<p>I'm wondering whether some coaches (D3) don't respond to a student's e-mails until the student actually applies to the school. For one college that's high on my S's list, my son wasn't able to arrange a meeting with the coach when we visited and he hasn't replied to any e-mails. I don't know if he is just not interested or just waiting. Anyone have any insight?</p>
<p>A lot of that depends on what year your student is. There are rules governed by NCAA that prohibit coaches from emailing till a certain time. Go to NCAA website and you can learn those time frames for your son’s sport. Also it depends on the sport, if it is a fall sport the coach is probably quite busy. I suggest he pick up the phone and call… Be persistent until you get a thumbs up or down from the coach because you just never know.</p>
<p>We are going through the process now, and I have seen the same issues. I would think it is good practice to return emails to recruits whether they are interested in your kid or not, but this does not always happen. I think this speaks more to their recruiting skills (or lack thereof) than anything else.</p>
<p>We set a 2 email/online recruiting form rule. If we emailed a coach twice and filled out the online recruiting form and got no response, we moved on–this after the contact period started. One school DD was very interested in, the coach couldn’t seem to find 10 minutes to meet with her during our visit–from out of town. She is not applying to that school now. One school we visited, coach seems sort of interested but didn’t seem like he really looked at her stats. She would be their number one golfer by at least 10 strokes/round. It’s one of her favorite schools so she is still going to apply. We will see what happens though.</p>
<p>As mom2010 points out, the first thing to check is if they CAN respond to you, so you need to understand the NCAA guidelines. Assuming they can, I think it’s unreasonable to assume you are going to get a personal response from every college coach you contact. If it is a school your student athlete is very interested in, are they making a diligent effort to get the coach on the phone? That is the most critical step - get them on the phone, tell them about yourself and ASk them if they are interested. It sounds incredibly intimidating, but the coaches are used to having these calls and make it fairly painless. Also, not sure about all sports, but in many sports, you can be reaching out to more than just the head coach. In our sport (volleyball) it’s usually one of the assistants that is the lead on recruiting, and they were sometimes easier to get a hold of.</p>
<p>Unless they are one of the most elite athletes in their class, students cannot afford to wait for someone to respond. This is the time to be incredibly aggressive and go after the schools in which they are most interested. Find out if there is an opportunity, and if there is not, move on to the next one on the list. If you have been aggressive and persistent in your contacts are not getting a response (AND assuming you have sent the coach all your academic stats and you are a good fit, that is also critical!) , I think you can assume they are not interested and move on.</p>
<p>But I can’t stress enough the importance of a phone call - do not rely on email.</p>
<p>I agree with Squidge, the athlete should follow up with a call. My DS has been under the impression that if coaches don’t respond to emails they must not be interested in him, but is slowly learning the hard way that there is no substitute for a phone call. It shows interest and for our electronic-era kids, a certain amount of guts.</p>
<p>We used a variety of methods to get interest: emails, a BeRecruited profile, a mailed glossy color resume with athletic and academic stats, the aforementioned calls, and web site questionaires. I’d have to say the one method that hasn’t generated a hit of any type (so far) was completing the web site questionaires. One of my son’s top three choices would never have happened without a call. A D1 coach we had an unofficial visit with told us bluntly: “Some coaches are REALLY BAD” at recruiting. Its probably also fair to say some are probably strapped for time and resources. </p>
<p>I’m hoping S remembers some of what we went through when it is time to look for a job…</p>
<p>Good thoughts. Getting g DS to use the phone is another thing!
For D3, there are no contact limitations, I believe.</p>
<p>Stressn, try writing out a “script” for your D and letting her practice. Many teens feel uncomfortable with the phone - this may help.</p>
<p>We also learned the hard way about the script… S kept forgetting to leave his number (“No, dear, that probably wasn’t a cell phone number you dialed…”)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not exactly true. The NCAA can be very specific. Even for D-III.</p>
<p>See Bylaw, Article 13:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/D311.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/D311.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thanks, I couldn’t find the set of rules on the web-site and was using an abbreviated hand- out.</p>
<p>Great advice above…pick up the phone and CALL. Calling should be the first thing you do then follow up with an email with 3 things about yourself, and why you think you are a good fit for their program. Keep it simple. My son is an introvert and he was able to do this very well. If my son can master this skill, anyone can do it. We showed him how to do it, and then he did it on his own. Quickly, they realize that no one else is going to do it for them. This is a situation where peer pressure can work for you as a parent. Your son or daughter will see or hear of his friends and teammates getting offers or talking to coaches. This can be a very strong motivator IF your son or daughter really wants to play college athletics.</p>
<p>FWIW - We found texting to be an acceptable form of communication AFTER you have established a relationship with the coach. I would not use it unless the coach is comfortable with it.</p>
<p>^^^^ It’s hard to compliment someone with “fenway” in their name [;)] but those are excellent points. Thanks for posting.</p>
<p>The only point I would like to add is that the process can be quite random, especially at the beginning, so it is important to cast your net widely and start to narrow as you see interest and start to develop relationships. One of my kids did a college tour, met with some coaches while visiting schools and quickly narrowed down to a favorite where the “fit” was good. That kid is now a sophomore at the school and loving it. It was a relatively easy process and, in retrospect, quite unusual vs. the norm described above. My second kid (different sport) is having the more typical experience with some coaches engaging right away and being communicative while others couldn’t seem to care less. Some schools just never respond while others seem hot in the beginning and then go cold for unknown reasons. It’s maddening, but you can’t change it, so it’s best to adopt a zen attitude and just continue to be communicative with the schools/coaches that seem to care. What’s surprised me is that sometimes higher academic caliber schools are more interested in kids who have numbers “in the ballpark” than the slightly lower academic caliber schools, which I would have thought would be even more interested. There are a bunch of factors working in the background at the schools that none of us could know such as the strength/weakness of the team, the relationship the coaching staff has with the admissions office and gaps in certain skill positions, for instance. So my advice is to cast your net widely at first, start to narrow based on feedback and be flexible. Don’t get fixated on one school too early – that works sometimes (one of my kids) but is not the norm.</p>