Contacting a College Coach: Advice for the Prospective Student Athlete
High school athletes devote many hours to their sport, and
those who have been standouts on their team or in their league may want to
consider playing in college. One of the biggest myths about college athletics
is that coaches will find you if you are truly talented. Nothing could be
further from the truth. College coaches are busy, and in an era of budget cuts,
they cannot always travel to scout out potential recruits. Students need to do
their research, not only regarding their ability to play on a college team, but
also to determine if the college is a good fit both academically and socially.
Research the College-Not
Just the Sport Matt Noone,
head coach of the Babson College baseball program, advises students that their
sport must be very important to them due to the significant time commitment and
work they will need to put into being a college athlete. At Babson, it is
essential that the student not only be deeply interested in the sport, but also
be academically eligible and a good match for a Babson education.
"The best recruits are those who initially contact us and
have done their research," says Coach Noone. "Because baseball is a spring
sport, we must be able to see prospective athletes in the spring of their
junior year or the summer following junior year. By the high school senior year
baseball season, the recruitment process is over."
When and How to
Contact a Coach While the very
best athletes might begin contacting coaches as early as freshman and sophomore
years, junior year is an ideal time for most athletes to contact college
coaches. Coach Noone recommends that students begin a dialogue by sending the
coach an email expressing interest and providing SAT/ACT scores, GPA, and a
brief athletic background. According to Coach Noone, video of a student playing
their sport can be a nice introduction and may be a potential motivator for him
or a member of his coaching staff to get out to see the player perform.
"Students don't need to send an elaborate video. Footage
taken with a simple video camera is sufficient," says Noone. "And with today's
technology, video can be emailed, which is easier for the coaching staff, since
we can instantly access it from a computer."
However, video is no substitution for a coach actually seeing
the prospective athlete perform.
Noone says that no coach will add a student to his roster based on
viewing video. Therefore, once a
student establishes an initial rapport with the coach via email, he or she can
email the coach a schedule of contests (for high school, club and
summer leagues). So a pitcher, for
example, should list the days he expects to start, and should notify the
prospective coach if there is a change in his schedule. If the coach is
interested, he can come out and see the student's game.
NCAA Rules There are rules that govern how and
when college coaches can contact prospective student athletes and they vary by
NCAA Division as well as by sport. A coach can send recruiting materials by
mail and reply to an email but cannot contact prospective athletes by phone until after a
certain point in junior year (for most sports/athletes). Students may unofficially visit the coach at the college
campus, but the coach may not have off-campus contact with the student until
certain time periods. For a complete review of recruiting rules, download the
NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student Athlete at http://www.ncaastudent.org/
Showcase Tournaments Another way that college coaches
can see students perform is at showcase tournaments, which are offered
throughout the country for many sports. However, because participation in such
events can be costly, it is important that students be sure about which college
coaches are attending the event, and if they are likely to show up. A showcase
might be a good idea for a student who lives in Boston, but is interested in a
college at a geographic distance such as one in Texas or California. If the
coaches at the schools in which a student is interested can confirm that they
will be attending a given showcase, then it might be worth the investment. Some colleges also sponsor camps or single-day
events as way to evaluate student athletes.
Making the Team Prospective student athletes should
be aware that they can be recruited by a college, and still not end up starting
or even making the team once they matriculate. Most coaches hold tryouts in the
fall for recruits, returning players and walk-on athletes. The coach will go
with the best performers, so a talented walk on athlete could potentially take
the place of an athlete that was recruited the previous fall. This is another
reason that the student must like the school beyond the sport. If students pursue a school where they
are one of the weaker players on the roster, they risk not ending up on the
team. If playing a sport in college is a top priority for the student athlete
above all other criteria, then the student must do a careful self-evaluation of
how his or her talent and ability truly fits in with the players on the current
roster before committing to a college.
The Admissions
Process When it comes to
applying, many coaches will ask student athletes to apply early decision, which
is a binding agreement under which a student pledges to attend the college if
admitted. In an upcoming newsletter, we will take a closer look at the admission
process for student athletes and how it differs between Divisions and leagues,
and will explain approaches such as the National Letter of Intent, the likely
letter used by the Ivy League, and the ways in which coaches can and cannot
advocate for student athletes in the admissions office.
Matt Noone is the head
coach for the Babson College baseball program and can be reached at [email protected]