When can college coaches talk to players?

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I have been told several different things by college coaches at various levels and of course the GP has their own opinion.....but what is the rule? When is the contact period for recruits and at what age can coaches begin talking with players?

 

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The statements below were copied from Miami Univeristy correspondence:

quote: There can be no off-campus, in person contact between Miami University and the prospective athletes until July 1st after the prospect's junior year.

There can be no phone contact initiated by Miami University until July 1st after the prospect’s junior year and then can only happen once a week.

There can be no correspondence initiated by Miami University until September 1st during the prospect’s junior year. end quote.

The best document I have seen written on this subject was published by Akron -- J.Jones and handed out during one of their clinics. It restates the above and further defines "contact" and it lays the dates and restrictions out in an easy to read table.

My understanding (D1 and D2):

If you go to their camp, they can talk your leg off and make a verbal offer at the camp.

If you call them, they can answer the phone but they cannot call you.

You can email them all you want at any age. They cannot email you or DD until Sept 1 of the junior year unless they are sending you camp or clinic info.

You can make unoffical visits anytime and they can talk to you then also.

But read the NCAA documents on their website and the clearinghouse stuff for the definitive answer. Also, Coach Abraham, Coach Carol and Coach Yeater can explain and quote these rules much better than I can.

 

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Good post. I suggest you go to a college camp/clinic. Most have a session where you meet the coach and they discuss as a group recruiting and they have a question and answer session with hand outs. Even some of the college showcase tourney's have these sessions. The one at Strongsville last year, had an entire group of college coaches addressing questions that parents had.

 

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Here is this year's NCAA guide for the college bound student:

http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/CBSA.pdf

most of it talks about academic eligibility issues (which should be very important to the possible recruit) but if the question is contact, you go back to page 20 to get a pretty concise description of rules relating to contact. Remember that the first pages relate to Division 1, while there are the later more lenient rules regarding contact with Division 2 and Division 3.

Most important point for all divisions: prospective players can always reach out with phone calls and voice messages to the coaches. That the colleges don't return the calls doesn't mean they aren't interested. Use your head coach or other eligible connection to move communications with the college coach along.

 

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Since that seems to answer the original question I'd like to ask a related question.

How have you determined which schools to contact? I was talking to someone recently that said there was a web site you could go to for a questionnaire that helps for figure out the schools your DD would be good for. Don't remember who told me (old age). Might have been Bouldersdad or Hitter23 as I was talking to them this weekend. Just don't know where to start. Sophomore DD doesn't know what she wants to be.

 

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Thank you - all of you for your information. I think it became unclear when I had conversations with college coaches as a parent, and then as a coach. I have also spoken with a few people about the rules for baseball and I am assuming it is the same. I know of an incoming Junior who was offered a baseball scholarship at an out of state university from attending their camp this summer, but I also was under the impression coaches couldn't contact players until after they had begun their Junior year in school. So the rules from Miami U make sense. And I have gotten a lot of camp info inviting our players, so the Miami U rules are helpful there too. I spoke with one DIII coach over the weekend, and she said keep the profiles and the updates coming, and I wasn't even sure she had read them. So she is following NCAA rules and that makes sense now. I've corresponded back and forth with another coach multiple times, but about my players, so now all of this is giving me that "aha" moment. Thanks so much!

 

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I have mentioned this website a few times on here. It a college matchmaking site where you plug in certain info and a list of schools that meet that criteria pops up. It is a great tool!!

When my DD was looking at schools we used it. Found a little school in West Virginia (Fairmont State University) that offered her major, we went for a visit and that spring signed to play there with scholarship money. Again, great search tool that can narrow the search.

Hope it helps!!

http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com/search/adv_typeofschool.jsp


BOTTOM LINE...Pick a school based on academics!! Not just to play softball!! If you wouldn't have picked it if you weren't playing softball, then don't pick it because of softball!!

 

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From MustOhFP: How have you determined which schools to contact?


When you figure that out let the rest of us know. Think about this question for a 16 year old: What do you want your career to be for the rest of your life and how good at softball are you now and how good will you be in two years?

I read a questionnaire that asked these questions: Are you the best player on your HS team (Y/N)? Are you the best player on your travel ball team (Y/N)? Is your travel ball team one of the top ten in your state (Y/N)? Is your travel ball team one of the top 50 in the nation (Y/N)? If you answered yes to all these questions, then you might be D1 material. Well there is close to 300 D1 programs and they all have about 18+ girls on their roster so that's 5000 D1 players with at least 1200 freshmen so the math in that questionnaire is a little off.

The best advice I've heard was "go watch them play and see if you think you can compete with those players". If you can, then pursue them through their camps if they have the general areas of study your DD has in mind.

We've been to camps where the coach showed interest and we've been to camps where the coach showed no interest. It was very easy to tell the difference.

I also think for the majority of girls, going to camps as an 8th grader or Freshman is a waste of time unless it is one of the rare camps that actually teaches the girl a skill or technique. There just aren't that many girls from our state that get offers before the summer between the sophomore and junior year.

 

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Here is this year's NCAA guide for the college bound student:

http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/CBSA.pdf

most of it talks about academic eligibility issues (which should be very important to the possible recruit) but if the question is contact, you go back to page 20 to get a pretty concise description of rules relating to contact. Remember that the first pages relate to Division 1, while there are the later more lenient rules regarding contact with Division 2 and Division 3.

Most important point for all divisions: prospective players can always reach out with phone calls and voice messages to the coaches. That the colleges don't return the calls doesn't mean they aren't interested. Use your head coach or other eligible connection to move communications with the college coach along.

Fantastic thanks! I will read the info soon. Your last paragraph is what I needed to hear. We will keep moving forward with what we are doing. Thanks!

 

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I have mentioned this website a few times on here. It a college matchmaking site where you plug in certain info and a list of schools that meet that criteria pops up. It is a great tool!!

When my DD was looking at schools we used it. Found a little school in West Virginia (Fairmont State University) that offered her major, we went for a visit and that spring signed to play there with scholarship money. Again, great search tool that can narrow the search.

Hope it helps!!

http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com/search/adv_typeofschool.jsp


BOTTOM LINE...Pick a school based on academics!! Not just to play softball!! If you wouldn't have picked it if you weren't playing softball, then don't pick it because of softball!!

Great Advice!! Thanks Knights and thanks for the website link. Did not know a tool like this existed.

 

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I have mentioned this website a few times on here. It a college matchmaking site where you plug in certain info and a list of schools that meet that criteria pops up. It is a great tool!!

When my DD was looking at schools we used it. Found a little school in West Virginia (Fairmont State University) that offered her major, we went for a visit and that spring signed to play there with scholarship money. Again, great search tool that can narrow the search.

Hope it helps!!

http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com/search/adv_typeofschool.jsp


BOTTOM LINE...Pick a school based on academics!! Not just to play softball!! If you wouldn't have picked it if you weren't playing softball, then don't pick it because of softball!!

THANKS, that's just what I was looking for. Right on about the academics.

 

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I read a questionnaire that asked these questions: Are you the best player on your HS team (Y/N)? Are you the best player on your travel ball team (Y/N)? Is your travel ball team one of the top ten in your state (Y/N)? Is your travel ball team one of the top 50 in the nation (Y/N)? If you answered yes to all these questions, then you might be D1 material.

What about the most important question: Are you from California?