Internespo > Guide > Recruiting > Know when recruiting starts

Coaches have to follow very specific rules and timelines during the recruiting process. Make sure you are familiar with process to maximize your chances of being recruited. 

Key Takeaways

• Research the recruiting timeline and start early to connect with coaches
• It is important that you are pro-active, you can always contact coaches, dont wait for them!
• Coaches have to follow specific rules and timelines, make sure you are familiar with them.

1) Connecting with Coaches

Coaches cannot contact you or your family before your Junior year in high school, but you can contact them anytime. Before contacting coaches, make sure you have a good understanding of the recruiting process.

1.1) Rules for Contacting Coaches

The NCAA has established rules to protect student-athletes from getting contacted too much from college coaches. For example, the recruiting calendar explicitly specifies the recruiting periods for when and how a coach can contact you.

Students can always reach out to coaches: Generally, coaches cannot recruit student-athletes before June 1st of their junior year, which means they are not allowed to actively reach out to an athlete or their families. However, if the students themselves initiate the contact, they can call or visit a college and discuss scholarship opportunities as much as they like. Therefore, college coaches will often try to connect with clubs or high school coaches to find a way to meet or speak with you.

The important takeaway is that you can indeed connect with coaches before your junior year, if you actively initiate the contact. Ask your current coach to schedule a call, do it yourself, or make an unofficial visit to campus, as long as the coach knows you are coming and has agreed to meet you.

1.2) Effectively Communicating

Effectively communicating with college coaches is very important, athletes who are proactive will certainly give themselves a leg up in the process.

However, it is important to understand that just because an athlete can contact a coach at any time, it doesn’t mean you should contact them too frequently. College coaches are extremely busy with many recruits to consider. Here are some examples of when you should send an update to coaches during the recruiting process:

Update coaches during the recruiting process:

• • After you completed signing up for the NCAA or NAIA eligibility center.
  • You received a higher SAT or ACT score to update them for your admission.
  • Congratulating the coach and team for a big win or award.
  • Asking advice for camps or combines to attend.
  • When you have received offers from other schools.
  • Asking about unofficial/ official visits or scholarship offers.
  • A follow up thank you note for visits.
  • You achieved a new personal best, won a big game, or updated your highlight video.

   Tip – The 24 hour window

• • If a coach contacts you, you should make it a priority to respond in some capacity within 24 hours.
  • However, if you have contacted a coach and are waiting for a response, give them at least 48-72 hours to reply before reaching out again.

2) Recruiting Periods

The NCAA specifies four recruiting periods that strictly regulate the kind of interaction college coaches can have with high school students during the year. However, you can always contact coaches:  While college coaches must follow these rules, student-athletes can initiate contact with coaches at any time. Which is why it’s important to stay proactive and know how the recruiting calendar works.

2.1) Contact Period

All communication between the coach and athlete is open. During this period, coaches can have face-to-face contact with an athlete, watch them compete, visit their school or home, email, text and call them. As well as connect on social media.

Coaches offer scholarships: At this point in the recruiting process, coaches are ready to make and solidify scholarship offers. With meeting the athletes and their parents, they are able to complete their evaluations and ensure the athlete would be a great addition to their program.

2.2) Evaluation Period

The evaluation period is much like the contact period, however with one major difference. Coaches cannot have any face-to-face contact with the athlete off their college campus. During this time coaches will usually visit high schools to evaluate multiple players at once and watch them compete, but they can’t meet with a recruit personally. The “bump rule”- coaches are allowed to briefly say hello to recruits they happen to “bump” into when conducting evaluations. Engaging beyond that point however, is breaking NCAA rules.

2.3) Quiet Period

The quiet period is stricter than both the contact and evaluation periods. In this period, in-person contact can only happen on the college’s campus. This means coaches cannot visit an athletes high school or home, however they can still send emails, calls, texts, and social media messages.

Take unofficial visits: Since coaches are not permitted to watch athletes compete, they will usually encourage athletes to take unofficial visits to the college to explore campus life. Many athletic programs have begun hosting “junior days” during this time, inviting a large group of recruits to campus to tour the facilities and talk with coaches.

2.4) Dead Period

The most restrictive period, the dead period forbids coaches from having any face-to-face contact with student-athletes. The only form of contact allowed during this period is email, phone calls, texts, and social media messages. Dead periods typically fall right before students sign their National Letters of Intent, so that coaches aren’t having a significant influence over an athletes final decision making.

    Tip – Who needs to follow the recruiting schedule?

• • It is primarily the coach’s responsibility to follow the recruiting schedule
  • It’s important for athletes to understand the different periods as well.
  • Make sure you don’t visit during a dead period, when you are not able to meet the coach.
  • Knowing the periods helps maximize contact opportunities to effectively get recruited.

3) Timing of First Contact

In the following graph you can see that in men’s soccer, for instance, 8% of all students have their first recruiting contact in the 9th grade, 30% in the 10th, 46% in the 11th, and 15% in the 12th grade. These forms of contact typically are in general letters, contact to your high school coach, or if student-athletes have reached out to coaches themselves. Source: NCAA Research