Not true of soccer, where committments are updated weekly on Top Drawer Soccer! I’ve never heard of a coach being put off by a player committing to another school, though they may word the offer slightly differently.
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I agree that’s the best course of action, until an acceptance is in hand. And yes, lots of variability by sport.
Maybe not ‘put off’, but as in the example above, it may change their behavior (not offer a kid who publicly posted their verbal commitment.) Even tho the kid might have told all the coaches who were recruiting them that they commitment, seeing the public declaration is another step.
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In my experience one of the big advantages to making a commitment known is just that it stops the recruiting noise.
It does depend a bit on the level of the recruit, but there’s a ton of pressure on some of these athletes from all sides—teammates, local media, other parents, club or HS coaches, college coaches, etc. Everyone constantly asking where they’re going, what they’re thinking, when they’ll decide.
Once they have committed, they’re letting other coaches know anyway. Most people around them know that they’ve decided. If they’re higher level recruits, the relevant websites know what they’ve decided. Club or HS coaches are probably already pushing them to signing ceremonies or broadcasting their decision. It’s “out there” in other words.
That doesn’t mean posting it on social media prior to a likely letter or something comparable is a great idea though, so maybe I’m answering a different question. Just sharing one of the motivating factors I’ve seen.
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Kinda glad D26 is afforded the luxury of flying under the radar with no pressure. Recruiting was tough enough as it was, didn’t need to have all eyes on her.
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Personally, I have no issue with it if the athlete has asked the coach if it’s okay to do it, and if the athlete has done their due diligence with their questions to the coach before committing, such as are you giving me the highest level of support possible, have you ever had an athlete with same level of support/pre-read results/stats not get accepted, etc. My D asked all of those questions, coach told her the answers she/we needed to hear, and told to go ahead and announce her commitment to the admissions process. If coach had hesitated, D def. wouldn’t have done it. I definitely think it’s a personal choice, but the coach needs to be asked first.
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Hello! I’ve been following this thread with interest for a while, but I now have my own question and figured I would get some expert help from those who have done this before!
S is a rising senior who is being recruited by several D3 schools. He has submitted prereads to several NESCAC schools, but the responses have been all over the place, and we are a little confused about how things are going and what will happen next. I’m using the language the coaches used, which may be open to interpretation.
Amherst: preread got a green light, but no other contact with coach since then. This coach has been sort of bad at communication through the entire recruiting process, fwiw.
Bowdoin: preread came back very strong, coach has had weekly conversations with S, indicated he really wants S to come, but has not yet made an offer of support.
Colby: preread was very favorable, coach has made an offer of full support for S’s application
Middlebury: submitted preread, no word since then
Williams: preread was strong, but coach indicated he only has 2 roster spots and will be offering them to others. S is welcome to apply ED, but a spot on the team is unlikely.
There are also two UAA schools in the mix, but S is more interested in a LAC setting.
My question is specifically with respect to the Amherst and Bowdoin situations. Given that S has passed the preread, is it safe to assume that an offer will happen? Especially with the Bowdoin coach keeping in regular contact? Is it common for a coach to just ghost a player after the preread?
All kinds of things are possible. The coaches have to be in conversation with many more athletes than they can invite to the team. It sounds like there may be people ahead of him on the coaches priority list, but those athletes are also likely talking to other schools and coaches. Be patient and stay in touch with the coaches. If he gets an offer from one of the UAA schools, he can share that with Amherst and Bowdoin coaches but indicate that he’d prefer their school.
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Coaches offer prereads to many more recruits than they have spots they can support. If your S was a top recruit, he would have gotten an offer already like from Colby. On Amherst and Bowdoin, I suspect he is in musical chair land where there are recruits ahead of him that the coach is waiting to hear from.
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No. Coaches typically send more students to pre-reads than they have slots.
I would encourage your S to directly ask coaches where he stands in the list of recruits (during the next conversation he has with them…I wouldn’t just text that question, to be clear.) I agree with bksquared that it sounds like the coaches may be waiting for others to accept offers of support.
I encourage your S to continue to reach out with coaches, even at schools that aren’t his top choice. (unless of course he has decided to drop some schools from consideration)
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Thank you. I think we’re just trying to not get discouraged and be patient. We feel like the coaches are sending some mixed messages, which obviously makes S a bit anxious. But it’s still early, so fingers crossed.
FWIW in our case (I think this varies per sport/coach) offers were made (or not!) at the end of overnight visits early fall at two of these schools. Both visits has at many more recruits than offers. Presumably everyone had passed the prereads.
Sounds like the Amherst coach is just a bad communicator so I wouldn’t read one way or the other. If he is excited about the schools its ok to tell the coach it is one of his top choices and ask what is the timeline for offers. If at some point he finds himself with a lower choice exploding offer, it is also ok to tell the coach that.
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Have seen a significant number of pre-read fails at the NESCAC tippy-tops, catching some coaches off guard when in the past they had a good feel for who would pass. Some really high academic benchmarks, causing some coaches to lose recruits they thought were good to go.
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I did read some weirdness about Bowdoin and athlete support recently on Reddit, something about them splitting up their athlete support across ED1 and RD.
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I don’t know about Bowdoin specifically wrt splitting recruits between ED1 and RD, but some schools have been experimenting with sending some athletes thru RD, simply to open ED slots for more unhooked students.
I would counsel D3 schools that are doing this to tell their recruit to get their RD app in as soon as the app opens, and then the school should send a likely letter. To be clear, more D3 schools would be sending likely letters than are now, so schools and/or conferences would have to change current policies. It’s difficult for a student to trust the process will work in RD without something beyond a coach’s verbal offer, especially at the highly rejective schools. Specifically regarding that Bowdoin reddit thread, it doesn’t sound like the coach is being dishonest. Some of the responses seem uninformed at best.
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This seems like the most practical way to pull off the split as the “likely letter” would provide the supported athletes in the RD pool some reassurance.
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My personal opinion is that this is not the time for your athlete to be sitting back and waiting or trying to interpret vague info. Depending on the sport, top NESCAC recruits often get offers right on 7/1. Not ALL offers go out then, but in my opinion, your athlete needs to be regularly reaching out and asking very specific questions. If any of those NESCACs are their top choices, they should:
-Ask to set up a call with the coach ASAP (if the coach doesn’t appear eager to do that, this gives you some information right there)
-On the call, your athlete should say if the program/school is his top choice/one of his top choices and tell them if he gets an offer he’ll accept (only if this is actually true and if you’ve run the NPC, if necessary)
-Your athlete should clearly and directly ask where they are on the coach’s list and what are the next steps in the process.
-Your athlete should write down the responses.
I strongly believe that this isn’t the time to just sit back and wait. In the meantime, your athlete should continue casting a wide net.
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I think it’s easy to say that when the player in question is a #1 recruit, and they are being told that by the coach. Or at least a top recruit somewhere, even if not the top recruit at all of the NESCACs.
But suppose the player is in the mix and pre-read at several NESCACS but may not be the top recruit at any of them? How are they supposed to get clarification of where they stand in that scenario, and will such a direct and forward approach on athlete’s part be well received by the coach? Might it be seen as too pushy?
It is not too pushy, but also, the coach may not be very direct. My son was recruited during covid, so everything had shut down, and programs that almost certainly would have seen him that Spring (junior year) did not. So even though Bowdoin had not seen him play in person, they gave him a preread. But, perhaps because they hadn’t seen him, the coach dragged his feet and kept saying the preread results weren’t back yet. He never came out and said directly “you’re not our first choice”, or, “you are the #3 recruit for your position” when clearly something like that was the case.
So you still might have to read the tea leaves a bit.
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I’ve never been a fan of the where am I in the list question because I think kids are uncomfortable asking it or interpreting the answer. I also think coaches don’t always have a ranked list. It has worked for others though, and I don’t think it’s too pushy.
Usually saying you’re my first choice and I’d commit if you offer to support me, when will you be making those decisions gets a pretty clear response. Following up with something the recruit is comfortable with works too if that doesn’t get enough info—do you have a sense of where I stand in your recruiting pool, etc.
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Thank you.
Anyway, it looks like I jumped the gun a little bit. A few days after I first posted here, S received offers with full support from Bowdoin and Amherst and has decided to take the Bowdoin offer.
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