Telling a College Coach That Other Schools Are Recruiting You.

Back in the olden days (like 4 years ago) my son didn't post anything about his recruiting on social media. lol

But, when he went for UNofficial visits, the RC would have him fill out the recruiting questionnaire ahead of time to bring with him and there was always a section to fill out what other schools were recruiting son.

It's fine to answer honestly if they ask.....but I don't think your son needs to bring it up to coaches if they don't ask

My opinion is that you don't want to bring that up unsolicited.  I think he did the right thing answering honestly when asked.   I agree that they seem to know when there is activity around a player.  The only time I would bring it up without being asked is when you are coming down to decision-making time and you have an offer and another desirable school is dragging their feet.  So, something like "I really like Your State U and have appreciated your attention and communication.  I have a pressing offer/s from another school and was hoping to get an idea of where I am on your board so that I can make an intelligent, informed decision."

My personal feeling is that he shouldn't proactively tell anyone and no need to post the "I got an offer..." statements on social media.  If asked, then be honest and open, just as your son was.  I wouldn't disclose what the offers are, even if asked as that's no ones business except the school and your family.

Most of the tweets you mention about "I got an offer..." are in football and basketball, where the recruiting landscape is very different from baseball.  In those sports, a verbal commitment just means the other schools need to try harder.

I agree if asked I'd answer otherwise I wouldn't. 

I think I understand the reason why some schools would ask but can someone with more experience tell me why schools need or want to know this info.  Is there some hidden agenda behind their question?  

FSF,

I think the other schools ask to just confirm that they are fishing in the correct pond. That's not to say that there might be an outlier school which is only offer (or major offer) that a recruit receives. In my son's experience, once one major school made an offer, it made the rest of the offers much, much easier to obtain.

RFF

ps: My son went on several UOV. They were normally 2 back-to-back within driving distances of each other. It was pretty easy to mention that we are going to a visit another college (did not mention name) on Friday and wondering if Saturday (Or Thursday) would be a good day to visit. They would ALWAYS ask where else we were going. We wouldn't come out and mention exactly where but would give a very strong hint so they would know. Do Not Lie and say you are going someplace and you really aren't though.

RedFishFool posted:

FSF,

I think the other schools ask to just confirm that they are fishing in the correct pond. That's not to say that there might be an outlier school which is only offer (or major offer) that a recruit receives. In my son's experience, once one major school made an offer, it made the rest of the offers much, much easier to obtain.

RFF

ps: My son went on several UOV. They were normally 2 back-to-back within driving distances of each other. It was pretty easy to mention that we are going to a visit another college (did not mention name) on Friday and wondering if Saturday (Or Thursday) would be a good day to visit. They would ALWAYS ask where else we were going. We wouldn't come out and mention exactly where but would give a very strong hint so they would know. Do Not Lie and say you are going someplace and you really aren't though.

This is pretty much how we've handled it, as well. He also uses Twitter and facebook, posting photos from unofficial visits.

If they asked my son, he told them. While he was active on social media he never posted anything until he committed. We did the same thing as RFF as far as visits.

I think social media has changed the recruiting landscape. 

What do you guys think of the posts from the players on social media?  Recently there was one that was re-tweeted by the football coach that had two pictures, one of the player in front of the stadium and another with a name badge with the players name and the badge said "XYZ School Football Recruit" on the top. Then the post said "Had a good time visiting XYZ School today".

  They aren't saying they were offered....just that they visited.

What gets me a about a huge majority of these tweets is "I just received my 20th offer from XYZ University" instead of "I just received my 20th offer, from XYZ University. The latter is still not perfect but does make it clearer.

What was wrong with the 1st 19 offers from XYZ University?  Commas are free, use them.

I don't see why tweet anything until the kid has committed. Just saying.

CaCO3Girl posted:

I think social media has changed the recruiting landscape. 

What do you guys think of the posts from the players on social media?  Recently there was one that was re-tweeted by the football coach that had two pictures, one of the player in front of the stadium and another with a name badge with the players name and the badge said "XYZ School Football Recruit" on the top. Then the post said "Had a good time visiting XYZ School today".

  They aren't saying they were offered....just that they visited.

I'm not exactly sure how the process works, but around this time of year you can look at lists of official visits for the 4-5 star recruits.  I assume the kids are talking to folks - maybe recruiting services who are tracking this activity - and outlining their upcoming weekends.  You actually have kids setting dates at which they will announce who is still in the running and who is out - not who they are committing to but maybe their final 10 still in the running.  Anyone seen any of the "shorts" being put out to announce their commitment.  Some of these 8-10 minute videos have some pretty polished production and are not being filmed by mom on her iPhone.  I do think baseball has some major differences, the biggest being that if you are in fact a true 5 star recruit (if htere is such a thing in baseball) then you may never step foot on campus and your "commitment" is really more of a bargaining chip (although a case study of Jason Groome kind of shows this to be a fallacy unless the kid commits to the JC upfront).

I am a big fan of commas and am getting to where I could write a good decommit tweet in my sleep "After thoughtful consideration and....."

Football and basketball are much different. Guys love posting on social media when they get an offer or how many offers they have. Most baseball recruits just post when they committ.

The general message from this board is recruiting is a business, why wouldn't you mention other schools and their offers?  And who else are you recruiting is a fair question, also.  Two way street.  Neither question has to be answered directly or in full, but they are still fair questions/information to share.

If your son knows what he wants, and you know what is fair/the right situation for your son, I think you would know what to do with mentioning other schools/offers.

Ryan went on several official visits, and generally took pictures.  He posted those on Social Media.  Why wouldn't you?  That's what social media is far.  A lot of folks have been involved with these kids as they are growing up, and deserve credit for helping them get where they are.  Why wouldn't you let them share in the joy of the process?

As far as posting offers, he never did that.  Only the commitment.

This is a double edged sword.  If your son lists schools that may have better baseball reputations, the coach might think that they don't stand a chance for your son.  If you list certain schools, they are rival schools and so, the coach might want an answer right away.  I know when my daughter was being recruited and mentioned one school to the coaching staff, they instantly asked her if she understood that the school she mentioned was their conference rival.  Naturally, she didn't know nor care about that at the time. 

We found that a good answer was to answer yes there are other schools recruiting my daughter BUT that she was here at this school because she was interested in playing for that program.  That usually did the trick. 

RedFishFool posted:

What gets me a about a huge majority of these tweets is "I just received my 20th offer from XYZ University" instead of "I just received my 20th offer, from XYZ University. The latter is still not perfect but does make it clearer.

What was wrong with the 1st 19 offers from XYZ University?  Commas are free, use them.

I like the way you talk, Red Fish Fool.  Mmmhmmm.

The approach my son used was dependent upon his comfort level with the coach asking and where he was in his recruiting timeline.    My son would not volunteer that information.

Early on (sophomore, early junior year) there was some casual interest by coaches.  My son would not mention a specific school unless they were seriously recruiting him...he may mention the conference.   If asked, his travel coach would typically mention all the schools so my son wouldn't have to take that on.   Early on in the recruiting process we relied heavily on his travel coach as a focal point, but that changed as my son began to widen his search and better understand his options and opportunities.  As time went by with more seriously interested schools then my son would mention the schools (when asked) by name when it served his purposes.

That one simple question opens up alot of information about you whether you realize it or not.  From what we could figure out, coaches ask to :

1) validate what other coaches have evaluated

2) any additional information on a potential competitor (other college)  is important

3) coaches enjoy winning a recruit over other coaches especially if they are friends

4) see what the recruit is thinking about his own skills and opportunities

5) determine the recruit's timeline, and decision process

6) understand how savvy a recruit is in the process

These were my son's experiences.  I'm not saying they are right or wrong, just his approach and comfort level with a difficult question being asked to a 17 year old kid.

Whether people realize it or not, a lot of the coaches know who is recruiting who before they even call your son.  Most all coaches that recruited Ryno were aware of who was recruiting him, because these coaches do their homework. 

When Ryan was recruited by an A-10 school, the coach called Utah & BYU (Because they are schools at West that are closest to us.), and asked them why they had not offered him yet.  These coaches aren't just taking a stab in the dark.  They do their homework!

Teaching Elder posted:

RedFishFool posted:

What gets me a about a huge majority of these tweets is "I just received my 20th offer from XYZ University" instead of "I just received my 20th offer, from XYZ University. The latter is still not perfect but does make it clearer.

What was wrong with the 1st 19 offers from XYZ University?  Commas are free, use them.

I like the way you talk, Red Fish Fool.  Mmmhmmm.

Very nice.

RedFishFool posted:

What gets me a about a huge majority of these tweets is "I just received my 20th offer from XYZ University" instead of "I just received my 20th offer, from XYZ University. The latter is still not perfect but does make it clearer.

What was wrong with the 1st 19 offers from XYZ University?  Commas are free, use them.

Yes, and so are semicolons, which is what the the last comma you used should have been.

And "BOOM" goes the dynamite.

JCG posted:

RedFishFool posted:

What gets me a about a huge majority of these tweets is "I just received my 20th offer from XYZ University" instead of "I just received my 20th offer, from XYZ University. The latter is still not perfect but does make it clearer.

What was wrong with the 1st 19 offers from XYZ University?  Commas are free, use them.

Yes, and so are semicolons, which is what the the last comma you used should have been.

He also forgot to close out his quotation on the "latter" quote.  How did you miss that?

lol. Y'all are a rough crowd.

Math was/is my forte, not English. Just an ol' country boy trying to make it in life.

You pedantic pedogouges!  I love it.

Teaching Elder posted:

You pedantic pedogouges!  I love it.

Pedogouges or pedagogues?

Meh.  Spell correct said pedogogues for some odd reason.  I thought, "Nah."  But, went with it anyway.

But, don't let us ever operate under the misapprehension that I am a gud spehlar.

Teaching Elder posted:

Meh.  Spell correct said pedogogues for some odd reason.  I thought, "Nah."  But, went with it anyway.

I haven't used the word pedagogues since........well, never!!!!

Why does social media need to know anything? 

Not sure if quasi-leverage is the right way to go here.  You have an offer from school B that you dangle in front of school A in hopes school A makes an offer?  

What you "ideally" want is a school who loves you as much as you love them.  If you have to twist their arm, I question that.  Another approach might be - if you really want them to make an offer, go to another camp of theirs and prove to them they ought to make you an offer because you earned it in their eyes.  Coaches recruit what they see.  Give them a baseball reason to make you an offer.    

ClevelandDad posted:

Why does social media need to know anything? 

Not sure if quasi-leverage is the right way to go here.  You have an offer from school B that you dangle in front of school A in hopes school A makes an offer?  

What you "ideally" want is a school who loves you as much as you love them.  If you have to twist their arm, I question that.  Another approach might be - if you really want them to make an offer, go to another camp of theirs and prove to them they ought to make you an offer because you earned it in their eyes.  Coaches recruit what they see.  Give them a baseball reason to make you an offer.    

I'm not sure social media is the way to go, but if it is getting down to decision time as available spots start to get filled, AND you have some solid contacts at several schools you like, I could see doing a quick survey of the schools when you have an offer you need to respond to (assuming you will accept the offer barring others).  Sort of like multiple offers on a house - everyone gets notified and told to resubmit their best offer.  Could be some school that is dragging just a little bit and all they need to extend an offer is that little push - I could see an offer from another school being that little push.  Given that it is a life changing decision, that little bit a gamesmanship seems appropriate.  I'm not saying blast out 50 e-mails looking to snag something, but if you have 3-4 schools in the active mix, give them a chance to bring their best.  I suspect many time the other schools will figure it out, but sometimes they get a little busy and may take their eye off the ball for a moment.