Where is my Signing Day news conference?

So there was little fanfare about it, but apparently in January 2015 the NCAA passed a rule stating that D3 athletes can sign a nonbinding form to show that, yes, they too will be a collegiate athlete. Just heard about this today for the first time.

Good thing or bad thing? Personally, it goes along the 'Everyone gets a trophy' theme most parents and kids are used to. And to me, while playing D3 collegiate athletics is a nice accomplishment, sitting alongside a D1 prospect to sign your letters diminishes the accomplishment of student-athlete who actually earned a scholarship.

Can't help but think some helicopter parent was behind this.

DIII student-athletes want to sign, too

 

I went to a DIII school, Wesleyan to be precise. A lot of accomplished high school athletes in Boston who're just a little too small or slow for bigtime college football and basketball go to places that like that (Tufts, Williams, Amherst, etc.). It was understood in 1970 and is understood today that the admissions letter said jocks received was a self-esteem award far better than some signing letter.

 

I used to get so pissed when one of my staffers would write about a kid "signing" to play for some DIII school. Or, worse, "signing to play" for a DII school only to find out the kid got an academic scholarship, not athletic.

 

It's a good marketing trick for private high schools. Kid gets $1,000 scholarship to $50,000 school and gets recognized alongside the future NBA and NFL players at the school.

 

Just an excuse for D-III schools to get some free marketing on Facebook, and to sell a T-shirt or two to Mom and Dad for the photo.

Our shop runs these photos on the Youth Sports pages, when space is available.

 

#whitejocksmatter

 

I can't be the only former prep writer who attended MANY "signing" ceremonies for local kids going to DIII schools during which they signed a blank piece of paper so we could get a picture.

Isn't this just that, only formalized?

 

Not all D-III "signings" are created equal. Going to Tufts to play lacrosse? That's a fairly big deal and you might have even been good enough to play D-I somewhere.

Playing tennis at Shenandoah? It's quite possible they just needed to fill a roster spot and said "sure, whatever" to a kid already heading to school there.

 

It goes further than that. In many (most?) D-III cases, the entire reason the program exists is to get kids to go to school there.

 

So how long before the ESPN/Rivals D-III Top 100 comes out?

I covered Williams for 5 years. Great school with great athletics, just like Amherst, Tufts, Wesleyan and several others in New England. But a signing news conference for a future doctor? No thanks. We had/ have a rule in our shop: stories for D1 only. Waiting for a parent to call up and throw this in my D3 garbage face.

 

Birmingham-Southern football, come on down!

 

Williams is just like those other schools? Fie! The Williams College Ephmen stand alone.

– An Eph who is several weeks from a milestone reunion

(Curious, though, what shop you worked for. If it was the Berkshire Eagle, I thought I saw on Facebook this morning that the Eagle ran a story on 12 Mt. Greylock athletes "signing" with Div III schools. Though it put in all the caveats.)