Here comes the old cliche .... Worry about what you can control. Don’t spend time worrying about what you can’t control. Put your energies in the right place.
Who cares what some kid did who is only going to get a JV opportunity? At some point he will have to answer to, “What happened?”
Wow.! Seriously? You have to bite your tongue because there are kids signing who are not getting athletic money or signing an NLI? Who cares? Everyone who attends college on a baseball scholarship may have to answer to "what happened?" As a HS coach, I have seen far more players return home or leave a school to commit to a JC after a year, then not. Look at the rosters of many of the top tier JC's and you will find numerous players who played D1 the prior year and were not able to stick with the team. Many of these players were very talented HS players! My son has already seen a couple of players who had committed with athletic scholarships to his new home, quietly bow out to attend JC's due to grades. As RJM stated, "worry about what you can control" and be careful what you have to say about those who you think are undeserving...the baseball god's are always watching and mostly unforgiving. 
Y’all did not read what I said. They had every kid going to college sign because they did not want to recognize the athletes and not the regular students. They do a signing day and every senior sits down and signs something. I had to bite my tongue because that is as snowflake as it gets. Let’s not offend anyone. I agree athletic and academic are equal. Never said they were not.
I do not believe a kid who walks on should act like they are on scholarship so crucify me. I believe you should be honest in you or your child’s awards or lack there of. Does not make them second class citizen but just be honest.
If you want to recognize scholars do so but not just because athletes do it.
PitchingFan posted:Y’all did not read what I said. They had every kid going to college sign because they did not want to recognize the athletes and not the regular students. They do a signing day and every senior sits down and signs something. I had to bite my tongue because that is as snowflake as it gets. Let’s not offend anyone. I agree athletic and academic are equal. Never said they were not.
I do not believe a kid who walks on should act like they are on scholarship so crucify me. I believe you should be honest in you or your child’s awards or lack there of. Does not make them second class citizen but just be honest.
If you want to recognize scholars do so but not just because athletes do it.
Touché
There are plenty of recruited D1, D2 and obviously D3 players who will not be signing NLI’s who will be on a college team and get in the field a year out of high school. The faux signing ceremony isn’t a big deal. It’s recognizing they will be headed to college ball.
Even the JV kid is in the program for a year. It’s probably nothing to be blaring the horns over. But, who cares!
At our high school no one was signing anything real. Those signing NLI’s had already returned them. It’s just a PR ceremony for the kids and the high school. Half of them will be transferring or out of the game in two years.
The harsh reality of D1 ball is half the players leave to play someplace else within two years. Committing to a program is nothing more than an opportunity. There aren’t any guarantees the commitment leads to a good situation.
Worrying about who gets what, goes where and plays is a waste of time. I cared most for my kids, then the kids I coached in travel and my kid’s high school and travel teammates. I never sweated the small stuff.
I once bet another parent $20 one of the travel kids would never be a starter where he chose. But I still rooted for him to make me wrong.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"The harsh reality of D1 ball is half the players leave to play someplace else within two years. Committing to a program is nothing more than an opportunity. There aren’t any guarantees the commitment leads to a good situation." -RJM
N-n-nailed it.
2019Dad posted:Really, why?Here's an example. My son plays with a kid who is committed to Vandy. His dad told me "when the time comes, we will take whatever is better -- if the financial aid we can get is a better deal than the baseball scholarship, we'll take the financial aid." So in that case, if the financial aid is better, that kid will be signing a financial aid agreement, not a baseball scholarship. If there is a photo op at school and he is wearing a Vandy hat and jersey, should people bite their tongue because he is not signing an NLI?
What about players going to service academies? They don't sign an NLI -- they are on exactly the same deal as every other student at those schools. Should Army, Navy, and Air Force commits be allowed in the photo ops for kids signing with colleges?
I agree that kids committing to play as walk-on, academic, or athletic, etc. should be allowed to have there moment.
But the sample you cite here is concerning. Vandy is an SEC school and has to abide by SEC rules. But they are manipulating the player you know. Instead of giving him whichever is most (academic or athletic), why not give the player both. They can, some schools will tell you they can't, but they (private schools) absolutely can pair academic money with athletic money in the players first year if the player has a HS GPA of 3.5 in core classes, 1200 SAT, or 26 ACT.
Some schools may not have the funding, but recently it came to light that Tim Corbin is making over $2mil/year at Vandy, so they have the funding for the baseball team. Here is why they won't do it. SEC has rules as do the rest of the P5 that guarantees athletic scholarships for 4 years. It makes it easier for them to shuffle players off the roster if they don't have "baseball" money. They don't have to worry about the player staying at school and taking up baseball money.
I too know some players committed to Vandy and they don't belong there academically. They will get baseball money. If they don't pan out on the field, they will be told they can stay at school, but won't be part of the baseball team. They will most likely leave because they came to play baseball and don't have Vandy ( the school with the highest average SAT scores in the country) academic aspirations.
Other players will take academic money, and if they don't pan out on the field, they simply are not part of the team anymore. This is why other schools are very upset with the way Vandy is able to manipulate the system. Most SEC schools have to recruit within their own state because they simply don't have the ability to lure athletes from around the country and churn them the way Vandy can.
By having a pool of lesser academic athletes on baseball scholarship and a pool of academic baseball players on academic/need scholarships Vandy is able to manipulate the system unlike any other in the SEC and few in College baseball. Again, if the player in question warrants baseball money and academic money, why not give him both?
Because then they wouldn't be able to commit 20 players every year for 35 roster spots.
Pedaldad posted:2019Dad posted:Really, why?Here's an example. My son plays with a kid who is committed to Vandy. His dad told me "when the time comes, we will take whatever is better -- if the financial aid we can get is a better deal than the baseball scholarship, we'll take the financial aid." So in that case, if the financial aid is better, that kid will be signing a financial aid agreement, not a baseball scholarship. If there is a photo op at school and he is wearing a Vandy hat and jersey, should people bite their tongue because he is not signing an NLI?
What about players going to service academies? They don't sign an NLI -- they are on exactly the same deal as every other student at those schools. Should Army, Navy, and Air Force commits be allowed in the photo ops for kids signing with colleges?
I agree that kids committing to play as walk-on, academic, or athletic, etc. should be allowed to have there moment.
But the sample you cite here is concerning. Vandy is an SEC school and has to abide by SEC rules. But they are manipulating the player you know. Instead of giving him whichever is most (academic or athletic), why not give the player both. They can, some schools will tell you they can't, but they (private schools) absolutely can pair academic money with athletic money in the players first year if the player has a HS GPA of 3.5 in core classes, 1200 SAT, or 26 ACT.
Some schools may not have the funding, but recently it came to light that Tim Corbin is making over $2mil/year at Vandy, so they have the funding for the baseball team. Here is why they won't do it. SEC has rules as do the rest of the P5 that guarantees athletic scholarships for 4 years. It makes it easier for them to shuffle players off the roster if they don't have "baseball" money. They don't have to worry about the player staying at school and taking up baseball money.
I too know some players committed to Vandy and they don't belong there academically. They will get baseball money. If they don't pan out on the field, they will be told they can stay at school, but won't be part of the baseball team. They will most likely leave because they came to play baseball and don't have Vandy ( the school with the highest average SAT scores in the country) academic aspirations.
Other players will take academic money, and if they don't pan out on the field, they simply are not part of the team anymore. This is why other schools are very upset with the way Vandy is able to manipulate the system. Most SEC schools have to recruit within their own state because they simply don't have the ability to lure athletes from around the country and churn them the way Vandy can.
By having a pool of lesser academic athletes on baseball scholarship and a pool of academic baseball players on academic/need scholarships Vandy is able to manipulate the system unlike any other in the SEC and few in College baseball. Again, if the player in question warrants baseball money and academic money, why not give him both?
Because then they wouldn't be able to commit 20 players every year for 35 roster spots.
To clarify, the discussion was about need-based financial aid or a baseball scholarship -- academic money wasn't part of the conversation.
My understanding is that schools are not allowed to pair need-based financial aid with athletic scholarships -- the student has to pick one or the other.
Also, I know another player who was told by Stanford that with his family income he would qualify for 100% financial aid (grants). Of course, the baseball program would benefit by not having to use any part of the 11.7 scholarships. This player ended up committing elsewhere (note: he would have still needed to get a certain ACT score for Stanford), but it does highlight the advantage provided by broad-based financial aid systems (available to all students) at schools like Stanford. I think Vanderbilt has a similar system.
Plenty of D1's pair academic scholarships with partial athletic scholarships. That is extremely common.
It has been said here, many times, that it is in the athlete's best interests to get at least 25% in athletic money. Make sure the school has "skin in the game".
What a lot of people lose track of is that the goal is to play college Baseball. Too many think they "made it" and achieved their goal when they get a college commitment. All that does is get your foot in the door. All the more reason to go where you are loved and wanted.
2019Dad posted:To clarify, the discussion was about need-based financial aid or a baseball scholarship -- academic money wasn't part of the conversation.My understanding is that schools are not allowed to pair need-based financial aid with athletic scholarships -- the student has to pick one or the other.
My apologies for the misunderstanding. They definitely can not pair need and athletic money. It would all end up counting as athletic money.
But the concept is the same, they just have another way to get more than 35 athletes in and sort through them. Any player going to Vandy, can certainly get athletic money at another SEC or other P5 school. I still see it as manipulating the system and encouraging most players to something that is not in their own bets interest. Just my very humble opinion.
It is hard to wrap my mind around the concept of a kid attending Vanderbilt and that not being in "their best interests" when all or most of their education at that incredible institution is being paid for!!!!
Are there a lot of kids transferring out of Vandy?
Just happened to one in our area. Completed Freshman year, now he's JUCO bound. Bacdorslider said that this Fall Vandy will have about 43 kids playing ball, which means 8 won't be around come mid-February.
bacdorslider posted:its complicated..... do you have first hand exp. with recuiting, committing, signing , enrolling and attending Vanderbilt or is thi your opinion based on what you have heard?
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Very good question, but i is not that complicated. Let's just say that I am an informed individual and deal in facts, not speculation. This is not unique to Vandy, there are other programs manipulating the system as well.
Here is what is known: Vandy has 19 commits from 2019, and 17 from 2018, and 17 from 2017 (those numbers in 2017 and 2018 don't include players signed in the draft). Simple math, 17 and 17 equals 34...35-34 =1. What are they going to do with the 19 from 2019. How do they get them all in? Ever here a coach talk about making the fall roster vs the spring roster?
Compounding the problem, this year they have several returning seniors that they did not count on. And, they already have 14 in the 2020 class. Assuming all 2017s leave before 2020 class arrives, that still leaves 50 players for 35 spots. Somebody has got to leave.
But don't take my word for it, here is a link to a recent article documenting the logjam of players at Vandy.
https://www.tennessean.com/sto...19-roster/688056002/
Here's something I've wondered about -- if a player commits to College XYZ, and on PerfectGame where they list the commitments for that school, the player is at the bottom of the list [note: the commitments are listed in order of PG rank] . . . should that be a red flag? I mean, on the one hand, sure, PG could be often wrong . . . OTOH an independent scouting service has judged all of the other commits as being better than you!
2019Dad posted:bacdorslider posted:Yup, that's what I said.
Not trying to be flip about it. But that's the question, if you are at the bottom or near the bottom -- or let's say, before you commit you realize you would be near the bottom -- should that be a red flag?
