If you were a college coach 10 or 15 years ago, you might have a talented sophomore on your radar and you made a note to follow his progress junior year to see how he developed as a player. If you decided to start recruiting him you called him after junior year and brought him out for an official visit during his senior year. The player took 4 or 5 official visits to different schools, met the coaches and his future teammates and then made an informed decision where to sign in the spring of his senior year.
Fast forward to 2012, now if you find a sophomore with potential, it's not uncommon to see he has already verbally committed to a competing school. You realize you better start making a play for these young players if you want to stay competitive.
Or maybe you are a parent of a sophomore lacrosse player. During Saturday morning sideline conversation another parent informs you that Michael, another sophomore, has already committed to Duke. You feel a little panic rising, if all the recruiting is happening now, you better get busy or your athlete is going to get left behind.
If you run a competitive club team, it's a feather in your cap if you can boast about how many kids you have committed to colleges. Let's face it, many parents want to join clubs that give the best potential for getting a college scholarship. Lots of college commits coming out of your program translates into more money.
Meanwhile, you have a wide-eyed, fifteen-year-old kid who likes to play soccer or tennis or hockey, and they're being asked to decide on a college program without even having the experience of an official visit. It's really the athletic equivalent of an arranged marriage - sometimes it works out, but it's usually because it's just too difficult to leave.
Whenever I have this conversation with a parent or coach, they always end up shrugging and saying something to the effect of, "I know, I don't like it, but that's the way it's done now." The school saves money by not paying for official visits, the club coach gets to add another early commit to his resume and the parents can relax, knowing that they are locked in. But are they really?
How solid is an early verbal? There is absolutely nothing binding to either party, (hence the 'verbal'). What assurance is there that the coach will hold up his end of the bargain? The people I've talked with who committed early (and really want to believe it's a solid deal), will tell me the coach won't risk his reputation by reneging on a verbal. On the other hand, if a better player becomes available, will the coach be willing to suffer a little ding to his reputation if it means he can put a stronger team on the field? Winning, as they say, is a great deodorant.
There is a steep learning curve when it comes to college athletics, especially at the top academic schools. Get the information you need to be successful at Tier One Athletics
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق