Parent's Corner - College Track and Field Recruiting

Written by Ryan

Ryan’s daughter is a XC/T&F distance runner going into her senior year. Her top six college choices are four Power 5 DI schools, a top 50 DI XC program, and a top 5 DIII program.

Reaching out to coaches at the beginning of the junior year is the right time to begin the recruiting process. Regardless of your child’s level of competitiveness, proactively connecting with a coach is a great way to get on their radar. The introduction email should not be too long, highlighting the strengths of your child athlete, both athletically and academically. Attaching a more detailed student-athlete resume can also provide additional information that can’t be included in the email. Offer to keep the coach updated on the progress of the season. A well written, short, clear and concise email should give the coach enough information to assess the potential of the athlete. Don’t be discouraged if the coaches don’t immediately respond or responds at all. Keep updating the coach on your progress and stay diligent until a coach responds. I will talk later about scheduling UNOFFICIAL VISITS.

One of the most important learnings we experienced was related to the turnover of coaches at universities. After visiting schools, meeting with coaches, and getting to know them, we had no way of predicting how many coaches would be leaving their universities BEFORE the beginning of my daughter’s senior year. In fact, out of the 12 schools we had unofficial visits with or were extensively communicating with, either via email or phone calls, four coaches abruptly left their schools from May to July of this year. It was truly devastating when a coach, who we were just about to schedule admissions pre-reads or official visits, went ghost on all of our communications. Why did they stop talking or responding to emails? Did they no longer want to recruit her? We had so many questions and no answers. Two of the four coaches eventually let us know they’d left their programs, but two said absolutely nothing. Imagine how hard it was to be communicating with coaches and getting excited to be considered for their running programs, just to have that end abruptly. I will talk later about choosing COLLEGES VERSUS COACHES.

As an update on our current recruiting activity, my daughter attended her first DI official visit this past weekend. It was a Sunday to Monday visit, at a school driving distance from our home. It included some running with the team (which was “optional”), lots of local meals with team members, a lunch with coaches, and attending a few classes. It concluded with a parents/coaches meeting where we talked about next steps, an athletic scholarship, and what to expect as we approached NLI (National Letter of Intent) day on November 13th. It was a productive visit and gave us some good insight into what actually happens on an official visit. She has a DIII overnight visit this weekend and four more DI visits to go.

Always feel free to send any questions.

Until next Week!

Ryan