I emailed a coach I was talking with because it had been about three weeks to a month since we last talked and had asked me to fill out a recruit questionnaire. They responded and said they would contact me later this week, but it never happened. I am really excited for this opprotunity so I don’t want to mess it up, should I contact him again? This is all new to me so I don’t know what to do.
What do you think will happen if you do not contact the coach? I would give it fairly good odds that the coach forgot that he/she said they would contact you, and that your opportunity will fade away if you don’t make the effort. So, by all means, contact away.
Coaches want athletes that want to play for them. That often means that the recruit needs to be the one on the offensive. Don’t be a wallflower.
I should add that if you are a senior, it is fairly late in the recruiting game. That said, you should always be ready to take initiative
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You don’t want to reach our daily, but occasionally is ok. We had coaches who were very interested in my son do things like this, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Unless you are talking about a very few revenue sport programs, 99% of the programs out there are understaffed and not as organized as you would like to believe. Don’t be obnoxious, but a courteous follow up is probably appreciated not seen as a negative.
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I agree with the good advice so far. Polite persistence is fine. Coaches have a ton on their plates and communication isn’t everyone’s strongest suit.
I was supposed to have a scheduled call last night with a coach but the call never happened, should I follow up or would that make me seem desperate?
I don’t think there is anything wrong with following up, just be polite about it.
This isn’t like dating, no one cares if you are desparate or not. The coach is trying to put together the best team, period. If he can get someone better than you, you will probably get dropped. As long as you aren’t perceived as a potential problem, you will get the spot over someone who doesn’t help the team as much.
I’ll repeat a comment I made on another thread last night. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. I would definitely politely follow up.
Here’s a similar situation we encountered…
S received an email from a coach saying “let’s talk tomorrow afternoon, let me know what works”.
S replied “I’m free between 12-4”.
That next day… crickets.
Later that night S emailed the coach and said “sorry we didn’t connect today, let me know when you have availability to speak. I’m usually free early afternoons, etc…”.
Coach responded the next day “Sorry! Don’t know how I missed this!” And he then suggested another time that worked and they finally spoke.
So no, you are not being desperate. You’re being a good communicator if you follow-up.
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Politely follow up. Often times they are juggling so many guys they forget to call.
Outside of a very few Power5 football and basketball programs, every coaching staff in the country is short staffed. It is annoying, but things fall through the cracks. All. The. Time.
A couple of places, including the one S ended up at, we thought had dropped him because they went silent for a while. Then he gets a random call a month later saying he is still one of their top guys. I don’t think in his case he was slipping on their boards. They are just legitimately trying to do a coaching job that is more than full time, plus recruiting that is more than full time. Plus our experience is that these are not necessarily the most organized guys on the planet to put it nicely. Some were, but in our experience I would say most coaches were less organized than we expected.
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The same thing happened again. I am so nervous I am worried they expected me to call them and I didn’t so it looks like I am uninterested
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Just follow up and explain. Next time clarify up front who should be making the call.
It is pretty common for coaches to overcommit and miss calls. Usually doesn’t happen too often to top recruits but I wouldn’t overthink it.
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I am sorry to keep bothering you guys but I am really lost and confused when it comes to how often you should follow up with coaches. It has been 10 days and the coach still has not responded to my email. Does this mean they have moved on? They mentioned in an email at the beginning of the month that they were interested and would be reaching out soon, but that has yet to happen. Do I send another email or will that look desperate? My parents recommend just waiting but I was wondering what you guys think?
Given it’s the holidays and the coach likely has other things on his mind, I would wait until next week to followup.
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It’s fine to follow up every few weeks to let the coach know you’re still interested in learning about the program and available to chat. As mentioned, be aware of things like holidays and that coaches have families and take vacations too. Stop worrying about looking desperate. Just be polite and use common sense.
What HS year are you? If you are a junior or senior, just pick up the phone and call. Did the coach give you their cell number? You could always text first to see if they are available to talk. College coaches receive so many emails that yours might be getting lost among them. Calling also shows initiative and maturity.