Last week I attended a recruiting reality seminar at sons high school. The guru said upon receiving first phone call in summer we should immediately ask for home visit and inquire if an official visit was going to be offered. He said this was best way to gauge interest level.
Does anyone agree with this or is is too soon to be so direct? Thanks

Why would you need a home visit?

Has he seen your son play?

Pro scouts might want home visits, but I don't understand the "need" for a college coaches home visit.

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I think that such "abruptness" (re home visit and official visit)in asking so early in the recruiting process would hurt rather than help your son.

Way too soon, way too rude. There are many reasons why there's a 4+ month gap between direct contact and early signing, amongst them is the getting-to-know-you phase of conversations and research.

Put it the other way. How would you respond if the coach led with, "Are you willing to sign an NLI with us right now?"

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From 'Nice Guys Finish Last' by Leo Durocher:

Baseball lives at the center of a never-flagging whirl of irreconcilable opinions.

I would question the knowledge level of the person giving this advice.

For the following reasons:

1) The first phone call is exactly that -- a hello how are you - let me tell you a little about our program - are you interested in us? etc. etc.

To slam dunk the conversation with a request for an "in home" visit and an official "on campus" visit would quite possibly result in the phone call being the first and last.

In home visits for a baseball recruit are rare events. They do happen but I venture to guess that 90% of the DI athletes that are recruited never get and "in home" visit.

The advice received almost sounds like it came from someone more familiar with football recruiting. And even then I would question the methodology.

Bob,
"Doing nothing is still a course of action"

Thanks Btil. The seminar wasn't baseball specific but he did say this was the thing to do to avoid wasting time. I agree with you and didn't think a home visit was necessary or that coaches had that much time available.
I was under the impression that after initial phone calls if interest was high an official visit would be offered. Then, any offer could be made and would be discussed on visit or later on phone. I would think initial calls are a feeling out process for both sides and that only big time prospects get visit offer immediately. This guru does these seminars all over the country-wonder how many kids have hurt themselves by being so direct so soon?

I would tend to agree with Orlando. I think in that first phone call, if its a school your son is interested in, he should make sure to let the caller know that. They wouldn't have called if they weren't interested, but they may not call back if they sense he's not interested. Let them go at their own pace on in-home visits and official visits.

Beenthere - We had several in-home visits and they were kind of nice and relaxing. All were followed up by "official" visit invitations. Because "official" visits cannot happen in the summer, I think its a way for the coaches to get with your son face-to-face as early as possible.

I can't believe what I am reading here. We had a home visit by one Coach, which is not usually the norm. He was in the area and wanted to stop by to meet my husband and I. We had already set up an official visit, he was in the area and my son was not the only one he visited. I am sure that he also stayed within the NCAA guidelines. I also understand that occasionally when they really want a player, they will visit you, get a feel for your financial status so they can make an offer that is not refused for financial reasons.
Beenthere is correct. Whatever you were told by the guru is way "off base".
Parents need to keep in mind that phone calls during the summer are a way of establishing a relationship between coach, player and parents. For some coaches, this is an important process, others don't care. Your abruptness may mean never another phone call. Most coaches will always welcome a visit to them on your own time, and you may want to consider this option.
I hope that you didn't pay for this seminar. I will give you all the advice you need for free.

HsbbWeb: The guru was a d2 basketball coach for 20 yrs and had success at high school level. He has a website and book available. He was blunt, saying if "Johnny or Sarah" doesn't have 75-100 letters from d-1's by sophomore year you can forget about playing where you want to play. Lots of kids/parents faces dropped-he was trying to bring reality to situation but seemed like he was dismissing d1's and telling people don't waste your time dreaming.
He also said nearly all recruiting/marketing services are a waste, then recommended one he favors and it is listed in his book and the website. Thanks for input, I agree with above comments. I think this guy was too general and tried to cover way too much in about 50 minutes.

quote:

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Originally posted by dennisr400:
HsbbWeb: The guru was a d2 basketball coach for 20 yrs and had success at high school level. He has a website and book available. He was blunt, saying if "Johnny or Sarah" doesn't have 75-100 letters from d-1's by sophomore year you can forget about playing where you want to play.

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Dennis,

That is not very good advice IMO.

Wow. Bad advice, whether it was free or not. The height of the stack of letters has very little to do with whether a kid plays where they want, regardless of the sport.

At least two instances of very bad advice from this guy in my opinion.

Mine didn't have 75-100 letters by sophomore or even junior year. Means nothing. This is scare tactics, so unprofessional. Sad part is, parents believe this.
There is reality in recruting, but I don't think amount of letters you get is the reality.

If you are a top round draft prospect you could probably get away with this.

If you are the average college recruit you would come off as a high maintenance player - could turn a few guys off with that.

Sounds like very poor advise to me.

Keep in mind that recruiting tactics for basketball and football are quite different from baseball

I can recall getting calls at 11:30 PM from coaches to talk about to me about my son who as a soph was a flashy point guard with a bright basketball future if he so chose to go that route---he never pursued hoops any further and went the Division I baseball route

This "guru" you cite is a bit off in his thoughts even if it is hoops, trust me

TRhit

Dennis:

If Jack is the first name of the coach to whom you are referring and if he once coached at Holy Cross, then perhaps you did not understand clearly what he said. Maybe even if it is not Jack you did not understand.

Seems to me that his point most likely is that except for a few blue chip players at the top of the heap, kids who want to play in college need to do a lot of work to find and obtain the right opportunity, which, of course, is great advice and one of the main reasons for the existance of the HSBBweb

Je - I clearly heard exactly what was being said and followed up with a few others in attendance whose kids are definite d1 prospects. The part about 75-100 letters is exact quote and reference to asking for visit right away is also. The speaker was knowledgeable but not sport specific and didn't not have enough time to begin to cover the ins and outs of recruiting. He was trying to promote reality which is good but may have gone a bit far

Dennis

I dont think he was dealing with reality at all!!!

TRhit

It wasn't even very good advice for football. I had no letters at all-none-prior to the early summer before my senior HS season, but had 10 D-1 offers before the end of September. That was in the dark ages. My son received multiple D-2 baseball offers, but NEVER had an in home visit-most of the schools were hundreds of miles away.

In the "old days" ("Back in the day" is how my kids mock this time), college assistant coaches criss-crossed their assigned territories looking for players as their means of getting information on high school studs was pretty limited. Nowadays, potential studs seem to be on a radar screen somewhere at absurdly younger and younger ages. Very different information gathering systems these days.

I've heard the presentation. A few points:

1.the speaker in question positions himself as independent and says you should consider using a service...but he will "only recommend one".
Of course, due diligence will show you that the company in question is indeed affiliated with said speaker and he no doubt gets a percentage of revenues. I also suspect the company helps underwrite the speaker's expenses.
Nice marketing tactic although a tad sleazy.
2. His basic message is that there is much opportunity out there for a lot of kids,but you must be flexible in location and you won't choose where you play. I'd agree somewhat with this.
3. He makes it sound like small schools everywhere are starving for players and money flows like water. He doesn't point out the fact that academics play a huge role in the affordability aspect of this for most families.
4. Shock value is the purpose of the talk...and of course generating names for the service so that they can set up a meeting in a hotel room.

We also heard the presentation 3 years ago when my son was a freshman. I thought the information was very helpful. We walked away thinking the general message was "if you want to play there's a place for you" which I DO agree. (Unless you have zero talent)
He did say, first question to ask is whether they are offering the official visit. Fortunately son was smart enough to realize this wasn't appropriate in many of the conversations. It was interesting though to note that those who were REALLY interested said right off the bat, "we want to bring you out for a visit", without son HAVING to ask-but that's a side note.

We were never contacted by anyone to sell us anything or any service. I appreciated the information, but maybe the talk has changed since we went.

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"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Rogers Hornsby, Hall of Famer