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Practice of Oversigning Prospects,

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by dkphxf, Dec 19, 2010.

  1. ucacm

    ucacm Active Member

    I know this may be a reach, but do recruiting rankings have anything to do with this? How do the major websites calculate recruiting rankings? Is it based on the top X amount of players you sign, or does your entire class, no matter how large, count towards the rankings?

    I know that fanbases in SEC country definitely care where their school places. It's not rare that a SEC school will finish ranked in the top-25 national recruiting rankings, but be 9th or 10th best in the SEC.
     
  2. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I don't have a problem with not renewing a scholarship, if you don't develop, or there is a coaching change, I can understand it. But you shouldn't be able to use a scholarship that isn't renewed until the following recruiting year. Allow the player to finish out the year, make new plans, transfer etc.
     
  3. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    They are allowed to finish out the year. It's not like they come to the player in February and tell him they're not paying for the rest of the semester.

    And I disagree with you on the notion that if they don't develop, they should be able to lose the scholarship. Last time I checked, the alleged purpose of the college was to give the students an education, and sports are supposed to be extracurricular activities. The kids should be in school to go to school. Unfortunately, that's not what happens.

    Same with a coaching change. The NCAA specificially has rules that state that recruits are supposed to pick the school based upon the school, not the coaching staff. Of course, this is BS. Coaches recruit off-campus for a reason, to influence the kid to play for their team. Since the NCAA frowns upon kids leaving one school to join their coach elsewhere, the same should go for the coaches who arrive at the school. They should honor the scholarship.

    Of course they should, but they don't. The NCAA just pays lip service about caring for the athlete-students. Heck, they even rigged the transfer rules in which the athlete-student gets punished by having to sit out two years instead of one if the school doesn't approve of where the kid transfers too.
     
  4. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    It rarely gets written about, but so many coaches who are desperately in need of a scholarship will go to a player who isn't producing or is injured and say, "You need to transfer."

    One big time coach I covered did it all the time. He would say, "You can stay here, but I will never play you."
     
  5. Point of Order

    Point of Order Active Member

    I've never seen any. I imagine, though, that they contain language saying that the school may choose not to renew the player's scholarship for any reason. I'm sure they vary by school, too. I would love to get a look at a few schools' form athletic scholarship to see what it actually says. I bet it's something that could be FOI-ed.
     
  6. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    I'm struck by the stats showing how much worse the problem is in the SEC compared to other conferences.

    The Big 10 passed rules to limit oversigning and it worked like a charm. Can't the NCAA simply pass the same sort of measures applicable to everyone? The SEC obviously ain't ever gonna pass anything that might hinder their football competitiveness, but doesn't mean the NCAA can't do it instead.
     
  7. Point of Order

    Point of Order Active Member

    The SEC already passed such a rule. I think they're limited to 28.
     
  8. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    I was just about to post this. It's been a huge problem in the SEC but they have addressed it.

    The tipping point was Ole Miss' 2009 class that had somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-38 players.
     
  9. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I think this happens the most frequently at schools with new head coaches who come in and have a bunch of players that don't fit into their system.

    I would also argue this practice is more frequent in basketball. How many times do you see a team that is at its max for scholarships magically find one as some Juco kid comes available.

    Oh, what a coincidence, a player decides to transfer the week before the new player signs.

    It happens a lot.
     
  10. terrier

    terrier Well-Known Member

    I remember last year there was a kid at Oklahoma State who Calipari descholarshipped when he arrived at Kentucky. Did he have to sit for a year? Did Cal sign a waiver allowing him to play right away at OSU?

    If a kid signs with, say, a Big East school and he turns out not to be Big East material on the court, he should be allowed to stay on scholarship if he wants to get his degree at that school. The coach should have to pay for the talent evaluation mistake, not the player.
     
  11. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    It's easy for a coach to do.

    If a player has any academic issues, they can be dinged for that. If a player has been in any trouble, they can be dinged for that.

    Or a coach can say, "Look, I'll put in some calls and help you transfer to any school in another conference."
     
  12. Stoney

    Stoney Well-Known Member

    That kid had previously transferred into Kentucky from another school and had already sat out an entire year when Calipari showed up and told him he was no longer wanted. The NCAA used some common sense and granted him a waiver so he wouldn't have sit out a second straight year.
     
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