When coaches ask. . .

The same question was put to my son (and me) during his recruitment. I think they want to know a couple of things. They want to know who their competition is to better plan their strategy and possibly reassure themselves they are not the only program recruiting your son. Once they know "everything" they could possibly adjust their scholarship offer (up or down) or even focus on other recruits. My son and I discussed this after we fielded a few of these questions and decided to say as little as possible wi0thout being rude. We were able to "wiggle" out of answering. Our answers were vague and sent a signal we were uncomfortable with the question. No coaches cornered us and forced us to answer.
For instance this might be the way the conversation went:
Q. "Who else are you talking to?
A. "We've been in contact with a number of schools"

Q. "Has anyone else offer a scholarship?"
A. "Yes but some have asked us to not discuss their offer."

Q. "Who has offered a scholarship?"
A. "Coach we feel uncomfortable answering that question but if it is necessary we will."

This was our approach -- don't know if it was good or bad but seemed to work for us.
Fungo

Fungo, what about when they ask you on a questionaire to list "what schools are recruiting you?"

For what it's worth, son did answer who had offered and what percent (It seemed every school wanted to know both who and how much). Not sure it made any difference but i don't think any school backed off after hearing, they just went about promoting their school and program. After son had 2 ACC offers, it did seem other schools asked how important it was to him to play in the ACC.

quote:

Fungo, what about when they ask you on a questionaire to list "what schools are recruiting you?"

Son didn’t fill out a lot of questionnaires but when he did I suggested he answer it with generic answers like “most colleges in the SEC”. I personally wouldn’t tell everything simply because some things can come back and haunt you. For instance Alabama had offered my son a scholarship during a campus visit prior to the July 1 date and I let it be known to many people. Mississippi State heard of the offer and backed off saying later that they felt my son would (or had) accept(ed) the offer at Alabama. From that point on I became cautious about what I said and who I said it too. We also had a coach request that we not discuss their scholarship offer because of possible repercussions on their end.

I completely agree with Fungo.

On his example of Mississippi State backing off upon hearing about Alabama...I think this happens often. Schools will make assumptions about what your son is thinking based on who is recruiting him.

We had a similar example, maybe even more that I don't know about? A year later one of the coaches confirmed to me that he assumed certain things that he shouldn't have based on the "chatter" out there about who else was recruiting him.

Don't lie. But don't be too anxious to brag either.

Thanks for the advice. This site is so helpful. I love the "don't lie but don't be too anxious to brag either." Your first inclination is to reel off names of the best schools you have talked to but then I was afraid if a school perceives that you are being recruited by a stronger program than they have, that they might quit recruiting you. And the school my son is most interested in, is not necessarily the best program talking to him.

I think a lot of people struggle with this and every school seems to ask, so all advice on this is welcomed.

I have wondered about this as well. What about the the coach that ask because he is trying to gauge how you are percieved by other coaches.

quote:

fungo: and possibly reassure themselves they are not the only program recruiting your son.

It seems like a fine line walk.

If a coach does give an early offer, I wonder if he purposely sends it down the grapevine to get other coaches to back off?

quote:

...I was afraid if a school perceives that you are being recruited by a stronger program than they have, that they might quit recruiting you.

I think this is a very real possibility...or that you may become 'too expensive' for them to compete in that recruiting (i.e. it may cost them a BIG scholarship to lure you away from the strong program).

quote:

What about the the coach that ask because he is trying to gauge how you are percieved by other coaches.

I think this is also a possibility...but I'm not sure its a real strong factor in their question. We found that the schools recruiting our son were quite aware of who their competition was without our son saying a word. On a national prospect, there's national chatter about where he's looking. On a regional prospect, there's regional chatter about the same thing. Coaches do ask each other what they're thinking...I know this for sure as it was relayed to us in several conversations.

quote:

If a coach does give an early offer, I wonder if he purposely sends it down the grapevine to get other coaches to back off?

Perhaps? Maybe? But I think its usually more of a case of trying to secure the recruit before others get their eyes on him. If you get an early offer, you are a desired commodity and will very likely get more.

Just baseball nailed it - Don't lie. But don't be too anxious to brag either. I also like Fungo's response - "most schools in the SEC."

It is the most common question. We were honest - Some coaches use it against other coaches. You are not generating interest, but instead giving the car salesman ammunition to close the deal in his favor not yours. If no one else has offered, why should they? And why should they offer more than a lesser program? Some colleges definitely backed off when they knew who was recruiting whom.

However, remember, the bottom line is that its not the amount of the offer, but the fit that's important as your son will be there for some very important years.

quote:

Originally posted by brod

However, remember, the bottom line is that its not the amount of the offer, but the fit that's important as your son will be there for some very important years.

That is it in a nutshell, not much more!!

Great answers to that question. My son has had several coaches ask the same question. Who else is recruiting you? Has anyone made you an offer? Do you mind me asking who? We have done exactly what Fungo said. My son actually did a great job recently on his own with a coach when asked what schools were recruiting him the hardest he said. "You know coach the same schools you compete with every year for players". We also gave the same response on who made the offers. "If you dont mind coach we would rather keep that private." I believe they are trying to see who they are up against. I also believe in some cases they are trying to see if they have a chance. And I also believe that they are in some cases trying to see if others feel you are the calibre of player they think you might be. Any way the answers here are great and this is a good thread.

Re-reading this thread reminded me of a recruiting phone call our current college son (2nd-oldest) got on July 2 a few years ago. It went something like this:

RING-RING!

Oldest son answers, "Hello, this is Asst. Coach ***X from State U., is son-#2 there?"

Oldest son, "No, I'm sorry he is not, may I take a message?"

Asst. Coach ***X, "Well, I was just wondering...uhhhh hmmmmm...could you tell him I called and....uuuhhhh hmmmmm...would you mind telling me who else has called him?"

Oldest son, "I'm sorry Coach, but I really don't think I can do that as its his business not mine."

Asst. Coach ***X, "Ah, thats alright...just thought you might tell me...you know...its all part of the game you know...chuckle, chuckle, laugh, laugh!"

Later that summer....after son-#2 has declined their recruitment....

RING-RING!

I answer...."Hello this is Head Coach ZZZZ from State U., Mr. justbaseball I'd like to ask you a question if you don't mind."

Mr. justbaseball, "OK, sure."

Head Coach ZZZZ, "Mr. justbaseball, I was wondering where we messed up on this recruitment?"

Mr. justbaseball, "Well Coach, let me tell ya...it all began about 2 months ago...."

Hmmmm, So if you avoid the question in one of the ways mentioned in this thread, what is the coach going to say when you ask "How many other kids are you recruiting at my position"?????

Here is a question that is on a questionaire that we recieved this week.

Please list your top 3 school choices:

1________________________________

2________________________________

3________________________________


I have no idea how to answer that question.

My son is an 09 and we are just getting started. I think our answer might be....We have not identified a particular favorite yet, we are looking for the best fit of Baseball Program\Finances\Academics, not necessarily in that order.

Any thoughts?

If you're going to answer the top-3 question (our son usually did not answer that one if I remember right), put that coach's school as #1. Its as good an answer as any nearly two years ahead of graduation from HS. To me, kind of like, "What will your major be?"

Ask them who else they're recruiting if you want. We did not, but I had a pretty good pipeline of information on that anyways. At this point their list is probably pretty long at any given position. But be prepared for them to answer that question in coded language too.

quote:

Originally posted by TripleDad:
Here is a question that is on a questionaire that we recieved this week.
Please list your top 3 school choices:
1________________________________

2________________________________

3________________________________

My son always put his top choice at number one, the school we were responding to at number 2 and his other top choice at number 3. We felt that if the school really wanted you they would ask what would it take for us to be your number 1 choice. On an unofficial visit to one school we were actually asked this question.

We kind of settled on this because of one of the letters we got from a TOP SEC school which many times included a phrase, we want to be your number 1 choice. So we felt that many schools believe they currently may not be your number one pick, but they want to be.

I guess it would also depend on who IS actually recruiting you. What if you are being recruiting by several average or below programs and all the sudden a top program has some interest. If they ask the question and you answered it honestly..."pudunk st. & nowhere JUCO" would that turn them off???
or
If you are a top prospect do you play one top program against others? Would this turn a coach off, or(as Fungo Mentioned) even scare him away?

quote:

I guess it would also depend on who IS actually recruiting you. What if you are being recruiting by several average or below programs and all the sudden a top program has some interest. If they ask the question and you answered it honestly..."pudunk st. & nowhere JUCO" would that turn them off????

Well, thats one of the reasons Fungo advised you to not answer it. You never know who will show up next week? The first school to actively recruit our son WAS one of his top-5, but not number-1. Number-1 didn't show up until 5 months later. At the time Number-5 was heating up, they WERE #1 (out of 1). They didn't need to know that, only that our son was definitely interested (which he was).

quote:

...or...If you are a top prospect do you play one top program against others? Would this turn a coach off, or(as Fungo Mentioned) even scare him away?

IMO, you should not try and play them against each other...that is unless you're willing to be shut out by one or all of them. They talk to each other (probably have their own secret message board! collegecoachbaseballweb.com? ) and they'll figure it out.

Remember, they do this every year and they're almost always better at any "games" than you are. You get one chance to get it right.

Thanks Justbaseball.

JB, excellent point that should not go buried in the thread. These recruiting assistants all know each other and all talk to each other. We often found that when we went to a school, they had already talked to the coaches at a place we had previously visited. I had assumed they would keep it close to the vest, since they are competitors, but our experience was that this was definitely not the case, which caught us quite by surprise.

I know it's a different situation but still the same concept.....my daughter is a scholarship golfer and I spoke with a couple coaches post signing. They indicated that they talk to each other as well.

quote:

Originally posted by justbaseball:

IMO, you should not try and play them against each other...that is unless you're willing to be shut out by one or all of them. They talk to each other (probably have their own secret message board! collegecoachbaseballweb.com? ) and they'll figure it out.

They help each other recruit and sign players, mostly based on each others needs.

We had used the conference website as a tool. When My son was looking at one school in a conference, we used the links on the conference website to go to the other schools websites. If they had the major (IT) and a need (CF), then we also contacted the other schools. When the coach asked who else my son was considering, we could truthfully answer with his conference rivals.

I know that coaches do talk. Many of these schools had seen my son at showcases. We had talked to several coaches within conferences.

Did it help with the recruiting? Yes, I think so. did it help with the final decision? Yes, I think so. The school that my son picked was not on the initial list. It was a conference rival of a school on the initial list.