Recruiting Advice

Oldmojo said:

Thank You for all the great advice... My DD was just "offered" by a local D2 college. No amounts were discussed just yet. My DD likes the coach and the university and I like the idea that she is 45 minutes away rather than 100's of miles away.

As I mentioned earlier, my DD really wants to attend college in a "warm weathered" state. She wants an opportunity to explore those possibilities, but I do want her to lose this local option if things do not pan out down south. How should she respond to the coach to let him know she is interested but requires more time and the more time maybe as much as 6 months before she makes a decision.

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Oldmojo said:

Thank You for all the great advice... My DD was just "offered" by a local D2 college. No amounts were discussed just yet. My DD likes the coach and the university and I like the idea that she is 45 minutes away rather than 100's of miles away.

As I mentioned earlier, my DD really wants to attend college in a "warm weathered" state. She wants an opportunity to explore those possibilities, but I do want her to lose this local option if things do not pan out down south. How should she respond to the coach to let him know she is interested but requires more time and the more time maybe as much as 6 months before she makes a decision.

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JAD said:

Congratulations on the offer! If it is not exactly what your DD is looking for use it as leverage when talking with other schools.

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marriard said:

Congrats....

First thing is to ask the coach what exactly is being offered. So a "Yes I am interested. What exactly would this offer look like" message. Offers can range from nothing but a roster spot (common) all the way up to a full ride (extremely rare except for elite pitchers and in JUCO). You have to know what you are working with before you even think about agreeing. You have to know your out of pocket. A 40% scholarship at some schools could leave you with $4,000 out of pocket while at another it could be $40,000 to out of pocket.

Once you have details, you can decide whether it is a "yes", a "no", an "interested, but that offer doesn't excite me", a "maybe but I need additional time", a "maybe but I am looking at other schools" or some other response.

Look - despite what you hear the large majority of players don't commit until Junior or Senior season. A lot of early commits end up at way different schools or even quit softball. "The money will all be gone" is somewhat true for some programs, but is often a scare tactic. Ask any of the early commit parents what the details of their kids verbal offer actually is - what % scholarship, what does it cover, is it more than one year, how early did last years LOI players actually commit, how many 'commits' actually ended up somewhere else and so on. A large number wont know which means they didn't ask the questions in the excitement of someone paying attention. It is to the coaches advantage. I have seen many players when they get the details of their actual offer when they are a Junior be unpleasantly surprised at what it actually is and then they end up in 'panic recruiting' mode.

It is your DD's journey only. What other people have done or are doing is irrelevant.

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Oldmojo said:

How do we to make it know that she currently has an offer on the table when talking with other schools. I don't want us to appear tacky or inappropriate.

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Oldmojo said:

How do we to make it know that she currently has an offer on the table when talking with other schools. I don't want us to appear tacky or inappropriate.

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