Dos and Don’ts of Contacting College Coaches

You need to be ready to make a good first impression on prospective coaches by email or in person. Remember there are a lot of rules that coaches must follow in terms of when and how they can contact you so don’t panic if a coach doesn’t get back to you by email or talk to you very much at a game or skills event. Remember, college coaches communicate a lot with each other, so make sure you follow these rules when communicating with any college coach, not just the ones at your top choice schools.

Here are some DOs and DON’Ts when contacting prospective college coaches:

By Email

DOs:

• Read KPB’s article on emailing coaches the right way and follow the guidelines from years of surveying college coaches about recruit emails.
• Let the coach know that you are interested in his program.
• Let the coach know why you are a good fit for his program (area of study, personal connections, school or program characteristics, etc.).
• Make sure that you keep your email short and clear. Ask your parents or another adult to check your grammar and spelling.
• Create an email account in your name, and email coaches using that account. It is helpful to include your name and graduation year in your email address (e.g., Johndoe2014@online.com). You should put your  full name, high school, and graduation year (again) in the subject line when contacting coaches the first time. Coaches receive countless emails each day, so making it easy to know where you are from and when you graduate will help you get better recognition.

DON’Ts:

• Address a coach by his first name.
• Send an email filled with unimportant details.
• Send emails to coaches from your parents’ email accounts.
• Have your parents email on your behalf.
• Send a mass email (the same email to many different coaches) without personalizing each email to that specific coach and school.
• Send an email that has not been re-read to check for grammar, spelling, and readability.

 In Person

DOs:

• Introduce yourself to the coach.
• Introduce any other family members who are with you to the coach.
• Be sure to let the coach know that you are interested in the program and look forward to getting to know more about the school.
• Answer the coach’s questions directly and clearly.
• Show the coach that you are confident (but not cocky) in yourself and your ability to play. Make eye contact and use a firm handshake when you meet the coach and when you leave.
• Be yourself! If you want to find the best coach for you, you shouldn’t pretend to be a different kind of person.

DON’Ts:

• Try to “sell” yourself to the coach.
• Be shy.
• Let your parents introduce you to the coach.
• Have your parents do all the talking.
• Be disrespectful of anyone, including other players competing for your spot.
• Focus entirely on baseball. Be prepared to talk about your other interests (like what you want to study or what you want to do as a career) when asked.