I'm an assistant coach at the college level, and I read these emails. Most get deleted in about four seconds. Not because the player isn't good enough, but because the email makes it impossible to tell in four seconds whether he is.
A staff might get anywhere from a handful to a few hundred recruiting emails a week. Nobody reads them carefully. We scan. The question in a coach's head isn't "is this kid good?" It's "can this kid play here, and can I tell right now?" Answer that before anyone has to scroll.
The six things we need
- Grad year. If you're a 2029 and we're filling 2027, nothing else matters. Put it in the subject line.
- Position and size. Honest height and weight. We'll find out at a live event anyway.
- Where you play. High school, club team, city and state.
- Academics. GPA and test scores if you have them. At many schools this is the first filter.
- Film. One link that works.
- Why us. One real sentence about this specific program. A reason, not a compliment.
The subject line is a label
A coach can sort that from a phone while standing in a gym. "Interested in your program" looks like every other unread message.
The body: four short paragraphs, under 200 words
- Who you are. Name, grad year, position, height, school, club. One sentence.
- Why this school. "I watched you play zone against [team] and my shooting off movement fits what you do" beats "your program has a great tradition."
- The facts. Height, weight, GPA, a stat line or two if it's genuinely good.
- Film and a clear ask. The link, plus what you want: an evaluation, their recruiting timeline, or which events they'll attend.
Sign it with your email and phone number, not a parent's. If it doesn't fit on a phone screen without scrolling, cut it.
Emailing college coaches, part 1 of 3. Part 1: The first ten seconds · Part 2: Film and your schedule · Part 3: Who to email, and when