits or scholarships, until they were told of a verbal commitment in September. I never could figure that out. He was apparently on the "B" list.

Thanks so much for your guidance and advice.

Orlando was right -- the coaches have been talking to my son, not me. (I'm sure they love the fact that most players have their own cell phones these days!)

I appreciate knowing that many weekly calls do not result in offers. When my son got his first phone call, I was pretty giddy, and my good-head-on-his-shoulders son commented skeptically, "Mom, that doesn't mean I'm going to get an offer." Guess he knows more than I do!

Every coach who has called has asked for specifics about who is in contact with our son. I had read the "When Coaches Ask" thread in the recruiting forum, in which some posters advised to be vague about others' interest, but I had never talked to my son about it. He was very honest in disclosing who the "competition" is. I guess we'll find out eventually if this was a good move or not.

I wasn't exactly sure who the Coach was talking to. Thanks for the clarification Infield.

btw....Honesty is always the best policy. I'm glad to hear your son doesn't pull any punches. I like that.

Again....the very best of luck to your son!

Like sales, recruiting is a numbers game for both players and coaches. In our case the numbers were

Schools that sent regular mail: 30-40
Schools that called regularly: 8-10
Offers: 4, one from a JUCO coach that actually never called.
Official Visits: 2
NLI signed: 1

Infield08 -

I am sure it comes as no surprise to you to know they are recruiting multiple players at your son's position. At least he is on the list, but not on the top, otherwise you'd have an offer. The coach is juggling because he has to while he waits on other players and determines his needs and resources. If your son is truly interested and the school fits, then he needs to get more specific as Younggun suggests. But this is not necessarily only a baseball question.

Our son's recruiting numbers were very similar to Dad04's son - and included coaches who came to see him pitch. Be calm, keep the ego out of it, but understand the process.

Very true brod. It is a process and not a game, as I stated.

quote:

At least he is on the list, but not on the top, otherwise you'd have an offer.

The calls have all started fairly recently. Perhaps that means that the schools have already worked through their "A" players and have now moved on to their "B" list. Or, as some have suggested to me privately, perhaps schools are just now starting to nail down position players after having recruited their pitchers.

I found it interesting that the first call my son received was on Aug. 11, 2 days after the NCAA meeting to revise the scholarship rules.

quote:

I found it interesting that the first call my son received was on Aug. 11, 2 days after the NCAA meeting to revise the scholarship rules.

Yeah. I find that interesting too. I'll bet that is pretty widespread.

SO if you are on the A list, you should expect AN OFFER in July???

And if you don't get an offer in July, you are a B or C choice ??

For those whose sons got phone calls, typically how many weeks passed before an offer was made? Were the offers really made during the first phone call? It seems like coaches would want to build up a rapport with the prospects before making an offer, but perhaps I'm wrong.

For my son, what has happened is calls 2 on July 1st
A couple fo calls from different schools in August.
No offers was not to worried about that.
Now 1 in home visit
3 scheduled official visit.
The one in home visit coach told us he would be extending an offer on the official visit.
Do not get caught up in all the early verbal commitmetns. I think potentially those are the exception not the rule.

Enjoy the time they grow up fast.

quote:

Originally posted by TripleDad:
SO if you are on the A list, you should expect AN OFFER in July???

And if you don't get an offer in July, you are a B or C choice ??

TD - not necessarily. My son was recruited by a D1 in 2005 for the 06-07 year and did't get a call from them until August. We took our official visit in September and we were their first position player. So that told me the month of July they worked on pitchers.

Its good to hear others scenarios, but it also makes my head spin if I allow it to. There is no rhyme or reason to this whole recruitng process, that is something I am now completely convinced of.
What happens for Johnny isnt necessarily what is going to happen for Bobby, and visa-versa.


Ok...so now I have recently learned that even with a NLI, its not a for-sure done-deal.
( thank goodness we can at least count on the sun to rise,...most days! )

The Old Timers warned us,......this ain't gonna be easy and its not over til' the fat lady sings,..and even then its not a for-sure thing, I'm thinkin'.

Kinda makes we want to pull my hair, but
I think I will perhaps simply let this process play out one day at a time,...I will not try to over analyze or guess where we stand. We will just wade through it one step at a time together.
And I will keep reassuring myself that,...bald could be beautiful,...maybe,...perhaps.

quote:

its not a for-sure done-deal.

I just learned that signing a National Letter of Intent does not guarantee a player a spot on the team.
Rather, by signing a National Letter of Intent, the institution with which you signed agrees to provide you athletics financial aid for the academic year.

The two need not to be confused. ( I was admittingly a little bit confused. )

Shortstawpmomma learning new things daily, thanks to those of you who have traveled this road before us. I am quite grateful for all of your help!!

shortstopmom

Who told you that ???

No school will give you athletic scholarship money if you are not going to be on the team--- it does not make sense

TRhit, the following is quoted from the FAQ section of http://www.national-letter.org/:

5. By signing a National Letter of Intent am I guaranteed that I will play on a team?

"No. Signing a National Letter of Intent does not guarantee you playing time or a spot on the team. Rather, by signing a National Letter of Intent, the institution with which you signed agrees to provide you athletics financial aid for the academic year."

That said, I cannot imagine a situation where an institution would devote its precious scholarship resources to an athlete and then not give him a spot on the team. (But perhaps they would remove him from the team at some point if he were caught breaking team rules.)

.

Actual speech given at Junior day at a DI in one the the toughest conferences in the country....

"Be very clear. If you expect to be GIVEN a spot, even if you are getting baseball money go somewhere else. If you want a guarantee go someplace else. This is a competitive situation, we are looking for competitors. See the guy at second base? He was a walk on. The two guys in front of him are still in school, still on our dime, but he was a much better player. He's here playing. They are not."

Heard this speech twice. I know they have a big walk on program. While I may not agree with the way that works, it is being done unless the coach is lying and I have to reason to believe that he is.

44
.
.

Yes InfieldO8 and TR, that is where I got my information from. Former Observer was kind enough to
publish the NLI information link in another thread. It was VERY eye opening for me.

Interpret that to mean you are on the bench not off the team---no way are they giving you athletic money if you are not on the team unless you are injured or redshirted


Think about it in a pure business sense---would it make sense

Son received official invitation the other day to a school high on his short list what can be expected from such a visit? Does most offers occur at this time?

I think that FO posted info on the NLI for a reason.

It is an agreement that you will come play for the school in exchange for some type of compensation and let's others know you have stopped the recruiting process. That's it.

quote:

That's it.

Irony,...son and I were headed down the road at 5 am this morning for a college showcase out of state.
Although it was still dark outside I, being a perky morning kind of gal, decided to start the day's chit chat ( my favorite part,..not exactly his ) off with describing to son all that I had learned about NLI's last night on the HSBBW.
( FYI: impressing a 17 year old boy with regards to what a MOM knows about baseball, isn't always an easily accomplished task. My home baked pies get a much better response. )

After I got through reciting my speech, 325 miles later, ( I proudly and practically memorized the entire NLI Q&A website and even brought pink highlighted 3x5 notes along with me for back up. ) I looked away from the road for a moment towards son, hoping to see pure amazement in son's eyes as to what a well informed mom I am.

Instead, he looked at me ( ever so respectfully ) as though my head was spinning and I had been living on Mars.

Apparantly he already knows all of this stuff inside out and backwards............and has since his freshman year.

I am the newbie.
He is not. ( thank goodness )

........08' hotshot!!!

quote:

Originally posted by RYNO:
hELP Son received official invitation the other day to a school high on his short list what can be expected from such a visit? Does most offers occur at this time?

RYNO
From what I know there is no given for-sure answer. Sometimes offers are made during a visit, some are not made, and other times coaches send players home and tell them to wait for a call later.

Son was just recently asked to come visit two colleges. Coaches went on to say that they are ready to make us an offer. (????) Hmmmmm,...
We will schedule the visit, but will have to wait and see if/when an offer(s) truely happens.
No expectations.

To quote TPMom from a recent thread ( if I may ):

quote:

Do official visits often lead to offers?

Since a school can only invite 25, at their expense, they are selective in who they are going to invite. But not every official visit leads to an offer.

Do the offers usually come during the visit or after the visit?

Many times during the visit, but sometimes coaches will tell you to go home and they will call during the week.

I would reccomend searching under " find " ( above in the green box with magnifying glass icon ).

Type in " official visits ".

You will find a great deal of discussion there that I hope helps you. It's a hot topic right now for 08'ers.

Thank You Very Much

Please let us know how your visit went and what happened once you got there.
Best of luck.

Phone calls with one school have now progressed to the point where transcripts and test scores are being requested. Is my son still part of a potentially large group of recruits, or does this mean things are beginning to gel?

infield08 -
Your son has moved to the next step for this college, which is screening out players they are interested in but may not meet their minimum qualifications academically. It is part of the recruiting ride, but now you're a lot farther down the track. Good luck!

Question:
If you are registered with the Clearinghouse and you are a Senior this year, can't the coaches go to that and look at the transcripts, ACT test scores, SAT test scores.
I know it only has the transcript that you originally had sent from the HS registrars office, and the final transcript is not there until agter you graduate.

If you sent them to the clearinghouse. I thought that is a piece of what the Clearinghouse provides a centralized area.
Can anyone shed any light on this.

When you sign in at the Clearinghouse website and enter your son's pin#, you don't get an actual transcript or even an indication of grades until after qualification has been determined. It took a long time for anything to appear on my son's clearinghouse page...there were some testing scores but nothing from high school until much later.

The college coach would have to either be sent your transcript or speak with the high school coach (who probably knows the academic situation for the player).

LHPDad,
To access I think you need a pin, I think it's easier for coaches to ask for a faxed transcript than having to access players online.
Most recruiting coaches do not have the luxury of a staff to do these things for them, they are on tight schedules each and every day.

JMO.

Thanks for the info.