Board thoughts on (very) early commits

I agree that the schools receiving the commitments probably like the fact of locking in a guy, but this school did not like the idea of this becoming a trend.

 

That's understandable, but if they don't fix it with a new policy, it will become more prevalent. But we are also talking about the Top players in the state...a minority of recruits

 

I'm sure none of the schools like the trend....but, they are in a catch 22. If they don't start to recruit early they stand the risk of losing the top players to the schools that are recruiting early.

 

I agree again with Dbacks20, the schools are between a rock and a hard place. And I agree with Braves that this is going to slowly escalate. Every school and coach is trying to ensure that they are upgrading their program each and every year. So they are going to take chances earlier and earlier on players so that they don't run the risk of not appearing interested and loosing that player.

Coaches obviously would like to have more time to comfirm their thoughts about a player's ability and character, but they run the risk of loosing the prospect if they are slow to act. Let's face it the parents and players bask in the attention, and it makes you feel wanted. Everyone wants to be wanted, and sometimes we as parents let that attention affect our thought process - Just because they want you, doesn't necessarily make it the BEST choice for you. Nor does that fact make it a bad choice.

 

I know this is sidetracking,but this coach also mentioned that there are going to be a couple of proposals made to the NCAA regarding baseball scholarships. One is to raise the limit to 14, which he thinks will not fly, the other is to allow the schools to offer 27 scholarships that pay for tuition & books only I believe. He thinks the 27 deal has good legs.

 

If you go back as early as 2000-2002, the big schools in North Carolina (State, Carolina) kinda sat back and waited for the players to come to them. They watched, built their follow list and targeted who they wanted. They didn't start cranking up their recruiting efforts until August-September and were normally done by October. The smaller D1 colleges in the state were very active, sending out lots of letters, making contact early and as often as they were allowed.

South Carolina and Clemson changed that. They have both recruited underclassmen (though South Carolina was the first team to do it regularly). As USC/Clemson started cherry-picking the state, year after year. NC State and Carolina had no choice but to follow suit. They don't like being in that position, but they must recruit early in order to get the players they want.

Since they have begun breaking out of the gates so quickly, UVa can't be far away in doing the same thing. They can't let NC State, Carolina and Clemson out-recruit them, particularly since they are building a great program up there.

-------------
Unless something changes on a national level that PROHIBITS a school from making assurances to an underclassman, then the trend will accelerate. I don't believe it will extend down below the very top tier of programs, so I don't think it's going to have a far-enough reaching effect to be an issue to the NCAA. Each year, maybe 10-12 players will be affected. Each year, between 50-80 players will sign NLI's in the fall. Each year, about 200+ players from NC High Schools will go on to play college ball somewhere, at some level.

 

I'm sure the coach you talked to took into account that their are 2 parties involved in changing rules. #1 The Coaches must show support and approve changes, and then #2 The Presidents a.k.a. "The Suits" must pass the measure, and they've been know to K.O. a lot of good ideas in the name of Education.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

 

I'm having lunch with a DI head coach on Thursday (not my son's). I'll get his opinion and report back.

 

This is almost word for word what a D1 coach told me less than 3 weeks ago, when i questioned him about letters and questionairs a 15 year (08) was receiving. As for committing early, i understand there are pressures, but this should be a once in a life time event, so for whatever good or bad let the kid experience it to its fullest and enjoy it. This is a great thread, keep it going with other thoughts and/or experieces

 

I had said I'd "report back" after my lunch:

If this particular, mid-major coach's opinions turn out to be true, don't expect much help on the scholarship change or early recruiting fronts anytime soon.

On scholarships, he felt that the additional cost of either of the changes being discussed would cause the university presidents who have the final say from agreeing to a change.

It was also his opinion that, because early commitments involve oral agreements that aren't legally binding, there'd be no formal effort to curtail the trend. Interestingly, he went on to say that many mid-major coaches don't object to early commtiments in their current form; as they help mid-major coaches know which of the top recruits are really serious about being recruited by mid-major programs. He agrees, however, that it's the kind of trend that often becomes more and more pervasive; eventually affecting a larger pool of players and making recruiting harder (and more costly) for everyone.