(Im a junior rn, 429 and 1610 guy) I’m looking to run in college and sent out a batch of around 50 emails at the end of March to many mid - low level d1 schools and a handful of d2 schools. Out of 50, only 12 have responded. I’ve compared myself to many of these schools recent recruits and I’m running the same, if not faster, times that they are, yet I’m getting 0 engagement from their coaches. Is it a bad time to send out recruitment emails?
Tell them more. Try ass. coaches.
Could be a dead period where coaches can’t communicate with recruits. Also maybe rules against communicating with juniors.
Make sure you’re emailing the cross country/distance coaches. Sometimes if you email the wrong coach on the team they won’t even forward your email to the correct coach.
email the distance coach wrote:
Could be a dead period where coaches can’t communicate with recruits. Also maybe rules against communicating with juniors.
Make sure you’re emailing the cross country/distance coaches. Sometimes if you email the wrong coach on the team they won’t even forward your email to the correct coach.
good point here. Some programs head coach is not necessarily distance coach. Event coaches tend to control the recruitment process for their athletes. Also recommend filling out any questionnaires if you haven't done so already. Sorry to hear about the low response rate though. Keep emailing coaches though as you see programs that you are interested in.
This is a very busy time of the year and you are not a super strong recruit that they will drop everything to talk to. Many programs are busy with final meets, last chance qualifying window, conference meets and getting the fall class of 2021 dialed in.
Coaches will be much more receptive later this summer or next fall. I would also make sure you personalize the emails and show that you are actually interested in THEIR school not just mass emailing tons of coaches. I work at a school that doesn’t have any field athletes and I get tons of emails that say “I’m a very interested in your program because of strong academics and a great team... my shot/disc PRs are xxxx.” Clearly they didn’t care about our program because a quick look at the roster or TFRRS would show we are not a great team in the field events.
One of the only coaches that didn’t answer my emails was from a D2 that I kid you not, I would have been automatically the number one runner 600m-3k and 2-3 in XC.
I was wondering if my performances were big scholarship worthy, but it wasn’t response worthy.
The truth is, some coaches suck at recruiting, that isn’t your fault. That’s probably why the team I mentioned sucks.
The best advice I can give, is to only ask about times required to make the team, don’t worry about scholarships. Show that you’re passionate about the sport and plan on improving
I would echo the commenter above who said some coaches just suck at recruiting. The reality is that the focus often turns into developing the talent, and recruiting takes a big hit.
But it's also probably not the best time to be sending out emails hoping for responses. It's the end of track season for all college teams. Coaches basically get the summer months off, so they would have a lot more time to do things like respond to emails and actively recruit. I would suggest waiting until June to try again or try more.
It takes as much effort to reply to a recruit as it does to troll here.
Dear Recruit,
Thank you for your interest in our program! Generally we like our scholarship level recruits to run sub 3:55 in the 1500, sub 14:20 in the 5000 and most importantly have competitive accolades such as conference and state victories. 4:28 as a junior shows promise. I personally have seen athletes make tremendous improvements through consistent, increased training along with commitment and dedication. Keep us updated on your season, summer training, and senior year.
Good luck with the remainder of your season and senior year!
Coach Championship
There is never a dead period for replying emails of juniors or seniors.
There are ZERO excuses for coaches "sucking" at recruiting. It is the lifeblood of any program. You don't have to be a good coach to have a good team but you DO have to be a good recruiter.
If they aren't replying, they either have NO INTEREST in you, OR you should no longer have interest in them. There is zero reason for you to be looking for some alternative explanation. NONE.
Feel free to keep sending emails, and make your selection from the 20% that seem to reply to you.
If your 16:10 is from xc, they dont care about xc times.
Your 4:28 is ok for your best event and you treat it like a golden egg. They know you're spamming schools and will take a closer D1 school over them.
50 seems like a lot of schools to be reaching out to. Think about what you want to be studying. Think about where you want to be geographically. Think about team culture and what you know about the coaches you're reaching out to. Think about D3 schools too.
It's getting into championship season so maybe that's why responses are lacking. At the very least, hopefully this can help you narrow your list.
email the distance coach wrote:
It takes as much effort to reply to a recruit as it does to troll here.
Dear Recruit,
Thank you for your interest in our program! Generally we like our scholarship level recruits to run sub 3:55 in the 1500, sub 14:20 in the 5000 and most importantly have competitive accolades such as conference and state victories. 4:28 as a junior shows promise. I personally have seen athletes make tremendous improvements through consistent, increased training along with commitment and dedication. Keep us updated on your season, summer training, and senior year.
Good luck with the remainder of your season and senior year!
Coach Championship
Actually most programs have generic e-mails ready to go in response to e-mails sent in. And while I agree that some coaches are bad at recruiting, those coaches don't have jobs for very long. I would say it's even harder to recruit when you are coaching at a lower level or unknown school/program so those coaches would more often than not want to keep their options as open as possible.
So to have so many coaches not respond makes me think that maybe there was something you said in your e-mail to coaches that they didn't necessarily like.
What did you say?
You didn't send it out as one email with all of the different recipient email addresses in the header did you?
recruitment wrote:
(Im a junior rn, 429 and 1610 guy) I’m looking to run in college and sent out a batch of around 50 emails at the end of March to many mid - low level d1 schools and a handful of d2 schools. Out of 50, only 12 have responded. I’ve compared myself to many of these schools recent recruits and I’m running the same, if not faster, times that they are, yet I’m getting 0 engagement from their coaches. Is it a bad time to send out recruitment emails?
Don't take this as an insult...I ran similar times in high school in the pre-email days and just couldn't understand why some coaches weren't interested in me.
The reason they're not replying is because guys like you (and me) are a dime a dozen. 4:29? He's probably already got a half dozen guys faster than you, and he can throw a stick and hit a half dozen more. If you don't come to his school (or don't pan out once you get there), no big deal to him. You're easily replaceable with any number of other 4:29 guys.
"How did I know you ran a 4:30 mile in high school? That's easy. Everyone ran a 4:30 mile in high school." - Frank Shorter
Some coaches just do suck at recruiting. Some are great, contacting all the time, others occasionally, still others terrible - it runs the spectrum.
D had many mid majors recruiting her and offering good $. One in particular that she was real interested in just never responded. Then after their Indoor season ended the HC called her and started a dialogue. Said his sprints coach had quit/been fired about a month earlier (mid year) and he had just checked the guy's desk and she was supposed to be the his #1 recruiting target. HC got her on campus and got her signed.
So you never know what is going on behind the scenes that might impact their communication.
The coaches have a preferred list of kids they are looking to get. Once those kids have committed elsewhere, the coach may reach out to you if you reach out again, but with a letter that is personalized. if you have just sent out a form letter that is obvious to have been sent out to several schools, good luck getting attention unless you are going to be a stud for that team.
recruitment wrote:
(Im a junior rn, 429 and 1610 guy) I’m looking to run in college and sent out a batch of around 50 emails at the end of March to many mid - low level d1 schools and a handful of d2 schools. Out of 50, only 12 have responded. I’ve compared myself to many of these schools recent recruits and I’m running the same, if not faster, times that they are, yet I’m getting 0 engagement from their coaches. Is it a bad time to send out recruitment emails?
Have you stepped foot on campus and taken a regular student tour? Once you do, stop by the track offices afterwards.
If you want the best help, post the email that you sent them....you can take out identifying information...but leave everything as close to what you sent as possible. As a college coach, sometimes I don't respond to some emails because they are awful...hardly any details, obvious spelling or grammar issues...just shows a lack of attention.
Don’t be afraid to reach out more than once. They could have missed your email. But make sure your email is personalized listing specific reasons why you would want to attend their school. Also make sure you have an interesting subject line. Good Luck!