Recruiting

being a KY hoops fan new coach Billie Gillespie is getting recruits who are verbally committing from the class of 2010 already! It was my understanding that in FP the coach couldnt even talk to the girls until they were Juniors. Perhaps someone could enlighten as to what is permissable in terms of contact and when and if there are any differences between men's basketball and FP in terms of the rules of the recruitment process. Thanks!

 

Commit

U can verbally commit as a freshman in HS, I am sure that many of these college coaches would have jumped on an Ashton Ward and other quality kids if they could have gotten verbal. The college coach can not contact the kid and discuss the program and the kids impact on the program. What about camps at the school? What can a coach say or do at a camp? Workouts or practice at a college? What does rule book say about these situations. Some good things to discuss and get opinions.

 

that shows the quandry..... how can a kid in the class of 2010 "verbally commit" without being offered a scholarship but how can a coach offer if they can't talk with the kid? I know enough from other sports that a verbal is non-binding on both sides and even the LOI is renewable on an annual basis. Thanks

 

As someone who is going through this process at the moment my understanding of some of the rules is this. A coach may not contact a player or parent until the summer before their senior year. the coach may talk to their travel ball or high school coach before that time. Up until August a coach could text a player but that has now been banned. the parents or player may call or contact the coach when they want to. If they take it upon theirselves to do this or visit the campus(unofficial) then the coach can talk to them. Camps are also fair game for coaches as long as they are on their campus. As of July 1 before their senior year the coach may call or contact the player or parents ONCE a calendar week. that includes phone calls or face to face. Also remember the coaches are trying to recruit the kids so if they call and get you with out the kids there and you talk any that has used up their talk for that week so stay off the phone (easier to avoid now with cell phones). the coach may not call on tuesday and then see you saturday at the tourney and talk to you both times. they will have to wait til sunday. just remember if you are on their campus i'm pretty sure you are fair game no matter how old you are. man awfully risky getting commits that far ahead hope gillespie knows what he's doing

 

Parkland- You have absolutely nailed it. If a player goes to a camp or the family goes to a school on an 'unofficial" visit, while on campus, a coach can make an offer. This is highly unusual, but does happen for a "blue chip" player.
The benefit for the player is that they will receive a great offer and the school is the one they have dreamt about. They also won't have to deal with the recruiting process their remaining years and to concentrate solely on improving their skills.

When these offers are accepted the commitment is not binding and the NCAA does not recognize it...until the National Letter of Intent is signed.

Here is an informative link

http://www1.ncaa.org/membership/membership_svcs/recruiting_calendars/2006-07/recruitingchart.pdf

 

Thanks

very good info...keep it coming

 

You know the funny part of recruiting is, that before you enter the 9th grade, a coach can call or talk to you as much as they care to, but once you become a 9th grader, you then fall under all the recruiting guidelines....

 

late interest.......

early commitments and the period of time before the NLI signings are certainly stressfull for the recruits as they wait to secure their commitment...

Another area that potentially could effect your decision and impact your athletic experience is a coach or school that suddenly has developed interest in you late in the process, when there was none before....

All programs have a prospect list of potental recruits by position. The competition for the top level players does not always ensure that a school will get a commitment from the group they are looking to bring in.

A red flag should raise if a coach suddenly shows interest in you when there was none before. Ask hard questions why the sudden interest.

Most likely, they missed on who they went after, and now need to fill a spot or position... The pressure will be tremendous, as you will have to perform immediately at the level of the recruit that the coach didn't get or the coach will be recruiting your position again next year.

Your freshman year is tough enough with the academic requirements and learning to live on your own, etc...

Don't make your signing day the greatest day of your career...

 

Prkland has it pretty well covered...

I am a college coach and we have to take a test on these rules every year, but there are a lot of ways around them if you want to go that route. Here are the basics and how someone who is a 2010 can verbal...

1. A kid does not become a prospective student-athlete until they start 9th grade. Before 9th grade, they and their parents are fair game and anyone can talk to them. You see this mostly in basketball with all these kids playing major AAU tournaments from the time they are in 2nd grade. And yes, coaches do know who the good 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders are!

2. Once a kid starts 9th grade, they become what the NCAA calls a "recruitable student-athlete." This means they now fall under the rules covering recruiting found in the NCAA manual. These rules are as follows:

• Letters or other recruiting information may not be sent to the potential student-athlete until September 1st of the student-athlete's junior year unless it is information from the admissions office that they send to any student requesting it.
• Contact - Contact is defined as either an in-person, off-campus meeting or a phone call. Div I coaches may not initiate contact with a potential recruit before July 1 of the summer before their senior year. Div II coaches may not initiate contact with a potential recruit before June 15 of the summer before their senior year. Coaches are allowed 1 phone call per calendar week to either the recruit, their parents or their legal guardian. If a parent answers and tells the coach that the player is not home, that generally is not considered a phone call. If they start asking questions or the coach starts talking beyond a simple hello, then it must be counted. Coaches are allowed 3 in-person, off-campus contacts per recruit. Multiple contacts in the same day count as the 1 contact (i.e. - talking to mom at a tournament and then when the tournament is finished later that day, talking to the recruit - 1 contact).

SO.....how do 2010's and beyond start verballing? Its easy. In basketball, mainly, coaches do know who the good young kids are and they do go to those tournaments and watch. They start talking to the coaches and the AAU coaches in turn talk to the parents. So here are the ways a kid or parent can talk to a coach early.

1. Any call initiated by a parent or recruitable student-athlete is fine for the coach to talk about anything, including a scholarship offer. This is usually done through an AAU coach...the college coach tells him he's interested in player X and tells the AAU coach to have them call him. AAU coach tells player X and his parents that UNIVERSITY OF BIG TIME is interested in their kid and he would like to talk to you. Mom and Dad start seeing $$$$....get all excited...little Billy doesn't really know what's going on but gets excited cuz he saw BIG TIME on tv...they call the coach, he gives the kid his recruiting pitch at age 14....says call me back next week...they do, the recruiting continues....coach says why don't you come out and see the campus, we're having some recruits out for the football game against RIVAL STATE UNIVERSITY...you'll have to pay for it yourself but we can give you complimentary tickets to the game....now mom and dad are really pumped...little Billy's thinkin about all the hot college girls that are gonna be there....they pony up the $ for the airfare and hotel, get on campus, watch the game, see all the sights, then sit down with the coach (oh yeah, did I mention that if a kid and/or their parents are on campus on their own dollar, its ok for the coach to talk with them as long as its not a dead period), the coach tells them how much he wants little Billy in 5 years and he offers them a scholarship (another side note, in these sports like BB and FB where kids are committing early, the only scholarships they offer are full...its different than some of the smaller sports where we can give partials...so when a BB coach says I want to offer you a scholarship, it only means one thing...they don't have to give them a written numbers breakdown like some of us do). Little Billy is still excited seeing all the hot college women...mom and dad are thinkin NBA...and they commit.

So, let's review....
1. Any phone call initiated by a parent or player to the coach is fine...the coach can talk about anything with them as long as its on the player's dime
2. Contact on campus is fine as long as it is not during a dead period for the sport. These contacts include camps and any unofficial visits by the prospective student-athlete or their parents. A prospective student-athlete may take as many unofficial visits as they want, so a lot of coaches will ask them to come up sometime to see campus and sit down and talk.

I know this is long winded but it is possible to do and is done all the time. It is happening more and more in softball and will have a major impact on the recruiting process in the years to come. Any questions are welcome.