College baseball hopefuls, it’s time for you to get comfortable talking and interacting directly with college coaches. Whether you like it or not, college baseball coaches want you to be their main source of contact throughout the recruiting process. As a former college coach, there are few things more frustrating than sending a message or email to a recruit and receiving a response from a parent. If that happens without a valid reason, it’s a big red flag. Don’t believe me? We’ll let current college coaches do the talking themselves.
As part of our annual College Coaches Survey, we ask coaches across every level of college baseball who they wanted to be the primary source of communication throughout the recruiting process. Can you guess how they respond? To say that the answers were overwhelmingly in favor of the recruit would be an understatement! For three years now, every single college coach who has taken the survey has wanted you, the recruit, to be the main person they communicate with throughout the recruiting process.
While the reasons for wanting to speak predominantly with recruits may vary slightly from coach to coach, its fair to say they are similar to the reasons why college coaches prefer that you take charge of your own recruiting process. Communicating directly with coaches allows them the opportunity to get to know you better and get a better understanding of your aptitude for some of the skills they value, including communication skills, decision-making, accountability, responsibility, ability to follow directions, and more. By communicating clearly, efficiently and showing coaches you are responsible enough to handle communications during your recruitment, you are already showing them that you have some of the skills that will make you a successful player at the college level. It is much harder to evaluate these skills, which are essential for college baseball success, when parents are overly involved and answering for you.
There is definitely a time and a place for coaches and parents to interact and discuss different elements of the recruiting process, but your parents must be careful not to overstep their role as mentor and advisor. We explain here why your parents most important role is behind the scenes, allowing you to lead communication and interactions with coaches, just like the coaches want.
If you are nervous about communicating with college coaches, you are not alone! Just remember that coaches are interested in the same things as you. Even better, they WANT to talk with you. The best way to get over your nerves is to get more practice talking with coaches. If things don’t get easier the more you talk with a particular coach, that may be a sign. We have other tips on communicating successfully with college coaches here, but the biggest thing to know is that they are eager to talk to you and get to know you. Have a conversation with your parents about taking the lead in communication and enjoy getting to talk with some of the best minds in the game!
