Article on early recruiting...

[riseball]

...write a law making verbals carry legal weight...

Yeah that will fix it.

 

[Mark H]

IMHO there is the key. If coaches take the position that they will not recognize verbals, and just continue recruiting, more girls will flip. .

This would seem to be the likely progression. Some coach at a top five school will announce they aren't going to honor verbals anymore and it will turn into a huge game of musical chairs. Good news is, this will mean the final commitment will be signing day effectively making early verbals truly meaningless.

Once coaches realize the verbal doesn't hold weight anymore they'll stop offering them so early.

I'd think they would still do it some as relationship building but it won't matter since verbals will be more like going steady than like being engaged. Just won't mean much.

 

[JAD]

Here is an article on the NCSA website that just came out.

These Coaches Are Sick Of Recruiting Young Athletes

 

[Easton33]

Just saw on a local board where OU just verballed an 8th grader.

 

[CoogansBluff]

What is the harm in the current situation? Who is being hurt, and how?

I haven't formed a firm opinion on it. Would like to hear the main concerns.

 

[cuzmail]

I'm not sure I see where the negatives out weigh the positives. It will have to stop at some point. Even the best recruiter will only be able to make a guess about eventual athletic performance as the athlete matures.

Early verbals completely eliminate the official visit. We now see "official" unofficial visits taking place. The official visit only used to go hang out with the team for the weekend

 

[redbirdone]

A year or so ago I was sitting and talking with the HC of an SEC program. Their phone rings and they step out to take the call. After about 5 minutes the coach returns, clearly frustrated and tells me the call was from an 8th grader that they were working very hard to recruit. The recruit had called to say that she had elected to go to another SEC school. When asked why she selected one school over the other all she could say is she really liked the other school. When pressed further with regard to the differences in the softball program, academics, location, etc. All she could say is that she really liked the other school. It sounded to me like a typical conversation you would have with a 13 year old.

Kudos to the 13 year old for calling the coach themselves and telling them. There are grown men who won't do that.

 

[redbirdone]

Money generating sports like football and basketball drive the majority of the decisions the NCAA makes...and early recruiting has not been a problem for them because coaches wait until boys mature before making decisions. Football and basketball coaches also continue to recruit players who are verbally committed to other schools, unlike sports like softball where there is an unwritten "coach's code" to back off players that are verballed. Softball coaches also do not have the budgets to recruit players they are not confident they can sign.

I [personally think eliminating the 14U brackets at showcases would be a good start. As showcases have become more popular, organizers are adding teams as fast as they can to increase revenue.

I attended the "Be Your Best" coaches clinic in NJ a few years back and Mike Smith from Oregon spoke of this same practice. He stated that he hated the practice of seeking younger players to commit and wished that the NCAA would prohibit it. He felt forced to do as his peers to keep getting the "good talent" and remain competitive. His program is by no means mediocre. I would bet he is one of the many coaches who spoke out about this practice to the NCAA.

So how would things change if coaches no longer followed the unwritten rule of not recruiting someone who has already verballed to another school? Would that help a little as coaches wouldn't feel the need to lock someone up in 8th grade knowing they still had a few years left to get them. As Smith said above, he's only doing it because if he doesn't someone else will lay claim to a player and he is SOL unless the player decides to back out, nothing he can do about it.

It's like those black Friday videos you see where there's a pallet of 25 $200 TVs, but 50 people want one so it turns into a cage match.

 

[wjdempkowski]

What is the harm in the current situation? Who is being hurt, and how?

I haven't formed a firm opinion on it. Would like to hear the main concerns.

Let's take a simple scenario of a 14U girl (freshman) just verballed to a DIV x University and look at some plausible outcomes.
- She continues to work hard because that was what got her noticed and she wants to do the best for X-University. (Good)
- She relaxes because she has made it. Now she worries about injuries and stagnates in performance. (Bad)
- She lets this fact get into her head and her demeanor and attitude suffer. She has a future team, so she cares little for her current team. (Bad)
- She changes her mind about what she wants to do in college. X-University doesn't specialize in that subject area, or doesn't offer it. She is left changing her major to something offered there. (Bad)
- She changes her mind about what she wants to do in college. She decides to go to Y-University instead of X-University. (Bad)
- She realizes a college is interested in her. She begins to study hard, do better in school because she knows she has a place to go now. The dream of going to college is now real for her. (Great)

Now, I do not suspect these things happen a lot, but I do believe they happen often enough to become noticeable.

There is also the aspect of this...
Suppose Sally wants to go to X-University but the coach doesn't seek a verbal. Y-University has shown some interest. Sally fears that she won't get another opportunity, so she jumps on Y-University's offer. This is not necessarily bad, but it does shed some concern on the fact that Sally is not going to her first choice school. Now, when X-University sees her as a Junior, she is essentially "off the market". A sadly missed opportunity.

Will this change? Who knows. But the best laid plans always start with conversation. It is nice that we are starting to have these conversations.

 

[Ken Krause]

I, for one, am glad to see more conversation being raised about it. I'm not a fan of early recruiting. Kids change too much in those four years of high school to be able to accurately predict anything about their futures. It likely also forces them into bad decisions, because the freshman who turns down an opportunity this year might be worried about not getting another next year.

I would like to see the NCAA put a stop to it just to remove the temptation/incentive from all those coaches.

What I do find amusing is how many coaches say they don't like it but can't stop because everyone else is doing it. I wonder how many of them accept that as an excuse from their players?