Recruiting: Tips for Contacting College Coaches

By: Dr. Micheal Jones - Pasco-Hernando State College

As a college coach, we get a high volume of emails every day on recruits. I wanted to provide some examples that may help coaches and recruits when it comes to sending email information to a college coach.

DO NOT:

Do not send email with just a film link. This will get deleted quickly. Let your athletes know there should be more information listed than just a film.
Do not send an email with just show film on just offense alone. When coaches only see offense, it only shows that you can play offense because you did not send any film footage on your defensive skills.
Do not send multiple recruits in one email. College coaches will not waste time looking at every kid. Be specific in each kid you send because college coaches have specific needs.
Do not send vague emails about recruits. Please be detailed as possible when it comes to the important things to a college coach's needs.
Do not just send athletic information. Let college coaches know, if possible, what are your other qualities are, such as your major, things you know about the college you are interested in, and other things that you think a college coach would like to know about you like club organizations and places you have volunteered.
Do not send your email by nicknames. Please make sure your email is detailed about who and where it came from. If not, this email can easily be deleted.
Do not send emails by other people besides the coach you are under. Make sure you send the email by the coach first. This is like a basketball letter of reference for the recruit. When recruits send emails by just themselves, it can easily be ignored.

DO:

Do have your coach call the college coach ahead of time before you send an email on a recruit. This eliminates random emails of athletes that college coaches do not know and lets the college coach know to expect a specific email.
Do send a detailed email that shows information about the recruit's athletic background. This gives the college coach a wealth of knowledge about the recruit.
Do send transcripts and apply to the college that you are interested in. This tells a college coach you are not just interested, but you are taking and investment in your college education first when it comes to being a student athlete.
Do have your parent follow up with the Coach once interest has taken place. Once college coaches have expressed interest to a recruit, they will request for the parent to reach out. Phone call and email would be great.
Do visit the school prior to seeing the college coach and emailing him. This saves recruits, families, and coaches time, effort, and money by visiting the college on their own prior to be recruiting, because it gives the recruit a sense of self about the college if they really want to be there. In addition to that, they can ask a real person about the academic programs.
Do type up a thank you email to a college coach, after email has been reviewed and responded to. At thank you email shows that your communication, moral and ethics, and your complete interest in that college coach and program.
Do follow up with a post follow up email to a college coach after communication has been made. This email should be done once a college coach gets back in touch with you and you want to find out more information about the program for tryouts, workouts, or visits to the college that are orchestrated by that college coach.

These are some tips on how to send emails to college coaches when it comes to recruiting. This may help coaches and recruits get better results on a college coach responding to an email.