How to Email College Coaches and Get Noticed

10 years ago when coaches were just getting used to email it was easy to get a response from every coach. You would be able to write an email and they would get back to you in a couple days letting you know if they were interested in you. Now, everyone has email and some coaches get hundreds of emails a day. It can be difficult to break through the noise and get responses from coaches. Below we explain how to use email to contact coaches and get on their recruiting board.

When You Can Email Coaches

You are allowed to email college coaches at anytime, but coaches are restricted in when they can respond to athletes. The key to hearing back from a coach is to include contact information for your high school and/or club team coaches. If you email a college coach before they can write you back, they can respond to your high school or club coach and let you know when to call them so you can talk.

The rules around when a coach can respond to your emails are complex (The NCAA Coaches Contact Rules), but in general if you are not in your Junior or Senior year of high school coaches at the NCAA D1, D2 or NAIA levels cannot respond to you. If you email them and they are interested in you, they will contact your coach and schedule a time for you to connect with them; usually over the phone.

Coaches are busy and receive hundreds of emails each day; you might have to email a coach several times before you hear back from them. If you haven’t heard back from a coach after 5-10 emails and several weeks, you just have to assume they are not interested in recruiting you and find other schools.

What to Email Coaches

Every coach needs to be able to quickly evaluate and contact an athlete who emails them. You want to have all of your academic information, physical stats, sport specific measurements and contact information for you and your coaches. Additionally, if you have a highlight video, get it online and include the link in your email to coaches. Here is a sample recruiting resume you can use for a guide on what to have in your email.

Make Sure Coaches Respond to Your Email

Getting responses from college coaches isn’t a guarantee but there are a couple of things you should do to improve your chances. Have an adult sounding email address; try to use only your name as the email address. Create a brand new email account that you use only for recruiting. When writing the title to your email, include your name, graduation year and most impressive stat about you. This makes it really easy for a coach to know what the email is about. The last tip is to personalize each email for every coach and program. Show the coaches you have researched their program and taken the time to write them a personal email.

Using our online recruiting profiles you can see when a coach has opened your emails and easily track all of your recruiting. Create your free account by clicking on the Parent or Athlete button above.

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How to write email titles that will get coaches to notice you

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Author: David Frank