College Coaches Lying?

[FastpitchFan]

Recently, I was talking to a college athlete who is really pissed off. She had something like 5 or 6 offers to several schools and decided to pick one of them based on various promises by the coach.

Now, a year later, she is really pissed off because the coach didn't any of them and just told a bunch of BS or what she wanted to hear to sign her up.

Is that common in softball?

We hear those stories all the time in the other sports.

Have you had any experience of that or know someone who experienced that?

Marc

 

[sluggers]

Do coaches lie? No. Do they mislead? Yes. Parents and kids hear what they want to hear. Coaches give them a line about how the kid is the next big thing if they "work hard and improve the way they should".

Parents, being parents, think their kid is God's gift to the softball world, and the kid simply doesn't know any better. (After all, she hit .950 against HS pitching!) So, they think, "Of course, my DD is going to work hard. After all, she is MY DD!"

What the coach fails to mention is the 22 YOA shortstop who fought for 3 years to start isn't going to simply lay down and give up her spot to an 18 YOA freshman.

This happened to my DD "in reverse". My DD was the big dog pitcher on the team her senior year. The coach recruited a nice 18 YOA girl.

The 18 YOA girl thought she had to simply show up and she would be starting. She got this idea from the coach and her father. After 3 years of fighting and scraping to get to the top, my DD wasn't going to go "gently into that good night." The 18 YOA girl pitched in the fall, but didn't sniff the mound in the spring.

If parents had a clue, they would figure out that an 18 YOA kid probably will not match up well against a 22 YOA woman who has played for 3 years. But, parents don't have a clue--they keep thinking that their kid is special, unique, and an exception to the rule.

On top of that, the kid starts figuring out that softball is simply a kid's game that has no future after college. As I've said many times, it is only worth playing softball in college if the kid truly loves the game. If not, then it is a waste of time.

 

[StacieM]

I know a lot of times what happens is a coach tells a player what they can offer her at that point. Then you have players who "wait for a better offer" and when one doesn't come through, they go back to the coach and by that time, he's signed others who responded quicker.

I've seen players get offered 75% tuition for the early signing period, but they wait, then by the time they go back to that coach in April...25% or less is available.

I also agree that coaches may "mislead" a bit or try to make things sound as good as possible. That's why its great if you can talk to players. If they offer a visit - there are a lot of questions you can ask players (preferably which ever players you choose, not just ones the coach puts you with) in regards to those kinds of topics.

I'm also sure though, that there must be some that promise the world to about 7 players even thought they only have enough room for say 2-3. Of course, not all 7 will be able to get the world from that coach.

In that online college recruiting educational system I have available at AAF, it talks about what to ask on visits and how to make the most of them. Plus I included an audio about what kinds of pressures are put on parents and players to make a decision right away and how you can deal with that situation.

Also got some college recruiting freebies up HERE.

 

[baseballplussoftball.com]

Happens all the time in competitive softball. Unfortunately, the parents often get in the middle and decide "what is best" for their kid, instead of letting the kid decide (causes their kid to be known as a "team jumper"). Always a good idea to check a coach out before committing. If he/she is promising big things, better be careful! College coaches that lie all the time usually aren't coaching at that level very long. Also, did the girl in question possibly misunderstand? I know very few college coaches that will "guarantee" anything.

 

[druer]

I make it clear to girls I work with that College Coaches earn their living by putting together the best TEAM that they can and being the most competitive on the field. And that part of having the best team means having strong 10'th, 11'th and 12'th players on the bench in case of injury. So they should fully expect some level of "salesmanship" to occur during the process. That tey would be COMPLETE IDIOTS if they didn't kick the tires and do their do-diligence regarding whatever it is they are told. In addition to suggestions by others about asking other players go check previous years rosters and see how many incoming players transfer within 1-2 years that will also give you a clue.

 

[NYLadyCobras]

Marc, I know alot better now than I did with my older daughter.

1st the bad, she went to a SUNY college, that is where she wanted to go even after checking out some private unversities. The coach did have a lot of contact back and forth with my daughter and the coach "was looking forward to seeing her at tryouts". DIII do not offer scholarships. We were told that there were 4 new pitchers for the 2 open spots and my daughter thought she had a pretty good chance. Well at the 1st tryout there was 28 new players for only 2 open team spots. Not 2 pitching spots. She told me there were even girls that she knew from travel ball that had letters from the coach that they would make the team (only one did). She decide to play club ball because as she told me "she was going to school for an education" and didn't want to practice 4 hours a day 6 days a week especailly her 1st year away at college.

now the really bad. This is from a DII Catholic school in the ECC from Upstate NY. The coach contacted my daughter after receiving her DVD and profile. She invited my daughter up to workout with the team for an afternoon. The coach gave us a tour of the campus and DD worked out with the team for 2 hours. The coach then ask if we were accepted to the school and we told we didn't apply yet. She gave us a application and sign it to wave the application fee (sound good right). 2 weeks later we notice they are playing locally and attended the game, my coach walks up to my DD after the games and asks has she been accepted we say yes and she tells us to get all our FAFSA form going. We do all this and 3 weeks later the admission counsoler calls and invites us up to a early welcome students event and to see her when we get there. (sounds even better right). Well we meet the counsler when we get up there and she tells us she talked to the coach this morning and the coach wants us to she her after the welcome event.
Well, we attend the event and during the 1st 5 minutes I get the following email "I am sorry that I have not been able to respond to your phone calls. We have been playing softball everyday because of the rain. At the present time we can not give DD an athletic grant. If she wishes to walk on in the fall, we would give her a fair try-out in September. Once again I am sorry." We get up and go see the consouler and show her the email on my phone, she is embrassed and cannot understand what happened. MY wife and I are upset but then my DD says dad "don't worry, one door closes and another opens" Closing out and email the coach back and asked what happened but never heard back from her.

Now the good news, she is playing club ball for her school, the team has earned a bid to the National Club Softball Assoc World Series that is in April. Its not the college world series but I am still very proud of her....