Recruiting changes are coming

[OttoinGrotto]

These guys are some of my favorite journos.

Hehe

 

[sutomcat]

I think this is great for Syracuse. Even if the big boys pressure kids to sign early, the earlier their classes fill up I think is also better for us, with regards to late bloomers.

I think non-P5s would struggle to sign kids early so I don't believe that would be a problem.

From our POV id’ rather not have a kid keeping his seat warm at Syracuse while shopping around.

Agree. Allowing recruits to sign earlier gives schools that are good at identifying talented players an advantage.

Syracuse has historically been one of those schools. Yes, we might lose the ability to get MAC level replacements when we lose our top prospects but it would be well worth it if we were guaranteed to keep those top prospects when they sign letters of intent.

It is really hard for football programs, especially 'up and coming' ones, to fill out a class properly. You think you have x players for position y, then a couple of them leave late and there is almost nothing left on the cupboard to pick from.

An earlier signing period protects schools that worked hard and got the players they wanted. And it protects players by at least giving them the option to lock into a school they really like early in the process. And not get harangued by other schools for months and months afterwards.

 

[CuseLegacy]

Agree. Allowing recruits to sign earlier gives schools that are good at identifying talented players an advantage.

Syracuse has historically been one of those schools. Yes, we might lose the ability to get MAC level replacements when we lose our top prospects but it would be well worth it if we were guaranteed to keep those top prospects when they sign letters of intent.

It is really hard for football programs, especially 'up and coming' ones, to fill out a class properly. You think you have x players for position y, then a couple of them leave late and there is almost nothing left on the cupboard to pick from.

An earlier signing period protects schools that worked hard and got the players they wanted. And it protects players by at least giving them the option to lock into a school they really like early in the process. And not get harangued by other schools for months and months afterwards.

Depending on how early a signing period I would think there would have to be some type of set academic requirements. We all know that some of these kids don't qualify until they complete their senior year. Also what happens if a kid signs and then has a serious injury during his senior season? Is the school still required to honor the scholarship? And how early a signing period.

I'm don't think the NCAA would make it a requirement for a kid to sign after committing. More likely just an available option. I think you might get a few kids that sign early but the rest will wait and take all their officials.

 

[PhatOrange]

Depending on how early a signing period I would think there would have to be some type of set academic requirements. We all know that some of these kids don't qualify until they complete their senior year. Also what happens if a kid signs and then has a serious injury during his senior season? Is the school still required to honor the scholarship? And how early a signing period.

I'm don't think the NCAA would make it a requirement for a kid to sign after committing. More likely just an available option. I think you might get a few kids that sign early but the rest will wait and take all their officials.

I would think all the same rules apply with the signature and whether or not a kid gets injured or qualifies. However they are currently bound shouldn't change.

Basketball has 2 signing periods - fall and spring. There should be no difference with football having 2.

I don't think we'll see an early signing period in say August. It think it's going to be in that December 14 range just before the holidays.

Sport (s) Initial Signing Date
Basketball (Early Period) November 9, 2016
Basketball (Regular Period) April 12, 2017
Football (Midyear JC Transfer) December 14, 2016
Football (Regular Period) February 1, 2017

 

[CuseLegacy]

I would think all the same rules apply with the signature and whether or not a kid gets injured or qualifies. However they are currently bound shouldn't change.

Basketball has 2 signing periods - fall and spring. There should be no difference with football having 2.

I don't think we'll see an early signing period in say August. It think it's going to be in that December 14 range just before the holidays.

Sport (s) Initial Signing Date
Basketball (Early Period) November 9, 2016
Basketball (Regular Period) April 12, 2017
Football (Midyear JC Transfer) December 14, 2016
Football (Regular Period) February 1, 2017

A December signing period would fit with the existing NCAA recruiting rules as it would allow coaches to use an academic evaluation date. Also that would still allow prospects to take all their officials. I agree that I couldn't see an earlier early signing period than December.

 

[GoCuse14]

Agree. Allowing recruits to sign earlier gives schools that are good at identifying talented players an advantage.

Syracuse has historically been one of those schools. Yes, we might lose the ability to get MAC level replacements when we lose our top prospects but it would be well worth it if we were guaranteed to keep those top prospects when they sign letters of intent.

It is really hard for football programs, especially 'up and coming' ones, to fill out a class properly. You think you have x players for position y, then a couple of them leave late and there is almost nothing left on the cupboard to pick from.

An earlier signing period protects schools that worked hard and got the players they wanted. And it protects players by at least giving them the option to lock into a school they really like early in the process. And not get harangued by other schools for months and months afterwards.

someone may have already addressed this...I havent read all the way through...but correct if I am wrong on this though, but havent the majority of our last minute replacements ended up being replacements for bigger fish we lost?

 

[sutomcat]

someone may have already addressed this...I havent read all the way through...but correct if I am wrong on this though, but havent the majority of our last minute replacements ended up being replacements for bigger fish we lost?

Yes. I am saying while this would reduce our ability to fill in open spaces late in a recruiting class with MAC level verbals, a lot of those open spaces result from us losing players who verballed to SU originally before switching to bigger name schools afterwards.

Since the level of the players we lose is significantly higher than the level of the players we gain because there is no early signing date, I would rather have the early signing date.

It would also help the players and their families. It is a tough process to handle deciding what to do from the perspective of the players. Recruiting wears on them and their families and it has to be a good thing to give them the option of ending the process early, locking into a school they love and letting them focus their senior year on athletics and academics. Not on the recruiting process.

 

[Moontan]

Even if Bailey's take is faulty, he's a lot smarter and can actually write.

I stopped at "without further adieu" in Esden's piece.

Perfect place for you to bid him adieu.

 

[JoeSU]

I would think all the same rules apply with the signature and whether or not a kid gets injured or qualifies. However they are currently bound shouldn't change.

Basketball has 2 signing periods - fall and spring. There should be no difference with football having 2.

I don't think we'll see an early signing period in say August. It think it's going to be in that December 14 range just before the holidays.

Sport (s) Initial Signing Date
Basketball (Early Period) November 9, 2016
Basketball (Regular Period) April 12, 2017
Football (Midyear JC Transfer) December 14, 2016
Football (Regular Period) February 1, 2017

The basketball early signing date is essentially 1 year before the start of the following season. I don't see a reason why football shouldn't follow suit (i.e., August 30). That would allow recruits to take their official visit(s) over the summer, an during the fall, to concentrate on their Sr. season and qualifying academically. I don't see any advantage to delaying the early signing date to mid-December, which is not long after the end of the HS playoffs and only 6 weeks before the regular signing date.

 

[CuseLegacy]

The basketball early signing date is essentially 1 year before the start of the following season. I don't see a reason why football shouldn't follow suit (i.e., August 30). That would allow recruits to take their official visit(s) over the summer, an during the fall, to concentrate on their Sr. season and qualifying academically. I don't see any advantage to delaying the early signing date to mid-December, which is not long after the end of the HS playoffs and only 6 weeks before the regular signing date.

The issue I see is that the NCAA would have to completely revamp their recruiting restrictions and timelines to allow this early a signing period where one in December would allow them to keep things as they are now. We all know that the NCAA does nothing quickly.

 

[PhatOrange]

I could maybe see mid November but not August. While August makes some sense kids haven't started senior year and camps start Aug1.

I think a mid-Dec and Late Feb early March would work good. Move #1 up and #2 back.
Maybe that would decelerate the calendar a little.

 

[tep624]

I think they should have a pre-season signing day, mid to late august, and the February post-season as they currently have. Have to have some protections for the early signers against coaching changes or structural changes, i.e. a kid gets asked to grayshirt or something like that. I think this would be beneficial to both the kids that don't want to be bothered by the recruiting process during their senior years and for the schools so they don't have to worry about a poor season resulting in a lost recruiting class.

 

[CuseLegacy]

 

[CuseLegacy]

 

[CuseLegacy]

What you need to know about impending recruiting reforms

Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Reform of the college football recruiting process is expected to be a main discussion point when the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee meets Tuesday during the first day of the NCAA convention at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville.

While final decisions are not expected until April or later this summer, we could still have a good idea of whether or not athletic directors and conference commissioners believe there is momentum to pass NCAA Proposal 2016-16 as it is. This committee will also discuss what modifications might need to be made -- or if it will fail entirely. Here's a look at what's being proposed, the decision-making process and the likelihood of holistic reform coming to recruiting.

The proposal
On Oct. 6, 2016, the NCAA Division I Council unveiled components of a new model for football recruiting, proposed major cutbacks and restrictions to satellite camps, introduced two new early signing periods and changes to the official visit calendar.

The council proposed legislation that would cut the number of days in a year from 30 to 10 in which coaches were allowed to conduct camps. Only coaches permitted to recruit off campus could participate, and the camps would be required to take place on campuses or in the facilities used primarily for practice or competition by member schools, essentially ending lengthy nationwide barnstorming satellite camp tours like Jim Harbaugh's Summer Swarm Tour.

Those would be significant changes on their own, but most of the attention has been focused on new 72-hour signing windows that would open on the last Wednesday in June and the third Wednesday in December. The mid-December signing window is familiar, largely because it's currently when midyear junior college recruits sign their national letters of intent. The topic of early signing has long been debated in college football and was last tabled by the Division I conference commissioners in June 2015.

To coincide with the two new early signing periods, the NCAA said it would be willing to adjust the recruiting calendar to allow prospects to take official visits during the summer before their senior years. Recruits would be allowed to take official visits starting June 1 until the last Saturday before the June signing period begins. They would also be allowed to take visits July 25-31.

The process
Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips, the chair of the Division I Council, said there was a "mandate made very clear by university presidents to have the council work on comprehensive, holistic recruiting reform, including how to address satellite camps, early signing and adjustments in the recruiting calendar."

From there, the Football Oversight Committee, chaired by Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, and a Recruiting Ad Hoc Group, chaired by Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen and Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst, spent nearly 18 months formulating what changes should be made. It was from those two groups Proposal 2016-16 was developed.


Among the recruiting reforms up for passage by the NCAA is lengthy summer dead periods and no June signing period. Those changes, giving coaches and recruits their summers back, are welcome.

While all the different parts of the recruiting reform package are intertwined with one another, it's important to note: Two different bodies will actually vote on various sections of the proposal. The Collegiate Commissioners Association, a group made up of conference commissioners from the FBS and FCS, controls the national letter of intent and when recruits can officially sign with a school, and the NCAA manages the recruiting calendar, official visit schedules and satellite camp rules.

The CCA began its debate of the early signing period legislation in early Nov. 2016 at Big Ten headquarters and could meet again this week at the NCAA convention. After that, the CCA is expected to get together again in early summer, when many commissioners expect a vote to take place. The NCAA portion of the package is expected to be a big point of emphasis at the NCAA convention, and Phillips believes it'll eventually get to the council for a vote in April.

"That's where I feel we'll have a final agreement that will please hopefully a majority, if not all of Division I, FBS, autonomy and nonautonomy folks," Phillips said.

What coaches think
Last week at the American Football Coaches Association convention, the coaching community collectively took a stance on an early signing period. After a three-hour meeting that included more than 100 FBS head coaches, AFCA executive director Todd Berry said the coaching community is ready to take "a step toward multiple signing days," and FBS coaches are "unanimously in favor of a mid-December signing period."

"We think a signing day on the third Wednesday in December is the least intrusive to the current model and allows for the best study of what is best for everybody involved," Berry said. "We think this is a very, very fair way to take that first opportunity and step with the understanding that you need to take a look at all of your access points and potentially another signing date. But we think college football needs to evaluate this step first before you move from there."

Coaches are not in favor of the proposed June signing window and adjustments to the official visit calendar. Berry said there was "zero support" from FBS head coaches for the June signing period, mainly because there was concern about being able to accurately evaluate a student-athlete's academics. There was also "unanimous worry from the high school coaching community that recruits might sit out their senior season if they've already signed with a college." Berry also said FBS coaches are "collectively not in favor of adjusting the official visitor calendar" but would support the 10-day camp portion of the proposal.

Will it pass?
The coaches taking a stance on the mid-December signing window and other parts of the proposal was a significant development, and it adds a lot of intrigue to this week's discussion at the NCAA convention.

Berry will formally present the AFCA's stance on early signing periods and changes to the official visit calendar to the Oversight Committee, and he's hopeful now that there's a "mandate" and a "single voice" from the coaching community, the committee and that the CCA will listen to their feedback and make modifications to Proposal 2016-16.

There is strong belief among sources in the coaching community and on the administrative level that both sides will eventually meet in the middle, and the June early signing period will be whittled away and the mid-December window will be the only early signing period that comes up for a vote.

Phillips, MAC commission Dr. Jon Steinbrecher, who chairs the oversight committee, and Bowlsby believe the package is "very student-athlete and family friendly" and "would fix a lot of what's wrong with recruiting today." Bowlsby said the proposal would also go a long way toward cutting down on third-party influences in the process and also provide coaches with a better work-life balance.

"You don't want to allow the perfect to get in the way of the progress," Bowlsby said. "We got a proposal together that, if it stays together, it will be the most substantial change in football recruiting in decades."

Phillips agrees and is confident the proposal, even with some modifications, will eventually pass through the NCAA and the CCA.

"Perfect should not be at the detriment of a very good ... college football comprehensive recruiting package," Phillips said. "We can't let perfect be the evil of that. Will it be perfect? I don't think any of this legislation can be perfect, but this is major progress and a very good package overall. It's a much-needed package. I think everyone can live with that, and I'm confident we'll have [a] positive outcome that will empower prospective student-athletes and recalibrate the entire process to how it should be for everybody involved."

 

[CuseLegacy]

After today's NCAA Division I Oversight Committee meeting, it looks like there will be reform to recruiting reform. The NCAA Division I Council has a proposal on the table that would call for an early signing period in June and December, along with some adjustments to the official visit calendar. But last week at the American Football Coaches Association convention, more than 100 FBS head coaches came out in favor of the December signing period and against the June one. The Oversight Committee met Tuesday to get the feedback from coaches and it appears changes are on the way. "We had a very robust conversation with a lot of different perspectives," MAC commissioner Dr. Jon Steinbrecher said. "I think what you'll see come out of it, is a package that there's a little bit of something for everybody. I think it'll be a very productive and positive package. You should expect some changes, some modifications."

 

[CuseLegacy]

 

[CuseLegacy]

 

[PhatOrange]

any early signing period will be a win.

 

[CuseLegacy]

any early signing period will be a win.

That and kids being able to take ovs in April, May, June and July.

 

[CuseLegacy]

Amended recruiting proposal includes expanded access for early official visits

NASHVILLE -- An extensive spring and summer window for early official visits may receive a green light toward passage Wednesday from the NCAA Division I Council, said Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, who chairs the Football Oversight Committee, tasked to draft legislation that will bring sweeping change to recruiting.

Bowlsby’s committee met for seven hours Tuesday here at the NCAA convention, forging a compromise with coaches, who last week at the American Football Coaches Association convention unified against a proposed early signing period in June.

Support for the June period is dying, even among administrators. A 72-hour December signing period, to supplement the current February date, remains on the agenda. It will continue to receive consideration from the Collegiate Commissioners Association, which is not set to meet this week in Nashville.

More pressing are the other aspects of NCAA Proposal 2016-16, originally drafted in October to include an opportunity for recruits to take official visits -- paid by the schools -- in parts of June and July before their senior years.

Prospects currently are prevented from taking official visits until September of their senior years.

As part of the compromise negotiated Tuesday by the oversight committee, Bowlsby said, the proposal will be amended to include access to prospects for official visits in April, May, June and July.

The Division I Council, a 40-member group chaired by Northwestern Athletic Director Jim Phillips, is meeting Wednesday to hear of such changes made to the original proposal. Bowlsby is also a member of the council.

Under a mandate from the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, the council is expected to approve details at this convention of an amended proposal. The council would then take a vote on the proposal in April, potentially opening four months in the spring and summer for official visits as early as 2018 -- with or without an early signing period.

“I think there is an appetite for some change,” said Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, the lone coach who is a voting member of the Football Oversight Committee. “Everybody came to some compromises. I think what we’re trying to do is get to a great starting point -- and what everybody on the committee understands now is the decision we’re making now is not the end point.

“It’s going to be a gradual but specific plan moving forward.”

 

[CuseLegacy]

 

[CuseLegacy]

 

[CuseLegacy]

 

[CuseLegacy]