NCAA votes to shorten Fall recruiting Season

As reported on Spy Softball today.....

15) Proposal No. 2006-55 – Administrative Regulations – Recruiting Calendars – Softball. Intent: In softball, to specify that evaluations are not permissible (contact only) from the day after Labor Day through Thanksgiving day, except from the second Friday in October through the first Sunday in November (contact/evaluation period); further, to specify that in those states that play the high school softball season in the fall, evaluations shall be permissible during the season, except during dead periods. [Source: NCAA Division I Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet (Subcommittee on Recruiting).]

è MC ACTION: Gave final approval and forwarded the proposal to the Board for approval. [Vote: For 35.5, Against 13.5, Not present 2; See Vote No. 18, Attachment A – Effective Date: August 1, 2007.]

click below for the entire story and vote


http://www.spysoftball.com/report_of_management_council.htm

 

Affects and Approach

Can you guys give us more on this please? How will 2008, 2009, etc. TB players be affected? Is there a common looked upon "right approach" to follow in scheduling? With clusters of fall premiere tourn. now out in TB land, all within 3-4 wks., where do we go? AND FINALLY, WHO BENEFITS FROM THIS PROPOSAL?

 

Div I ONLY

I am a college coach and have been at the NFCA Conventions when this schedule change has been discussed. As of right now, this is ONLY a Div I matter. Div II, III, JC and NAIA are not affected by this YET! If this is passed, and it seems likely that it will, then Div I schools will only be allowed to go out recruiting Oct 12-14, Oct 19-21, Oct 26-28 and Nov 2-4. The following MAJOR tournaments have been moved or set up to accomodate this change (courtesy of spysoftball.com).

The count for the four-week period stands at 11.
1. Oct. 12-14 (Fri-Sun) Team New Jersey Fall Showcase (Edison NJ)
2. Oct. 12-14 (Fri-Sun) Surf City exposure tournament (Huntington Beach CA)
3. Oct. 13-14 (Sat-Sun) Arizona Hotshots (Tempe)
4. Oct. 19-21 (Fri-Sun) Surf City October Showcase (Huntington Beach CA)
5. Oct. 19-21 (Fri-Sun) Oktoberfest Showcase (Lancaster CA)
6. Oct. 19-21 (Fri-Sun) Diamond Sports College Showcase (Houston)
7. Oct. 26-28 (Fri-Sun) Rising Stars Fall Showcase (Plantation FL)
8. Oct. 26-28 (Fri-Sun) College Exposure tournament (Chesterfield Complex) St Louis
9. Oct. 27-28 (Sat-Sun) America’s Finest City (San Diego)
10. Nov. 2-4 (Fri-Sun) Batbuster Early Thanksgiving Tournament (Huntington Beach CA)
11. Nov. 2-4 (Fri-Sun) Ronald McDonald Tournament (Houston TX)

This measure has come from the northern schools, mainly the Big 10. It has been aggressively opposed by the travel ball community and some Div I coaches. The stated intent of this change is to protect the players from having to travel all over the country in the fall, missing school and playing a large number of games. IMHO, the true intent by the northern coaches is to limit the multitude of fall tournaments those of us in warm weather areas have access to. What this is quickly leading to is several LARGE tournaments on the west coast, TX and FL (Rising Stars) where the kids, parents and travel ball teams will have to spend more money traveling to these larger tournaments farther away and choose which tournaments to go to and hope that the college coaches turn out. As I said, Div II, III, JC and NAIA are not bound by these rules yet so the smaller tournaments that we are used to here in the southeast (Bandits Fall Showcase, Cardinals late summer showcase, Myrtle Beach Early Signing Showcase) will still be well attended by the coaches not affected by this. But time will tell if this measure is truly good for the kids or good for the college coaches who pushed for it.

 

This is correct....I am a DIII coach, and we have been told this will not effect us at this time....The question will be.

1. Will teams attend tournaments during the effected dates, knowing that the DI coaches will not be present?

2. With a finite evaluation season, and limited number of spots in the "elite" tournaments, the local and regional teams that are not a "gold" or a high level "A" organization will be shut out. This will probably eliminate the 16U division at showcase tournaments during the fall. Everyone will be trying to play up, on one of the elite teams...

3.Watch for entrance fees to rise also.