Questions to ask coaches when deciding on a school?

I would not ask any of the first 5 questions on your list.  The first is irrelevant, and the next 4 can be figured out from the stats and roster info on their website.  The last 2 questions are reasonable for your son to ask.

The conversations I was a part of with coaches were mainly "small talk" discussions about weight training, nutrition, batting practice techniques, catching workouts... i.e., things that I'm personally interested in but also useful to know regarding how they run the team.  I also always asked the coach how he found kids...very interesting discussions always followed.

To be honest, none of this made any difference to my son's decision.  It came down to chemistry with the coaches, how he believed he would fit in talent-wise, and academic quality of the school.

I would be sure to ask a few questions about the kind of academic support the team provides to players. It's helpful to know whether the school goes beyond the basic requirements of the NCAA in their tutor and academic advising program. Juggling athletics and school is a big challenge and I wanted to know how invested the team/school is in helping players stay on top of their classwork. Plus, asking is a good signal to coaches that academics matter to you.

Couple of threads in the search function.  Here is a more recent one:

https://community.hsbaseballwe...54#47474438376361854

A lot of your son's questions will probably be answered by the coach before he has a chance to ask them!

100% agree with Smitty.  I would not ask those first 5 questions.  I would ask more questions specific to your son's situation and academics as D2020 points out.   For some student athletes a challenging major coupled with athletics can put a student athlete behind in both. So I would ask questions related to academic oversite, tutors, time management challenges, labs and practice conflicts as it relates to your son's major. I would ask about expectations and arrangements for summer college baseball.  

Also important is the chemistry your son has with his position coach.   The position coach is somebody your son is going to be working with almost every day so his demeanor and teaching style is incredibly important.  is this somebody your son feels that he can work with and learn from.   So, I would ask the coach if he has a particular pitching style & philosophy or does he work with each pitcher to adjust to their style to make them better?  My son felt incredibly comfortable with his pitching coach who I would describe as "cerebral", and "very laid-back-CaIifornian".  My son responded very well to his PC because he challenged him mentally.   I think the same goes with strength and conditioning.   What is their philosophy around strength and conditioning?   These may seem like obvious questions but it really can avoid issues later.   By issues I mean injuries or transferring.    

Good luck!

The questions greatly depend on the level of ball.  The questions that would be asked at P5/large D1 are not the same as other schools.  I will agree the first 5 questions should not be asked because of 2 reasons.  It will seem to some that you don't think you can compete if there are other guys at your position whether before or after.  It is a legitimate question but not one that needs to be asked.  The second part of it is they will not completely answer you because they don't know the answer or they don't want you to know the answer.  The redshirting question also comes across as if you don't think you will make an impact immediately.  You want to be confident and appear that no matter who they bring in you can beat them out, even if that is not reality.  We had already done the research and knew about how many were coming in and what grades and what positions so no reason to ask the coach.  I think it depends on what you are looking to get out of school.  Mine was not worried about grades other than passing to be qualified and getting a degree so the questions on academics was mute other than they showed us their tutoring program and what he would be required to do every day.  Some schools require you to live on campus and others let you choose.   I think you can ask their choice on it and some questions on costs.  If it was cost worthy mine would stay on campus after freshman year, required, but it is not so he will find an apartment and have to drive and fight through parking and everything associated with it.

I agree with all, that the majority of those questions should not be asked.

From another thread, I believe your son is a HS freshman.  If you feel he’s likely to be offered at such a young age, my questions/concerns would be more around the coach’s track record of maintaining his commitment over the next 3 years, what they see in your son to offer him now and where he expects him to be in the next 3-4 years.

Before any of this, it depends on where you are in the process with a given school.  You said "when deciding on which school to attend".  Does that mean he is weighing offers? Or are you talking about any first contact type stuff at events?  Or something in between?  There are entirely different sets of typical conversation items for each scenario.

cabbagedad posted:

Before any of this, it depends on where you are in the process with a given school.  You said "when deciding on which school to attend".  Does that mean he is weighing offers? Or are you talking about any first contact type stuff at events?  Or something in between?  There are entirely different sets of typical conversation items for each scenario.

Thanks for all the responses. That is exactly why I asked. Didn't know what really should be asked and what shouldn't be. Yes, he is already weighing offers from P5 schools. We are taking all the info in right now and trying to come up with questions to ask the coaches as we continue down the process.

In addition to questions, I would suggest looking at the number of recruits each school had in the 2019 class and are in the 2020 class.  Also, look at turnover on the roster from year to year to see how many freshman make the team in the spring and then return the following year.  You can find red shirt info as well.  This will give you valuable recruiting philosophy info. Not all P5 recruit the same.  Also be careful of making decisions based solely on the coaches.  Situations can change over four years, so focus on the school in my opinion.  Academic support, as suggested, also excellent information to have.  

Definitely do not ask the first ones. You can figure all that out online. The questions shared with you are way better.

You should ask about academic support, how many days of class they miss spring semester during baseball. (UVA was only 7) (less at GT given ATL) .

Ask about majors and restrictions. Ask how many hours the players carry? 12 like a lot of schools or mandated 15/semester at UVA.(you also have to graduate in 4 years at UVA).

What are the plans for summer as freshman or what summer leagues do their players go to?

Is summer school an option to get closer to graduation? Is coming early an option or encouraged.

Ask about meals/fueling stations  (UVA only feeds one/day to the players, Arkansas all 3, including 2 on weekends). Food allergies? Nutritionist? 

Ask about admission requirements. UVA has auto admit spots no test or gpa required. GT was auto admitted to Bus or Engineers School UVA you had to wait til Sophomore (2nd) year. 

Where do the freshman live on campus? With other athletes or in the gen pop? Stay with upper class dorms like at Georgia Tech or live a mile from the field like UVA. Live in facility literally next to the stadium like at UNC? Where do sophomores and juniors typically live? 

Ask about swag?? Does that include dress coats/shoes? Some kids don’t have them. 

What are the off season weekends or Xmas break demands or schedule like? 

What timeline, if any, on their offer? We've heard 48 hrs (that's a no) and no pressure tell us when you're ready (LOVE) and in between.

Sorry if I rambled but we just went through all this.