How Do You Tell If A Coach Is Interested In You As A Recruit?
Before jumping into the recruiting process, you may think that when a coach is interested in you as a prospect, it’ll be pretty clear cut. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Gauging whether a coach is interested in you as a recruit can be difficult, but once you better understand some of the tell-tale signs of interest, you’ll be good to go.
If a coach is interested in you, you will likely be able to tell by the level of communication. If a coach is consistently communicating with you, that’s often a sign that he or she is interested. If you aren’t receiving any consistent communication yet, continue to reach out to coaches. Beyond that, be sure to remain focused both athletically and academically as the better you perform, the more likely you will gain interest.
Included below is some additional detailed information that should help you, a prospective student-athlete, decipher whether or not a coach is interested in you. This article goes on to discuss the importance of communication as well as ways in which you as an athlete can enhance a coach’s interest level.
Communication Is Key
A general rule of thumb is that the more a coach communicates with you, the greater their level of interest. Additionally, it’s not just about consistent communication, but more importantly meaningful, personal communication. The recruiting process is focused around building a relationship between player and coach, so having meaningful, personal communication is extremely important.
No Communication: Having no communication with a college coach or program is never a good sign. This more than likely means that a coach or program isn’t interested in you. No matter what year you are in school, if a coach is interested in you, he or she will likely try and reach out to you in some manner. This could be through your high school coach, or in other ways, but no communication often means no interest. Do your part by reaching out to college coaches as much as possible to try and get on their radar.
Questionnaires & Camp Invites: When you begin to receive questionnaires and camp invites from college coaches, you are most definitely on the right track. Questionnaires and camp invites are traditionally sent out when a coach wants to get a little more information about who you are as well as see in person what skills you bring to the table. With this being said, it’s not much more than that. Yes, you have made it onto a coach’s radar, but so do thousands of other prospective student-athletes. Continue to work hard in the classroom and on the field so that you can turn a coach’s baseline interest into a scholarship offer.
Personal Contact: Once you begin to receive personal contact from a coach or coaching staff, you’ve definitely caught some attention. The most common form of personal communication you may receive from a coach is an email. Coaches will generally formulate a list of prospective recruits, and reach out to them asking for additional information. Beyond this, receiving text messages and phone calls from a coach is another huge step. If a coach begins giving you their personal information beyond just their email address, (such as their phone number) you are often relatively high on their list of prospective recruits. While personal communication is a huge leap in the recruitment process, by no means is anything guaranteed. Coaches will want to develop a more personal relationship with you and get a better understanding of who you really are as a person. Make sure to be kind, courteous, and just be yourself.
Official Visits & Scholarship Offer: Once a coach begins inviting you on official visits, they are highly interested, and often rather close to pulling the trigger on extending a scholarship offer to you. Official visits are paid for by the school, meaning that more than likely a coach is highly interested. An official visit provides a prospective student-athlete the opportunity to get a better glimpse at the school as a whole, as well as communicate in person with a coach. After or even during an official visit, coaches may extend you a scholarship offer to their school. Obviously, a scholarship offer is the most a coach can be interested in a prospective student-athlete.
If you receive a scholarship offer, just remember that the recruiting process is never truly over. You may have received an offer, but the next year a coach is recruiting all over again for new players to compete for your spot. Keep your head down and work hard as landing an offer is just the first step in playing collegiate athletics.
Gaining A Coach’s Interest
The recruiting process isn’t about waiting, but about being proactive. If you as a prospective student-athlete want to play collegiate athletics, you need to reach out to college coaches. There are plenty of ways to try and get in contact with various coaches, and getting the slightest bit of attention pointed your way may just land you a scholarship offer.
Contact College Coaches: While the recruiting process is typically seen as something that starts around a prospective student-athletes junior or senior year of high school, there’s nothing stopping you from contacting coaches much earlier than that. Compile a realistic list of schools that you would be interested in attending as early as possible, and begin reaching out to the coach or coaching staff. One way to get in contact is by email. Sending emails to coaches is a great way to get yourself on a coach’s radar and could result in them taking a few looks at your film or reaching out directly. Don’t worry about breaking any NCAA rules. The NCAA doesn’t limit your ability to reach out to coaches. Just know, if you are reaching out before your junior year, coaches will not be allowed to respond due to the restrictions put on them by the NCAA.
Be Persistent: Just because you reached out to a college coach once, and heard nothing back, doesn’t mean you should shy away from contacting him or her again. You may feel like you are pestering, but as long as you give a bit of time before reaching out again, you'll be okay to reach out again. College coaches more often than not appreciate persistence from a prospective student-athlete as it only further puts on display that you are extremely interested in their program.
Fill Out Recruiting Profiles: Recruiting profiles can make a huge difference in regards to whether or not you will get noticed by a college coach. Taking the time to fill out recruiting profiles with some basic personal information, may eventually land you an offer. Plenty of coaches scroll through recruiting profiles looking for athletes that match up to what they are looking for in terms of both athletic and academic ability. Many coaches will use these to identify prospective student-athletes who look fit for their program. From here they may add you to a database of recruits and begin reaching out. In the recruiting process, even the smallest glimmer of attention can be meaningful.
There are hundreds of thousands of high school athletes who compete every year, with only a small fraction advancing to play at the next level. Those who do make it to the collegiate ranks often took initiative by getting their name out there and reaching out to coaches. Plenty of high school athletes have both the athletic and academic ability to play collegiate athletics, but only those who are proactive and persistent get the chance.
Things To Keep In Mind
The More Communication, The Better: Simply put, the more you communicate with a coach or coaching staff, the better. Collegiate coaches are extremely busy, so they want to use their time wisely. If they are taking the time out of their day to personally communicate with you, you’re most definitely on the right track. Additionally, communication is just as much on you as it is them. Be sure to keep coaches interested in you updated on any new achievements or awards that may help them look favorably upon you.
Don’t Wait: The recruiting process is all about being proactive. There are hundreds of thousands of high school athletes who would love to get their shot at the next level, but only a small percentage actually do. Instead of waiting for college coaches to stumble across your name, be proactive and reach out to them. Send them an email, fill out a questionnaire, attend a camp, or anything else. Make it known that you are interested in their program; the interest will often be reciprocal.
The Work Isn’t Done: As a high school athlete, your major goal may be to receive a scholarship offer. While this is a great goal to have, and achieving it is certainly prestigious, the recruiting process is about more than just getting an offer. If you do receive an offer, be sure not to take your foot off the gas. In college sports, nothing is guaranteed. Scholarship offers can be rescinded or not renewed, and every year there is a new class of athletes that are raring to take your spot. Continue to work hard and push yourself, the recruiting process is only the beginning.