"The coach is interested in my kid."
That is encouraging. But when a family tells me this, I want to understand what happened next.
What does that interest actually look like? Did the coach discuss a specific roster opening? Financial support? An enrollment year? Or was it a positive conversation about the player's progress?
Those are very different levels of interest, and different stages of recruiting.
Interest is valuable. Clarity is essential.
Under the House settlement framework adopted in 2025, participating Division I schools operate with roster limits instead of sport specific scholarship caps. Those schools may offer scholarships to every rostered athlete, but the policy does not require them to fund every position. [1]
For families, that makes it particularly important to separate three questions.
1. Is there an actual roster opportunity?
Ask: "How many openings do you project for my enrollment year, and where do I stand in your recruiting plans?"
A coach can be sincerely interested in a player without having a position available.
2. What financial support is being offered?
Ask for the amount, what it covers, its duration and the conditions that apply. Then look at the family's remaining cost.
Do not fill in missing details with assumptions.
3. What is the path to competing?
A roster spot and a spot in the travel lineup are different opportunities.
Ask how the coach selects the lineup, what qualifying involves and what a developing player needs to demonstrate.
The purpose is to understand the situation well enough to make a sound decision.
I want families to leave recruiting conversations able to explain the opportunity in plain language:
Here is the position being discussed. Here is the financial package. Here is how players earn competitive opportunities. Here is what still needs to happen.
If those answers are missing, the next step is another conversation.
Enjoy a coach's interest. Then help your child learn to ask thoughtful, specific questions about what that interest really means.
Be a lighthouse, not a tugboat.
Coach Spar