Step 3: Asking questions
As you begin the recruiting process you do have something in common with each and every coach your write to. You both want to ensure that it is a win-win situation. They need to know you are right for the program, but it is your job to find out if the program is a right fit for you. This is the area where most players fail. They are so worried about selling themselves, that they forget to hit pause, and find out if the program is really going to be a good fit for them.
This coach is going to be like your father/mother for the next 4 years. Do you really want them? Their assistants and your teammates are going to be all up in your business nearly every waking hour of every day. Are they the people you want in your face all of the time?
Your job is to ensure that you find the right “family” to be a part of for this crucial time of your life. In order to do that you have to ask questions as you get deeper and deeper into the process.
1. Ask them specifically what they are looking for in terms of positions and or abilities?
2. Ask them if they are looking for impact players who can come in with a chance to start right away or if they already have depth for the first year or two and are looking for development players? Attend their practices/games and see where you fit. If they tell you that you have a chance to start, and clearly you wouldn’t because they are stacked with studs, that might not be the place for you if you want to start your first year.
3. Ask them what their greatest strengths are as a coach?
4. Ask them what things about themselves their players would likely grumble/complain about if you were to talk to them?
5. Go back through your career and think about the way different coaches treated you, and think through how you responded in your level of play. Figure out the questions to ask that will let you know which one of those people in your past they are most like, and you can pretty well guess how you will play for them. Some players play horrible if they aren’t treated well by their coach, while others consider it a challenge and play their best. They might be unhappy around the coach, but on the field they play their best. Others like being treated with kindness and do great because they are internally motivated. While others slack off if they aren’t challenged enough. You should be able to be honest with yourself about where you fit, and what kind of coaches bring out the best in you. Then you need to find out what type of coach this one is.
6. As you get along in the process and are perhaps in your Junior/Senior year just ask them point blank “Am I even on your radar or would I be better suited spending my energy elsewhere?”
7. Ask them for batting/pitching statistics on the team for the past several years. Then review the data to see if players tend to stay the same, get better, or get worse the longer that they are there. If they boast that they have great hitting instruction at the school but the numbers don’t reflect that then there is a problem. Same goes for pitching. Obviously not every player will get better each and every year, but you should see a team wide trend upwards the longer players are there.
Don’t just take the coaches word for things, speak with multiple players and find out what they think. Not just at some recruiting event. Ask to attend classes with them. Spend the night with them if possible. Hang out and eat a meal with them if possible. You want to find out about the coach, but you also want to find out about them individually and how they treat/talk about each other off of the field. Are they the kind of players off the field that you’ll want to hang out with, or are they the kind of people that you’ve generally tried to start far away from? Be honest with their players as well about who you are. No sense pretending to be something you aren’t or else you will end up in a situation you are miserable in.