Interesting Article on Early commitments

I had read that article the other day and found it interesting. What is very common in basketball and football was very uncommon in baseball. The back room handshake was well respected. I guess times are changing...

Also interesting was that on the same site was another articles on "Why some don't go to Jupiter". http://perfectgame.org/stories/06%5F10%5F22%5Fwhy%5Fsom...5Fgo%5Fto%5Fjupiter/
After reading about the early commitments, I can see (1) why kids opt not to go who have commited, (2) why college coaches encourage the players who have commited to not go, and (3)why some players/parents are not comfortable around some coaches who are continually looking for a better deal for a player even though the player had made a choice.

I guess it's all about the value of one's word. There was mention in another thread about whether a school would pull their offer from a player who gave his verbal commitment. I have not heard of that happening but we can rest asssured that if this trend continues where players change their minds and recruiters are crossing the line, sooner or later it will work in reverse and that's not good.

I'm sure I will get some heat from some who will talk about how a kid needs to keep his word, and it is part of his make-up and his integrity etc...

In my unscientific approach, I believe most players keep their verbal commitments. When they do not I think there is plenty of blame to share starting with the recruiting process and the college coaches who are getting verbal commitments earlier and earlier before the player fully understands the process. If like the article suggest Small Baseball U makes an offer but the big guy comes in later was the small school honest with themselves or the player. Was the small school hoping to steal the player before anyone else knew about him. Did the small school take advantage of a 17-18 yr old kid just like the big school...not that all kids will swoon for the big school.

Can u blame a kid for seeing all the glory of a big school and wanting to be part of it...I don't know if there is a solution that works for everybody.

I suppose it happens, but I don't know of anyone personally who verballed and then went off to play at another school.

But I don't beleive in the very early commitment either (junior year). Yet I seeit being done more and more.

Sorry, for those who do not agree, but we told son to take his time, think things through and when the time was right, committ and end the process, it was the RIGHT thing to do. That's why they call it a committment, honor it. I do beleive that players changing minds to play for teams are the same ones that changed their minds when younger, because his parents felt that things would be better on a better team. JMO.

This whole recruiting thing is really just a BIG game. Top prospects are locked in before the July 1 deadline when coaches can actually contact you. You go to showcases that have Major D1 coaches because they are "working" at the showcase. Its a whole lot of politics where nobody publishes the rules to the game. Now coaches are whining that the kids don't keep their word. If EVERYONE played by the rules as stated there wouldn't be any issues. It's like tax law anymore, how far can you work the gray area of the law. We are dealing with the interpretaion of the rules instead of the intent of rules. If the NCAA would crack down based on the intent of the rules a whole lot of the garbage would disappear and we all would have to be more trustworthy.

Found this in the Illinois Forum...
styles2310
Member
Posted November 08, 2006 06:57 PM Hide Post
here is what you need on zawacki http://www.pjstar.com/stories/101806/HIG_BB96NP5L.071.shtml

Sad to say but this is where our society is going.

As an example, my company hired a guy who as it turns out just needed a paycheck until the job he really wanted came thru two months later - he had no guilt, in fact he thought it was pretty cool that he received a paycheck for those two months while being trained on software he would never use.

You have to wonder what hurt was experienced by other job applicants who didnt get the job....same applies here I think.

Blaine is a good guy. I talked to him about this article a little by via email.

I am glad it was written and I don't doubt anything he has written.

The part he didn't focus on was the coaches taking advantage of young HSers who will ultimately have a choice of anywhere they want to go. At least two very top 2007s in our area made very, very early commitments. And the likely top 2008 here has also already committed (actually back in the summer I think) to a mid-level conference team.

How is THIS good for the athlete? I can see no advantage to the athlete to do this...most especially the primo player. Some of these players have said they wanted to get the pressure over with...HUH?!?! If they're feeling tons of pressure when no verbal contact is allowed, just mail/email...then how in the heck are they going to handle the pressure of pitching or hitting into the teeth of 10,000 screaming fans in an opponents SEC/Pac10/ACC/Big12 ballpark?

Plain and simple, some coaches are taking advantage of young kids. I hope it stops.

First of all a certain amount of this will always happen no matter what we do. Some players will be faced with a better option they didn’t realize they had and will be torn between honoring their earlier verbal agreement and the better option. However, the earlier the verbal commitment, the more susceptible a player is to being tempted into changing his mind. No matter how honorable we are, we can all be forced into compromise --- Many who would not take the last cookie would take the last lifeboat ----While the player and his parents are made out to be the main transgressors, the responsibility rest with the college coaches. THEY control the tempo of verbal agreements and the time frame for doing so. A coach may make it appear as if he was burned by a player but it was the coach that asked for and “accepted” a PREMATURE commitment grinning all the time thinking he had pulled a slick one. They have just gotten too slick for their own good in this case. They have pushed the envelope and have gone over the edge and now they are pointing fingers at the unsuspecting player and his parents --- shame on them! While fingers are being pointed we need to see where the showcase promoters factor into this mess. They are actually setting the venue and perpetuating the early commitment because it does add at least a years worth of players into the showcased circuit and another years worth of exposure hungry participants does increase entry fees. Sorry Blaine. You have noticed how the showcases are catering to the younger players and telling them they need to showcase earlier because the verbal commitments are happening much earlier now?
I’ll tell you what we really need. We need someone to oversee this whole process and to designate a time frame (or two) when a player and a coach can come together and agree to where each stands. November of their junior year would be about right. There also needs to be a uniform instrument a player and a college representative can sign that will end this verbalizing and honor system currently being used by the player and the coach. I suggest the NCAA oversee this and we could call the instrument a letter of intent. Everything up to the point of signing is just talk and until each sign nothing will be binding. If players would burn a few more of these coaches maybe they would quit placing them in a holding corral until the early signing period. And please don’t put these emotionally involved players on a guilt trip because of something a scheming coach has concocted for his own good.
JMHO,
Fungo

quote:

by fungo: We need someone to oversee this whole process .. I suggest the NCAA oversee this and we could call the instrument a letter of intent.

you could be on to something there and I feel better already

quote:

by jbb: coaches taking advantage of young HSers who will ultimately have a choice of anywhere they want to go ... How is THIS good for the athlete? I can see no advantage to the athlete to do this...most especially the primo player.

so you feel top guys should hold out hoping to become the focus of a "bidding war"
maybe you're trying too hard to understand something simple...

1) there is more info than ever on today's players

2) top players are identified earlier

3) some folks with many choices, know what they want and don't need to examine ALL of them before choosing



as for Blaine suggesting that the "sky is falling" -
when the NLI is SIGNED the commitment is valid

college baseball IS growing and will experience some of the (ugly) issues not uncommon in football & basketball - ie: some highly recruited players change their verbals like a cheap tie
AND on signing day receive multiple NLI's .. signing and returning only the one with the best finacial aid package
ya know the car, apartment, & pile of walking around ca$h ...
oops .. sorry .. the agent handles the car


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How many times do the offers come, commit now or we move on? So they commit, since it the best offer at the time and not wanting to miss out on an offer to an acceptable program. I seem to remember posts like that on the forum.

quote:

then how in the heck are they going to handle the pressure of pitching or hitting into the teeth of 10,000 screaming fans in an opponents SEC/Pac10/ACC/Big12 ballpark?

.;.....interesting observation.

quote:

then how in the heck are they going to handle the pressure of pitching or hitting into the teeth of 10,000 screaming fans in an opponents SEC/Pac10/ACC/Big12 ballpark?

quite simple

1) the player sets goals
2) player makes his choice(s) for a path to his goals (not necessary to consider every path, just ones he see's fitting his needs)

3) then player then focuses soley on his job at hand .. in that case pitching - -
without cluttering his mind second guessing every combination of choices ever available to him


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Very good post Fungo. You said it much more directly.