Scholarship guarantees, early signing would curb oversigning
An early signing period would've prevented Justin Taylor's disappearing scholarship. (AP photo)
One week after leading Alabama to its second BCS title in three seasons, Nick Saban reaffirmed that his commitment to winning isn’t necessarily rooted in a commitment to doing things the right way.
Saban informed Justin Taylor, a North Atlanta High School running back, that he was yanking his scholarship offer from 11 months ago. Eleven months ago. Never mind that Taylor was the seventh oral commitment for Alabama’s 2012 class. Nor that he was a good kid, a terrific player and hadn’t once screamed, “War Eagle!” This is the ugly side of college football that coaches hide between the disingenuous, “Don’t worry, momma, I’ll take care of your boy,” speeches.
The substance of a coach’s word morphs from oak to oatmeal when he finds a faster, stronger player.
This is a form of “oversigning” (or in this case overcommitting) in recruiting, a reprehensible practice we’ve banged on several times before. A coach will accept more commitments than he actually has scholarships to give out. His objective: To fix the scholarship numbers by coercing perceived underachieving athletes to transfer or accept medical hardships, thereby creating space to bring in better players. It’s the quickest route for a coach to lessen his own mistakes or shortcomings.
Forget that whole concept of commitment, four-year scholarships and the mission of college athletics. That went out with 8-millimeter film.
Saban and LSU’s Les Miles are two of the biggest abusers of oversigning. Saban and Les Miles also just faced each other for the BCS title. That’s not a coincidence, coaching talents notwithstanding.
With increasing attention being paid to this topic in the past two years, the NCAA and SEC (where some of the biggest abusers thrive) have attempted to curb the problem by lowering scholarship limits. But that isn’t nearly enough. Lowering the cap doesn’t prevent coaches from bending ethical borders to reach that cap. Case in point: Justin Taylor.
Georgia Tech athletic director Dan Radakovich believes, “For the vast majority of coaches, this is not an issue. Ninety percent of coaches abide by the rules and do things the right way.”
I agree. The problem is that the other 10 percent generally are the ones competing for championships.
The NCAA last week announced tougher sanctions against repeated rules-breakers (good), but it did little to close the loopholes on the oversigning issue. Here are a few things that would help:
• 1.) A coach can’t sign more players than he has slots available. If a committed player then fails to qualify academically, gets arrested or the like, that’s on the coach. Go sign somebody else. Every coach would be on equal ground.
• 2.) Scholarships are guaranteed for four or five years. Currently, it’s a series of one-year renewables.
• 3.) Football should have an early signing period, like basketball. If Taylor had signed his national letter of intent in February, it would be a binding agreement. Neither he nor Saban could pull a U-turn.
• 4.) The NCAA should form an impartial panel to oversee any athlete-coach disputes where there’s even the remote possibility of a player being coerced into leaving or becoming a medical hardship. Currently, disputes are settled by committees on the individual campuses.
Seriously, is there a panel in Tuscaloosa that’s going to side against Saban or in Baton Rouge that would go against Miles?
Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity, among those who has spoken out against oversigning, said: “I think if there were a body that was not a part of the institution, certainly there would be a more consistent ruling or outcome there.”
He said “there are pros and cons” to an early signing period, but that it also might help, noting it works in basketball, volleyball and soccer.
Of course, football coaches are against early signing. They like having the flexibility to renege on commitments and playing with numbers. They’re going to be against any rule that adds clarity to an issue and eliminates the gray, eliminates their ability to manipulate a situation and get an edge.
As McGarity said, “If a coach makes a mistake in recruiting, that’s not the student-athlete’s fault.”
If college coaches want that freedom, let’s call this what it is: pro sports. Sign players, cut them, trade them — and pay them. But if we’re trying to maintain some illusion that this is still amateur athletics, some safeguards are needed because coaches aren’t going to police themselves.
Previous columns on oversigning
• SEC didn’t go nearly far enough with oversigning
• NCAA has lost sight of its mission by allowing oversigning
• A word about oversigning (and revisiting Saban’s dance)
By Jeff Schultz
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491 comments Add your comment
Bama4life
January 20th, 2012
9:07 pm
Love how Eaassyy tries to say Bama doesn’t deny oversigning, etc. Like you homers would even listen! Who cares that Justin Taylor is still committed to Bama and still has a valid offer? Apparently you guys think we’ve pulled his scholly but don’t let the facts get in your way.
UGA needs to do like Tech did-join the ACC. It’s a much better fit. For sure you can win the ACC more than once every 10 yrs. Then you won’t have to whine why it’s everyone else’s fault why you always come up short. Of course you still may have to play an SEC team if you get the championship game, but nothing is perfect.
BigTimeTECHFan
January 20th, 2012
9:07 pm
didn’t USCe tell two commited kids from GA HS’s sorry but we don’t have room last year. thats sad and no way to treat these kids.
Hat’s off too UGA and Tech for not doing it
TampaGator
January 20th, 2012
9:16 pm
Jockstap…..
Florida’s recent national titles:
1996
2006
2008
and a bunch of SEC titles, SEC East titles, and major bowl wins in between.
Yep….trying to cover up for Florida’s failures with my posts.
All the Bama, LSU, and Auburn fans are doing the same.
The only ones who don’t have to cover up are Georgia fans because they have won a summertime national title every year since 1981.
TruthSeeker
January 20th, 2012
9:23 pm
Typical Bammers. Who cares if some kids get screwed over? Just win, baby.
Mark Richt may go down with the ship at UGA, but at least he’ll be able to go down with a clear conscience, knowing that he didn’t have to break promises to any kids in order to get an edge.
Alabama may have a great football team, but unfortunately the majority of their fans would rather look the other way on Saban’s unethical practices instead of being honest enough with themselves to admit that their coach, as great as he is, has no integrity.
Lakedawg
January 20th, 2012
9:26 pm
Tampa==You are so clever, just remember last year the dawgs beat the Gayturds and will again this year. Muschamp will be long gone while CMR wins quite a few titles the next several years.
You nor Bama either one will even Make the SEC title game next year.
Reggie Ball
January 20th, 2012
9:31 pm
RealityCheck: Daughters team win in Uppityward basketball tonight? Your the man…lovin on some Dawgs then Nicholas? Reckon you couldn’t get in neither-much less Tech!!!!!!!! Get your GED?
bamaguy
January 20th, 2012
9:32 pm
You will never see a photograph of Mark Richt holding a crystal trophy over his head.
If Richt has so much integrity and is so ethical, why doesn’t he offer the three-star, injured running back one of his slots? He is a Georgia native after all. Not good enough to be on the Dream Team?
Ben Jones
January 20th, 2012
9:41 pm
Lakedawg tell em bout it brother. SicEm Hairy Dawgs……Demps bailin out-Rainey graduatin to beatin chicks and Trent gone Dawgs are gonna be stacked at RB and Tidybowl and Gutters will be crying!!!!!
McElroy
January 20th, 2012
9:47 pm
bamaguy: Dreamteam helped get em to SEC? Without votes!….hmmmm
McElroy
January 20th, 2012
9:50 pm
And yrp…..like all Bama QB’s Im ridin aluminum….but Im angry and raising cain…bet Woody wont take Peyton over me!!!!!! Yahoo!!!!! Roll Tide!!!
Paul in NH
January 20th, 2012
9:58 pm
Right
January 20th, 2012
6:32 pm
Nick Saban is paid to win and win championships. Bending rules or finding loop holes is his job. He didn’t break rules, otherwise you could punish him.
————
“Bending rules is his job”.
I am surprised to see a fan of Alabama admit that the program has no ethics.
Truth
January 20th, 2012
9:58 pm
@bamaguy,
Has it ever accured to you we don’t offer & lose some in state players you get because academically we just can’t get them in? Check out the entrance requirememts between the two schools. They aren’t even close.
realitycheck
January 20th, 2012
10:03 pm
Reggie Ball………What an impressive post! Haven’t a clue what you are saying/talking about. Your local community college may offer a general grammar and/or writing class you may want to take. How possibly could your post have been in response to mine?
bamaguy
January 20th, 2012
10:07 pm
Truth: So you are saying he isn’t good enough for UGA? How many of the current football roster at UGA would have gotten in if they had applied as regular admission students, not athletes?
Reggie Ball
January 20th, 2012
10:08 pm
My error…must have been another RealityCheck pimping the Dawgs…my bad. Thanks for your compliment. This is a post. I’m not saying/talking. Reggie is WRITING! GO JACKETS!
Paul in NH
January 20th, 2012
10:09 pm
ACE
January 20th, 2012
8:56 pm
Instead, why don’t you place the blame where it belongs, the NBA and NFL which have anti-trust exemptions and have been allowed to use college sports as their minor leagues
—-
Neither the NBA nor the NFL has anti-trust exemption – in fact the NFL lost an anti-trust lawsuit to the USFL. MLB has an anti-trust exemption.
Having said that, how the heck the NBA and NFL are responsible for unethical behavior from college coaches and the exploitation of college athletes is beyond me. Both these leagues PAY their players.
The Factor
January 20th, 2012
10:12 pm
For you bama fans who come here and think Jeff Shultz, the author of this article, is a UGA fan, guess again. He writes more anti UGA articles than you can imagine and is not liked very much by many off us. BUT THIS ARTICLE NEEDED TO BE WRITTEN. MY ONLY HOPE IS SPORTS ILLUSTRATED WILL RUN WITH IT. OVER SIGNING DOES NOT REPRESENT THE SEC BUT IT DOES REPRESENT BAMA AND LSU AND RECENTLY SOUTH CAROLINA. YOU CAN’T SIGN WHAT AMOUNTS TO AN ADDITIONAL CLASS OF RECRUITS EVERY FOUR YEARS THAN EVERYONE ELSE.
Knutt Sack
January 20th, 2012
10:14 pm
TampaGator
January 20th, 2012
9:16 pm
Jockstap…..
Florida’s recent national titles:
1996
2006
2008
and a bunch of SEC titles, SEC East titles, and major bowl wins in between.
Yep….trying to cover up for Florida’s failures with my posts.
All the Bama, LSU, and Auburn fans are doing the same.
The only ones who don’t have to cover up are Georgia fans because they have won a summertime national title every year since 1981
What have you done for me lately. Spurrier and Tebow are no longer in Gainesville.
The facts are you come on these blogs, spout off on how many 4 and 5 star recruits that UF is going to sign, on how much your former 1 hipped OC was going to bring in a great offensive plan, how Muschamp would take all those 4 and 5 star studs signed 3 years ago and make them a dominant force. The problem is NONE of your predictions came true. None.
Now in order to save face and to face the realization that LSU, and Alabama dominated UF, that a very weak Auburn team spanked your Injury ridden Gators, and somehow UGA beats UF in Jacksonville, that you can come up with an excuse to support your programs massive failings.
Yes Massive Failings. No program that has signed as many top 150 athletes as UF over the past 4 years should ever go 6-6 and beat a very very weak Ohio St team in a home bowl game on two special teams plays should ever happen.
Now you have to come on a blog and put spin on it to even the playing field a little to help your Soft and yes I said Soft( no other word to describe them) Florida Gator team a fighting chance to win or even get close to winning another SEC Title. You whine and cry if a kid commits or signs with another school and you cry foul.
The difference between your team ( the Florida Gators) UGA, Alabama, and even South Carolina is the fact they beat their instate rival, not Florida, The Seminoles are racking up player and handing it to UF since Tebow left and unless you plan on cloning him you can count on losing your own state for 4 more years at a minimum. So go ahead and cry some blues, make excuses to keep it close enough for your TOOTHLESS Gators to play with the big boys in LSU and Alabama.
The problem is, ( we have all been there) that when our team is down we want to be given every advantage possible to make that next big step up and even you know deep down in your heart that currently that step is much higher than your short legs can get up to.
Truth
January 20th, 2012
10:19 pm
@bamaguy,
If only an article could be written on how many in state kids we can’t get in because our admissions for athletes are harder than most. You will never hear it from our AD, but we simple don’t offer some kids our fans would love to have. Bama and others can. If you read some of the quotes from coaches on last years Dream Team, it came together because everyone we wanted appeared to qualified for our academic admissions for athletes as well.
Too Funny
January 20th, 2012
10:21 pm
Knutt Sack, who is going to read something that long?? You aren’t that important.
Knutt Sack
January 20th, 2012
10:22 pm
Just remember:
Saban is like the Dr. and Dean of the Football department.
Muschamp is the student assistant learning to grade papers.
Richt is the 5th year student taking remedial classes, and still failing those classes.
Knutt Sack
January 20th, 2012
10:23 pm
Enter your comments hereToo Funny
January 20th, 2012
10:21 pm
Knutt Sack, who is going to read something that long?? You aren’t that important.
I guess reading comprehension was not taught at your vocational high school.
Knutt Sack
January 20th, 2012
10:25 pm
If you are not Tampa Gator it should not apply. You are dismissed.
bamaguy
January 20th, 2012
10:26 pm
Seriously Truth: Tech is so academically superior to UGA that it isn’t even funny. So if Alabama and LSU are “inferior” to UGA, how inferior is UGA to Tech?
Knutt Sack
January 20th, 2012
10:28 pm
Lets not forget that The UGA staff was banned from Carver Columbus for pulling scholarships two short years ago.
ACE
January 20th, 2012
10:33 pm
Paul in NH
Do some research…you will find that both the NBA and NFL have antitrust exemptions. The exemption exists while they have labor contracts with the unions, which is why the NFL broke up their union….AND THEN SUED….and the NBA considered the same thing.
Ramblin Man
January 20th, 2012
10:43 pm
Mike Slive could easily fix this but he let’s coaches and ADs vote and I can think of eight votes that wanted to continue the same practices as always. The main problem is that where as articles like this will get written, and I applaud Jeff for it, main stream media barely touches it. I have heard ESPN mention Bama’s #1 class more than once and yet nothing about how Saban does not have the room for them and what will be done to get them, or that an average of 11 kids are cut from Bama each year.
George Stein
January 20th, 2012
10:52 pm
No, ACE, you do some research. The reason the NFLPA disbanded was because they wanted to file the lawsuit using antitrust law rather than labor law. All labor organizations that have certified as a union are precluded from filing suit using antitrust law. The reason is because any antitrust damages are tripled if the plaintiffs win.
MLB is the only organization that enjoys exemption from antitrust law.
Paul in NH
January 20th, 2012
11:03 pm
George – Thank you for correcting ACE – You saved me the bother
Paul in NH
January 20th, 2012
11:04 pm
Ramblin Man
January 20th, 2012
10:43 pm
Mike Slive could easily fix this but he let’s coaches and ADs vote and I can think of eight votes that wanted to continue the same practices as always
—-
The SEC coaches voted last year on the oversigning issue and the vote was 12-0 to continue.
George Stein
January 20th, 2012
11:06 pm
No problem, Paul. That’s my area of expertise.
Paul in NH
January 20th, 2012
11:13 pm
George,
I loved that ACE supported his contention that the NBA and NFL have anti-trust exemption by citing how the union decertified to be able to sue the league under the anti-trust laws. Can you say oxymoron?
George Stein
January 20th, 2012
11:21 pm
Ha. I caught that, too. It would seem odd that an organization would have an antitrust exemption and then got sued under antitrust law.
The Tide is Rolling and Nothing can Stop it
January 20th, 2012
11:42 pm
You freaking IDIOT Georgia fans are going to bring down the entire SEC because your coach is too freaking lazy to recruit hard. So instead of doing something about it, you want to limit the entire SEC recruiting. You are disgrace the SEC and it would be better off without your whining and losing to Boise and Michigan State.
Alphare
January 20th, 2012
11:56 pm
BAMA yanked Taylor’s scholarship? I thought they asked him to postpone for 4 months from August to Jan.
When did people change the word of postpone to mean yank? I guess postpone for 4months or more is now the same thing as yank? a new meaning added to the English dictionary in 2012?
The Factor
January 20th, 2012
11:59 pm
@The Tide is Rolling….
The author of this article is no friend of UGA I can promise you. That being said, you pinhead, I am GLAD this article has been written and I hope Sports Illustrated does it next. Signing, what amounts to an extra signing class every four years, is a disgrace and I hope its disclosure brings your program down.
Lee
January 21st, 2012
12:19 am
Here’s a crazy idea, you cannot sign a player to a scholarship until he applies and gets accepted to school JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER STUDENT at the university.
It’s way past time to put the STUDENT back into STUDENT-ATHLETE.
TideBama
January 21st, 2012
2:04 am
saban knows all the tricks to manipulate the system—other coaches should learn the same thing and quit whining. Bama rules in 2012!!! ReloaD!
legionaire
January 21st, 2012
5:09 am
When I was at UGA in the ’50’s freshmen could not play. This gave the team and the players a year to get their act together to see if they could stay in school and not do too many dumb things. If the kid dropped out in the year, the school had an extra scholarship for next season. I don’t think early signing will accomplish keeping Saban and Miles from just running other less performing guys off.
Ted M
January 21st, 2012
6:09 am
What about Justin Taylor filing a good old fashion lawsuit against Saban?
Is that a possibility? Seems like it should be.
Jeff
January 21st, 2012
7:11 am
This is probably the best objective article I’ve read on this subject. I would like to see more investigative reporting on this subject and have the media hold the coaching staff and university in the light of day for all to see their ethics. Most notably for the student athlete, Mom & Dad. Nick Saban, Les Miles and others did not just begin oversigning this year. They may be great football coaches but their actions speak clearly to their motiviation. Winning at all cost. When something like this happens put the coaches face on page 1. Within a short period of when this story broke and was published I noticed it was yanked from a headline to an obscure reference.
Blue Blood
January 21st, 2012
7:20 am
Winners worry about themselves, Losers worry about everyone else.
Party on dawgs.
Blue Blood
January 21st, 2012
7:37 am
2011 singees accordint to 247sports
Alabama 25
LSU 22
Florida State 29
Southern Cal 29
Auburn 34
Georgia 26 (what, No Way )
Clemson 30
Oregon 26
Tennessee 27
Nebraska 32
Mississippi 27
and so on………………..
Seems this paper likes to target a couple certain schools, I wonder why?
TampaGator
January 21st, 2012
7:48 am
Knutt Sack….
How many 4 and 5 star players has Richt recruited in the last 5 years or so…..and what was the Dawgs record in 2010…and in 2009……and what bowl games did they go to…..and what “very weak” team did they lose to (let me remind you…..THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA in the LIBERTY BOWL.. At least Florida, in its “massive failings,” defeated THE OHIO STATE UNIVERISTY…in the GATOR BOWL.
Your logic is about as sound as the current Gov of Florida turning down a rail project that would have put 30,000 unemployed Florida people to work just because Obama came up with the idea.
Both you and the Gov need to go back to the think tank and try again.
WhoLetThemDawgsOut
January 21st, 2012
7:50 am
Great ideas Jeff, however the Satan fans will protest loudly. He would lose his “god” status without being able to use his oversigning skills.
Knutt Sack
January 21st, 2012
7:55 am
Take from the rich to give to the poor.
Then keep taking until the rich are poor too.
Dean
January 21st, 2012
8:09 am
Does anybody remember when Bama wasn’t any good or relevant? It wasn’t that long ago. Listening to these people go on and on about how great Bama is is kind of funny. 4 years ago you couldn’t find a Bama fan on these pages. Guess what, your national titles don’t improve your personal manhood and they certainly don’t improve your image. ie… Harvey Updike and Brian Downing. Be hopefull that you get out of the spotlight soon. The rest of the country is laughing at you!
Priester John
January 21st, 2012
8:10 am
Well let’s just say what most people think about the University of Alabama – Tuscaloosa branch. Its football pursuits justify its identity with an uneducated backward white population and a symbolic link to the Lost Cause they hold so dear. Football has stalled UAT’s transformation into a modern university with intellectual, aesthetic or humanistic concerns. UAT fans way overestimate the “esteem” of being the last college football factory.
Also UAT’s misplaced priorities (football fluff over economic substance) harm the state’s growth and development as the Crimson Tide football team is outlet for the lunatic fringe (Paul Finebaum, Jay Barker, Harvey Updyke, John Phillips, Brian Downing et al) and a venue for them to be recognized. The holy crusade of UAT football also acts as an impediment to social or economic progress. It is well known that when a university simply reflects the attitudes of its football fans….. It is no longer a university in the true meaning of the word
.
History has shown that UAT fans defend the indefensible, deny the undeniable and are thus driven by extreme emotion into delusions and reckless actions. The abovementioned misfits are the predictable by-product of UAT football. The NCAA would actually do UAT a favor by handing down a ‘Death Penalty’ for its football team. It will be only then that its faculty, alumni and students will appreciate the scholarship and learning that mark a university with intellectual fiber and integrity. Indeed until that time “roll tide” is the mortifying apology for those without individual self-respect or dignity.
Blue Blood
January 21st, 2012
8:15 am
Poor ole dawg fans, 1980 has been a long time hasn’t it? Poor ole Priester John, it hurts don’t it buddy? tears for ya…………..
DawgPack67
January 21st, 2012
8:18 am
The entire country knows UGA built the SEC, just travel around and have conversations with people while you are out and about, they will tell you. UGA football is talked about all over this contry.