SEC didn’t go nearly far enough with ‘oversigning’
Mike Slive handed out $18.3 million checks to conference members Friday, but oversigning numbers don't add up. (AP photo)
Nick Saban, apparent guiding light for the nation’s oppressed and downtrodden — or at least those with a really good time in the 40 — is blaming the media for making too much of this “oversigning” issue.
“You all are creating a bad problem for everybody,” he said. “You’re going to mess up kids’ opportunities by doing what you’re doing.”
Yes, that is my purpose here on earth — to prevent potential student-athletes from fulfilling their dreams. And I’m certain if Nick Saban’s son were to be offered a football scholarship one year, only to be told months later after he had enrolled that there was no room after all, or to be pressured into leaving a season or two later when coaches suddenly determined that he wasn’t good enough, papa bear still would be perfectly fine with all this.
I don’t mean to put this all on Saban, although he and Houston Nutt have been two of the biggest abusers of oversigning, a “morally reprehensible” practice in the words of Florida president Bernie Machen. Only in the past year has the issue been drawing the attention it deserves.
The SEC, as the highest-profile college football conference in the nation, had a chance to make a loud statement at its meetings this week. It kind of wimped out. Rather than attack the oversigning problem with significant legislation, it decided only that it would lower the annual scholarship offer cap from 28 to 25.
Let me translate: Coaches now have a lower limit as to how unethical and morally reprehensible they can be. Feel better?
This was sort of like the real SEC passing a rule: “We recognize that insider trading is a problem. So we’re going to cap profits from said illegal transactions at $2.7 million.”
According to the rules, if a coach has 18 scholarship openings he can still sign 25 kids, then massage the numbers over a certain period, coerce kids into quitting or taking a “grayshirt” — postponing going on scholarship — or working some medical hardship magic (albeit, the SEC will have some oversight now). In the end, the coach gets the 18 players on the roster he wants and other seven are dropped into a black hole.
Welcome to the NCAA’s mission: Winning and making money, moral compass be damned.
College coaches don’t want to be held accountable for their mistakes. They don’t want to pay the price if a five-star defensive back devolves into a one-star punt coverage guy, or if a recruit fails to qualify academically, or if the kid backs out at the last minute to sign elsewhere.
Get a helmet, coach. Everybody takes the same risks.
Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity acknowledged in an interview Friday that the lowered scholarship limit doesn’t close the loophole. He also stated there was significant pushback from coaches who believe they would be at some competitive disadvantage in recruiting against other conferences should the SEC adopt tougher standards, like the obvious one: a hard cap, which would allow a coach to sign only as many kids to letters as he has scholarships available.
“That’s the perception some have. I’m not sure that’s true,” McGarity said, alluding to coaches’ concerns.
But he still considers this progress, saying, “There’s no question it was a good day for the SEC. At the end of the day, the presidents’ vote was a move in the right direction. Does it solve the problem? No. But it does help.”
The fix needs to come at the NCAA level. But the SEC could’ve done more and not damaged its product or brand. Commissioner Mike Slive just handed out $18.3 million checks to member institutions. Business seems to be pretty good.
Mark Richt, in supporting elements of grayshirting, wondered the other day about the recruit who just really wants to go to Georgia and there’s no scholarship available. How about this: Go the “Rudy” route. Enroll as a student, try to make it as a walk on and maybe get a scholarship the following year. But no promises, no signatures, no funny numbers.
See how easy that was? And sorry, Nick: Nobody will be denied an opportunity. There are 119 Division 1 football programs not named Alabama.
When asked if he would like to see a hard cap on scholarships, McGarity said: “In a perfect world, yes. But we’re not in a perfect world.”
No. But we could’ve been a little closer.
By Jeff Schultz
Earlier post: SI says Richt has a better job than Saban (Alabama)
Earlier post: Spurrier’s pay petition meaningless but concept has merit
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SEC FAN>
June 4th, 2011
5:26 pm
Nick Saban doesn’t care about hurting these kids feelings if he tells them no scholly after one year, the guy just wants to WIN and will find every loophole possible to do this, he is the Anti_Richt. But he has one two MNC so he has the respect…
Maddox
June 4th, 2011
5:33 pm
It would be so refreshing if so-called journalists would actually work for a change and get the facts rather than trying to create controversy to get attention. The whining about over signing is another attempt to socialize college football. How has that worked out for our economy? It won’t make champions of smaller schools any more than the current ridiculous litany of imposed rules has. Grow up, take responsibility for yourself, work hard. Stop trying to bring the successful down, that won’t make you a winner.
5150 UOAD
June 4th, 2011
6:38 pm
85 scholarships divided by 4yrs is 21.25 shouldn’t the limit just be 23 and be done with it?
Dawglasville
June 4th, 2011
7:18 pm
Matt – you may or may not see this. According to US News Vandy is 15, and UGA an UF are tied at 56 (maybe 54). All of the rest of the schools in the SEC are not even in the top 100. All three of these schools are fighting to put an end to this oversigning business. That was the point I made yesterday. I understand that Vandy is a superior school to UGA and to UF but all three schools are making and effort to fix this mess and put an end to this plantation mentality. Now, if you are a Vandy grad, which I am sure that you are not, because if you were you would probably have much better things to do than to belittle someone on a sports blog, but if you are, I’m sorry that my blog touched a nerve.
Saban
June 4th, 2011
7:53 pm
SEC Fan,
Name one player saban has ran off after a year or even 3 or 4 years for reasons other than for discipline or legal issues. You can’t.
Dawglassville,
Plantation mentality? And that applies to oversigning how? If you’re going to bloviate about “plantation mentality” then we might as well just get rid of college football and b-ball period.
luxomni
June 4th, 2011
8:01 pm
If the conference really wanted to end the practice, they would set a yearly limit, at say 25, and also not let a school sign more players than the 85 scholarship ceiling allowed — assuming the school was not on probation with scholarship sanctions. To allow for some attrition, you might consider raising the limit to 88.
BobDawg
June 4th, 2011
10:29 pm
….Hopefully this topic will enter the recycled bin/trash heap shortly… I say sign all the players you want and let’s get it on! We need about 10 more lineman on the O-line…. Anyone got some to spare???
MikeP
June 4th, 2011
11:00 pm
Quoting Rocket Science: “Perhaps you could explain why you think it puts the SEC at a disadvantage. If it is only that they will not be able to freely distribute red shirts and gain an advantage by basically dismissing a player, who turns out not to be the next great player, I don’t see that as a disadvantage…”
Nothing was done to address the issues you mention. Redshirt rules were not changed, or even mentioned. A coach can still dismiss a player that he believes to be under performing. All he has to do is refuse to renew the kid’s scholarship for another year. Happens all the time.
If other conferences can allow themselves to sign 28 and have a little wiggle room, that’s an advantage. If other conferences can count early enrolees back on last year and the SEC schools can’t that’s an advantage.
You claim to know that the Lemay kid was an early enrolee at UGA this January and his scholarship counted back on last year’s class because Richt did not enroll the maximum 25 in 2010.. Now that option is shot. Only get 24 in? Tough, you just lost out, while if Tech or FSU only gets 22 in, they can pick up three early enrolees that will count back. If you don’t think that’s an advantage for the non SEC schools you haven’t thought this thing through.
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 5th, 2011
8:08 am
Mike P,
The red shirt process as I understand must now be officially looked at per individual case by the SEC office and that case must be presented by the coach, athletic director of the school, as well as the team doctor. Don’t know that this changes anything.
Perhaps, they could have helped the whole situation out if they would have required that no one can be signed until they are academically qualified for college. It seems sad to me, that the kid gets a letter, and yet in a lot of cases, he hasn’t even taken the SAT or ACT and if he has, he has to retake it again to get a higher score. This is a problem that coaches have to put up with and they should not have to.
The problem of course lies with the high school, their coaches and the parents in a lot of cases. It is bad enough that they have different standards they have to meet, to remain qualified under the rules of the athletic scholarship as it is. Athletic scholarships standards almost guarantee that most of the athletes will not get the required amount of course work to graduate in the first place. Every team is guilty of offering scholarships to people who are not academically qualified with the possible exception of Vanderbilt, but let’s face it, people go to those type of schools for the most part to receive a good education.
Over all, the whole darn business involved in with recruiting these kids needs to be over hauled. I doubt though, this will ever happen though, since it really is all about the money. Few of these presidents and even fewer of these coaches really give a darn about the player as it is.
I do not see this as an SEC problem, and I don’t see it as any more of a problem for the SEC than any other school. The advantage, if there is any, would be done away with if the NCAA would just institute a rule that states, no scholarship can be tendered or letter offered officially until the athlete is qualified to attend school academically.
MikeP
June 5th, 2011
9:56 am
The medical redshirt rules were already exactly as you stated above. No changes were made. The Medical Scholarship rules, the circumstances by which a player is supposedly injured and can no longer play but stays in school on a medical scholarship is what was toughened up.
That’s one point I agree with the presidents on. If a kid is not injured the coach shouldn’t be able to save face by putting him on a medical scholarship to make room for a better player. The coach should have the guts to put the kid on the street and say “you ain’t good enough to play here”. Do it in public, instead of hiding his action behind the guise of Medical Scholarship.
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 5th, 2011
10:22 am
Mike P,
That probably is the one point we don’t see eye to eye on, and that is releasing the kid, if he is not all you thought he was, when you evaluated him. I realize that a scholarship is one year at a time, but for some of these kids, going to college through a scholarship is their only way to get to college. I would rather, there be some type of scholarship awarded them, if they don’t measure up athletically, than just kicking them off the team and consequently, out of college. I know that this would of course lead to abuses but at least the kid might be able to get a better shot at life this way. Of course, this might be a problem also, as a lot of these athletes, do not progress in their pursuit of a degree at anywhere near the pace of the normal student. I guess, I just think more of the kids future, and less about the school’s team.
It seems to me that our kids are falling further and further behind the world in education, and although I am one die hard football fan, I hate to see a kid not have a chance, no matter what. Who knows, maybe once the kid is away from the football team, he might be able to pick up his academics to a normal level. Putting him on the street, almost assures him of being in trouble and a less than productive member of society.
ET
June 5th, 2011
10:23 am
Total BS. The kids who are signing & causing the overages are the ones being helped mostly here. These kids haven’t met the guidelines for submission and are being offered contingent on making the grades. They would not be signing at all with this new regulation. No school will offer a kid who hasn’t qualified now. These kids will have their options reduced if they don’t have the grades & scores to qualify. It’s when more kids end up qualifying then the school projected that the problem occurs in over-signing. The school then asks the kid to wait until January to enroll (gray shirting). This kid would probably have ended up at a school like Georgia Southern instead of the SEC.
The second part to this equation is the kid who commited but backed out at the last minute leaving the school short on recruits. It happens every year with no repercussions to the kid. People like Jeff think the school has to abide by their promise, but the kids can do what ever they so desire. If you limit the signing to 25 then you need to make the commitment official…meaning the kid has to keep his promise or pay a price… just like the school is bieng asked to do.
FanSince59
June 5th, 2011
11:03 am
Shultz, if you don’t realize by now that money is the bottom line, there is no hope for you. All your worthless moralizing will never trump Title 9, the real cause of the problems with college football.
Blackoutanyone?
June 5th, 2011
11:25 am
It ain’t Rocket Science… you make alot of good points and I agree with you. I would take exception with one thing. At this level of college football if a player is buried on the depth chart and wishes to find more playing time there are plenty of smaller programs with higher education opportunites waiting to hand out scholarships. Alabama players B.J. Scott (South Alabama) and Demetrius Goode (North Alabama) are two recent examples. Two good players seeking more playing time.. nothing more nothing less. To say they are kicked off the team and thrown out on the street is highly inaccurate. I think many people share your view and this is the reason for much of the outcry.
mark
June 5th, 2011
12:39 pm
Would somebody please explain to me how Ala can claim 13 Nat’l Championships?
short-sighted
June 5th, 2011
1:27 pm
article is foolish – john parker wilson took a greyshirt for Bama and then went on to be a multi-year starter…a chance he would have never had if Shultz were to have his way – if coaches are up front w/ players from day 1, then players should be able to make an informed decision – it’s really as simple as that -plenty of kids who would probably rather have a grey-shirt offer in the SEC w/ a chance (not a guarantee) to compete as a sophmore or junior than who would go play for bottom 50-75 of the other division 1 schools…you limit “oversigning” and you take that opportunity away. others may already know they will have to go the juco route – again – ok, as long as there is a plan that everyone is aware of and has signed off on…This is not some chronic issue other than one example out of LSU and a WSJ article…
Tide Rising
June 5th, 2011
2:18 pm
A coach can still dismiss a player that he believes to be under performing. All he has to do is refuse to renew the kid’s scholarship for another year. Happens all the time.- MikeP
MikeP,
Um. Really? I’m calling BS on that one. Please show me a player at Bama, AU, Georgia, etc who had his scholly non renewed after a year or 2 for the simple reason that the coaches deemed that he wasn’t good enough. Happens all the time huh? That is a statement on your behalf of truly breathtaking ignorance. As a Bama fan I can tell you that you can’t find one single player who was cut after a year or two “because he wasn’t good enough”. Same at other schools. Your assertion that this “happens all the time” is utter nonsense.
Dawglasville
June 5th, 2011
3:07 pm
Saban – Well, I felt stupid not knowing the definition of bloviate until I looked it up. The definition started with it being a “Midwestern term” so being from the deep south I didn’t feel so bad about not knowing it. I think that college football can and should be a healthy experience for all of the players. I think that promising a scholarship to a young man and then taking it from him is a bunch of crap. I don’t see how that is fair to the kid at all. That is not a win-win relationship. That is an “I hold all of the cards” relationship in which a lot of kids get hurt. I don’t like the term “plantation mentality” but in this case I believe it fits.
UH
June 5th, 2011
5:01 pm
Did bradley get taken in the rapture?
Saban
June 5th, 2011
6:46 pm
I think that promising a scholarship to a young man and then taking it from him is a bunch of crap. I don’t see how that is fair to the kid at all.- Dawglassville
Dawglassville,
None of these kids had a scholly yanked. In the case of the 2 players at LSU and S. Carolina they simply would have had to defer enrollment until the next semester. That’s not that big of a deal.
Team Dream
June 5th, 2011
6:51 pm
“Welcome to the NCAA’s mission: Winning and making money, moral compass be damned.”
That should read “… the SEC’s mission”.
Perhaps its time for schools to answer a simple internal question: Are we offering scholarships to play, or are we offering scholarships to play AND get a college degree?
Sid
June 5th, 2011
8:45 pm
huh?
Team Dream
June 5th, 2011
11:01 pm
I just don’t agree with the whole premise of a scholarship to play football ACTUALLY being four 1-year contractual agreements. It inserts the whole “take advantage of them before they take advantage of me” attitude that is rampant in today’s NCAA sports (particularly Football and Basketball). How can you expect a kid to have a 4-year allegiance and commitment to a school and an education when right off the bat they have to sign a business-like contract in order to do it???
MikeP
June 5th, 2011
11:15 pm
Quoting Tide Rising: “Um. Really? I’m calling BS on that one. Please show me a player at Bama, AU, Georgia, etc who had his scholly non renewed after a year or 2 for the simple reason that the coaches deemed that he wasn’t good enough.”
You made it too easy. I’ll show you the 13 kids Saban put on medical scholarships at bammer. Over the same period of time the rest of the SEC averaged 1.1 such scholarships per school. You can look up the names of the 11.9 (round it to 12) that Saban dumped for non-performance.
Tide Rising
June 6th, 2011
1:22 am
MikeP,
Are you just stupid?
Tyrone Prothro was one of those players. Is your mind going to tell me Tyrone Prothro was run off the team. The man now has one leg shorter than the other. Freshman Ivan Matchett completely shattered his knee. I suppose you are going to tell him and the orthopedic staff that his knee is a okay and that Saban just ran him off. Same with Keith Mckellar’s son- a promising 6′6 290lb tackle recruit. He had his wrist operated on three times before ever even playing as a freshman. A couple of orthopedists determined that his wrist would never hold up as an offensive tackle who uses his hands quite a bit.
The single player who complained publicly about a medical redshirt was Charlie Kirschman in a wsj article on over signing. Kirschman thought his back was fine and that he was ok to play despite the staff’s insistence that he take a medical redshirt. As it turned out he had to have a back operation a year after the medical scholly. He publicly recanted the story and let everyone know he was wrong about the extent of the injury.
Are you so profoundly stupid that you don’t understand that Bama just had an unusual number of career ending injuries over 4 1/2 years Saban has been there. You automatically think if someone has a career ending injury that its really just saban running the guy off? Please show me where you are an orthopedic surgeon who personally examined all 13 players and then maybe you will have some credibility. Until the just STFU you blithering idiot.
UH
June 6th, 2011
8:42 am
So winerpeg sold 13k tickets? isnt that less than the thrash averaged last year? they must have a small arena. they will be just like the thrashers in 6-7 years and 8k in attendance and looking to move them. i cant beleive a pro sports team leaves a city with a philips arena and over 4 mil people to go to a small town 600k city.
Trojan
June 6th, 2011
8:43 am
Yep, when I think of someone who sincerely cares for Students/Athletes, I think of Saban.
(And the government creates jobs!)
Chi Town
June 6th, 2011
9:54 am
Saban owns you, Schultz.
MikeP
June 6th, 2011
10:51 am
Tide Falling: Prothro was hurt before Saban got there. You named four injured players, which is still four times the number of other schools. What about the other nine Saban put on medical scholarship?
You asked for names, here ya’ go: Corey Grant and Petey Smith have both been “processed” in the last few days. Processed at bammer means cut from the team to make room for better signees under the 85 rule. Saban still has six more to process before fall term starts at UAT. Happy now? Are you taking bets on which six will have their scholarships yanked as were the two I just named?
Note to those cheering the new rules: Nothing was passed that will prevent what’s happening in Tuscaloosa this year from happening again next year.
Buckeye
June 6th, 2011
10:55 am
Seems all y’all are AWOL.
How ’bout some new material??
Druid City
June 6th, 2011
11:10 am
Even though he is gone next year, Richt’s name will live in infamy in SEC circles for a long time, like Bobby Dodd.
The other conferences just sent a big “thank you” to RIcht for crippling the SEC competitively.
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 6th, 2011
11:45 am
Blackoutanyone,
Good point about smaller schools and scholarships offered to athletes at them. The only problem with that is the will the timing be right for the athlete. If the coaches are upfront with them and tell them, they have no chance of playing on the team, say, like the end of a season, then the young man has a chance to get his paperwork in and get a scholarship. If they wait until after spring practice it is harder, but not impossible, depending on the schools opening. But if they wait until just before the season start or half way into it, then the kid is in no where land. Sure the kid should have some idea of where he fits in the teams plans but, it is up to the coach to be straight with the kid. In the case of a guy like Ealey, the problem was he wanted to be a star and take all the snaps, so JSU will probably work out well for him. I hope he displays the proper work attitude and and dedication, and he can do well there. All he wants is a chance at the NFL, so he should get that, if he works hard and performs on the field.
Spurrier
June 6th, 2011
11:48 am
I know UGA fans are pushing hard for this, as your football relevance is waning with each passing day. It will not matter, you will still get dominated by the true ballers in this league. It is over UGA, you lost. I talk you listen.
If Uggla doesn't turn things around, Braves are sunk | Jeff Schultz
June 6th, 2011
11:53 am
[...] Earlier: SEC didn’t go nearly far enough with ‘oversigning’ issue [...]
Spurrier
June 6th, 2011
11:56 am
Maybe once I am done with South Carolina, I will go coach Tech from a wheelchair. I would love to do it just to piss you off. UGA should build a statue of me outside your dump of a stadium. I am bigger than your football team, and it will show that you respect the man that is single handidly driving your once proud program into the ground
Druid City
June 6th, 2011
12:23 pm
Sorry Steve,
The honor for burying the UGA program goes to Mark Richt and Damon Evans, with a huge 31-0 assist from Nick Saban.
You haven’t been relevant since you left Florida.
Spurrier
June 6th, 2011
12:26 pm
I was quite relevant when I outcoached your boy Saban last year. Don’t worry, you wont have to see my team till the SEC title game. Perhaps then we shall revisit the relevancy argument. I talk you listen.
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 6th, 2011
12:43 pm
Spurrier,
You TALK too much. Just what is the 10 year record of UGA and Alabama against your might lamecocks. Get off the board, if you have nothing of any relevance to add to the discussion. And I assure you, given what you have already written, you don’t.
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 6th, 2011
12:51 pm
Spurrier,
Since you have been at S C you have forever tarnished your reputation in the eyes of SEC fans. You used to be straight up as a coach but now, it is win at any cost for you. One half decent year and all of the sudden you are the toast of the SEC? What a joke of a coach Spurrier has become. I think you spent too much time at the redskins, and it affected your mind and honesty.
Spurrier
June 6th, 2011
1:13 pm
The only joke is your coward coach. He better pray a lot this summer. My pinky finger has more coaching ability than your whole staff of reject coaches. Once I come to Sanford and kick your ass yet again, Ol Boy Richt will be spreading his religious nonsense to a third world country. I talk you listen.
Dawg Gone
June 6th, 2011
3:34 pm
Spurrier what exactly again is your record vs CMR…yeah I know where you can put that pinky…
MarineDawg
June 6th, 2011
3:55 pm
There have been valid points made on both sides of this discussion; those who agree that oversigning is a problem and those who regard it only as a media ploy. However, in reading all of these posts, there’s one thing that I’m having a very difficult time in understanding: how does a coach know how many players are not going to qualify? If you have 70 players on scholarship that YOU KINOW that haven’t been medically or academically ineligble, not declared for the NFL, not transferring; then you sign 25 or 28, what happens if not enough players fall in the above mentioned categories? and now your number IS above the 85 limit, what do you do in order to get to that 85 limit?
How can you sign that many players every year and it be so ACCURATELY PROJECTED on a yearly basis without the coach using some questionable measures in order to get below that 85 limit?
Tell the truth
June 6th, 2011
4:01 pm
Jeff thanks for your article; this is not the college sports action that I grew up with and loved; not the one I watched firsthand as an underclassman at a major college institution. The greed and desire for fame , money and power continues to proliferate. I am embarrassed by it all and by the fans who have bought into the madness.
Tell the truth
June 6th, 2011
4:10 pm
Spurrier My Seminoles saw your Gamecocks in Atlanta- great day for the ACC.
Spurrier
June 6th, 2011
4:31 pm
My record is 2-4 against preacher boy. He can only beat me when UGA fields a teamwith vastly superior talent. That is not the case anymore, so prepare for a shellacking that has never been seen before at Sanford in September. I talk you listen
Tell the truth
June 6th, 2011
6:38 pm
Spurrier I am a seminole not a dawg fan- but I hope you have the guts to be on here after the Dawgs annihilate your team this fall- and they will!!! PS come on down to Tally any old time- we didn’t get to finish your butt licking in the Chic Fil A bowl last year.
Tell the truth
June 6th, 2011
6:41 pm
kicking
Spurrier
June 6th, 2011
7:41 pm
We will see Tell the Truth, someone will get destroyed, and it will be the pups. If Lattimore doesn’t get hurt we would have beaten the criminals. You know it, I know it. I will be back to rub it in, dont worry bubba.
tsmonk
June 6th, 2011
8:08 pm
@ Dawglasville – “Matt – you may or may not see this. According to US News Vandy is 15, and UGA an UF are tied at 56 (maybe 54). All of the rest of the schools in the SEC are not even in the top 100.”
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/spp%2B50/page+2
Alabama is at 79. Wow, what a gulf between 56 & 79 for colleges across the nation. Feeling a little stupid now? I would.
LHarding Dawg
June 6th, 2011
10:18 pm
How about 100 scholarships, 25 per year. If someone leaves for whatever reason, tough for that particular school. 25 per year is all that can be offered for that year.