Top 10 questions to ask on a recruiting visit:
A few notes on visits before we get to the questions:
I think the most important thing about a recruiting visit is getting to know the coach(es) and your potential future teammates. You will spend so much time with these people, so it is important that you like them and feel comfortable around them. Make sure you get to know them! That is probably the number one reason why I ended up choosing IU- because my coach and the girls made me feel comfortable and like I was going to be part of a family. These people will change over the course of your time in college though, so don’t make your decision based solely on that.
If at all possible, I think it is great to watch a practice so you can see how the coach(es) interact with athletes during practice. Are they goofing around? Are they very strict and straight forward? Do they talk to players before or after? Do they seem like they care about the players outside of practice? You may not get all of this in one day, but you should be able to get a general sense for things. One way is not generally better than another- you have to determine what you think is best for you. Ask yourself what kind of coaches have you had in the past and how do you like to interact with coaches?
That is the hard part about being recruited. There is no right answer… you just have to try to figure out what is going to best for YOU (not your parents, not your former coaches, not your siblings, not your future coaches/teammates)-YOU.
It is also important that you like the school and everything else about the college experience other than athletics. I always tell recruits to imagine going to school there without athletics: would you still pick that school? This is important because athletics does not make up your entire life and very few collegiate athletes go on to play professionally. If things are not going well athletically, you don’t want to hate your entire experience.
Questions to ask the coach(es):
- What does your travel/meet schedule typically look like?
- What are your expectations over summer and other academic calendar breaks? Are your athletes required to stay on campus?
- What are workouts like not in season?
- How would you describe your coaching style?
- What does it take to earn a scholarship? Are the scholarships guaranteed for a year or for four years?
- What do you think is different about the athletes you have coached who have been really successful?
- How do you see me fitting in the team? Would I travel to all the meets as a freshman? Are there standards or requirements to be able to travel? Would I redshirt?
- How do you handle injuries?
- What are your expectations of me/your athletes?
- Why do you like coaching here?
And one bonus question if you really want them to sell themselves or the school!:
- Why should I come here?
Questions to ask the athletes:
- What is the culture like in the athletic department? Do you hang out with other athletes?
- What is the team like? Does everyone get along?
- What resources available at your school have been beneficial for you? Academic, athletics, nutrition, psychology, athletic training, leadership and life skills, career etc…
- If you had to do it over again, would you still choose to come here?
- What does your typical day look like?
- How do you like the coaching staff?
- What kinds of things do you do as a team outside of practice?
- Do you think it is hard to balance academics and athletics here?
- How do the coaches handle injuries and class conflicts?
- What do you think I should know?
These questions will give you a better idea of what life would be like there as an athlete, how you would fit in, and how you would expect the coaches to coach. You probably won’t know what the right answer to these questions are- there really aren’t any right answers. The key is to compare the answers between your visits to different schools in order to find the differences.
At one school you may find a really strict coach who thinks you will redshirt as a freshman, but the athletes find it really easy to balance academics and they travel to a lot of meets. The other school might have a really laid back coach and you will start impacting the team as soon as you arrive on campus, but they don’t tend to travel to as many meets. There are trade offs in any situation and you will have to determine for yourself what you think is most important and what situation you think you will thrive in.
As a last note, I will say good luck with the recruiting process to any future athletes! It is not always the most fun process and choosing where to go to college and seem like a huge decision!
Feel free to reach out if you have questions about going on a college visit or why you should ask these questions!
Former college athletes- comment with other questions you think are important!