ZixzaxKid reached out to a few coaches to see if zzk could meet coaches while visiting schools this summer. All but one coach immediately responded with really great, positive feedback (and making plans to meet.) This is for zzkid’s main sport where zzkid will have (possibly?-- always hard to say for sure, and of course the school could already have players in that position, etc.) an impact upon arrival.
But at one of zzkid’s favorite schools, the coach didn’t even respond to the email. Not even a curt, “too busy. good luck.” Nothin’ but crickets. zzkid’s estimation of the school has taken quite a blow, as kiddo thinks: is this the coach I want? But I get it, I am the worst at email and it takes me forever to respond. Still, the contrast between no reply and the really cool emails from other schools’ coaches was striking. But what would you do… we have to put together a schedule for summer travel asap! Should zzkid write a nice follow-up and ask to meet again? Or does that seem pushy? Is it possible that at some schools you have to set things up through the admissions office and not directly with the coach? Oh great hive mind of cc, what do you think?!
didn’t realized that this was for a prep school. Maybe you can try emailing the assistant coach. Is your son trying to go to the best school for his sport or is playing sports an extra bonus? Unless your son is trying to attend a sports school like IMG, I think you should just visit the school on your own and see if they have a good sports program.
Agree that the coach should have at least responded. While one can make excuses (FT coaches also teach, PT coaches have other jobs), you should at least get a response. Even if it is to direct the kid to the appropriate scheduling person.
IMO, a follow-up is fine. It happens to me when I mean to reply to an email, then I get a bunch more, and forget about the one that I meant to respond to earlier. Additionally, the email could have gone into the spam folder. I would suggest that your kid first verify that the email is accurate and also that the coach still in fact coaches there.
When all else fails, the old tried and true method of picking up the phone also works.
I will level set your expectations though, as it is highly likely the the coach will not be on campus during the summer. If you want to talk about crickets, a school with no summer programs will be dead as a doornail during the summer.
Was there only a single email? A single email can always fall between the cracks. Maybe it was received among a flurry of other emails, some requiring a significant time to respond. Sometimes recipients open an email while waiting in traffic or sitting in a meeting and later forget to scroll down. Failing to respond to multiple emails is a concern. Nothing wrong with following up if only one email has been sent.
Yes, my son had to email a few coaches more than once when he was applying to college. One of them ended up being so interested he paid for S (and me!) to fly cross country for an official visit. So don’t hesitate to write again.
My son emailed a number of coaches prior to touring. Several did not respond but we were able to arrange meetings through phone calls or through the admissions office.
Our experiences in dealing with coaches was really all over the place - from coaches that reached out to my son, met with him, called, etc. throughout the process and strongly implied he was admitted (when he was waitlisted) to coaches that stopped in during his interview, asked for films and then never even bothered to acknowledge they had received them.
One school where the coaches didn’t respond actually seemed technologically impaired as they later sent a mass email to all candidates and their parents - with all of the email addresses publicly displayed.
My son plays football, lacrosse and wrestles. While meeting with the coaches can be very helpful in terms of getting a feel for the team and more information about the school, they have little to no impact on admissions decisions.
Try to remember that regardless of the coach’s enthusiasm, number of calls/cards/emails during the admissions process, etc. nothing is certain until M10.
I wouldn’t be discouraged, especially this early. It seems like there’s huge variation as to whether and how coaches interact with prospective applicants, and you can’t read much into it. For us, it really varied. DS contacted coaches in his main and secondary sport last September, to arrange meetings in connection with his interviews. Some responded immediately and some not at all. At one school, the coach never responded to the email, but when we arrived for the interview he was the first person we met with, along with two varsity players. DS ended up spending quite a bit of time with some of the coaches on shadow days, but that was much later in the process. A lot of factors can affect how a coach reacts. DS probably got the must enthusiastic reception from a coach/AO at a school where he was accepted but probably had the least likelihood of making the varsity team; I think he just really clicked with the guy Keep in mind that right now coaches (and all faculty) are finishing up the school year and spring sports seasons, playoffs, finals, graduation and new student matter and the coach you haven’t heard from just may not be focused on next year’s admissions yet.
We had an experience similar to one described by @zixzax . I may have mentioned it before because not responding was an example of rude behavior. We filled out interest forms that requested names of coaches, number of years played, club teams, school teams, stats, etc. Our coach wasn’t called but he sent A recommendation .,sent tape, also.We sent a follow up email & phone call to set up a meeting for when we would be up at the school interviewing ( long trek from down in the tropics), sent another email to assistant coach who did email us back that the email would be forwarded to the Head Coach. Called admissions and they said it wasn’t that sport’s season. We discovered that other coaches set up meetings with applicants during interviews, but nobody responded to us.
Reason # 1: I guess everyone on the team must be amazing & no need for new talent?
Reason #2 : The BS coach is interested in 12-13 year old players or can’t recruit?
Reason #3 : The kid’s stats, skills, or conference is not good enough
Reason # 4: Don’t call us, we’ll call you!
It is possible that the school sees a sport as something that says something about who the kid is but that they don’t “recruit”. As a point of reference, it is a common complaint at smaller D3 schools that “coaches pick half the class.” just offering another possible explanation.
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Many schools are at the end of the school year. Teachers do change schools; it is possible the coach you attempted to contact is on sabbatical at present or will not be working at the school next year.
It is also possible your email never arrived.
In your spot, I would send the email again, copying in the admissions director.
Please understand that teachers and coaches are enjoying their hard-earned vacations during the summer. They are “on” 24/7 during the school year as the vast majority live on campus. Imagine if when you went home every night your clients came with you. Indeed, your clients ate dinner with you every night AND wanted to spend time reviewing what had happened during the work day from 7-9 pm. Thus, I’m actually surprised that you have (1) found some coaches who are on campus and (2) who are willing to meet with you. Be very respectful that they are willing to interrupt their down time and as to the one coach who didn’t respond, chalk it up to not ever knowing what is going on in someone else’s life.
Finally, are you sure you want to do all this touring in the summer when the students are absent? The main thing a kid who is going away at this age wants to consider is whether s/he can see him/herself fitting in with fellow students. And secondly, they care about what is happening in class rooms-- rigor, interaction, teaching methods, student interest. Bricks and mortar only tell a small portion of the story of what life is like at any school.
Our experiences (mentioned above) took place in the fall- early winter admission season. But, we also learned that the school is not investing time & energy in the sport-- moving on…finding a school that can nurture the student’s skills-talents, as well as love for learning. Other CC parents have shared similar experiences-- a couple of schools have experienced coaching changes over the past year.
Some coaches are bad at recruiting, and some are really good at it. Some coaches are bad at communicating - it doesn’t mean they aren’t interested. Some coaches don’t communicate because they aren’t interested. Some coaches have a lot of pull with admissions, some don’t. Some sports are more important to certain schools than others, and so the sport has more pull in admissions. Your kid’s value to the program will depend on the individual school’s need at the time.
There are a lot of reasons why you may or may not be receiving the reception you mention, and trying to decipher why is difficult, and probably pointless. I would certainly re-send the email that wasn’t responded to. I wouldn’t copy the AO, as that is tantamount to tattling on the coach and may not be well received. If they remain non-responsive, then the coach is a terrible communicator or isn’t interested. Either way, you should probably look elsewhere.
There are a lot of phrases bandied about on this site - some are horse doo doo and others may have some merit. One of those phrases should definitely be kept in mind and repeated often when it comes to athletic recruiting - love the school that loves you back. Even if you are successful in chasing a school that doesn’t show you the love, your kid will have to fight an uphill battle against kids the coach loved more. Maybe s/he can overcome it, or maybe not. But wouldn’t it be better to start out feeling like you are wanted?
Personally, I wouldn’t want my kid to play for have a coach who is a poor communicator. What happens when college recruiting time comes around and a college coach emails the prep coach and is ignored? That certainly won’t be helpful. The coach will necessarily be a point of contact throughout the prep school years. Do you really want your email ignored for four years? Because if they are ignoring your emails during the recruiting phase you can bet they will continue to ignore them once your kid is enrolled at the school.
Hello - my son went through the BS sports recruiting process 4 years ago. Here are a few points to consider
The typical BS coach also has duties on campus (dorm, advisor, teacher, etc). So coaching is not always their top priority. Very few schools have a coach that is full time dedicated to the sport without any other responsibilities (although these do exist they are rare). When you get a coach like this, they are much better at recruiting.
The last few weeks of the year are always the most hectic (graduation, summer plans, etc), so recruiting is fairly far down on the list of priorities.
My son didn’t start talking to BS coaches until mid September of his 8th grade year. He would email or call the coaches and tell them a few weeks ahead of time when we were coming for the on-campus interview. Ahead of the meeting, he sent a youtube link of him playing, along with a sports resume. The responses from the BS coaches was mixed. Some were very responsive, others didn’t respond at all. Some coaches don’t start looking seriously at students until Jan/Feb. Academically selective schools (Andover, Exeter, etc) often have a minimum GPA/SSAT requirement, and the coaches want to see the scores first before delving into the sports skills.
I wouldn’t take this as a sign of no-interest. For now, start scheduling fall interview dates, and get some good video shots together. Don’t start contacting coaches until after the 2nd week of classes begins.
Are you doing all of your visits in the summer? That is a bad time to visit because the campus is empty. Coaching staff can often provide a big push, especially from schools in the TSAO, so take the interactions with the coaches very seriously.
Recruiting means many things and it is hard to know without knowing the sport, knowing the schools and knowing the level at which your kid plays. Even the state of the particular sport program at a given year may be a factor. Even financial aid may be a factor. MANY kids email and never hear back–I hear this over and over. My kid heard back from some and not others and we did not even apply to those he did not hear from. We had some coaches from schools contact us that we had not contacted or ever begun the application process. My son emailed two particular coaches that we never heard much from until the very end when they happened (as in they were hiding in the shadows at a game clearly to watch other kids) to see him play and decided that they wanted him… Many prep school coaches are retired in place in pretty cushy jobs. They are often looking for older kids (repeat juniors and PGs) to come in as difference makers and then every one else has to get in academically and will probably fill out JV or possibly Varsity but as a non recruit. Also different sports mean different things to different schools. Keep in mind too that with the incredible amount of information on the internet, coaches (particularly TSAO schools) can look kids up…my kid doesnt have much of an internet presence. Stats are just numbers usually out of context–i.e If a lacrosse team wins 16-1 what do those 15 goals actually mean? Nonetheless they make coaches lazier. It is very complicated…
It may also depend on the sport. I imagine there is a difference between sports with athletes who usually specialuze early (i.e. sports where a 14-year old new to the sport is unlikely to make varsity by senior year) and those whose varsity ranks are made up of kids who might have been brand new to the sport their freshman year (like crew).
