Verbal committments

Commitments

By the very word, U are committing to something which means U have promised to go to a particular school and the school has promised to assist U in a financial way to attend. This is a verbal contract which in many courts is binding. If there is a witness to the event beyond the coach and recruit, U have a binding contract in my opinion and should never be broken. It use to be that your word was bond enough but we have gotten away from that practice.

 

Your Word

If you don't have your word, you don't have much...do you?

Ah, the days of doing business with a handshake...that was a long time ago.

Still, the folks that squelch on a verbal commitment are probably folks you wouldn't want to deal with for 4 years anyway, right? At least you find out early on that they are not honorable folks. Doesn't help the coaches in the short term, but they are better off in the long run.....

But, directly to your point, Cheeze105, verbal commitments should be binding.
(I'll try to remember that the next time I tell my wife "I'll be home early" from my weekly card game.....)

 

This ought to be good......

This is big problem at all levels....
Can't wait to hear your opinions and takes...

 

Verbal commitments are not binding.

The definition from the NCAA website
Verbal Commitment:
"When a student indicates that he or she plans to attend a college or university and play college sports there. A verbal commitment is not binding for the college or the student."

Until a student signs a letter of intent, there is no obligation on either side.

 

Misinterpretations?

I would also mention that a positive response(not necessarily a commitment) from a student after a visit (official or unofficial) could be mis-interpreted as a commitment by an anxious coach and not necessarily by the athlete. Opposite end of the spectrum applies as well,where a coach may have seemingly offered a commitment to an athlete and before anything is signed a "better" prospect pans put for the coach and the athlete is left out in the cold. That's specifically why the NCAA states what EnkaMom 12 has posted,a letter of intent MUST be signed for either party to actually commit, to eliminate any potential for misunderstandings,or inappropriate actions by either party...

 

Correct!

Sure, both sides should keep the bargain but the NCAA does not recognize verbal commitments. . . . legally they mean nothing. Until the NLI is signed the player is fair game for recruiters. I'm not exactly sure how a coach would not know the kid is not coming until school starts! NLI's are generally signed in November of the player's senior. These are binding in that if the girl shows up the school is obligated to provide whatever assistance was promised in the letter. On the other hand, the player cannot play at another institution unless formally released.

 

NLI

When a recruit considers or signs a National Letter of Intent, the document only shows the athletic money the college is promising to provide the recruit. All other monies such as academic awards, merit scholarships, federal and state grants, and loans are not finalized until the prospect's last SAT (or ACT) score has been posted, the final unweighted, core course GPA has been established, and the family has completed the FAFSA process. When all that is settled, the admissions and financial aid office inform the family of their complete financial package. It is worth noting that the NLI can only be signed during the senior year either in the Early Signing Period (one week in November) or Late Signing Period (April until August) and it is not associated with the NCAA. The NCAA does, however, use it as a legally binding agreement for one school year as do some, if not most, NAIA colleges. That all said, it is a certainty that every college coach considers a verbal commitment to be just that, a commitment. If it means nothing, why make it? It was alarming earlier this year when a TBR contributor said of a prospect who had welched on a verbal agreement and committed elsewhere something to the effect of "No big deal. It was only a verbal agreement." It is a sad day when a college coach cannot take a kid's (or parent's) word, legally binding or not. There isn't a college coach in the country who, unless they discover something very unsavory about the kid or parents, will say they are okay with a kid going back on her word. It's an escape hatch that simply is not good form to jump through. Besides, perhaps the larger issue is this: what kind of life lesson is it teaching that kid?

 

It is a sad state of affairs when a verbal commitment is broken. But I don't only blame the player and parent. The coaching fraternity/sorority in baseball and softball is very small. For another coach to undermine the verbal commitment...well, those type of things will land that coach a sales job because he/she won't be coaching much longer.