national letter of intent

This is wrong wrong wrong. We teach all of OUR softball kids to choose the school NOT the coach. This in a nut shell is what is wrong with our society today. I made a decision.....well even though there are rules for this....oops no i changed my mind .....ooohhh i'm not allowed to do that????.....oh well here's my lawyer, let me do it or i'll own this school....sheesh...i know, i know there ARE reasons to leave your school to go to another. But this bunch handled it the wrong way. Go do your year at the school you COMMITTED to and then transfer the right way. Happens all the time.

AARRRGGGG!!!! Parkdaddy's Sat. morning rant LOL

 

Some very good points, not sure how I would feel if my dd were in the same situation, but you do raise some good points that I do agree with.

 

went back and looked at my son's NLI and, as I thought I remembered, I had to sign it also. Like this girl, he wasn't 18 at the time of signing so it required my signature to be valid. Also, the separate scholarship offer had to be signed the same way. Therefore, to be a valid offer, this girl's parents signed the documents.

Should Western have just given her the release originally? Probably... especially seeing as how this family was so quick to get a lawyer involved and to get the story into the newspaper. Would they have their lawyer at games to dispute foul calls they don't agree with?

Hopefully this girl will be happy at Elon... if not, the Elon coach may just have to deal this kid's "Perry Mason".

 

....Hey GPal, no dog in the hunt here but I knew that this story was of interest.
I also went back and looked at my kids NLI and it says that if a kid is under 21, then the parent has to sign.
The legal issue in NC as to a minor signing a binding agreement is to protect them from folks like Don King.
AND a parent can not sign away a minors rights, period.

Crazy stuff for sure.

Fishman

 

update?

has this case been decided or any resolution?

 

....see post #10.

 

NEWER INFORMATION

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/1694596.html

 

....thanks Eastbuddy, I started this thread basically saying that if this issue gets too far, all hell might break loose on the NCAA.

Bam!

Fishman

 

could this result in players not being offered an NLI until they are 18? They could verbal, which gives both the player and the school the option to back out, until he or she blows out 18 candles.

Having been through the process once, I don't think many parents, or players, would be too thrilled to be "unsigned" at, or near, the end of their senior year.

Not being a lawyer, I don't know if this would be legal, but make the signing binding on the parent or guardian that signs with their kid. They would be held accountable for recruiting costs, time, loss of estimated revenue or whatever they believe that players value would have been to the school.

 

There is no stronger political force than the NCAA. I'll be shocked if they don't move to be exempt from this rule. They will wave their higher education banner and will remind everybody that it's STUDENT-athlete's, not athlete's and will blitzkrieg the courts with their army of lobbyists.

But this is a rule I hope gets challenged, but it opens up a Pandora's Box that leads to many stupid and disgraceful decisions: "The NCAA can't force someone to give up a year's eligibility either." Think about this rule for a minute. A student-athlete can't transfer from one D1 school to another without receiving a penalty, yet the NLI is only binding from year to year--meaning each year they can take it away, yet you still can't move without a penalty. How unfair is that? Take it a little farther; the NCAA says you can't move without penalty to another D1 school, but it's ok if you go to our sister schools--the D2's & D3's. What kind of message is that sending? That you can still play in our league, but it has to be in our minor league? geez...what arrogance!

Personally, I'd love to see the NCAA be held accountable for their actions. They make many decisions that in any other business would be ruled illegal, but that's what they have done so well in their image-making. They stand behind their higher education banner and wave it to the public while reaping billions of dollars off their athletes and call them students first. They've sold the public that they are not a business...and have done a great job in doing so. I love when there are shots taken at that elephant---it's the only way you can make it move.