Article on early recruiting...

[CoogansBluff]

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.

Well thought-out reply, thanks.

One other concern is simply the fact that the further along the player is in school and maturity, the more well-informed decision that will be made by both player and college coach. The parents of 8th and 9th graders don't really want their children committing to something so significant at that age, but they fear they need to, so they consent to it. Coaches don't want to make promises to 8th and 9th graders, but they fear they will be at a competitive disadvantage if they don't.

I don't know if kids are being ruined by this, so I don't want to make a catastrophe out of it, but something in my gut says that decisions that are being driven by ''if I don't do this, I'll get passed by'' are not healthy. It's fear-driven. That's what I don't like about it.

 

[JAD]

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.

A coach would be less likely to verbal a 9th grader if they knew other coaches were going to continue to recruit her. If a girl is verballed to ABC University for a 25% athletic scholarship and XYZ University came along and offered her 50% that would get a lot of recruits attention. The way things are done now, the player stays verballed at 25% and never knows if another school is willing to offer 50%, 75%, 100%....the reason this does not happen now is softball is not a revenue generating sport and coaches do not have the budgets to chase players they are not confident they have a chance to sign. When a coach recruits players who are already verballed there are a lot of "misses".

There are two primary reasons college coaches do not want players or their parents discussing their verbal offers with others. 1) Players on the same team will have different percentages and coaches do not want resentment between teammates. Especially if the higher percentage player is not performing well on the field. 2) They do not want competing coaches to know what percentages players received to prevent them from starting a "bidding war" for the players signature.

Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if Goldfastpitch posted a column on their commitment list with each players athletic and academic scholarship percentages??? All of the players verballed to big schools as a preferred walk-on would be listed as zeros. While some players just want to go to a big school regardless of the cost, this list would be an excellent recruiting tool for any college coaches who had money left in their budgets!

 

[redbirdone]

A coach would be less likely to verbal a 9th grader if they knew other coaches were going to continue to recruit her. If a girl is verballed to ABC University for a 25% athletic scholarship and XYZ University came along and offered her 50% that would get a lot of recruits attention. The way things are done now, the player stays verballed at 25% and never knows if another school is willing to offer 50%, 75%, 100%....the reason this does not happen now is softball is not a revenue generating sport and coaches do not have the budgets to chase players they are not confident they have a chance to sign. When a coach recruits players who are already verballed there are a lot of "misses".

There are two primary reasons college coaches do not want players or their parents discussing their verbal offers with others. 1) Players on the same team will have different percentages and coaches do not want resentment between teammates. Especially if the higher percentage player is not performing well on the field. 2) They do not want competing coaches to know what percentages players received to prevent them from starting a "bidding war" for the players signature.

Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if Goldfastpitch posted a column on their commitment list with each players athletic and academic scholarship percentages??? All of the players verballed to big schools as a preferred walk-on would be listed as zeros. While some players just want to go to a big school regardless of the cost, this list would be an excellent recruiting tool for any college coaches who had money left in their budgets!

Well then....




but seriously, if someone verbals in 8th grade with a big school at 25%, that's on them for saying yes. If Florida wants to give me 25% in 8th grade, I wonder what South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky or other SEC schools would offer after seeing me in 9th or 10th? All the more reason to let coaches talk to kids after the verbals.

 

[STRIKE3]

One name..... Michael Jordan... He was NOT cut from his high school team like many believe but did NOT make the Varsity team at age 15 and was put on JV. I clarified this in a few articles before I posted so I hope that is halfway correct

Anyway, as many have posted, you have no idea what a kid will be like at age 18 when she is 12 or 13. You are playing the odds and hoping that she continues to develop, continues to dominate, etc. etc. And in some cases, I am sure it turns out for the coach and the girl. But I can only imagine and wish I could see the number of cases it didn't as someone else said.

Lastly, and the thing that I struggle with is what about the next Michael Jordan or whoever it may be that does not develop until a little later. Does she know if she isn't signed in 8th or 9th grade her dream is over? That she has no shot to play for the school of her dreams? Does she quit or at least not work as hard because the scholarships are taken and she was late to the "maturing into a woman" phase in life for lack of better words? I remember working my A$$ off during the high school years in hopes a scholarship would be there in the end.
Now it is like, hey Sally, I know you want to ride your bike, play with your friends, and actually be a kid but you won't get that scholarship if you do. So, we are taking away your childhood and you will eat, drink, and breath softball until you get "noticed". You have 1 year left until your 14th birthday and then it will be too late!!! So drop and give me 20!!!

I know the above may seem a little exaggerated but that amount of work that these "young girls" put in at a "extremely young" age with the end goal of getting a scholarship in 8th grade just doesn't seem right to me. I absolutely believe in hard work and dedication to get to the next level but I just don't think it should start so soon because the money will be gone by the time they are 13 if they don't. Just my 2 cents.

 

[JAD]

Well then....but seriously, if someone verbals in 8th grade with a big school at 25%, that's on them for saying yes. If Florida wants to give me 25% in 8th grade, I wonder what South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky or other SEC schools would offer after seeing me in 9th or 10th? All the more reason to let coaches talk to kids after the verbals.

This becomes a "bird in the hand vs. one in the bush" scenario....do you take the 25% from UF now or wait hoping for more somewhere else? It is like playing a big game of poker or musical chairs and everyone wants to make sure their DD has a "seat" when the music stops. A lot of good players end up signing as preferred walk-ons at big schools because they waited or changed their commitment after the school had spent their scholarship money for that year. Parents should also be leery of a coach who suddenly "frees up" some scholarship money because they probably just cut another player to get it.....and down the road that could be your DD.

 

[JAD]

Lastly, and the thing that I struggle with is what about the next Michael Jordan or whoever it may be that does not develop until a little later. Does she know if she isn't signed in 8th or 9th grade her dream is over? That she has no shot to play for the school of her dreams? Does she quit or at least not work as hard because the scholarships are taken and she was late to the "maturing into a woman" phase in life for lack of better words? I remember working my A$$ off during the high school years in hopes a scholarship would be there in the end.

There are a lot of transfers once players get a year or two of college under their belt for this exact reason. Some players turn out better than expected and may decide to move to a bigger/better program and some kids wash out. It does not take much research to realize that a lot of the big schools will bring in 10-12 players/year fully expecting only 5-6 to be there as sophomores and 3-4 to make it through their senior year.

I am encouraging more and more players to look at JUCO as an alternative, especially if money is tight. A good player can get 100% from a JUCO for two years, then transfer to a bigger program for their junior and senior seasons and get a much better percentage than they would have as a freshman or sophomore.

 

[Easton33]

One aspect I have not seen discussed here is how it affects the sport overall. Since recruiting is being done at such a young age, (8th graders can be 13-15) how young do you think some of these girls are being pushed hard on the field? If you look at the bottom end of the age range would you think it unreasonable that player X was being prepared since she was 10 or 11? Is that too young? We know she didn't just wake up at age 13 and was good enough to make D1.
Let's forget about player X who's dad or mom started pushing here way hard at an early age, let's talk about players Y and Z. Those players quit softball all together because of the crazy bucket dad that made softball not fun in 10u/12u because he was pushing his players trying to get them prepared for the 8th grade verbal that never showed. The earlier they are verballing these players means the earlier that dads/coaches are pushing these players to play at a level that 98% of them can't play at yet. IMO, the sport will lose players because some will be pushed too hard, too early, some will be disappointed and quit when they don't have a 10th grade verbal, and others will quit because a well meaning coach made the game unenjoyable for an 10/11 year old.

 

[MTR]

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

Ken,

How do you suppose the NCAA put a stop to something that is not presently on their books? With the exception of noting its existence and that verbals carry zero weight in the recruiting process, the NCAA doesn't recognize them.

This entire effort is the product and responsibility of the coaching world. Considering the institutions they represent, the coaches should have the courage to police themselves and stop blaming the NCAA for allowing it to exist.

 

[MTR]

but seriously, if someone verbals in 8th grade with a big school at 25%, that's on them for saying yes. If Florida wants to give me 25% in 8th grade, I wonder what South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky or other SEC schools would offer after seeing me in 9th or 10th? All the more reason to let coaches talk to kids after the verbals.

There is NOTHING to keep coaches from talking to kids until an NLI is offered/executed.

 

[Ken Krause]

Ken,

How do you suppose the NCAA put a stop to something that is not presently on their books? With the exception of noting its existence and that verbals carry zero weight in the recruiting process, the NCAA doesn't recognize them.

This entire effort is the product and responsibility of the coaching world. Considering the institutions they represent, the coaches should have the courage to police themselves and stop blaming the NCAA for allowing it to exist.

Very simple, MTR. They can put in a rule that says no school can offer a verbal to any player under the age of 16 or before their junior year in high school, something like that. They can lay out the penalties for being caught, just as they have for other recruiting violations.

The fact that there's nothing to expressly forbid it is why it continues to happen.

Do I think it's the NCAA's job? No. I'd much rather see a few high-profile coaches of Top 25 teams say enough is enough, we're not going to do it anymore, nor will we speak to any kids who accept a verbal. If you want to play here (and possibly on TV) you'll have to wait until your junior year. Get enough top-level coaches doing that and you'll likely see change. Will they lose some prospects? Sure. But I'd have to think if a kid (and her parents) think she's good enough to play in the SEC or Pac-12 she's not going to settle for Podunk U because they got their first. Self-regulate before the governing body steps in.

Unfortunately, organizations aren't always willing to self-regulate. And that's when the governing body (or government) steps in. In the Industrial Revolution it would have been preferred for companies not to establish monopolies and instead allow fair trade. Instead we have laws against monopolies.