What role do high school coaches play in college recruiting?
July 2nd, 2009 - byWould you ever let your high school coach call a college coach to promote you? What role do you think a high school coach should play in your recruiting? Thoughts…..
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July 2nd, 2009 at 10:20 pm
I think a lot depends on the high school coach. My daughters basketball coach has been at the school for over 20 years coaching the girls varsity and he has helped other players get recruited. He says it is one of the things he enjoys most about coaching. He has a good number of college contacts and understands the system quite well. I also think this is very rare and although I am very appreciative of his commitment and his help, we are still going about it as a “team”. Keeping the communication open regarding contacts etc. His knowledge is very helpful but I am still most comfortable being hands on as well and making sure we are doing everything we can and need to be doing.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:34 pm
I think the hope is that most HS coaches play a huge role in the athletic recruiting process. The problem is that most just don’t have time to do much outside of occasionally talking to college coaches. Some athletes have better experiences than others as it just depends on the HS coach and their background in dealing with the recruiting process.
July 8th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
It is not part of their job descriptions, but boy does it help. Example; in our town we have 2 HS. Both go back and forth in football wins, neither is dominant. One school has 5-8 kids a year go on to play in collage, the other none (where my son goes).
July 8th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
I think that any parent blogging here has already figured out that we need to do more than rely on our hs coach to get our kids a scholarship. This site has made it clear that most parents are naive when they think the hs coach has the contacts to get every decent athlete a scholarship. Out of the 3 sports my daughter plays only one of the coaches (a 30 year coaching vet) has any college contacts. I wish there was a way to get this site out there to all parents who think someone is going to hand their kid a scholarship. Parents/athletes have to take the initiative themselves. Coaches should be secondary AFTER the initial contact has been made.
July 8th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Our high school coach is not active in promoting the girls from our softball team and uses a “bad” recommendation as leverage with the girls. My thought is that the high school coach should do whatever they can to help the girls that want to move to the next level to have the opportunity and training to assist them in their way.
July 8th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Parents and their student athletes need to understand that their high school coaches do not necessarily have the contacts to get every decent athlete a scholarship. Of my daughter’s 3 coaches, two don’t have any contacts at all and one has a contact with one junior college. Parents/ athletes need to take the initiative to contact the colleges they are interested and then use their high school as a reference. Otherwise they are leaving their fate in someone else’s hands.
July 8th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Parent – I agree that at times the point about the high school coach being limited in their contacts is emphasized. Part of that reason is the amount of new visitors that come to the site and to ensure they understand that (since it is so widely assumed among families new to the process). I would encourage you to pass along any article from the blog or newsletter to family, friends, coaches, etc who might find it helpful. All the information is free and hopefully helpful for anyone involved in the process!
July 13th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
I think that it is helpful for a High School coach to contact a college coach to promote a player. A coach has a different take on how a player performs than the player or the players parent would. The discussion of academic achievement, work ethic, and other things of the sort should be left to the parents and students. However when a student is in contact with a college coach he/she does not have the same perspective of his/herself that a coach would. I believe that it is important for a High School coach to speak with a college coach to discuss things from a coaches perspective, such as how coach-able a player is or how they preform in different situations and different times in a match, game, or other athletic competition. And as for it not being in a High School coaches job description, a coach is there to further the athletic and academics achievements of their student athletes. With that in mind they should want to help their athletes in any way they can.
July 13th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
William – Most high school coaches would love to serve as a reference for one of their student-athletes. However, most do not have the time to call 200 college coaches in order to promote one student-athlete. They don’t have the time or the contacts. Just so you are aware, most HS coaches are teachers at their school. (If not, they have another full time job of some kind outside of the HS.) They need to prepare lesson plans, grade papers, prepare game plans, coach lots of kids, manage assistant coaches, get along with the wives, raise their kids, etc. So contacting college coaches on behalf of 1 or more of their student-athletes is clearly NOT a part of their job description. They don’t get paid enough, they don’t have the time, and they have far greater, more urgent priorities. To think otherwise is unfair to the vast majority of HS coaches.
August 5th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
The most effective feedback that a college coach could receive from a prospect’s coach is from a high level club coach and not a HS coach in my opinion. I’m sure a HS coach could help, if the relationship with the student athlete is a positive one and you believe that the HS coach’s comments would benefit! The college coaches – regarding soccer and a select few other sports – would rely more on the the club coaches response since they are with the athlete throughout the year, usually play at a higher level, and know the athlete better in most cases. The student athlete can help the process by asking the HS or Club coach if they don’t mind providing you their cell number and email address so that when the athlete decides upon their favorite schools they can submit this information with their resume to the college coaches. This makes it easy for the college recruiter to directly beckon feedback from these coaches instead of asking your coach(es) to call the recruiter on your behalf.