Is demand for early commitments hurting college athletics?

On a day when baseball was making news with Dave Van Horn’s first media appearance since the College World Series, a simple tweet raised a good point that points to a problem.

Arkansas football’s S.J. Tuohy, who does an admirable job keeping up with Chad Morris pretty much all time, had a couple of thoughts on The Twitter that makes one think:

https://twitter.com/SJTuohy/status/1142909058489257984

That hits the nail on the head and may be the biggest reason for the deluge of transfers in all sports these days.

In football, a lot of coaches push for commitments at least a year out, sometimes two or three years away. That goes beyond offers and interest, but there are coaches that outright bribe the kids for a verbal commitment.

Fans pick up on it and many of the Lunatic Fringe that every major college football team has goes over the top with it, usually to the point of saying things to these recruits I can guarantee you they wouldn’t want said to their own children.

Assuming, of course, some of these mouth-breathers and booger-eaters are actually allowed to produce offspring. You get the idea a lot of them live in their parents’ garage, eating Cheetos and pounding energy drinks all day.

It is a valid point that apparently has risen to the level S.J. feels is getting out of hand in some cases.

His next tweet got to what is likely the root cause of all these transfers, which has become a cottage industry of its own.

https://twitter.com/SJTuohy/status/1142909786813374464

Yes, there are coaches that deliver those ultimatums to kids as young as the 9th grade.

“If you’re not willing to commit now, we’re going to move on to another player,” is a line we’ve heard from several folks that has been used.

Granted, I don’t cover the daily ins and outs of the recruiting game. There are guys that do a great job of that elsewhere, but I’ve heard things for several years and, in a couple of instances, seen it directly.

In a way, coaches have created the very thing so many complain about.

There are media that cover the recruiting in-depth, literally on an hourly basis. They start the team rankings two years in advance, which leads to fans getting nervous about where their team ranks, which leads to social media pressure on kids who don’t even have a driver’s license yet being bombarded with pressures by these same fans.

No, that’s not a negative o those ranking sites. It’s news and it’s information.

This didn’t happen years ago. About 40 years ago, the recruiting started about summer, intensified after the regular season and continued through to the next summer. Yes, as late as the 1980’s, SEC teams were still picking up signees in July to start practice in August as a true freshman.

Not any more.

Now players commit to a school, feel pressured to sign, show up and find out, well, that’s not really what they expected and transfer out.

In the past few months, one player started at USC, transferred to Texas, now is back at USC. That’s an extreme case, but it is a real example and points to a problem that is very prevalent in college football and basketball.

Part of it is on the fans. A few go over-the-top and paint an entire school in a negative light by acting like fools on social media.

Another part is on the coaches. They deliver the take-it-or-leave-it line on some kids who then make an uninformed decision. Coaches don’t make the rules, but it does sorta throw out the mantra many claim about how much they care about their players away from what they can do on the field.

But the actual responsible party that has made all this possible is the NCAA, which has turned into a kangaroo court that more or less makes it up as they go along.

That is the body that has allowed this transfer process to get out of control. If you can figure out their reasoning on granting waivers, you’re better than me because it makes zero sense.

The NCAA has allowed all of the responsibility to be placed on the players, some of whom felt pressured by coaches and over-zealous fans to choose the place they landed.

There is no responsibility placed on the schools, some of which run players off to free up more available scholarships.

And a lot of that is caused because the entire process causes coaches to force high school kids to make a decision that will affect the rest of their lives. There are few consequences for schools that have a revolving door.