Communicating with college coaches as a recruit can be tricky and there are a lot of questions attached. Here, we tackle the first question that usually arises when it's time to reach out to a coach.

Q: When should I email a college coach? 

When coaches are asked “When should an athlete start reaching out to you?” in our interviews, we receive various responses. Many coaches say that an athlete should typically email a college coach at the start of their junior year in high school. This is because NCAA rules do not allow coaches to email or call athletes until September 1st of their junior year. 

Although the coaches can't speak to the athletes until they are juniors, making coaches aware you are interested in their school prior to your junior year is still important. When Boston College former women's basketball Head Coach, Erik Johnson, was asked “When should an athlete reach out to a coach?” he said “That's really up to the recruit and their family and when they are ready to start thinking about things. It's never too early to make us aware of a good player with an interest in a school.” 

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Stanford women's volleyball coach, Kevin Hambly, was asked the same question and he replied with “We can't speak to an athlete until they are Juniors, so making us aware that they are interested in their sophomore year is great.” Coach Reckamp from the University of Minnesota responded with “After freshman year of high school – that summer.” 

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Even though the coaches may not be able to respond to the emails until you are a junior it only helps you by reaching out earlier than that. Emailing coaches prior to your junior year will put you on their radar and show them you are interested. Coaches want athletes to be proactive, persistence, and communicative so once you know what schools interest you send an email to those coaches! 

For more information, check out our coach advice section on our website. There you will find interviews with several head coaches giving advice on when the right time is to reach out to a college coach (and lots more recruiting advice!).

Have an idea for a story or a question you need answered? Want to set up an interview with us? Email us at [email protected]

* Originally published on June 30, 2022, by Jaileen Goncalves