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Blame the NCAA, its coaches and administrators for turning the recruiting process into a national scandal, for turning teenagers into chopped sirloin, for creating street agents and influence peddlers, for cheapening the game while stuffing $1 billion into its own pockets.
Does it make sense to offer college scholarships to eighth graders because they can dribble a basketball or throw a football 60 yards in the air? Does the college of electrical engineering recruit 13-year-olds who can manipulate a slide rule like Hamelin plays Chopin?
It's all about greed and ego and money, not about the kids. They are innocent pawns who get caught up in a recruiting game that the NCAA allows the coaches to play. They invented the early commitment. Now it gets earlier and earlier. And if a recruit doesn't measure up to expectations, he is dropped like a penny stock.
Why can't kids be kids and enjoy their high school careers and not be confronted by college recruiters until after their senior seasons? Why do they have to address the process as freshmen and sophomores, before they are old enough to drive cars and date girls?
Because that's the way the coaches want it. They make the rules. And the NCAA goes along, wagging its tail behind them.
Where does it say the college coaches are supposed to run the lives of the high school kids? Maybe the kids ought to organize their own union and establish their own rules. After all, without the high school players, the college programs are out of business, right? Who needs whom more?
So how about revamping the recruiting process?
Let the colleges send letters and promotional videos and allow them to attend games during the season. Let the kids and their parents and high school coaches send tapes and highlight film and respond to questionnaires and make unofficial campus visits.
All of that is being done now.
But here are some noteworthy changes designed to benefit the kids: No personal contact, no text messaging, no e-mails, no telephone calls, no winking in the hallways, no early signing period, no early commitments, no eye-to-eye recruiting until after the athlete's senior season. Then let the process begin.
Change the signing date if you think the athletes and coaches need more time to make wise decisions. For football, move the date from February to March or April. For basketball, move the date from April to May or June. How much time does everybody need to make up their minds?
The current system has run amuck. It doesn't make sense, ethically or morally or financially, for a college to recruit an athlete for three, four or even five years. The NCAA's insistence upon using the phrase "student-athlete" to characterize kids who take advantage of one or two years of eligibility, then leap to the NBA or NFL, is a sham. Would they dare to reveal the contents of their transcripts, their course of study? Not a chance.
The NCAA has lost all credibility in this matter and won't regain its good name until the phrase "student-athlete" begins to mean something and the recruiting process gains some degree of sanity.
Cell Phone Alerts
Stop the presses! Stop the presses!
Taylor Bell has actually said something right!
The U.S. is the only country that would allow anything like this to happen. In every other country, if you're good enough, you're a pro, and it doesn't matter what sport it is. Perhaps everyone is so money and power hungry that fail to realize the kids are being screwed in the process. Can we go back to a society that allows kids to be kids and not a piece of meat that can beat bought for $1.99 a pound? All the so-called adults stresses and problems becomes the kids problems and they have to deliver the bacon before the kid either loses his ability or are so worn out by the process they snap and beat up someone.
However, there is no way on this earth that recruits or coaches would be able to wait until after their senior year. It's impractical for EVERYONE involved. Kids will get overlooked, coaches will be working 24-7 365 (which they don't do now), and parents and street agents will really take over giving up their kids services to the highest bidder. That's not what we wanted.
But a final word to the NCAA: You're a freeking disgrace.
A MAN ONCE SAID, UNLESS YOU CAN GET 100,000 PEOPLE TO COME
TO A PHYSICS LECTURE, INSTEAD OF A FOOTBALL GAME ON
SATURDAY, ATHLETICS WILL ALWAYS ON A COLLEGE CAMPUS
BE MORE IMPORTANT, LET'S FACE FACTS, ATHLETICS IS
AN OUTLET, THAT'S WHY IF YOU WATCH THE BIG TEN CHANNEL,
THEY HAVE A COMMERCIAL THAT STATES, THAT THEIR ATHLETES
GO PRO IN 400 OTHER DISCIPLINES OTHER THAN SPORTS!
I FEEL YOUR PAIN, REGARDING 13 YEAR OLDS BEING RECRUITED
BUT IF YOU WATCH HOOP DREAMS, BO ELLIS SAYS, YOU HAVE TO
RECRUIT THEM EARLY!
I NOTICE YOU HAVE AN ARTICLE IN THE SUN-TIMES ABOUT THE
FOOTBALL PLAYER FROM LANE TECH, LOUIS TRINCA-PASAT, HE
ORALLY COMMITTED TO IOWA, THE REASON HE GAVE IS THAT THEY
OFFERED HIM HIS FIRST SCHOLARSHIP, NOW WHEN THE OTHERS
FINALLY SAW WHAT IOWA SAW FIRST, HE WAS LOYAL TO THE SCHOOL
THAT RECRUITED HIM FIRST!
NOW I KNOW HE ISN'T 13, BUT HE NEVER PLAYED FOOTBALL,
UNTIL PLAYING FOR LANE!
I THINK WE ALL AGREE, EDUCATION SHOULD BE A HIGH PRIORITY
BECAUSE ONE DAY THE BALL WILL STOP BOUNCING, BUT LET'S
NOT THROW THE NCAA UNDER THE TRAIN, LET'S HELP THEM FIX
THE CABOOSE!
WHY DO YOU THINK EVERY COLLEGE HAS CAMPS FOR YOUNGSTERS
IN THE SUMMER MONTHS, THEY WANT THAT YOUNG MAN OR LADY TO
COME TO THEIR CAMPUS, FEEL AT HOME, ENJOY THE SCENERY, AND
HOPEFULLY RETURN AS A STUDENT OR STUDENT-ATHLETE!
THE NCAA DIDN'T CREATE STREET AGENTS, THESE GUYS CREATED
THEMSELVES, THE NCAA HAS ENOUGH PROBLEMS WITHOUT THE
STREET AGENT HALL-OF-FAME BEING ERECTED!
YOU HAVE A POINT, BUT THE NCAA ISN'T THE BAD GUY IN THE
ROOM, ALL ORGANIZATIONS HAVE FALLEN SHORT OF PERFECT, AND
THE NCAA IS ONE, BUT EVEN THE FOUNDING FATHERS KNEW,
PERFECTION WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE, THAT'S WHY IN THE
CONSTITUTION IT SAYS, TOWARD A MORE PERFECT UNION!
REALITY CHECK, SOME SCHOOLS WOULD CLOSE AND NEVER BE HEARD
FROM AGAIN WITHOUT ATHLETICS, NOW THE SCHOOLS THAT ALLOW
YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN TO COME TO THEIR CAMPUS AND NOT GO TO
CLASS, AND NOT MAKE AN ATTEMPT TOWARD A DEGREE, THEY ARE
THE BAD APPLE IN THE BUNCH, BUT TO CONDEMN THE ENTIRE
NCAA IS WRONG!
Phil, you're right. The NCAA can't oversee everything. The problem is this is all going in under their watchful eye (more like not so watchful, but I digress). So much stuff is going under the NCAA's watch it's getting a little crazy. If you take a look at what Memphis' girls golf team got investigated for, you wonder why the NCAA even has the rules in place. It's so impractical it's not even funny anymore. Basically these student-athletes are put under a higher set of standards then regular students. All most student-athletes want is to be like everyone else once they're not competing. Under the system currently in place, that can't happen.
However, the bigger problem is not many people care about the other 1,000,000+ student athletes that are not in football or basketball. Other than the Big Ten Network or some local TV show, have we seen ANY good stories run on NCAA student-athletes NOT in football or basketball? I haven't, and I'm sure many others haven't either.
WOW!!!! AS A HIGH SCHOOL BBALL COACH IN THE CITY, I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH TAYLOR!!! YES..THE NCAA IS AT FAULT. BUT THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IN YOUTH SPORTS TODAY ARE UNQUALIFIED COACHES THAT WATCH KOBE DO HIS THING EVERY NIGHT AND SAY HEY I AM GONNA GET A GROUP OF KIDS TOGETHER TO FEED MY EGO AND GET ATTENTION. AAU HAS BECOME COMPLETELY GARBAGE!!! I HEAR PEOPLE SAY, BUT THAT IS WHERE A KID GETS EXPOSURE. YES I DO AGREE BUT WHEN YOU HAVE AAU COACHES NOT STRESSING GRADES TO ATHLETES YOU END UP CREATING UNEDUCATED YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN WHO DO NOT HAVE A REALISTIC IDEA ABOUT HOW SOCIETY WORKS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL. THERE ARE MANY KIDS I SEE IN THE CITY THAT THE ONLY THING THEY TALK ABOUT IS GOING D1 BUT THEY REALLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT WHAT DIVISION 1 IS. THE WORSE CASE OF THIS IS WHAT HAPPEN WITH A YOUNG MAN THAT WAS A SOPHOMORE BBALL PLAYER AT CURIE AND ENDED UP TRANSFERRING HIGH SCHOOLS BECAUSE HIS AAU COACH GOT HIRED AT ANOTHER CPS SCHOOL. WHAT WE NEED TO DO IS LOCK UP ALL THESE PIECE OF CRAP PEOPLE THAT "RECRUIT" KIDS FOR THEIR TRAVELING TEAM ILLEGALLY (GIFTS, FALSE PROMISES). I MEAN WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT HERE???
EVERYDAY I AM AROUND COACHES THAT MAKE ME SICK TO MY STOMACH. I HAVE WITNESSED BLACK BASKETBALL COACHES CALLING THEIR KIDS THE "N" WORD. I HAVE SEEN KIDS SHOVED INTO LOCKERS IN THE LOCKEROOM AND ACTUALLY SAW A HEAD COACH DEMAND ONE OF HIS PLAYERS STAND UP AND FIGHT HIM. OH WAIT CPS PROBABLY DOESN'T WANT ANYONE TO KNOW ABOUT THAT. OR HOW HIGH SCHOOLS COACHES ARE IN ELEMENTARY GYMS RECRUITING KIDS TO COME PLAY BASKETBALL AT THEIR SCHOOL. SO THE KID WHO IS GEETTING RECRUITED ALREADY KNOWS THAT THEY ARE SPECIAL.
NEXT IS THE CASE OF D.ROSE!!! THE FIRST PEOPLE THAT SHOULD BE REFLECTED ON THE GRADE AND SAT SCANDAL IS CPS. WHY AREN'T BLACK CHILDREN ON THE SOUTH SIDE GIVEN THE SAME OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES AS KIDS ON THE NORTH SIDE??? WHY DID D.ROSE EVEN NEED TO HAVE SOMEONE TAKE HIS TEST IF HE HAD CARING SUPPORTIVE TEACHERS WHO SETTLE FOR SUCCESS AND NOTHING LESS FOR ALL THEIR STUDENTS. THEN THE SIMEON COACH SAYING HE HAS NO ACCESS TO CHANGE GRADES BUT IS THE DEAN OF STUDENTS OVER THERE. HOW IF YOUR A ADMINISTRATOR DO U NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THE KIDS GRADES?? GIVE ME A BREAK. CPS WILL NEVER FIRE HIM BC THEY LET HIM BECOME LARGER THAN LIFE. THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LEAGUE IS A FRATERNITY MADE UP OF A FEW UNETHICAL EGOTISTICAL PIECES OF CRAP THAT UNFORTUNATELY RUIN SOME OF THE KIDS LIVES BEFORE THEY EVEN START.
LETS STEP UP AND HIRE COACHES THAT ONLY WANT THE BEST EDUCATION AND RESOURCES FOR THEIR PLAYERS. ACADEMICS GO A LOT FURTHER THAN A BASKETBALL EVER COULD.
WAY TO GO A.Z. YOU JUST THREW THE ENTIRE CPS UNDER THE
TRAIN LIKE PELHAM 123!
I SEE YOU HAVE SEEN A FEW THINGS, BUT YOU DON'T BELIEVE
WHAT YOU WERE TOLD BY THE COACH FROM SIMEON, VERY FEW
PEOPLE INSIDE A CPS BUILDING HAVE ACCESS TO SOMEONE'S
GRADES, AND IF HE TOLD YOU HE WASN'T ONE OF THEM, BELIEVE
HIM, BECAUSE GUESS WHAT, HE IS INSIDE THE BUILDING, YOU
ARE ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN!
IF YOU DON'T LIKE AAU BALL THAT'S YOUR RIGHT, BUT MANY
A YOUNGSTER IS GETTING HIS REPUTATION FROM PLAYING AAU
BALL, BOBBY FRASOR WOULD NOT HAVE ENDED UP AT NORTH CAROLINA, IF IT WERE NOT FOR AAU BALL! THE CHICAGO WOLVES
HAVE A VERY GOOD REPUTATION AS DO MANY OTHERS!
IT'S OKAY FOR WOMEN TO PLAY CLUB VOLLEYBALL, BUT YOU WANT
TO AXE AAU BASKETBALL, THAT IS A DOUBLE-STANDARD!
DO YOU THINK THE YOUNG MAN FROM MARSHALL WOULD HAVE ENDED
UP AT U-CONN IF IT WEREN'T FOR AAU BALL?
THE CPS IS BIGGER THAN YOU THINK, YOU HAVE THE LOWEST
PAID COACHES IN THE STATE, IN THE SUBURBS YOU HAVE SOME
GUYS MAKING ALOT MORE MONEY AS ASSISTANT COACHES THAN THE
HEAD COACHES IN THE CPS!
YOU DON'T NEED TO BE A CERTIFIED TEACHER TO BE A COACH,
ASCEP TESTING, LEARN ABOUT THIS, THE SUBURBS STARTED THIS
TESTING!
STOP SAYING D.ROSE CHEATED, THERE IS NO PROOF THAT HE DID!
JUST THE FACTS, KEEP YOUR OPINIONS TO YOURSELF!
Phil
caps lock dude.
seriously!
you need to stop shouting on these posts
I totally agree with Taylor Bell's assessment of the current system of collegiate atheletics. It has been totally corrupted by the amount of money that is at stake nowadays. The coaches in the money revenue sports (basketball and football) are chasing seven figure salaries at the major division one level. Upon being questioned as to why he is the highest paid state employee in Connecticut, Jim Calhoun stated that his basketball teams generate 12 million dollars a year for the school. In my mind, that says it all. This thing is about money and not the children whose backs these monies are generated on, literally.
The fact that TV contracts, the gym shoe companies and corporate sponsorships produces hundreds of millions of dollars a year for the NCAA should explain why they have no incentive to want to change its policies regarding it 'student athletes'. In fact, the amount of monies realized yearly from these two sports provides them with the incentive to continue to exploit these children. And I say exploit because the vast and overwhelming majority of these children walk out of these instituions with nothing to show for their efforts.
Somebody is trying to put the genie back in the bottle. If you want to see recruiting changed, let schools make all sports non-revenue and let the kids that want to be pros, find an outlet for that. I'm sure the market would create that outlet.
"Why can't kids be kids and enjoy their high school careers and not be confronted by college recruiters until after their senior seasons? Why do they have to address the process as freshmen and sophomores, before they are old enough to drive cars and date girls?"
We should bring back sock hops and drive-in movies too. To characterize kids and parents/family as innocents in this process, is missing two key players in the process. I'm not defending the NCAA, but if they are the problem, they aren't the only one.