Recruiting visits are more art than they are science.
Every coach has their own quirky thing they look for in a good visit i.e. dress, hand shake firmness, eye contact, you name it. But generally speaking, if you can keep these 7 things in mind on your next visit, you will be off to a good start.
Domineering Parents
You want to let your child be the star of the show. 80% of the visit should be them leading the way, engaging and talking with the coaches, asking questions and 20% or less should be the parents. Feel free to ask a few questions, but you don't need to oversell your own child. The coaching staff wouldn't be spending time with your child if they thought he wasn't worth their time. Let your child's tape and talent do the marketing.
Lack of Questions
Even at high academic colleges and universities, football coaches want to know how much you love football. They don't want to be used to get you an admissions spot only to have you quit football after a preseason. Football coaches like football questions. What kind of D/O do you run? Why type of personnel do you prefer for X or Y situation? Sure, you can ask academic questions, but balance them with football questions as well.
Embellishing
If you have a 2.9 GPA, just say you have a 2.9 GPA. If you are 5'11, just say you are 5'11. Unfortunately coaches know players tend to embellish their self-reported height, weight, and academics (or the parents running their child's X account do?) The in-person visit is a chance to see how big that gap between reality and what your X profile says is.
Too Pushy
Timing, chance and luck play disproportionately large roles in recruiting outcomes and recruiting can have moments of a flurry of activity and moments of quiet. Pressing coaches for when they're going to decide on who they want will almost never yield an exact date and time. You are better off softly pitching the question: We'd love to know what your ball park timeline might be for this process - March, April?
Clothing
There is no need for a suit and tie, although it almost always better to be too dressed up than too casual. You can't go wrong with nice shoes/sneakers, khakis, a polo from your school, or button down and a varsity jacket. You should be well groomed - shower, shave, good breath - you know simple Life 101 stuff. I think most families actually get this right.
Presence
Cell phone and head phones should be off, away and turned off. The easiest way to communicate disinterest is fumbling around on your device or walking around with headphones on. It's fine to ask coaches for some kind of a photo, but keep it simple. It's usually fine to blame your parents: Hey coach, my mom just wanted to get a quick picture of us, is that OK?
Thank You Notes
A thank you note probably never got a kid an offer, but it also probably never hurt their chances either. Coaches are busy doing 10,000 different things a day and they're taking 2-3 hours out of that day to tour you and your family around. They miss time with their children to answer your emails and DMs or take phone calls. A quick 2-3 line thank you is always a nice touch:
Coach, thanks so much for touring us today. It was great to learn about [X SPECIFIC THING]. Looking forward to catching up sometime next week. All the best, [NAME]
Recruiting visits are more art than they are science. Every coach has their own quirky thing they look for in a good visit i.e. dress, hand shake firmness, eye contact, you name it. But generally speaking, if you can keep these 7 things in mind on your next visit, you will be off to a good start.
Coach Cahill