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Is Your High School Coach Hurting Your Chances of a Scholarship?

hs_coach_hurting_scholarship_chances_postHigh school coaches play an important role in the recruiting process as an intermediary between the college coach and student-athlete. The reality is every high school coach has a different policy regarding how and when they alert a student-athlete that a college coach has expressed interest. Unfortunately, this lack of uniformity has always been a source of frustration.

In most situations, the high school coach has admirable intentions. Unfortunately, they might be severely hurting the student-athlete’s chances of playing at the next level by withholding the interest of college coaches. So why would the high school coach ever fail to communicate interest from a college coach to one of their players? According to recruiting expert, Former DI Recruiting Coordinator Randy Taylor there are several reasons why this might happen.

“Holding college mail is really an old school idea that some high school coaches still practice. The reasons I have heard are:

  • The coach is worried the player will get a big head and think they have it made and might not work as hard.
  • The coach is worried the letters or interest from a college coach will distract the athlete.
  • The coach may want to be in charge of the process and doesn’t want to be bothered until the end of the season.
  • The coach doesn’t want the college coach to have direct impact with the player in a way that might undermined the team’s goals.
  • The coach may believe that until the player has completed their sophomore year there isn’t any guarantee that they are truly a prospect.

Regardless of the reason, the high school coach is most likely hurting the student-athlete by interfering with the process.”

So what can you do?

The first step is to clearly state your desire to play collegiate athletics with your high school coach. The next step is to simply discuss what your high school coach’s policy is about recruiting. Does he pass along letters immediately from a college coach? Does he traditionally hold that type of information? The only way you will know is to talk with your coach in a professional manner. Remember, even if you do not fully agree with your high school coach’s policy, they will be talking directly to college coaches on your behalf. Don’t give them anything negative to tell the college coaches.

I encourage you to open the lines of communication with your high school coach early in the process and find out how they approach the recruiting -  it will impact your success!

Editor’s Note: Thank you to NCSA for this article.

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Written by Shelly · Filed Under Recruiting 
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