Early recruiting in the NCAA has always been a huge problem in the United States. The NCAA began in the mid-1800s and competitions between colleges and universities happened in 1852. Athletic recruiting was implemented in the late 1890s throughout the country. There are limits on NCAA recruiting rules and many are being broken or should be changed. If a child is passionate about the sport they play when they get into high school, they usually start to look into colleges to go and play said sport. As an athlete that is speaking from experience in this subject it is a really fun and stressful time in your athletic career. Last year the NCAA rules for recruiting girls that play softball is that coaches cannot contact the girls directly until their sophomore year in high school. This rule did not stop colleges from talking and negotiating with the athlete. The coaches would find a loop hole. If the athlete were to call the coach first and he/she picked up they were able to talk about recruiting. Scouts need to have an age limit of when the athlete can be recruited.
Upon getting to Dixie State University to play softball, I got into the recruiting process fairly early. I started going to on-campus camps in eighth grade and verbally committed summer between my freshman and sophomore year of high school. For a Division II school this is extremely impressive. As for Division I schools, such as Alabama, Oklahoma, and Florida, they are having athletes verbal before they even finish eighth grade. This is a major problem because kids that young do not even have a full understanding what college consists of. At twelve and thirteen or even fourteen years old, they do not know if they want to attend a large University with huge lecture hall classes or a small private college that has a 1:10 professor to student ratio, let alone make a decision that big. College students do not usually know what they want to major in until they are about a sophomore, so what makes the NCAA and college coaches think athletes that young can make a decision of where to attend college? The NFCA, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, says, “A staggering 60% of student-athletes had “no idea” of an academic major at their time of commitment” (NFCA). As an athlete who committed to college early, the first thing I did was look at the success of the softball team. I did not weigh in the academics until after I committed. Luckily, Dixie has great academics, but for some athletes who commit early and base their decision off of athletics, the academic department might have a terrible graduation rate and not provide the major that athlete desires.
Another reason that the age needs to be monitored is because girls at that age are not fully developed. College coaches are seeing them at a short-lived peak. They may be just coming out of a growth spurt that nobody else has hit yet and appear to be so much better than everyone else. A few years later everyone is going to catch up and she will no longer be dominating the field. Coaches are trying to make a long-term decision from a small amount of data on one or two performances. The chances of an athlete being that good consistently for 4-5 years are slim to none. These athletes are going to be growing and changing, getting stronger and bigger so they will be changing physically, mentally, and athletically from the time they are recruited to the time they actually are ready to attend college.
In order to make a decision this big they need more life experience to make the right choice. These young athletes don’t know enough about themselves at that age to know how they learn and what would be best for them. Their communication skills aren’t developed enough to be able to pick up the phone and have an in-depth conversation with a coach. Also, at that age they don't have the skills to negotiate money for a scholarship, so most have their parents do it for them. I can relate to this on a personal level. When being recruited I did not do any of the talking, it was always my parents and the head coach. When the athletes go on their official visit, they have no idea the questions that they need to ask the coaches to find out information about the university and if it will fit their learning style. Another thing that makes them unfit to make this choice is that they don’t know the difference between being in a huge lecture hall verses a small science lab. In order to find out how you learn, you have to be familiar with yourself in an environment as similar to a college as possible. You might say that they have people around them to be able to help them communicate with a coach or to negotiate such as parents, but it is the responsibility of the athlete to take control because they are the ones that are going to be attending college and are actually going to have to live with the premature decision they made.
The recruiting process in the past years allowed athletes to contact the coach at any time. Coaches were allowed to contact the athlete July 1st after their junior year. The athlete is allowed to sign the National Letter of Intent, this is when the athlete agrees to attend said college/university for one academic year. They sign this their fall or spring semester of their senior year of high school. These requirements have since changed. The softball recruiting contact date is now September 1st of the athlete’s junior year. This means no Division I softball coaches and athlete/parents are able to have any contact, other than on-campus camps, until September 1st of their junior year. Division I colleges would recruit girls as young as sixth and seventh grade. The NCAA was making this problem a priority to fix. They passed a rule that was clear enough to understand that the recruiting contact needed to be slowed down. This date change allows the student-athletes to make a definitive college decision at an appropriate age.
Having that rule changed this last year will not only help the coaches, who really pushed getting this passed, but also the softball prospects. There are set consequences for violations of this NCAA rule. A coach who violates the early recruiting rule could be terminated. There can be no third party that passes messages between the athlete and college coach, this is a violation of the NCAA rule (Klungseth). Many consequences for violations are based on the facts and history of the people involved. The NCAA provide a frequently asked questions and scenarios about the new recruiting rule in the Educational Column. The new rule does not recognize the agreement of “verbal commitments,” so they are not affected. Communications between the coach and athlete are still not allowed until September 1st of junior year.
Having college coaches at the DI level request for this rule to be changed is a step forward. According to the NFCA, the softball community based this rule off of the lacrosse legislation that was passed in April 2017. This legislation proposes that September 1st of the athlete’s junior year be the start date of recruiting contact, this includes: unofficial visits, correspondence, phone calls, and recruiting conversations at camps/clinics. The lacrosse community wanted the recruits to be older when making such a life changing decision. When deciding if the softball community should implement the lacrosse legislation they used a straw poll, allowing one vote per institution. The results were astounding, two hundred to three were in favor of the proposal! Many colleges agreed that the only way to change the problems with early recruiting is with this legislation.
On the other side, early recruiting could benefit the college coaches. There has always been a competition between schools when recruiting early. Getting the girl that is dominating the age group at the time before any other college. The college coaches recruit earlier and earlier to stay ahead of the competition. Building a team that is filled with the best athletes around the country is what any college coach dreams of. So, if they recruit the best athlete early before any other school, they are one step closer to having the best team. They are one step closer to going to the World Series or winning the conference or even having a winning season. And knowing the recruiting process in and out can help the athlete get to that college easily. Whether it is division 1 softball or NAIA, recruiting an athlete early helps that college get ahead in the competitions between other colleges/universities. That appeal is great for any division.
Another reason to recruit early is because a verbal commitment is not a legally binding scholarship offer. College coaches can extend a verbal offer to an athlete at any age. This is a way for the coach to say, “I have a spot on the team for you.” When in reality this is not a legal agreement, meaning the coach or the athlete can pull out on the offer at any time before signing the NLI. An athlete basically states that they plan of attending said college/university but can back out anytime. The only binding commitment is your word. Can an athlete verbally commit to a school and sign an NLI to another school? Yes. According to Michelle Kretzschmar, a writer for DIY College Rankings, “the NLI program does not recognize verbal commitments. It is not uncommon for a student to verbally commit to one institution and subsequently sign an NLI with another institution.” This is a good way for a college to snag the athlete before any other competition. According to a Sports Illustrated examination of football recruits, “Of the 500 players ranked in the Rivals100 for the classes of 2007 through 2011, 73 (14.6 percent) de-committed at some point during their recruitment. Of those, 62 (12.4 percent) ultimately signed with a school other than the one to which they originally committed.” A “de-commit” is a thing and can sometimes be a good.
Allowing an athlete to commit early can relieve stress not only for the athlete and college coach, but for the family as well. For the athlete committing early can remove stress of the recruiting process and they are able to focus on other things. Things the athlete can focus on is grades. Making good grades in high school can help the athlete get more scholarship money. The athlete’s grades and testing scores for the ACT or SAT can help get them into and receive more scholarship money in academics. For the family, having one’s daughter commit early allows them to figure out how to pay for the college (if needed) and it can help them relax on figuring out what college/university to attend. Recruiting early can help the coach out by filling that position or spot and not worry about not being able to find an athlete able to play at the college level at said position. Recruiting early helps with this.
Athletes need to take certain things into consideration. If a coach were to leave the institution after you had committed would you still want to attend the college? This is something some athletes do not think about. Say an athlete verbally commits to a big D1 university in eighth grade. The coach could receive a better job at a different institute and the new coach could decide to keep you or remove the verbal commitment. Even if the coach honors the commitment, the athlete could not receive the amount of playing time they were promised before. The athlete needs to make sure their commitment is solid between both her and the head coach. If the coach does leave, do you have other options? Would you continue to sign at the institute even if the coach leaves? And would you go to the other institute if the coach offered you there? All of these questions are important before deciding to commit to a college. The athlete should have confidence in their decision on the college or university they decide to attend.
College is the biggest decision anyone can make and if you are not completely confident in that decision then it can be a terrible experience. Young athletes are committing to an institute in sixth grade and are likely not even confident about the college or university because they do not know what they are getting into. Student-athletes are now feeling the pressure of committing early because their whole team is committed before they even get an offer. Taking that time to find if the school is a good fit is crucial. Figuring out the academics the schools offers, the athletics, and most importantly, in my own opinion, the student life. Student life is important because you need to know about the living situations and the types of clubs and activities are offered other than just your sport. Knowing these things is important to making that final decision on whether this school is a good fit for you or not. Doing your homework like finding these things out is important. The saying has always been, “college isn’t a 4-year decision, it’s a 40-year decision that impacts the rest of your life.”
Just because a student-athlete is passionate about softball does not mean they need to make a decision about college at such a young age. Committing to a college or university early does nothing for you other than to stop working hard at a sport you love. An athlete could be at their peak when they commit, and the coach does not realize they have not gotten any better since the time they recruited that athlete. The athlete needs to be developed and old enough to make a decision that could affect their life for a long time. Having this legislation that puts a limit on when the coach can contact the student-athlete will save time and money. The NCAA and Division I coaches worked together to get a legislation like this passed and it will improve the softball recruiting process greatly in the long run.
There is still the problem of early recruiting in many sports throughout the U.S. but having the legislation passed for softball and lacrosse is a step towards a better recruiting community.