A D1 asst coach sent my rising senior daughter an email recently saying that he “looks forward to recruiting her …” What do do you think “recruiting” means?. My daughter has sent several video highlights and they have seen her play at a tourney… She has had a few phone conversations with this coach but doesn’t seem to be a ton of enthusiasm. She was also personally invited in separate email by head coach to go to summer camp for “further evaluation” which is going to cost airline $$-
Any thoughts on strength of interest??
A “recruit” is a term of art under the NCAA guidelines and I think means someone whom a college coach has arranged an off campus visit with (home or school visit), initiated a campus visit (official visit) or some other evaluative things. Unfortunately, there is no way to really track interest with out knowing the style of the coaches recruiting her. It is important to remember that different coaches recruit differently. Some coaches may be laid back early in the process, but may really like a particular recruit. Others may be over the top gushingly positive with a number of kids even though they know they are only taking a few. It is really hard to judge unless you know the particular coaches and their style. High school and club coaches can be of some help here. I remember one coach in particular that was recruiting my son but was very passive about it. My son happened to like the school, so even though other recruiters were more aggressive, he decided to camp at that particular school based on his high school coaches’ recommendation. He eventually got an offer from that school.
In my opinion, absent personal experience with a recruiter over time, there are three ways to help an athlete judge how serious of a recruit they are at a particular school. One, how many other schools at that level (conference, whatever) are showing interest? If several schools in a particular conference or at a particular level are sending personal e mails, initiating phone calls (when allowed by the rules), etc, then it is likely you are a serious recruit. If the particular school is the only school at that level or in that conference, it might be an outlier. Two, who began the recruiting relationship, and who is the driver of communication? If the athlete is initiating the majority of the personal communication, then maybe that athlete is not very high on that school’s list. If the coach consistently initiates communication, even if it seems perfunctory, that is usually a good sign. Third, ask the recruiting coach specific, answerable questions. How many athletes at my position are you looking at now, and how many do you think you will take this cycle? What are the next steps in the recruiting process? Things like that. In my experience most coaches are mostly honest when asked direct, specific questions. Often times the athlete does not want to ask those questions or jump right to “will you give me an offer?” which no coach can answer.
Thanks for your thoughts, time will tell. She will be doing the camp, will keep you posted.