Why Volleyball Coaches Don’t Respond During Fall Recruiting

Fall volleyball recruiting can be really difficult for many athletes when it comes to connecting with college coaches. Not only are athletes in the middle of their very competitive high school season, but they have to deal with academics, standardized testing, homecoming, relationships and everything else. On top of all that, athletes need to be sending emails to schools to try and get in front of college coaches; learn if their position is getting recruited; build relationships with college coaches; watch and edit their highlight film.

It's not hard to understand why athletes get frustrated with the recruiting process this time of year. You might WANT to send emails more regularly, but with everything going on, you just forget and you're not as consistent as you want to be.

Here are some reasons as to WHY it is difficult to get responses from college coaches this time of year.

*Please remember that these are all variables that you CAN NOT control. This is knowledge that I think is helpful to understand how things go this time of your and the recruiting process as a whole. Please focus on what you CAN control.

Fall Season is busy

College coaches are going from practice planning - to practice - to film prep - to staff meetings - to whatever else. Timing is important. While it might be a surprise to some people, coaches don't live in their office; and they certainly don't spend every moment on their computers responding to emails. They are extremely focused on their seasons. This is why timing is important. Catching them at the right time is part of why we send more than one email.

Transfer Portal

It might surprise some people what the transfer portal has turned into. But for many of us it's turned into exactly what we thought and said it would. It's entirely possible for college coaches to try and get the athletes they want in the upcoming junior class. If they don't, then they will "just wait for the portal." It means that they will pass on the rest of the junior class (for the moment) and see what they can get out of the transfer portal. Depending on the need and the situation the program is in, transfers can really be helpful. But that does mean the need for the position in that class, moves a year or two down the road. Many coaches have the mindset that they CAN wait for the transfer portal, because if a junior athlete (or senior) is still available at the end of October then they will most likely still be available in January when the portal window closes again.

Going through their top list of recruits - seeing what happens...

There are more athletes playing high school and club volleyball than there are roster spots at the college level. This means that college coaches are choosing who to recruit and who not to recruit. Even when you are really good or as good as the athletes they are currently recruiting, there are many situations when a college coach will say, "Sorry, we are just further along with these other athletes." I remember several times asking my assistant if they thought our current list was good or if we needed to "add some of these other athletes into the mix." If we added any new athletes to our list, it was usually only a couple, even though we could have added more. Especially when college coaches really like an athlete or group of athletes, the last thing they want to do is add someone else to the mix. Although that can change quickly if the new athlete is significantly better than the current athletes on their list. That situation happened to me once. We had an athlete coming on a visit, and I had to call her recruiting coordinator and tell her that we might not be able to offer that athlete a visit based on who had just come across my email. That athlete ended up not coming on a visit at all. This other athlete did and started for us as a freshman. She's actually coaching high school right now and is still one of my favorite athletes/people that I was able to coach at the college level.

Finishing Up Their Current Class

Once you start lining up visits with athletes, you start down a path that is hard to walk back from. I don't mean that in a bad way. When you set up a visit 2 months in advance for your top OH or even your 2nd OH, it's hard to do anything else until those visits happen. Hours on the phone and hours of emails don't make sense if you're going to end up being done a few months from now. That isn't the best use of a coach's time, especially during their fall season; as we discussed above. When college coaches get into this situation, it's a good chance they aren't responding to emails, any emails, until that visit or offer is resolved and one of those athlete's is committed. They don't want to lead anyone on.

There are lots of reasons why a college coach isn't emailing you back. They may or may not have anything to do with you or even your ability to play at that level. This part is frustrating. I completely get that. Just remember that hard work pays off. You are reaching out to schools now so that they will come watch you play this next club season. Is there still possibility of things moving forward and you going on a visit in the fall, if you didn't have any leads prior to or right after June 15th? Of course! It doesn't always happen though. Remember, everyone's recruiting journey is different. Control what you can control. Don't give up because you haven't gotten a response. Those responses are coming.