Contacting XC/Track Coaches

UrsaMajoric
Sun, 27 Nov 2011 02:05:39 +0000

Editor, just make sure that you memorize the NCAA rules for contacts and communications before the senior year in HS. It’s not likely that you’ll run afoul of those rules, as they’re mostly designed to prevent colleges from pestering students too early and those coaches presumably know those rules. But you should know them so you don’t ask the coach to do something he or she is not permitted to do (“please call me back”) and so you’re not disappointed when you don’t hear from a coach and mistakenly think it’s because of a lack of interest.

But, yes, it’s a wonderful thing when a HS coach is willing to expend some of his or her credibility/capital to get a college coach’s attention. I’d think of that willingness as a bank account you don’t want to draw on too often, and try to limit those contacts to the schools that your daughter and her coach think are most likely to have a mutual interest.