Verbal committments

example in football

AJ Davis from one of the Durham HS's a few yr's ago verballed to unc, then signed a NLI with the NCSU WOLFPACK. Glad he did. GO PACK!!

on another note,
When a head coach (or major asst.) leaves for another school, I don't blame a kid to change their mind if it's before the NLI.

 

sad as it may seem.....

verbal is meaningless and most coaches know......signed, sealed and delivered NLI is what matters.

hopefully spart30 will gives his insight on this?

i wouldnt like verbal committments at the college level in Any sport...just me and my

 

Exactly right EM12. The verbal commitment is a safety parachute between player and college. They both aren't sure whether they are right for each other, but they are the best each other has at the time of the verbal commitment. It is a business. The coach is looking for bang for their buck and the player is looking for buck for their bang......if you will.

 

Football and basketball verbal commitments aren't worth the paper they're not printed on....it's ruled by sharks.

Baseball and softball coaches honor those verbal commitments and "back off". The very few that don't is duly noted and never forgotten in the coaching world.

A commitment is just that...each party gave their word and the colleges do not back out of theirs (unless a life changing event occurs on the players part.)

For a player to commit to a school and then look for a better deal, says a lot about the character of that player and one I wouldn't want on my team.

It's really very simple. If you are not sure what school you want to attend...don't commit.

 

It's really NOT simple!

With all due respect Braves,the entire process is NOT simple at all. It's a very emotionally charged situation for both the student and in most cases the parents too,particularly when there are various schools/visits involved. The coaches (in the course of doing their jobs) can be quite effective at "selling" the virtues and benefits of their given schools. When you combine that with the general lack of knowledge on the students/parents behalf,most schools (while a student is on an invited visit) can seem quite inviting,although they might not necessarily be the correct school for that student. I would encourage ALL students to take a thorough look,with patience,at all their options before making a decision.

 

Fallback Position

Poll a hundred college coaches and I doubt one would say that asking for, and getting, a verbal commitment from a prospect is their fallback position. Recruiting dollars are precious to these coaches. There is not a lot of it to take them through an entire year, either. The time they spend sifting through resumes, evaluating videotape, driving for hours (or even flying in some cases), sitting at tournaments, making phone calls, assessing their prospect list and making offers is an investment of real dollars spent. When they decide on a kid and extend an offer, it is important to understand the effort they have exerted to get to that point. They did not simply walk up to a kid and make an offer the first time they saw her. In most cases, they have spent a huge amount of time and effort, including cultivating a relationship with the family, to get to that payoff point as they have continually gone through a weeding out process to home in on that one kid. To them at the time, this is THE kid I want. She is THE kid who will help my program. To back down from a verbal commitment is disrespectful to that coach.

 

I agree with what you are saying rangeroo. My point is about the commitment not the process. I agree that the process can send you through every emotion conceivable, but the decision should result in the commitment.

 

It goes both ways:
It is also very frustrating when a player verbally commits to the college of her choice and the coach can not deliver what was promised.
This happened to more than one player this year.
Luckily, everything worked out for the best for all involved.

 

like what?

I don't know very much at all about the recruiting process; I'm just an innocent bystander!! If I might ask, what types of things can be typically "promised"?

 

"Promises" that can't be kept

I suspect it has to do with $$ . . . that's really all coaches have to offer. Most kids don't get full athletic scholarships so coaches put together "packages" of financial aid. This especially true at small D2 schools but can also happen at big programs. This involves promising academic aid. This is where it can get messy because, ulitimately, the softball coach does not control these dollars. These allocations are made by admissions offices based on lots factors including financial need, grades, SAT scores and "degree of giftedness". Lots of variables that screw things up and cause misunderstandings. Academic monies often have GPA requirements attached so kids can actually lose $$ once they get to school.

Bottom line is the only $$ the coaches absolutely control is the athletic scholarship. Its renewed and guaranteed each year and cannot be taken away if the player remains academically eligible and does not violate team rules. In theory, at least, it can never be taken away if a kid simply is not a very good player.