Any tips or etiquette for handling an offer that the player doesn’t plan to immediately accept but would seriously consider accepting down the road? Son is a 2024 and in no rush to commit. He wants to continue to explore options and is actively talking to several other coaches. The offering coach did not communicate a timeline or other expectations.
thanks!
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I think it's fine, if you're a 2024, to thank the coach for the offer, stress that you are very excited about it and really interested in the program, but you want to enjoy your junior year of High School and just focus on that, now, 100%, before making any decisions about after HS - since that's a big decision and should be given 100% attention.
Thank the coach, explain that he isn't ready to make a decision at this time then ask when he would want a definite decision.
Unless you are on their A list, chances are he has already offered to another player.
My son is a 2024 and to the offers he's received his response has been, "Thank you, my plan right now is to make a decision in the fall of my Junior year."
@Master P posted:My son is a 2024 and to the offers he's received his response has been, "Thank you, my plan right now is to make a decision in the fall of my Junior year."
See the post right above yours. If he’s a stud A lister it works. If he expects to make significant improvement and move up to the next level of teams it works. If not, ^^^^
@DroppedStrikeThree posted:Any tips or etiquette for handling an offer that the player doesn’t plan to immediately accept but would seriously consider accepting down the road? Son is a 2024 and in no rush to commit. He wants to continue to explore options and is actively talking to several other coaches. The offering coach did not communicate a timeline or other expectations.
thanks!
Be honest, respectful and polite. It is true that it depends on your son's talent level (leverage) how much patience the coach will have but I think it also depends what your son wants to get out of college baseball. Under no circumstances should you or your son feel pressured. This is a huge decision. If he wants to continue to explore all options then that is what he should do. This is his gig.
My son's first offer was a to fantastic mid-major D1 (private) about 15-20 miles from our house. It was his dream school when he was younger. It is a great business and law school. We were over the moon with his first offer (25%) and that did help move some things along with some other schools. There was no timeline on the first offer. A month later they came back with a 50% second offer and a 72 hour deadline when they got wind of another school offering him. That month between the 1st and 2nd offer gave him a lot of time to think long and hard about everything. They did not have the major he wanted to pursue, and that was the big stumbling block. So he passed on the 50% offer. My point is to pay attention to the marketplace, but don't put any unnecessary pressure on making a decision because of what a coach says or doesn't say. Commit when the offer and the entire situation feels right.
JMO and my experience.
I'll go a different direction with this. I actually think some pressure is a good thing. While it is the kid's gig, the college coaches hold all the cards and they want to feel loved the same way a player wants to feel loved. If a kid is TRULY exploring other options, then great, take some time. But most cases of "exploring other options" that I've seen are truly "hoping something 'better' comes along." THAT, I think is dangerous. A close buddy with a 2022 did this. Started getting offers in June but told coaches he wanted to make a decision by the end of the year and it was under the notion that he wanted to make sure he goes with the best fit for him. My advice for any kid with an offer he might accept is to get your a$$ in gear. Get active. Exhibit a sense or urgency. Show everyone WHY you need 30, 60, etc days. If you truly NEED 60 days, take 60 days. But what are you doing for those 60 days? Waiting for "better" offers to come in? Are you playing in some high profile tourneys hoping a prettier girl notices you? If that's the case, I am with the coaches. Take as much time as you NEED, not as much time as you WANT. We can act like this is a major decision - and from one perspective, it is - but how many of us would tell a prospective employer that we'll need 2 months to make sure their job offer is the right fit for us? Like it or not, we all send a message when we ask for more time.
Let's say school A offers you. You visit and decide it's a good deal all around. If after that, you go radio silent with that school, you're simply hoping for the prettier girl to become available. If you truly are considering that offer from school A, then I'd expect you to go back to the coach with additional questions. Because clarification will be needed as you're exploring other programs. Are you going back and asking deeper questions? Something more/deeper than you previously had? To me, that's part of what actively deciding looks like. How about a 2nd visit? Maybe one more focused on academics, extracurricular activities/clubs, campus life, etc? Have you reached out to current/former players from that school? Their parents? Are you here at HSBBW to help look at it all from even more angles? There are hundreds of things you can be doing to ACTIVELY help focus your choice, but time and hoping for better options are not done in good faith. is that really the way you want to treat someone who you are expecting to put a lot of effort into you?
Most everyone doesn't like it when I tell them my son got an offer with a 30-day clock after our visit. And he accepted it within about 2 weeks. Me, I am so glad it came with that clock. It was a great Juco offer from a great coach that checked most every box except for the fact that it was a Juco and not a D1 4-year which was my son's goal. My son got the offer when he was out playing travel summer ball. He had 2 D1s close to offering and he went out and put on a show at a higher profile tourney in KC the next week. He made the all tourney team (alongside a bunch of D1 commits) and the 2 D1s following him knew about his success there and we sent them video of it all. But it was not enough for them to offer. My son checked in one last time with them and both thought him accepting the Juco offer was the best choice at that time. That was it. He committed in July which is early for most Juco commits. Without that 30-day clock, I could absolutely see my son stringing things out for months in hopes of landing a D1 offer. That would have been a disaster. If you put in the work ahead of time to know what things are most important to you, you'll be in a position to commit when a great fit off comes in.
I'm rambling, but one more story. The #24 2022 kid in our state is currently uncommitted. 10th best RHP in the state according to PBR. Has offers from Jucos, D2s and NAIA, but is passing on all of them. Deeply feels he's D1 material. He's 5ish months away from reporting to his college campus, yet he has no college campus to report to. He's expecting to have a strong spring (and he likely will). I can see him getting a walk on offer from a D1 assuming his spring goes well. But that walk on offer will be garbage. Likely a ticket to entering the transfer portal after a semester or two. Every kid needs to understand that the longer you sit, the closer you are to ending up somewhere where you aren't loved. Love fades to like over time. Like fades to see ya.
We had a real life example with my '22. A P5 showed interest but wasn't emphasizing my son's position. The choice was wait for that possibility or taking a lower D1 spot where there was love both ways. While he was interested in P5, he opted to take the bird in the hand.
My '23 volleyball daughter was in the same position - dancing between a P5 and the same lower D1. She didn't want to wait, so she'll be joining my son at the same school. Needless to say, I'm happy with the outcome. More important, so are they.
Same as Fenway, son's first offer was mid-major known for playing good baseball, with a solid D1 P5 former Assist running the program and a pitching coach he liked. After the offer and some time had passed....i'd say a month or so and after a brief showing at a Ft Myers tournament, he was basically given an ultimatum. He politely declined with reasons similar to above about timing, the unknown and future offers/decisions. I think they said they would have to move to another player on the board which made total sense. As i often say in these conversations...we made a few mistakes along the way out of FOMO and anxiety etc but it all worked out in the end. Good luck to you and your son.
Recruiting is a sales job. When you tell the coach you want to wait you’re telling him he’s not the best deal or you’re hoping he’s not going to be the best deal soon. The “wait” stance can be used for negotiating a better deal. Otherwise, you’re flat out telling him he’s not the first choice. So, don’t be surprised if the offer goes to someone else unless he wants you so badly he’s willing to wait.
Girls physically mature sooner than boys. The offers come sooner. My daughter’s first offer came the summer after freshman year. It’s not uncommon for major conference softball players to get offers the summer before high school. There are plenty of fourteen year old studettes playing 18u Gold travel ball. My daughter moved up at fifteen.
My daughter didn’t commit that summer. But she decided before travel ball started post soph year she better jump on board before the coach found another player more hungry for the offer. She verballed during her soph high school season before travel play started.
It was the right school academically. She wasn’t sure she could start there. She was right. She was the fourth outfielder for four years. But she played enough.
@DanJ posted:While it is the kid's gig, the college coaches hold all the cards and they want to feel loved the same way a player wants to feel loved...
Truth is you have to do what's best for yourself. None of the coaches love you, they love your potential to produce for them. Whatever love there was dissipates the second you prove you're not capable of contributing to the program. One of the kids in our travel program was committed to the same program as mine. The coach called him weekly, went out to dinner with his family when he was in the same area, tickets to games, everything. And he turned down a lot of draft money to play for that coach. The kid had a hard time adjusting, staying healthy, performing, etc. Did the coach still love him when he brought in a juco stud at his position? Did the coach still love him when he cut him the following fall?
Does waiting tell the coaches you're looking for something else? Yes, because you are and you should be. If you want two months, take two months but just know they would like to have you, but they don't need you. If a player wants to commit do it because it's the best option, don't do it to appease a coaching staff.
If you do get an offer from a school with a deadline, what would be the proper next step? Based on reading the comments here, is the proper next step to reach out to the schools you are interested in, let them know that you got an offer from a school (leave the school anonymous), and you wanted to reach out to see if there is an opportunity to play for their school before you accept the offer? Is that the right tone? If the offer is from a D1 school, any value is specifying that the offer is from a D1 school?
I've been told by others through this process that once that first offer comes in, the floodgates opens and other offers started coming in. I don't understand how the other school knows about that first offer though. Is the college baseball community that small that when one school offers, the news spreads fast?
@atlnon posted:I don't understand how the other school knows about that first offer though. Is the college baseball community that small that when one school offers, the news spreads fast?
Yes..yes it is.
@atlnon posted:If you do get an offer from a school with a deadline, what would be the proper next step? Based on reading the comments here, is the proper next step to reach out to the schools you are interested in, let them know that you got an offer from a school (leave the school anonymous), and you wanted to reach out to see if there is an opportunity to play for their school before you accept the offer? Is that the right tone? If the offer is from a D1 school, any value is specifying that the offer is from a D1 school?
I've been told by others through this process that once that first offer comes in, the floodgates opens and other offers started coming in. I don't understand how the other school knows about that first offer though. Is the college baseball community that small that when one school offers, the news spreads fast?
The game has changed dramatically in the past 2 years. Are they schools he's been talking to, visiting, keeping up with, etc? If they are schools with low levels of engagement I wouldn't even consider hitting them up at this point.
How is the offer and how high is he on the program?
Here is how the other schools know:
Coach, as you know I'm very interested in _________ but I want to let you know I have a very good offer that I am strongly considering. If you guys are still interested great, can we talk about where we stand right now? If not, no worries, best of luck.
One school that offered my son didn't give a deadline at first. In fact, that said it's early, take your time, you really don't need to get back to us for several weeks.
Then, a few weeks later, he was told "We have a guy coming in for a visit at your position. If he likes us, we're going to offer him and it's first come, first serve...just so you know."
I get it. The market favors the schools. Windows can close fast no matter what you think or have been told.
To be honest, my son is only getting real interest from this one school so far. He likes the school and the baseball program/philosophy seems to be a good fit for him. I would be fine if he gets an offer and he commits to that school. My worry is we don't know what he has not considered or what he has not thought of if he does not have other options to compare it with. He has not gotten an offer from this school yet. The coach recruiting him has indicated that they are ready to make an offer sometime in July. Who knows if it is going to happen. Just asking this question here makes me worry that I'm jumping the gun and jinx the whole thing.... 
On a separate note, I would like to ask this forum for feedback about the school but I am not really comfortable sharing the name of the school since it's not a done deal yet. I searched the forum and the last discussion about the school was more than 5 years ago. Is there another way of doing it or I just have to be willing to share the name of the school publicly? I've been in IT long enough to know that if someone tries hard enough, they can connect an online user persona to the real life.
This has been an interesting process so far. I can't wait for it to be finalized so that I can share more details here to share with others.
Well why don't ask which users are from certain region and then PM them?
@atlnon posted:On a separate note, I would like to ask this forum for feedback about the school but I am not really comfortable sharing the name of the school since it's not a done deal yet. I searched the forum and the last discussion about the school was more than 5 years ago. Is there another way of doing it or I just have to be willing to share the name of the school publicly? I've been in IT long enough to know that if someone tries hard enough, they can connect an online user persona to the real life
Nothing wrong with asking if anybody has information on a school and then taking it to the PMs.
My advice would be, look at the 5-year-old thread and PM anyone on it who is still active. Or even if they're not still active, they might reply, or know someone else who has information.
@atlnon posted:On a separate note, I would like to ask this forum for feedback about the school but I am not really comfortable sharing the name of the school since it's not a done deal yet. I searched the forum and the last discussion about the school was more than 5 years ago. Is there another way of doing it or I just have to be willing to share the name of the school publicly? I've been in IT long enough to know that if someone tries hard enough, they can connect an online user persona to the real life.
Feel free to ask about a conference or a group of schools. That is what I did in my sons process when I could not find anything current or about a school he was interested in.
My son was being lightly recruited by and interested in a school that is discussed semi regularly here with the HA crowd (Davidson) so no need to ask about it. Another school which was a fallback for him and a great academic school in a part of the country he wanted to be in was Washington & Lee (HA D3) so I initially asked about the conference then was able to DM a poster who responded whose kid attends W&L. Lastly, prior to committing I found an old thread and asked for an update on it from any/all who may have had an opinion or experience with it (Bradley).
Part of my kids process sped up with several schools that had communicated with him via text/email/twitter once he contacted them after receiving an offer (with a general timeline) from a JUCO all of them would know about and know that the JUCO turns out dudes. Son followed up with something like this, "Coach, I know that we have communicated in the past" and "Coach, you follow me on Twitter" followed by something like this: "I received a great offer from JUCO State and am strongly considering taking that offer as it is a great opportunity. I have always hoped to have a 4 year experience (or attend your school) and simply wanted to touch base out of courtesy prior to accepting this offer."
Hope that this might help a little bit and great luck to your kid!
