What is the Quiet Period?

Kelly Kulina: Your Link to the Colleges

During one of the busiest times of the year for most families, the Exclusive Program and Baseball Factory Staff regularly receive questions about why recruiting seems to hit a snag during this time span. For coaches, the holidays and semester break present a chance to catch their breath and spend time with families. In addition, having just completed the fall season and the early signing period, it’s time for coaches to re-group and size up their remaining needs. Since we’re about a month removed from the November signing period, I think now would be a great time to go over what the Dead and Quiet periods mean, and what you can do to help yourself in the recruiting process.

The Dead Period is when coaches are prohibited from making “face-to-face” contact with players or evaluate them on or off campus. It is commonly thought that the Dead Period was proposed out of respect for the players and parents. During the signing period, the dead period allows players and parents to sort through offers and opportunities without too much pressure. Besides falling on the two signing periods in November and April, you’ll notice that there are Dead Periods around different school openings in the fall and after winter break. After all, with school getting back in session, it is important to get re-focused on school without too many distractions. The remaining academic year will include two more Dead Periods, taking place January 2nd to January 6th and again April 6th through the 9th.

By definition, the Quiet Period is when a coach is prohibited from making contact in-person with players away from campus. So, a college coach cannot meet with you and your family at your home. In addition, he can’t visit you at school and watch you play or practice. However, coaches CAN work a college camp or showcase off-campus during the Quiet Period. They’re also allowed to call you or write you during this time. For in-person contacts, you and your parents can visit coaches on campus. This year, the Quiet Period runs from November 14th to February 28th

For most of my coaching career, there was no Quiet Period! Up until recently, there was very little downtime and college coaches, with the exception of the Dead Period, recruited off-campus year-round. So, as a coach, there was always significant pressure to be on the road recruiting! I believe this rule was put in place to get college coaches off the road for a little bit without completely shutting down the recruiting process.

So, what does this mean for the unsigned baseball player? If you haven’t read “Time to Re-Evaluate, Revise and Regroup!” yet, please take a few minutes to read this, print it out and stick it on your refrigerator. The Quiet Period underscores the fact that these winter months are your opportunity to make serious gains in the recruiting process! You can’t expect to succeed in this process without spending a significant amount of time on “behind-the-scenes” work. E-mailing college coaches with your Baseball Factory Player Page, following up on your letters to coaches and making unofficial visits to campus will provide you with serious momentum going into your spring season.

Not only are these methods proven to give you an edge, they very well could be considered the minimum. After all, most college coaches will not come to see you play during your junior or senior season without preexisting interest. The Quiet Period is a chance for you to make a good impression on a coach in person and over the phone, and to give him a preview of what to expect in the spring. Without taking these steps to recruit college coaches, you can’t expect to be recruited in return.

As always, our staff welcomes your questions and looks forward to assisting you in your endeavors!

Kelly Kulina is the Senior Vice President of College Recruiting at Baseball Factory. Kulina is a former Associate Head Coach and recruiting coordinator with the University of Maryland. As a former recruiting coordinator for ten years in the ACC, Kulina has vast contacts and is widely respected throughout the nation. From 1989 to 2000, Kulina coached 46 players who were selected in the MLB draft.