<p>I need some advise of how to tell coaches that have been recruiting me that I verbally committed somewhere else.. obviously a tough subject.</p>
<p>It’s not that tough - you just call, thank them for their interest and time, but tell them after much thought and consideration you’ve decided to accept the offer from _______.</p>
<p>The trickier part, in my opinion, is evaluating the strength of a verbal commitment and deciding whether it’s wise to sever your other connections. What year in school are you?</p>
<p>Take a deep breath and make a phone call. Answer questions honestly. Be a grown up. Honest feedback is something a good coach should appreciate.
Plus, sometimes other offers fall thru for a variety of reasons. Don’t burn those bridges. You may need to call that coach back someday and say “Hey, my other offer didn’t work out, are you still interested?”
I know it is different in D3, but that is why when my S arrangement with Williams fell thru, he was able to go to Midd. He was keeping his options open at Carleton as well. It was all honest and above board, and worked well for him. The Carleton coach thanked him for his honesty, and told him to call if things didn’t work out at Midd.</p>
<p>Definitely tell the coaches, it’s not that big of a deal because they all expect it. It is much better to tell them asap then for them to hear it thru your sports grape vine…</p>
<p>yeah obviously i have to tell them… i was more wondering… is an email acceptable? most of my communication with this coach has been via email… and im a junior so if i call and miss them they cant respond or anything</p>
<p>Email is fine if that is how you have been communicating…</p>
<p>disagree, you will always come across as more mature, reliable, and stand-up if you make the call. my S would have a loose script written to help. don’t leave it as a v m either. just ask when is a good time to call. why are you cutting anything loose so early in the game? if it’s a school you wouldn’t attend regardless of any factors, then do it but otherwise, keep options open.</p>
<p>also, they can’t call back but they can email response to vm with better time to call</p>
<p>It depends on how your communications have been handled. Also, getting coaches on the phone can be tough-- they never seem to be in when she or I called. A good email is better IMHO than leaving a voice mail which may or may not be picked up by the coach her/himself. But absolutely thank the coach for her/his interest and that you enjoyed speaking with her/him about the program and the college. </p>
<p>The toughest thing is to figure out how strongly the verbal commitment can be counted upon. We decided to hold off until the ED came through-- even though we trusted the coach, at DIII (at least NESCAC) schools, ONLY the admissions office can obligate the college. Even though the AdCom had given her a “green light” academically–we decided to “belt and suspender” it before letting the other coaches know. The horror stories, although she never heard one about this college, are rife within the prep school world and she didn’t (we agreed) want to take any chances. (She also had an Ivy coach lie baldly to her face–say something to her and then say the opposite to someone else which got back to us, so she was always on edge…)</p>
<p>It WAS strange --a bit of a Kabuki dance, when the others would call to be positive about their program but completely non-committal in the interim period. We didn’t want to lead anyone on at all but we didn’t want to close any doors either. She emailed them all the evening she got her ED…all of them – to a person-- wrote her back and were very gracious and wished her the best except when they faced each other on deck.</p>