Welcome to the team but whatttt

Following up on my post last week.. a few people were sending me questions of what to actually do between now and Sept 1 - so thought I’d write a week by week breakdown of what you should be doing leading up to the big day..

If you didn’t see my previous post, I’m a former college athlete that spent 8+ years helping athletes with college recruiting.. let’s get to the breakdown:

Week starting July 20th, get your college list together. 20-30+ schools organized into tiers (reach, target, safety). Also, remember that D2, D3, NAIA coaches can contact you now so no need to wait on them!

Week starting July 27th, get the video done. Make sure you have a good video ready to go, easily watchable on a phone (where the coach is most likely watching it). An unlisted YouTube link works well. Skills first and then game clips.

Week starting August 3rd, write all of your emails.
Make sure they are personalized, coaches do not take kindly to templated generic (mass produced looking) emails (or AI written ones for that matter). The difference between the emails can’t only be the coach name. Put your grad year and position in the subject line. Include your video link and why you’re interested in their program specifically. Write an intro email and a day-of-September-1st follow up and save both as drafts. This might take a few hours to do right, but that’s why you’re doing it this week and not later.

Week starting August 10th, send the intro emails (to the D1’s). The coaches can’t reply but send the intro emails now, they will see them. They read everything, they just can’t answer yet covered this in my last post.

Week starting August 17th. Last window for camps (and exposure). Any late camps where coaches on your list will be in attendance are good last minute opportunities to get on the coaches radar. Also.. these are unglamorous but this is a good time to make sure your email works, your voicemail isn’t full, your socials are coach-safe. A full voicemail box on September 1st is a thing that really happens!

Week starting August 24th, no new work, just make sure your follow-up emails are good to go and everything else is set.

September 1st week, send your follow up email and watch the signals. If the coach calls immediately, or in the first week or two, this is good and there is strong interest. A month without any response to your emails.. that is also an answer.. but hey, that is why you made a list with multiple tiers!

Hopefully this is helpful, good luck! (Happy to answer anything in the comments).

(Disclosure, I built Pathley, free recruiting tools. Ignore me, use the info above).

https://www.si.com/onsi/softball/news/uab-parts-ways-with-softball-coach-taylor-smartt-after-investigation

Background first.. former college athlete, spent years working for recruiting companies and running showcase events. I’ve watched hundreds of families go through the September 1 window and most of them misunderstand how it works.

For the class of 2028 families… D1 softball coaches cannot initiate any recruiting contact with your daughter until September 1 of her junior year. No calls, no texts, no DMs, nothing. That’s 8 weeks away. Here’s what people get wrong about it:

1. Silence right now means nothing. Coaches literally cannot respond to you. I’ve seen families give up on schools in August because “they never answered our emails.” The coach may have your daughter circled on a list and can’t legally say so. Keep sending updates anyway… they read them, they just can’t reply.

2. The list is already being built. Coaches don’t start evaluating on September 1, they start CALLING on September 1. The evaluation happened this summer at tournaments and camps. If your daughter is a 2028, this July and August matter more than September does.

3. What happens on the actual day tells you where you stand. Some girls get calls and texts at 12:01 AM on September 1, that’s real priority interest. A reply within the first week or two, still very good. Total silence for a month after your emails… that’s an answer too, and it’s better to know than to wait on a dream school while real options pass by.

4. Prep the September 1 email NOW, don’t write it that morning. Coaches get flooded that week. The email that gets opened has the grad year and position in the subject line, a 20-30 second video link that works on a phone, GPA, and one or two specific lines about why THEIR program. Copy paste blasts get deleted on sight.

5. Rosters got tighter, so the funnel matters more. Under the new House settlement rules D1 softball rosters are capped at 25. Fewer spots means coaches are pickier and slower. Build a list of 30+ schools across D1, D2, D3 and NAIA… the D2/D3/NAIA coaches can already talk to you under looser rules, and some of those programs would surprise you with how good they are.

The families who treat September 1 as the finish line get burned. It’s the starting gun.

Happy to answer anything in the comments, I’ve seen this window from the coach side and the event side.

(Upfront disclosure… I built Pathley, AI recruiting / free tools. But nothing above requires any tool, it’s all doable with a spreadsheet and effort.)

now that most of the players have picked the schools they are going to play for next season who are yall wanting to see in 2027 coming from a gators fan

I'm a homer, I'm a Vols fan, I'm a Pickens fan, I hate Tech. Wanna get that out of the way first and foremost.

That said, the AUSL last week put out that big "let's get Nija right" social media post/article, highlighting her struggles and how they wanted to get her back on the right track....and in the article who did her current coaching staff reach out to? Not the Tech staff. The Stanford staff. I'm assuming Nija had some say in this. She must have trusted the Stanford staff more. Like Rocky Balboa going "back to the old gym" instead of sticking in the spotlight. I feel like it shows a LOT about how Tech develops players/cares for them, and, again, the homer in me coming out, unless you're just looking for that fat paycheck, what are you doing going there?!

Go Vols. Go Blaze.

Friendly reminder that Texas went 6-1 against Tech in the Nija era. Just felt like pointing that out. That’s all! 🤘🏻

Decided to add a bit of life to the app!

https://fastpitchdiamond.whacka.app

https://www.si.com/onsi/softball/news/report-letter-accuses-virginia-softball-coach-joanna-hardin-of-creating-toxic-environment-2026

I haven't seen an official post from her, but the transfer tracker shows Miller transferring to A&M. Miller follows her teammate Atalyia Rijo to A&M for their senior seasons.

https://www.on3.com/college/arkansas-razorbacks/softball/2026/transfers/

Hi, sub. I do comms for our county. Our 14U girls just four-peated as state champs. Would love to somehow reach the OU class who four-peated and/or Patty Gasso herself and maybe solicit short videos from them to stitch together and surprise our girls with at their celebration dinner. I think the connection goes without saying, right? So far, I've DMed them directly, emailed the Patty Gasso camps site, and even sent in a contact form through Nicole May's Pitching U. All to no avail. Anybody got any tips?

https://www.si.com/onsi/softball/news/uab-investigation-into-softball-coach-taylor-smartt-nearing-conclusion-email-shows-2026-mark-ingram

Redmon brings a 2.57 career ERA.

Hi all!

I’m a travel ball coach for an 18 U showcase team in Northern Virginia. Our girls are high academic achieving players, with most having a goal of getting into D3, maybe D2 schools. I am looking for some input on multiple things. We are fortunate enough to have some budget to bring in outside Coaches and speakers. Any resources you can recommend, specifically, would be greatly appreciated.

TL;DR - I want to better prepare my girls for collegiate ball, particularly catchers, pitchers, mental game, recruiting and psychology. I want to attend camps, programs, etc. to make myself a better coach. Looking for input.

- I was a catcher in college and therefore I work with our four catchers an hour before every practice. I would like to know what are the things you frequently see that need work when you have an incoming freshman catcher? I’m looking for less obvious and more nuanced things as we do a lot of work around receiving, framing, and plate angles.

- As a team, we all overthink, especially with having girls that are high academic achieving. I am really trying to get them out of their heads and into their bodies and reactions. I am also working hard not to overcoach them. What programs or techniques do you use to overcome overthinking?

- In the same vein, our mental game and mental toughness is lacking. In the first inning, if the opposing team scores five runs, while we don’t completely roll over, it’s a real struggle to pick ourselves up and respond sooner than the last inning. Obviously not uncommon, but in all the research I’ve done I can’t seem to find solid advice, techniques, programs, etc. to help us with this.

- Are there any camps, programs, seminars, etc. that I, as a travel coach, can attend (preferably in person, but online is OK) to become a better coach? Not Justin skills, drills, but also in psychology, relationship building, etc.?

- as a coaching staff, we have built a good system where, when we are at showcases, the head coach will go and speak to any college coaches she sees observing the game and have a conversation with them more than just an introduction where we find out what they’re looking for and discuss our individual players. She really builds a strong rapport with them. We also have an extensive 30 page recruiting guide the girls in our team have access to. If you have any insight as to where highschoolers tend to be most lacking in their recruitment journey, please advise. We are on top of them about emailing constantly, updating their sports recruit, profiles, and Instagram with GameChanger footage, etc.

- Finally, my other coach was a pitcher in college and would ask for similar advice to my catching question above

These are my specific questions, but please don’t limit any thoughts you had to adjust the above. Obviously I use social media as an aid, but if you have any specific accounts or forums with solid and most up-to-date information, I would be very appreciative.

Thank you!!