When Sending Introduction Letters

I thought my son had a lot at 31!! Just my opinion, but it certainly can't hurt to get your name out there. It is, after all, something of a numbers game. Just make sure you truly personalize each letter, and have studied the school's websites, asked around (even on these forums, under "ASK ABOUT COLLEGES")....that may help you whittle it down a bit if you feel the need. Also, check the rosters.....you'll see some schools have a predominantly in-state roster.....and others may have very few true freshmen.....and you may find that almost every guy on the roster has transferred in either from another 4-year or JUCO school...with few if any guys right out of high school.....those things may help you narrow down the most promising opportunities......good luck to you!!

rhb, it'd be helpful for you to get some input from a hs/summer coach or showcase on where they think your skill level would fit in college - that should trim your list alot

quote:

Originally posted by Bee>:
rhb, it'd be helpful for you to get some input from a hs/summer coach or showcase on where they think your skill level would fit in college

Showcases maybe, MAYBE. HS and summer coaches? I think that's relying too much on the biases of these people. I think coaches opinions are way too varied, and their baseball mindsets too different from coach to coach. Send out letters to all 80-something if you have the time and fortitude. Run it up the flagpole and see who salutes!

quote:

by pt: Showcases maybe, MAYBE. HS and summer coaches? I think that's relying too much on the biases of these people.

it might be a regional thing ...
good summer programs coaches in this area often have college recruiting coaches cell & home numbers in their speed-dial ... & even if you are not playing FOR them they can be helpful

players ARE OFTEN recruited & sometimes even signed sight unseen on the word of a trusted hs or summer coach

hope that helps

Creative Talent Matters More

Well there you have it rhb. Control your own destiny, or leave it to the trusted hs and summer coaches to do your bidding for you.

quote:

by pt: Creative thought matters ... Control your own destiny ... Send out letters to all 80-something if you have the time and fortitude. Run it up the flagpole and see who salutes!

agree on being pro-active, however - an objective evaluation of the player's skills is still missing from your equation

and - tho 80 letters will be likely generate 80 "general recruiting info" responses ... some source still needs to confirm to the college coach that you "have the goods" they are looking for
to generate any real recruiting interest -

jmo

Agree with your valid points as well.

All good points. Having said that, send all 80. We sent well over 50 and were very surprised where the interest came from--sight unseen.

Same here...school my son will be playing for was never on our radar, never included in original mailings, some 70-something of them. Coach happened to catch his act at a minor PG Showcase (MA State Showcase), and liked him. There's no set formula. I'd highly recommend though, following the guidelines and timeline in the "Recruiting Tips" section of this site, and trying to devour all the advice you can from the experienced folks on these message boards.

I would agree with those who say don't limit yourself! I would also suggest keeping track of when you sent letters out, who you sent letters to, and whether or not you get a response. I made a spreadsheet with a different page for the D1, D2 and D3 schools we contacted, and it was really useful when someone wrote us back to have that info!

Yes, definitely keep a database!! I was just revising our Excel doc on this when I took a break to peruse the forums!!

Just keep in mind you never know what will fall out of the trees---do not limit yourself because the one you choose my not choose you---I can attest to that---the more schools that know about you the more your opportunities are---at the end of the day you don't choose the school they choose you

My son recently did a similar search and came up with a list of 130 colleges. There were an assortment of DI, DII, and DIII schools. Most were in the Northeast; some were quite far from home. He sent introductory letters to the head baseball coaches of all 130 schools by e-mail. This worked quite well, as a lot of coaches do seem to check e-mail. A few coaches responded almost immediately.

Of course, the coaches who are interested will at some point want to see your son play, and you never know which one will be the one. I don't think it hurts to get your name out there.

Would anyone recommend sending both a letter and a email?

I don't know if it makes a difference whether you send an e-mail and/or letter. The main thing is to initiate contact to start things moving.

I will also say that each e-mail my son sent was personalized with the coach's name, title, school, etc. If you need any help, please PM me and I will be happy to explain how he did this efficiently for 130 schools using Outlook, Excel, and Word.

Good luck!

rhb - First of all, let me preface my response by saying you're getting great advice so far and that there's no right or wrong answers. There's a ton of different ways of going about it so as long as you're being proactive, you're doing the "right" thing.

Having said that, I'll give you my recent experiences so you can add it to the list. My daughter who's currently a freshman in college went through this for golf so take it all for what it's worth:

List of schools - We sat down and discussed her goals of the type of schools she thought she'd want to go to and we came up with an original list of 43 schools. Most were Div 1 but there were some DII and DIII schools.

Qualifying the schools - It's important to understand what kind of school you're looking for so that if the athletics falls through (cut, injury, burn out) you're still happy at the school. I took my daughter to visit some of her targets to get a feel for different college types and settings (Big/small, urban/rural, brick buildings/modern buildings, greek life/no greek life, etc). I had a form I made that she filled in her likes and dislikes and then rated each school compared to her "ideal" school following each visit.

Letter vs E-mail - Once we had her list, we sent a letter via mail to the coach. The letter basically introduced who she was, what her accomplisments were and what her upcoming summer schedule would be. The letter also included essentially a resume with all the personal info, grades/gpa, stats, awards, etc. We then would follow up via e-mail.

I want to give you a different perspective...academics.

You have a stated 3.9 GPA. Do you really want to go to a school with an average ACT of 21?

I would put my emphasis on getting the most education I could for the baseball dollar. From August to October of last year, my 07 son recieved 73 D1 letters of interest (most of them just questionaires). By going to princeton review webpage we were able to knock out about 75% of them because they were under his stated academic rating. We put together all the info on each college we could on an excel spreadsheet for comparison. You will quickly see just how many good baseball programs are at middle of the road academic institutions. Baseball is something you do at college, not, college is neccesary to play baseball.

Army, where my son signed, was not one of the 73 schools that contacted him, nor was it included on the spreadsheet. Just goes to show that the right fit (academics first, baseball second) may not be on your radar at all.

My son is a freshman in college now. We used the NCAA website to narrow down the field, searched by major, baseball, region, & size. We sent out 43 original letters. After filling out the questionaires we followed up with tapes. In the followup letter we asked about the letter vs email question. Many responded that they liked to contact prospects by email. As we THEN followed advise on this website we checked the rosters. Many of the schools that did not respond only recruited in-state or took mainly transfers. Others had several OF ahead of my son. We added and deleted schools as we went along. Don't forget to check the other schools in a conference. They may be similar in size, majors and baseball skill. We eventually narrowed the list to 12 and started doing open houses. He did have 4 official visits.

The school he ended up at wasn't on the original list. It was a conference rival of a school we orignally contacted. At a travel team game I was talking to the opposing coach. When he found out that my son was looking at his Alma Mater he put in a word with the coach. It moved my son way up as a recruiting choice to get an unsolicited referal. You never know who will see your son.

I would like to thank everyone for their advice. I have one more question, from what I've read on here, the initial contact letter should be sent to the head coach but I've noticed, a lot of schools assistant's coaches are the "recruiting coordinators," so I which one should I contact?

Both. If you are truly interested in the school, there's nothing wrong with showing it. If you are a pitcher, you might add the pitching coach in there too and send three.

I have found it best to go thru the Head Coach initially---if the response comes from a coach other than the Head Coach than you maintain contact with that coach


Give the Head Coach the respect he deserves

TR,
Don't read any disrespect into this, but, do you really think a head coach might be put off by someone contacting the assistants also?

I would recommend the recruiting coordinator if you're contacting a D1 program. My son emailed the head coach of one D1 and he replied back, "Please keep in touch with Coach X (the recruiting coordinator)." My sense is that most head coaches are too busy with their season and program to deal with prospects on an ongoing basis. That said, oftentimes the head coach is who you'll want to contact if you're dealing with a D3, NAIA, or JUCO. They seem to take a more active role in recruiting. (With D2's, it probably wouldn't hurt to contact both.)

It is all about respect---if the head coach responds and tells you to contact so and so then you take it from there---even to this day I contact the head coach first

I think a lot depends on the program. If you try to contact the HC at say Miami it will not get to him but will be passed on to an assistant/Coordintor. If it is a small program the HC will get it most likely. No matter who you send it to it will end up where it is supposed to.
I prefer email with pictures inserted to catch the attention of the reader. We found that very effective and got great response from that method. It was also easy for a coach to reply to. Much easier that mail.

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
...if the head coach responds and tells you to contact so and so then you take it from there---even to this day I contact the head coach first

Concur.

I don't see anyting wrong with going directly to the RC. That's what both of my boys did and it worked well. I also think it shows that you did a little research to find out which coach was the RC.
If you play good enough, it don't matter anyway.

TR is right about the schools selecting you. Don't limit yourself in contacting plenty of schools. You might be surprised what happens.

Again I would like to thank everyone for their advice. I finished all my letters and will be sending them out Monday. 47 letters in total, a mix of D1, D2, D3, and JUCO.

Now I'll obviously just have to sit and wait. But I read on the main website the article, "WHY SHOULD YOU SEND LETTERS?" In the very last section was a post by a member named Mike. He said his son sent about 50 letter before his Sophomore year. He goes on to say he got a 70% response rate with questionnaires, along with coaches saying, "they couldn't talk to him until his junior year, but that he should keep them updated."

This got me thinking, how should I go about keeping coaches updated? Should I send a letter with a schedule and recent accomplishments, showcases, etc? Should I send a video? I realize, a coach cannot begin written contact until after September 1st of the Junior year. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Absolutely keep them updated!

I would suggest doing so by email. They can email you back anytime, even before Sept. 1 of your junior year.

Most people advise to not send a video unless a coach asks for it. Many coaches get dozens of unsolicited videos each month, if not each week, and supposedly many of them end up in the trash. I will say, however, that Coach Schlossnagle with TCU says every video they receive gets a look. Perhaps there are other coaches out there that look at them also, but it seems like a big gamble/waste of money to send them out unsolicited.

Very excited. I just got a camp brochure from a college here in New York. Its funny how the smallest thing makes you excited.

Be careful you don't just become a part of their fund raising.

Make sure they are interested before handing over cpld hard cash.

I sent unsolicited video and had great response. I also sent them when asked but I definitly would send one before shelling out for a camp.

Yeah, I know what your talking about bobblehead. The program is top notch and I have heard nothing but good things about it. If I can fit in, I might consider attending.

Just make sure they are interested in you not just your money.
Every good programs will solicite funds by holding camps.
I sent a email and video to Miami U and got a call and an email inviting my son to a camp. I took it as a fund raiser .

I have a questionnaire and it asks for stats. I am assuming they want high school stats. But we have only been able to play two games this season, so it really makes no sense, but I don't want to mess this up. So should I just cross it out and leave a little note?

Also, should anything else be sent with the questionnaire besides what is requested?

Do you have stats from fall ball or your summer league? You could include those, too. Other than that, keep it pretty simple. These people don't have a ton of time to read letters...just the basic academic (so they can see whether it is worth trying to recruit you) and athletic (so they can see how worthwhile it will be to have you play for them) and your physicial stats, positions played and your grad year...if you have test scores, put them in. Should be able to fit that all on one page along with a picture of yourself, if you want. Dont' forget contact info. Good luck..your mailbox should be filling up soon with responses.

Newcomer, in my introduction letters I provided a letter explaining who I am and my goals along with a single page of personal, academic, and baseball information.

The letter I received yesterday asked for the questionnaire to be filled out and to send a schedule (not specific, so I just sent high school and summer). On the questionnaire it asked for stats (also not specific) I didn't play fall ball due to football and I just had my batting average and on base percentage from summer. So I just gave it an "n/a" and wrote a side note that we've only been able to two games due to the weather.