Losing the Team Leader

[YOCOACH]

But, to play Devil's Advocate, if a verbally committed player continues to attend camps, contact other coaches, etc..., won't word get back to the program she's committed to, making it more likely for them to drop her? Seems like a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

But that's exactly my point. What happens when the tables are reversed? What happens when most players become as fickle to their word as the coaches? How long do you think this Verbal BS would continue on?
That's nothing more than taking the power out of all of those coaches hands.

The player reassures the coach that yes they are coming and at the last minute they tell coach, 'sorry but I got a better offer.' But again, it would take all players/prospects to band together which I can't see ever happening.

 

[JB0710]

A long time reader here, but this is my first post. I guess just needing to vent a little. This may be a little long and I apologize.

This week I lost a leader. This is a young lady who I have had the privilege of coaching for 4 years now. We are an 18U team and she is a senior. She is the vocal leader of out team. She is the one who drives an hour and half to practice and many times will drive an hour out of her way to make sure team mates are able to get to and from practice. This young lady knows the game better than any player I have ever coached. I got a phone call from her in tears. Very unlike this kid stating she was done and she just doesn't feel like she will have an opportunity to play at the next level. She said she is tired of getting her hopes up only to get her heart broke when it comes to recruiting. She was offered this past summer and accepted the offer. She continued to communicate with the coach via text message and phone calls on a weekly basis. Two weeks ago I received an email from this email from the coach:

"Though I really think a lot of Julie and her family and admire her unwavering support she has given myself and our program since I arrived; we have evaluated our program's need and we feel in order to compete in our competitive conference we need to go a different route in our players. I understand her academics will provide her much financial support, but we need to recruit players that will be able to compete immediately and will push our current players to be better."

So in short. Senior year and the team you have been devoted to for several years. A school that you want to attend and have visited. A program who you have attended multiple camps at offers you and you accept only to have that offer pulled from you just before signing date.

I'm sure this has happened to others in the past, but our young ladies deserve better than this. How does a recruit go from offer to being dropped? I was told by the coach that they are going with transfers at this time. This young lady does not use social media. She has never said a bad word towards anyone and loves everyone she comes in contact with. My heart aches for her this week. I am going to give her some time and reach out to her in a week or so. She needs to understand that things can change.

Does anyone have experience with a similar situation? Any words of wisdom for this young lady?

My oldest daughter was being recruited by 5 or 6 D1 schools her junior and senior years of high school only to have each of them stop calling and contacting her because they were able to sign other players above her on their want list. We were left to scramble for a college that would want her as a softball player and student. We eventually found an NAIA school in Tennessee who offered her 50% scholarship plus academic money. After her first year there as a freshman she made the All Conference team. Her second year she lead the conference in HR's, RBI's and extra base hits plus they made it to their National Championship Tournament. She was able to negotiate an almost 100% scholarship for her junior and senior year. She enjoyed her 4 1/2 years at this Christian college and it was a godsend for us because we didn't have to worry about her also. She earned All American awards for NAIA two of her four years and attended 3 National Championship during her college years. She earned her degree in Education and is now a teacher in Southern California. It's about the fit and experience not the over valued D1 status. Bottom line is that your player can find a good fit for her out there at another college, there are schools out there who will give her a chance if she applies herself and looks. Tell her to keep plugging away. Good luck, sometimes things happen for a reason.

 

[Rick M]

I'm not there yet (DD is 14U), but my guess is that she will continue to attend camps and showcases, even if she has a verbal commitment from a school as a junior. Until the paper is signed, a verbal agreement is only worth so much. In the recent past, kids were verballing in the ninth grade, who could blame a coach for not holding to that commitment if the kid doesn't continue to develop? Likewise, we've all heard of players committing to a school only to see the coach or pitching coach who recruited them leave.

Would a coach who has a verbal agreement with a player really be upset if s/he heard that the player attended a camp at another school?

 

[YOCOACH]

I wish we had some college coaches on DFP who would weigh in on this, even if it meant using a different/anonymous screen name. These are kids and I think it's just crappy to treat kids and families this way. The system may be tightening up with the new rules, but I've seen this happen too many times and it sucks for good kids/athletes like Julie on this thread.

And these "new rules" were entirely voluntary by the coaches that signed them at the time. Any coach that didn't, didn't have to...at least at the D1 level as far as I'm aware until the NCAA adopted them. What about D2 and D3?

 

[sluggers]

Does anyone have experience with a similar situation? Any words of wisdom for this young lady?

My DD used this as motivation.

One coach did about this to my DD. My DD ended up at school in the same conference. She would beat the snot out of the other team...as in they would never get a runner past 1B.

She also loved to pitch against the Illini. The coach wasn't even polite to her. She loves to talk about striking out the Illini all-conference clean up hitter for the win.