NCAA considering ban of early offers

[scoutnwhoops]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5325723

Personally I think the athletes and their families should take more control of the situation. There is no reason to go to a school that expects you to commit before you even step on campus or meet the players/coaches. If this is the tactic being used -- DO NOT GO THERE. If the coach does not care about how you fit and what you want out of your experience, will they care about you when things get tough, or when you are homesick, or when you are struggling in chemistry 210?

This will not be enforceable so why not just educate the families and prospects on how to take control of their situation.

[intelligenthoodlum]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5325723

Personally I think the athletes and their families should take more control of the situation. There is no reason to go to a school that expects you to commit before you even step on campus or meet the players/coaches. If this is the tactic being used -- DO NOT GO THERE. If the coach does not care about how you fit and what you want out of your experience, will they care about you when things get tough, or when you are homesick, or when you are struggling in chemistry 210?

This will not be enforceable so why not just educate the families and prospects on how to take control of their situation.

An absolute and complete waste of NCAA breath...

[CoachLewis]

Not sure I see it as a complete waste. I spoke with several college coaches last week when this first came out and despite the obvious flaws; they see it as a way to make a point. It’s hard to argue that early decisions and the pressure to commit at young ages are not a problem. While it is almost entirely unenforceable, it will reveal to recruits and parents the coaches who willingly ignore NCAA legislation. If they’ll violate what they view as small pieces of legislation, they’re showing their character and you have to wonder what else they’ll do as well as what decisions they’ll make with their players.

The key for the NCAA will be in the actual wording of the by-law so that it will remove the opportunity lead, infer, or subliminally offer without actually putting a scholarship on the table. It would have to be all encompassing and eliminate any discussion of scholarships or financial aid in any context. In that light parents would know that it can’t come up in any way, shape or form. Can it be eliminated? Not likely in this century, but it can make a point and maybe put a damper on some of the early recruiting efforts that totally disregard what’s best for the athlete or for their current roster for that matter. Somehow offering a kid who won’t be on campus for another two or three years seems to disregard just “who” they might be down the road. Team chemistry be damned I guess.

The phone call additions are really a positive. Having been a coach back when there were no limits at all I can say that while it was a pain, we knew recruits much better than coaches do today. A free for all on calls isn’t needed but earlier, regulated contact can only help coaches and players both. While several of the attempts at changes in phone legislation in the past have met with objections on the basis of “interfering” and “mass invasions” of an athlete’s life, today’s cell phone environment and caller ID might make these changes more suitable now. The athletes and parents have much more control than they had back in the old days when there was just one home phone hanging from the wall. Adding one of those “extra lines” and designating it as the recruiting number to be shared might be worth the cost!
Stay tuned, with the legislative process working the way it does there could be a rush to offer younger players before this could go into effect.

Kindergarten and Kommitments…could be a column soon!!

[dtrain34]

Intellectually, I agree with all the reasons to ban early offers. However, personality-wise, there can be an advantage to this for certain kids -- providing they have had the foresight (and means, of course, which brings a whole 'nother variable into the discussion) to make at least a few unofficial visits. I know of 2012 prospects who have definite ideas on what kind of university they want to attend, where that school should or should not be located, what the coaches should be like, etc. -- and absolutely no interest in the "excitement" of being recruited -- getting all the mail, being hosted on official vists, etc. Should one of the "right" schools offer early, in cases like this, it might be a blessing to eliminate a lot of unwanted (if well-intentioned) sales pitches and save some of the college coaches time and effort.

Again, in many cases, bringing the stress of lifetime decisions to an earlier point in the process may be a mistake, but not in all.

[scoutnwhoops]

I still think that if the prospect and the parents put it out there that the pressure to commit early is unwelcome that the coaches doing it are telling you just as much about their own personalities as breaking an unenforceable regulation would. Whether it's the recruit establishing the appropriate boundary or the NCAA, it's the same thing.

I can see banning offers to middle schoolers but not sophomores, especially those that have been coming to your campus for several years to camp, they've gotten to know you and visa versa. Seems like you punish one group of recruits to help another when simply educating themselves and clearly communicating with the coaches would accomplish the same thing.

Again the recruit that gets lost in all this is the one that has just a one or two offers from D-1 schools. Those are the kids that get abused by the pressure tactics. This is in part due to the fact they cannot let go of the D-1 thing and find fits at other institutions, but that's another discussion for another day.

[intelligenthoodlum]

In this current climate of off-the-hook and out-of-control parents--who have proven to be more than willing--it is virtually impossible to prevent parents and college coaches who are pressed to be "participatory", from manipulating this part of the recruiting process.
In fact, 2013/2014-class parents have shown to be more than willing--and haven't needed to be begged, it seems--to commit their daughters to colleges off of 24-, to 48-hour "visits" to a gym for an elite camp or for a team camp, without seeing any other buildings on a college campus.
How pathological is that?

[girlzhoopguru]

In this current climate of off-the-hook and out-of-control parents--who have proven to be more than willing--it is virtually impossible to prevent parents and college coaches who are pressed to be "participatory", from manipulating this part of the recruiting process.
In fact, 2013/2014-class parents have shown to be more than willing--and haven't needed to be begged, it seems--to commit their daughters to colleges off of 24-, to 48-hour "visits" to a gym for an elite camp or for a team camp, without seeing any other buildings on a college campus.
How pathological is that?

IH, what player(s) are you talking about that have done that?

[intelligenthoodlum]

Do a run-down of the 2013's east of the Mississippi who are "being recruited" by Big East/ACC/SEC schools, and after deep thought, you should be able to figure out who is committing or is desperate to commit to these schools.
And most of these are parents of girls who are top-100 players in the class! And these are girls who are most likely doing to go major-D-1 somewhere :confused: anyway...

[girlzhoopguru]

Do a run-down of the 2013's east of the Mississippi who are "being recruited" by Big East/ACC/SEC schools, and after deep thought, you should be able to figure out who is committing or is desperate to commit to these schools.
And most of these are parents of girls who are top-100 players in the class! And these are girls who are most likely doing to go major-D-1 somewhere :confused: anyway...

Why don't you go ahead and give the name(s)? Sometimes it's better to not say anything.

[CoachLewis]

Educating the parents of recruits is a much more difficult challenge than you would assume. The biggest reason is that the majority of their information comes through the coaches themselves who obviously have their own agenda. Through the years it was difficult to initially get parents and players to embrace the early signing period or learn the academic standards of Proposition 48 when it came on the scene. In the end the NCAA has to at least offer up the best attempt possible at protecting the interests of all the student athletes not just a small group and not just basketball. Actually very few heavily recruited athletes attend camps year after year anymore. Most are members of club programs from early ages and begin making an appearance or two at the so called “elite” camps further down the road more for recruiting purposes rather than the actual camp experience. Withholding offers until an athlete has at entered or even completed her junior year isn’t going to shortchange anyone who would have gotten an offer anyway. Additionally the universities might benefit by finding a kid they like better or avoid one who didn’t evolve as they had originally hoped.

Legislative help for both the prospects and the college coaches, if it were only that simple! At least making an attempt at legislating against early offers is an acknowledgement that it is an issue and that all parties involved need to look closer at their what’s in the best interest of a young lady who may well not be ready herself (not mom and dad) to decide what she’ll want in her future Even if she does have an idea now, what are the odds the priorities of a teenager might change over a couple of years? The number of athletes through the years that told us what they were looking for at the outset of the recruiting process and signed with schools that didn’t remotely fit the bill was staggering. If they’re good enough the offers will be there and they will have had more time to settle into what they’ll really want and need in their final decision. There is an overwhelming amount of unenforceable legislation out there and sometime you have to trust that most coaches will ultimately put the athlete’s well being first.

As far as the kid who wants to avoid the circus or the onslaught of recruiting attention, the process is in your control. You don’t have to open the mail or e mail. You don’t have to take any calls you’re not interested in or visit schools officially or unofficially at any point. If you know who or what you like, take control of the situation and be selective from the start. Don’t allow a high school or club coach to talk you into having conversations or contact with any recruiters you’re not interested in. You don’t owe any individual one thing in the recruiting process. If a coach flies all the way across country to watch you play and you’ve never had any interest or contact with their program, there’s no reason to start now. Don’t for one second feel obligated because of any efforts they might make. Keep in mind all that they do is self serving and about them no matter how they might portray it to you. The circus only starts if you open up the tent and allow someone else to be the ringmaster.