Interesting article on soccerfla.com.
<snip>
Burleigh wasn't pacing in front of a fax machine on Signing Day or hurling her cell phone against the wall. Her class was in the bag a long time ago. In fact, her next class is pretty much done. She's recruiting for 2010.
Burleigh's biggest concern when the faxes and Fed Ex packages begin to filter into her office is if a parent has signed in the wrong place.
This is a different world from the frenzied recruiting process that is college football.
But it's no less of a mess.
And Burleigh is concerned about where her sport is heading.
“I'm recruiting kids who don't even have their driver's licenses yet,†she said. “I don't like recruiting kids this early and it's getting earlier and earlier.â€
In fact, Burleigh can't even really recruit the athletes she is currently recruiting. Because no contact is permitted until they are juniors, she has to go through their high school coaches to set up visits.
And you thought college football recruiting was out of whack.
“It's so stupid,†Burleigh said.
And it's only going to get worse.
<snip>
Unless the NCAA gets a grip on it, soccer will be joining the high-profile sports with a recruiting quandary. The difference will be that nobody will pay attention to it outside the college and high school soccer worlds.
Which is normal for the NCAA.
You hear all the time about the governing body of college sports jumping into the middle of issues involving football and basketball, but when it comes to a sport with a lower profile, the NCAA muckety-mucks have to get hit in the face with a shovel to take action.
“The NCAA needs to put the brakes on this,†Burleigh said. “It's the coaches' fault, no question about it. We can't govern ourselves on how to do it.â€
One reason the athletes in soccer are committing earlier and earlier is because the parents don't want their children left out of getting scholarships to the schools of their choice.
As a result, the snowball keeps rolling downhill. Everyone wants to jump ahead of everyone else so kids are making commitments before they have developed a relationship with the coaches and coaches are forced to take those commitments from athletes who could blow out knees or lose interest in improving during their last couple of high school seasons.
<snip>
“I think the early commitments lead to transfers,†Wise said. “Recruits haven't had the opportunity to get to know the coaches or get to know the campus. We always tell them, 'No decision is better than a bad decision.' â€
<snip>
Monday was without that drama. Burleigh held off the announcement of her 15-member class until this week to avoid “the football machine.†Wise signed another excellent class in the fall without much fanfare.
Neither Scout.com nor Tom Lemming noticed.
http://www.gatorsports.com/article/2008 ... 4/gators02
So here are my questions. The NCAA is obviously moving in. I understand that they were the reason that the UCF friendlies were cancelled this weekend. Can anyone confirm or refute that?
Also, was the recruitment of younger and younger players having any effect on older Senior high school recruits? In other words, are coaches able to hold back money from the 2008 recruitment class, to bestow it on a 2009 or 2010? Or is that scholarship or grant money, spend it or lose it?
<snip>
Burleigh wasn't pacing in front of a fax machine on Signing Day or hurling her cell phone against the wall. Her class was in the bag a long time ago. In fact, her next class is pretty much done. She's recruiting for 2010.
Burleigh's biggest concern when the faxes and Fed Ex packages begin to filter into her office is if a parent has signed in the wrong place.
This is a different world from the frenzied recruiting process that is college football.
But it's no less of a mess.
And Burleigh is concerned about where her sport is heading.
“I'm recruiting kids who don't even have their driver's licenses yet,†she said. “I don't like recruiting kids this early and it's getting earlier and earlier.â€
In fact, Burleigh can't even really recruit the athletes she is currently recruiting. Because no contact is permitted until they are juniors, she has to go through their high school coaches to set up visits.
And you thought college football recruiting was out of whack.
“It's so stupid,†Burleigh said.
And it's only going to get worse.
<snip>
Unless the NCAA gets a grip on it, soccer will be joining the high-profile sports with a recruiting quandary. The difference will be that nobody will pay attention to it outside the college and high school soccer worlds.
Which is normal for the NCAA.
You hear all the time about the governing body of college sports jumping into the middle of issues involving football and basketball, but when it comes to a sport with a lower profile, the NCAA muckety-mucks have to get hit in the face with a shovel to take action.
“The NCAA needs to put the brakes on this,†Burleigh said. “It's the coaches' fault, no question about it. We can't govern ourselves on how to do it.â€
One reason the athletes in soccer are committing earlier and earlier is because the parents don't want their children left out of getting scholarships to the schools of their choice.
As a result, the snowball keeps rolling downhill. Everyone wants to jump ahead of everyone else so kids are making commitments before they have developed a relationship with the coaches and coaches are forced to take those commitments from athletes who could blow out knees or lose interest in improving during their last couple of high school seasons.
<snip>
“I think the early commitments lead to transfers,†Wise said. “Recruits haven't had the opportunity to get to know the coaches or get to know the campus. We always tell them, 'No decision is better than a bad decision.' â€
<snip>
Monday was without that drama. Burleigh held off the announcement of her 15-member class until this week to avoid “the football machine.†Wise signed another excellent class in the fall without much fanfare.
Neither Scout.com nor Tom Lemming noticed.
http://www.gatorsports.com/article/2008 ... 4/gators02
So here are my questions. The NCAA is obviously moving in. I understand that they were the reason that the UCF friendlies were cancelled this weekend. Can anyone confirm or refute that?
Also, was the recruitment of younger and younger players having any effect on older Senior high school recruits? In other words, are coaches able to hold back money from the 2008 recruitment class, to bestow it on a 2009 or 2010? Or is that scholarship or grant money, spend it or lose it?