<p>S is in the class of 2014 so the recruiting activities are heating up. When is a good time for him to communicate to the coaches from the schools he has little interest in attending that he is not interested in their schools? These are personal recruiting emails or contacts via third party (not mass mailing which can be ignored). We are not sure of the best way of doing this. Also, some suggestions of how to say it politely will be appreciated.</p>
<p>Be careful to not compromise eligibility. Check the regs.</p>
<p>[NCAA</a> Eligibility Center](<a href=“http://web1.ncaa.org/ECWR2/NCAA_EMS/NCAA.jsp]NCAA”>http://web1.ncaa.org/ECWR2/NCAA_EMS/NCAA.jsp)</p>
<p>The short answer to your main question: “When he’s 100% sure he does not want to attend that school.” Until then, he should not foreclose any possibilities, regardless of how remote they may seem during junior year. </p>
<p>If and when he’s 100% sure, he should let the coaches know ASAP out of courtesy. Short of being courteous, your son shouldn’t fret regarding how to deliver the message. After all, every experienced coach has had hundreds of recruits reject him or her, because it’s a normal part of the recruiting process and a necessary part of being a college coach. Of course, because the college coaching fraternity can be small, exercising graciousness and saying positive things about the rejected school/program couldn’t hurt (if sincere).</p>
<p>^^bump-- most of these initial forays --even the so-called personal emails-- will be ignored by potential recruits, the coaches know this so, just a quick “thanks, but no thanks” will more than suffice. </p>
<p>But a school not on the radar screen may become on the screen – it just takes a less than great board score or a small injury which doesn’t end a career but is enough to make a top program think twice that puts the student into a different “band” of schools than he or she had though of considering-- so don’t close doors too fast.</p>
<p>My daughter’s club coach strongly advised the girls to respond to all personal e-mails from coaches as soon as possible. If not interested, she would respond within a few days - thanks, but I am not interested in attending … school. She received several responses thanking her for her letting them know, complimenting her on her politeness or professionalism, etc.</p>
<p>She did add a few schools to her list based on e-mails, but there were many from places she would never attend, so she let them know right away.</p>
<p>When he has another school that will take him and he knows he prefers it to the others. XYZ with a sweet deal might start looking pretty good at the end of the season when, if all of the other preferred school dump him, reneging on some assurances. I’ve seen it happen.</p>
<p>It’s still early in the game for you, so no need to rush the rejections. Coach phone calls shouldn’t have started yet, so “harassment” shouldn’t be an issue. Still, given the elite caliber of your student-athlete, you can say no now to Podunk U and the really obvious bad fits. Keep a list of 15-20 possibilities. Soon you can start asking for financial aid/scholarship pre-reads from your top 10 choices among those, and can reject any offers that are not viable. That may narrow down your list further. Then your S can chose which 5 OV offers to accept.</p>
<p>^^^Really good advice. My son is graduating this year (D3 recruit) and in hindsight it’s pretty amazing how things can change. This time last year he only ended communication with coaches from schools that did not offer his major…and in those cases it was easy to reply with a simple “Your football program looks great…but unfortunately the school does not offer my intended major. Thanks so much for your interest.” Ironically, of the three schools he is most interested in today, two of them were not even on his radar this time last year…and the one school he felt was a “perfect fit” didn’t make the grade after he spent the weekend…and when the aid package came it felt alot less “perfect”.</p>
<p>Agree with the suggestion to send the “thanks, but no thanks” as soon as possible and definetly include a sentence explaining if it is because the school is a bad fit academically. My experience is that coaches move around alot and a coach who contacted you junior year may end up at a great school your senior year. Then you can contact them saying you noticed the move, which will be alot less akward if you only declined the initial interest based on the academics at their previous school. My S experience was similar to JoBenny’s in that things changed dramatically from one year to the next.</p>