NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Ask Coach Taylor – We receive a lot of letters from college coaches, but they all seem generic.  Is there any way to tell how interested they are?

The reason that so many of the letters seem generic is because they are.  Hundreds, sometimes thousands of other recruits are receiving the same letter.  Much like we tell families to target 50-100 schools initially in order to generate ample options, college coaches are going to cast a wide net in the hopes they find the right prospects for their program.  It would be impossible to personalize each of those letters, so they start with a generic communication. 

You will know a coach is serious when the communication is clearly personalized.  For example, if they indicate they saw you at a game or tournament and give any feedback about your skills, you can take that as a good sign. A request for film would also fall under this category.  In some ways, determining if the interest is sincere is like knowing whether or not you are in love – you will know it when it happens.  The athletes who are being seriously recruited rarely have to ask this question. 

Regardless of whether the letter is generic or personalized, we always advise families to follow up with the coach.  Also, if you are only receiving seemingly generic information from the college coaches, you might need to develop a more effective marketing plan. 

Send your recruiting questions to askcoachtaylor@ncsasports.org

You can also get your questions answered directly by contacting an NCSA Recruiting Coordinator at 866-579-6272.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Athletic Scholarships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.