NCAA Division 2 Volleyball Recruiting

Coach,

I really enjoy your website and have learned a lot from it on the whole recruiting process! 

My question involves one of the D2 schools that my Junior daughter (2015 graduate) has expressed interest in playing for as an OS hitter. At this schools coaches suggestion she visited the college last fall (2013) and spent a day with the team. She really enjoyed the visit and would likely accept an offer to play there should one be offered. During the visit, the head coach told my daughter that she is really interested in her and to come back next spring (2014) for another visit, this time overnight with some of the current players.  

Since the visit, one of the assistant coaches sends my daughter emails each week asking about her club team, club schedule, high school, etc, which my daughter each week replies to.  My daughter has sent them a few dates for the follow up visit a few weeks ago and the coach indicates he is working on setting up a visit. 
 
Now my questions....
 
1. Based on the information provided, and the level of regular contact she is receiving from this school, what if anything would you recommend we do differently to get to the offer stage?  Or am I just being impatient since some D2's recruiting schedules, as you indicate, tend to lag D1s. I will add however this particular school has already announced their 2014 recruiting class.

2. Should we just hold our horses, and continue emailing each other, until the school makes her an offer or tells her they arent interested anymore? 

3. With the frequency of emails between my daughter and their coach, can we assume she will get an offer eventually or do you feel they are just stringing her along for now?
 
Thanks for any information you can provide!
 
J. T.

Thanks for the compliments on the site and glad to help.

By my reading of your information, I have two explanations:

1.  The school is sincerely interested in your daughter but is waiting to put together a scholarship offer until they have a better idea of the resources available and the needs of the program. NCAA Division II only has 8 athletic scholarships (if they are fully funded and a large number of D2's are not fully funded) to partial out/package out.  

The coach has to determine which players may not be on the roster after the 2014 season (graduation or cuts or quits), along with what positions the program needs to spend 'extra' money on to ensure success; there are some years that a program will need to 'overspend' on a MB and can 'underspend' on an OH.  The program will have a better idea come the end of the spring season, but won't know 'for sure' about their total/exact available amounts until the end of the 2014 season.

2.  The program is just stringing your daughter along because they don't feel she is an impact player, but she could help them out.  In a sense, she is good enough to keep in contact with, but not good enough to put down a scholarship offer right now.  This scenario relates back to point #1, and they are trying to take care of all the other priority recruits before they address any scholarship possibilities with your daughter.

My advice - Stay in contact with the D2, but you need to keep reaching out to potential schools for her future.  You want to have 10 possibilities that all look good, you want the schools to get into a bidding war for your daughter (if they are D2/NAIA programs); as nice/cool/comfortable as this D2 is, I can promise you that there are 10 other places that are just as nice.

Whether is is Possibility 1 or Possibility 2, in both scenarios, they are stalling you out.  While they stall you out, you need to reach out to additional schools.  Right now, the recruiting process is managing you and that is not the way to operate.  

You need to manage the recruiting process - Until the day your PSA makes a verbal commitment (or signs the National Letter of Intent), you should be constantly engaged in the recruiting process by reviewing potential schools/programs, reaching out to these programs, communicating with schools, sending current video, taking unofficial visits, taking official visits, watching them play without them knowing you are there, etc.

The reality is that in today's collegiate athletics climate, at all levels, you have to be active and professional in your management of the process.  Collegiate athletics has become too cut throat, it has become too uncertain, it has become too businesslike to go about things in a 'hopeful' manner!

Good luck and take control!

Coach