Curious if son should fill out profiles at schools he is not interested in. After AZ Classic he has been contacted by several programs. Right now we are taking the approach that if they are close academically to what he is interested in then he will fill out the forms. The others he will not.

Second question is should he indicate to the coach that he is not interested in their program right up front so they don't waste time on him.

It obviously has benefits to be recruited by a number of programs, but do you want to waste your and the coaches time on programs you have no interest in?

Interested in what others have done.

Are you sure he still won't be interested 6 months from now?

When a coach is recruiting you, and at some points decides to stop recruiting you, they just quietly slip away. No declaration, no goodbyes, you just never hear from them again and they stop returning phone calls.

I would suggest the same of you for schools you are %100 sure you have no interest in. Simply be non responsive to the forms. If a coach makes personal contact, phone, email, mail, that is a different story. In that case I would respond with a polite, "we are looking for a higher academic fit".

JMHO and good luck to you and your son.

CPLZ

I do not agree with your thinking---I say fill out everything you get because you never know what will happen down the road---today you may be the third choice for them at your position in a few months you may be the number one choice if the other two players don't pan out for them---also keep in mind the masjority of prospects do not end up at schools of their original choice--they end up at schools that want them---I never want to limit my options because as time goes on the options get fewer and fewer

I agree with TRhit, you never know what is going to happen down the road.

We had a set of key schools we were focused on, a second tier of schools that were a remote possibility, and some we were not interested in.

We completed almost all questionnaires that came our way and kept open communications with as many as we could.

After committing to a high profile school, it turned out, due to unforeseen circumstances he ended up at another DI school that was not even up on his radar nor any of his high profile teammates and ended up getting a great 2008 College World Series experience and CWS ring out of it.

He is now at a DII school that he just laughed about (could not have thought he could have been considered academically) playing there. They made a very strong apperance at the DII World Series last year.

Stuff does happen, keep all doors open.

another reason to respond is that you never know where a particular coach who is expressing interest may end up...say coach x really likes you but you may not be in love with the school...end of this season coach takes new job at school you love...respond to everything, burn no bridges. the baseball world is a small one...as homerun says "stuff happens".

I have always encouraged players to turn in and fill out everything they get from every school they get something from. There are many reasons I believe this is the way to go. You never know what is going to happen. That school may not be on your radar at all but ends up being where the best fit for you is. Coaches talk and coaches change posistions all the time. For instance a coach leaves a school you are not really interested in and ends up at a school you are. Many take the information they have on players with them to their new school and recruit the same players for their new school.

There are many reasons to keep all your options or potential options open. I would suggest that you make a copy of all the questionaires you send out. Sometimes you will get a second questionaire from the same school or same coach and you want to make sure that the information is the same on both. Its alot easier and quicker to fill them out when you have the information available and do not have to constantly look it back up such as phone numbers for scouts , email address etc etc.

I remember a player telling me he got a questionaire from a mid major D1 and he threw it away because he wanted to play in the ACC. I asked him what he was going to do if he was not offered by an ACC school. He looked at me like I was crazy. Fill them all out and be honored that someone has taken the time to ask about you. And keep all you options or potential options open because you never know.

Although I would generally tend to agree with most here that say, fill it all out, it really doesn't make a lot of sense to fill out applications for schools that you have no interest in attending.

For example, you score 29 on your ACT's and really want to attend a school that will be on par with your academics. When you add baseball to the mix, it causes you to broaden your expectations some in order to get the right fit. It doesn't however require an abandoning of your academic goals.

At one point, Junior had over 90 requests from D1 schools for forms. That didn't include the other divisions or NAIA. There was no way we were sitting down to fill out well over 150 forms when it was obvious that he didn't want to attend well over 50% of those schools...academics, locations, majors offered, etc. They are all valid reasons for elimination.

You should have a list that involves probables, dreams, and fall backs, but I don't believe that means you have to fill out every form that crosses your desk.

Thanks all for the input. Right now he will try to keep up with them. I really don’t know how much coaches talk to each other, but it seems to me that if a number of schools are following a recruit then it might give them some confidence in their opinion. If for some reason he was lucky enough to have a number of them show up at an event he is at, it would seem to me that it would help validate their thinking. We are just getting started and I have seen how one coach switching schools has already added a school to his list that he never considered. CPLZ if we get to 90 (wow!) then we may have to reconsider our options but right now it is manageable. He is however loosing track of which schools he has sent and received stuff from so I had him make up a binder with all of them so he can keep track of it.

BOF,
One of the great things that helped us keep things manageable, was a spreadsheet. Search for topics containing that word and you'll find some threads that may be helpful.

It was overwhelming for us at one point. Junior went to a regional showcase in the south and was named their top prospect. It was early fall his senior year and he suddenly appeared on everyones radar out of nowhere.

It did cause quite a commotion, but much of it was simply form letters and recruiting questionnaires.

I think that each players situation is different, mine only filled out forms to the schools he was truely interested in and knew he could compete at, and no way did he ever get as many as most as I hear players get these days.

Definetly fill out all paperwork the coaches send if you feel the need to, it's much more competitive these days, but I agree within reason of interest. They should include large programs, small programs and all divisions. As they come in, good time to do homework on each program and the school itself.

Funny part is most likely you will fill it out, only to get another one a few months later.

TPM


The point I make is that if you just respond to the schools you have interest and they don't "happen" what do you do---it is usually not a case of that school the player wants but what school(s) wants the player

TR,
I agree with your point, and I said that each situation was different. Read my whole post.
Mine pretty much knew he would end up at a D1 program and wanted to stay within the southeast part of the US.
Part of the process is being realistic, that's just my opinion.

TPM


And what would have happened if none of his selected returns wanted him at the end of the day ?


And by the way--I did read you entire post---I am speaking specifically as to what your son did

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
TPM


And what would have happened if none of his selected returns wanted him at the end of the day ?


And by the way--I did read you entire post---I am speaking specifically as to what your son did

Not sure the purpose of your post, being a 4.2 student, with a 10 rating from PG, high class ranking (within top 50), a RHP throwing 90 as a junior, with 5 pitches he threw for strikes, he pretty much was able to zero in on where he was interested. I do realize that isn't the norm for everyone, but realistically, he wasn't going to play in the cold northeast or play on the west coast of the country. Why answer to those schools when he had no interest to go there?

I did not say only fill out the schools you are interested in, I said all situations are different and interest should be within reason.

TPM

Again you miss my point !!!

What if none of your sons "selected" schools, regardless of your sons GPA/ SAT and baseball stats, wanted your son---that is the point--what if the only school that wanted him was in the Northeast?

What then !!!!

My son did not want to go out west but he ended up doing so and had a successful career

I say that you never want to shut doors

In theory, it makes absolute sense to fill out all the forms. There is nothing to lose. In reality, however, none of my three sons filled out all the forms (and none of them got close to 90, although we never counted. In fact, I don't think Ike Davis even got 90). In reality, though, there were some that were never filled out simply because there was no interest and baseball would not have been worth it.

It's probably not a good thing to say, but when desperation sets in, perhaps it is time to hang up the cleats. In other words, filling out all the forms could be interpreted as at least a little desperate.

CPLZ good points. The reason I say you never know is because you never know. You may know your a top flight D1 prospect. You may know your going to get offers from all the top schools you want to attend. But what happens if you go down with an arm injury before you sign? What happens if you run into some academic issues? Maybe you run into some off the field issues? Maybe you suddenly go from a sure fire D1 guy to a player looking for other options? I just dont see the reason to ever close any doors until the door is slammed behind you.

Everyones situation is different. I always have always believed in keeping all your potential options open. I have also always believed in the common courtesy of responding to those that have take the time to reach out to you. In CPLZ case with so many options and request for information I can def see his points. And this is just one persons opinion everyone has one.

CM,
Your point that every situation is different is exactly my point.
Coming from a warm weather state where there is much visibility, there was no interest whatsoever in colder weather programs (except one), he did it himself and that was his choice. Now if we lived in the middle of no where, that may have been a different story. He also wan't interested in D2 programs and interestly enough I don't think he ever got one questionare from any of those programs.

Having just gone through all of this, my opinion is to fill out everything at first. You are just doing the same thing the recruiters do, casting a big net. Son had a LOT of stuff to fill out, but its better than having nothing to fill out. The point that some are missing is that these are 16-17 yo kids. They have a hard time making up their minds about what to wear, and can change thoughts on a dime. Where my son ended up wasnt even on his radar at first, and his future school was one of the first to contact him. What if he had not filled out thier forms, that would have been his final choice that he threw in the garbage!! This process can take a year or longer. How many kids DONT change their mind several times in a year plus? Dont forget also, coaches move around. Maybe the form he fills out at Not Interested U ends up at First Choice College. In addition, play a couple of off games in front of FIRST CHOICE U, and you will be glad you filled out everything you got in the mail.