Going Through Recruiting Process

[timkay99]

Former parents and players that went through the recruiting process,

My name is Tim Kay and I recently transitioned from working with Major League Baseball teams and USA Baseball to a grad assistant role with a NAIA university for baseball.

I just wanted to reach out and see if people were willing to share (via PM, email at timothyekay@gmail.com or any other avenue you are comfortable with) what they enjoyed about the recruiting process, what they wish they were told by their recruiting coaches before getting on campus (for either visits or and what their ideal recruitment would look like. Also curious on what special things (Cuse Twitter Army for example with Syracuse, since I have seen it mentioned) stood out to you and what actually helped you make a difference.

Just hit through about 15 phone calls in the last 2 days and am talking to about another 30 coaches hopefully over the weekend to get even more names, so want to hit the ground running and try and avoid mistakes that will occur as I work through this!

Thanks,
TK

 

[JackBauer44]

Hey TK -
I am a head coach at a Division III university. Recruiting is one of my favorite parts of the job. I am on track right now to quite possibly bring in a nationally ranked D3 class for women. I would be more than willing to help answer any questions. Jet me a PM brother!

 

[OrangeTown]

Hey TK -
I am a head coach at a Division III university. Recruiting is one of my favorite parts of the job. I am on track right now to quite possibly bring in a nationally ranked D3 class for women. I would be more than willing to help answer any questions. Jet me a PM brother!

Recruiting is one of his favorite parts because he sucks at the actual sport.

Or so I hear...

 

[JackBauer44]

Recruiting is one of his favorite parts because he sucks at the actual sport.

Or so I hear...

My other skill involves digging holes about 6 feet under. Want to test it out?

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Background: I played D3 baseball but had the 'preferred walkon' designiation offers with financial assistance from a few D1 teams. I was also recruited for soccer at a few D2 schools but I was up front with the coaches that I was not playing in college. I then was a D3 assistant coach for a year and was offered a high school head coaching job in Pennsylvania which I turned down to start my professional career. I eat, breathe and dream about baseball 24/7 still.

Recruiting process is stressful for the kids and their family. It's comical how political high school, AAU, and summer ball are in baseball (and in all sports). Not to get into too much detail but here are a few items that always stood out for me when I was being recruited.
- Use your players on your team to sKout their hometown area teams and players. Ask them to take notes as if they were sKouting another NIAA team. Most of the guys have played against each other for years and can help find athletes that fit your system.
- Showing up for games. I loved when coaches scouted our games. Even better was when coaches would give us their evaluations (pro's, con's, improvements) of the players, some of whom weren't even the caliber of prospects for their school. It allowed players to receive an unbiased opinion including information that would allow them to get better.
- Calling on a monthly basis to check on the highschool or summer teams.
- Chatting up the parents to get them to feel comfortable enough to allow their son to be taken under your tutelage. More important than people think during recruiting because kids still listen to their parents opinions.
- Invitations to baseball camps. Both as a player and a coach. One interesting trick (which I am not even sure is legal) was a coach hired me and other Junior and Senior Prospects to be the 'counselors' at clinics for little league aged kids. The coaches were able to observe the personalities of the prospects, and understanding of baseball through the clinics.

Good luck. Toughest is getting players to buy into not playing as freshmen. Every year we would lose one two of the best freshmen because they weren't able to sit patiently behind upperclassmen.