mburtner17 posted:Is it legal / ethical for travel organizations to pay college coaches to come watch their games? It seems like this would be some type of NCAA violation for coaches of the school taking money. I know that many college coaches get paid to work camps, but this seems a lot different. Does anyone have any insight on this?
Mburtner, you are going to have to give more detail for anyone to reply in a meaningful way. What was the scenario? Was the coach payed directly? As Pitchingfan and TPM mention, it is standard operating procedure for it to happen via third party... Someone puts on a showcase, pays for schools to send representation, players/travel teams (depending on the format) choose to attend or not. The volunteer coach representing the college is typically the one that is paid. As is made common info here over and over, this is how volunteer coaches make some money to live on. If you are a player and you really stand out, you will probably get noticed. If not, it is buyer beware.
As far as Showball$'s post, I'd say that comparison is quite a stretch and to be taken with a grain of salt. It is FAR more likely that a particular strong program may go back to the well with two or three particular travel programs is because those programs are the strong ones with the best players in the region.