In the wake of Zack Allen's last minute change and in anticipation of the signing of the rest of the next class for all teams this week, I was wondering if we could have a constructive conversation about what could be different.
Generally speaking when a kid decommits from a program that is not NU, I feel like it is the last chance an 18 year old has to control his own destiny before entering a multimillion dollar organization that will expect a huge commitment from him. Yes, they offer him a free education and food and housing but they control many aspects of the education, food and housing and many aspects of lifestyle and public persona as well. So it's not against any rules and a verbal is only as good as the paper it is written on.
OTOH
The coaches and staffs of the multimillion dollar programs are working very hard and trying to be worthy of their professions, The organizations are under a ton of pressure to succeed and it is a big deal when you lose a top prospect at the last minute. I'm frankly surprised there is not more last minute poaching as a strategy by upper tier programs to keep the underdogs under. I think some times a kid commits to a program before the season as an insurance policy against injury and that is milking the system some IMO.
So, what are some suggestions that would be an improvement ?
One thought I had was to make a rolling signing day that is based on the current signing day. In my system a verbal commitment would have a prorated sign date. I would rate the date at one third out from the national day. So if a kid commits verbally three months out, the NCAA would require him to sign on Jan 4th instead of Feb 4th. If a kid commits verbally on Aug 4th he would have to sign or decommit by Dec 4th. A kid who makes a verbal a year out would have to sign Oct 4th.
My system would still preserve a kids ability to get cold feet or cool off after a rash decision but it would protect coaches who are perhaps building their class around a certain player. It would make poaching a little more complicated because the poachers would have to keep track of a lot of expiration dates (not that hard really). I could see using a one half out from the national date formula but I prefer to keep the flexibility in the hands of the student. I actually think this would enhance the excitement of signing as there would be multiple days to celebrate a student committing to a team verbally and joining the team officially.
Any comments or suggestions for other systems?
This post was edited on 2/1 6:01 AM by Deeringfish
This post was edited on 2/1 8:05 AM by Deeringfish
Generally speaking when a kid decommits from a program that is not NU, I feel like it is the last chance an 18 year old has to control his own destiny before entering a multimillion dollar organization that will expect a huge commitment from him. Yes, they offer him a free education and food and housing but they control many aspects of the education, food and housing and many aspects of lifestyle and public persona as well. So it's not against any rules and a verbal is only as good as the paper it is written on.
OTOH
The coaches and staffs of the multimillion dollar programs are working very hard and trying to be worthy of their professions, The organizations are under a ton of pressure to succeed and it is a big deal when you lose a top prospect at the last minute. I'm frankly surprised there is not more last minute poaching as a strategy by upper tier programs to keep the underdogs under. I think some times a kid commits to a program before the season as an insurance policy against injury and that is milking the system some IMO.
So, what are some suggestions that would be an improvement ?
One thought I had was to make a rolling signing day that is based on the current signing day. In my system a verbal commitment would have a prorated sign date. I would rate the date at one third out from the national day. So if a kid commits verbally three months out, the NCAA would require him to sign on Jan 4th instead of Feb 4th. If a kid commits verbally on Aug 4th he would have to sign or decommit by Dec 4th. A kid who makes a verbal a year out would have to sign Oct 4th.
My system would still preserve a kids ability to get cold feet or cool off after a rash decision but it would protect coaches who are perhaps building their class around a certain player. It would make poaching a little more complicated because the poachers would have to keep track of a lot of expiration dates (not that hard really). I could see using a one half out from the national date formula but I prefer to keep the flexibility in the hands of the student. I actually think this would enhance the excitement of signing as there would be multiple days to celebrate a student committing to a team verbally and joining the team officially.
Any comments or suggestions for other systems?
This post was edited on 2/1 6:01 AM by Deeringfish
This post was edited on 2/1 8:05 AM by Deeringfish