Personally never saw anyone who did not apply. Would wonder what colleges.
You apply to the college. It’s the coach’s attention that diverts your app (or changes the process.) If the coach doesn’t come through for you, you are still in the app pool. An adcom can’t ust insert a kid on the coach’s recruit list, not at will. If an adcom thinks a kid has a unsual talent and notices the kid isn’t on the coach’s list (or is sort of a wait and see from the coach,) the adcoms might contact the coach. The rest of whether an adcom could corrupty influence a coach is speculation. And not the focus of VB,