What does a letter from a college coach really mean to a high school prospect? Everything…and nothing.

Prospects can be fooled into a false sense of security

For the recruit and family, it’s exciting to know that a college coach has recognized them. Getting known is the first essential step for any prospect. Without that happening, the train never leaves the station. It simply sits motionless hour-after-hour, day-after-day, month-after-month. A recruiting letter at least gets the engine started.

But, when a letter arrives, does it mean that the coaching staff is actually recruiting the athlete? No, it doesn’t.

The NCAA says that a prospect knows, for sure, that a coach is recruiting him or her when one of more of the following things occurs:

1. The coach calls the recruit at least twice. Why not once? Coaches often use a first call to gauge the interest level of the prospect in the school and the chemistry which may potentially exist between a recruit and a coach. Both are key initial steps for coaches. If the call goes well, the coach can put a check mark by the prospect’s name. However, there are things which can stand in the way of a second call happening. The first call can provide the coach with the degree to which the parents will stand in the way of the coach reaching the prospect and developing a relationship, that is the predicted accessibility to the prospect. If the coach finds that the parents are throwing up barriers, they may opt to mark off the prospect in favor of other prospects that are easier to reach and recruit. The general the attitude of the parents is also important. If the coach finds that the parents are stealing time away from the prospect by asking probing questions or speaking on behalf of the prospect, many coaches find that to be an obstacle too difficult to deal with on an ongoing basis. So, while the second call offers a big thumbs up, the first call is really the most important one if a recruit expects to move up on a coach’s recruiting board.
2. The coach goes to specifically scout a prospect in person. Most college coaches announce to the athlete, coach or athletic director that they will be attending a contest to scout a prospect. And when this happens, announced or not, the prospect can be assured that he or she is being recruited.
3. The coach offers a prospect an official visit. While the first two are important, this one is the sure-fire indicator to a family that their athlete is truly being recruited. Being invited to a Junior Day or for an unofficial visit is noteworthy, yes, but it’s the official visit invitation which cements a coach’s interest in a prospect.

Back to the letter – and the bad news. Colleges get info on tons of prospects. And, they first sift through the profiles they receive from reputable, reliable sources. Info delivered from mom and dad? That’s relegated to the “later” pile in the corner.

Their first mailing goes out to nearly everyone. The attached questionnaires, filled out and feverishly returned, get a cursory glance for need matches – size, speed, strength, position, GPA are all quickly perused. Anyone that doesn’t meld with their needs get tossed. The trouble is that they have neither the time, manpower, nor the inclination to send word back to the discarded masses. This leaves hopeful prospects waiting and wanting for more which inevitably isn’t coming.

Meanwhile, the letters which really do mean something, if not everything, from lower profile colleges get pushed aside into the prospect’s corner pile. Therein lays the conundrum. Prospects are fooled into thinking that they may be getting the thumbs up at any moment from one of their upper tier dream schools all the while the schools which they might realistically be candidates to receive scholarship offers are on a train on parallel track which is slowly but surely moving farther away.

High school prospects have to treat every letter as if it is the only letter, and scholarship offer, that might land on their doorstep. Taking any one of them for granted or scoffing at them as insignificant is a mistake. We encourage prospects to explore each opportunity as a possible, viable option. Study each school closely because one may indeed be the very best fit imaginable.