University of Michigan Head Coach Carol Hutchins weighs in before a critical vote by the NCAA Division I Council on new rules to restrict early recruiting.
Some other recruiting related topics:
What happened after lacrosse banned early recruiting?
How do travel coaches feel about the potential rule change?
“The biggest problem facing college softball today is early recruiting, but it is not going to change unless the coaches and the NCAA work together to make it change.”
Division I Softball Coaches are calling for all recruiting contact for student-athletes to begin at the start of the junior year of high school. This is a contrast to the proposed legislation before the NCAA Division I Council that would allow recruiting conversations to begin at the beginning of a student-athlete’s sophomore year of high school.
The response is from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) whose Division I membership submitted the comments to the NCAA on the proposed changes to the rules, which include:
Buy Under Armour Women’s ColdGear
The rule essentially allows verbal commitment of athletes at the beginning of their sophomore year of high school. Currently, there are no restrictions.
The NCAA Division I council is scheduled to vote on the legislation in April 2018.
In its statement, the NFCA felt that there are loopholes in the current recommendations before the Division I Council from the Student Athlete Experience Committee (SAEC).
“The SAEC did not address incoming telephone calls,” the release stated. “This means that recruiting communication initiated by telephone from a PSA to a collegiate coach remains permissible at any point in time.”
The NFCA’s statement praised the legislation adopted by Lacrosse which sets September 1 of the junior year as the start date for all recruiting contact, citing that the “‘bright line’ for all recruiting contact at a later more appropriate age for PSA’s (prospective student athletes) as exactly what was needed to address the problem of early recruiting.”
The issue was vigorously discussed at the NFCA’s National Convention in December. The group states that a follow-up survey revealed that 80% of D1 coaches support Sept. 1 of the Junior year as the start of recruiting contact. 84% of coaches favored the structure of the lacrosse proposal over the SAEC proposal.
Buy Mizuno Women’s 2016 Finch Batting Gloves
NFCA President and University of Tennessee co-head coach Karen Weekly expressed the need for action in the statement, “The biggest problem facing college softball today is early recruiting, but it is not going to change unless the coaches and the NCAA work together to make it change.”
“Some kids know what they want and some kids get to college and still don’t know what to do.”
Travel Softball Coaches may have the best guess at what might happen if rules are changed by the NCAA when they vote on rules that seek to end early recruiting. They are the facilitators of recruiting and often need to balance the needs of college coaches, their travel organizations, athletes and their families. We asked what they thought of the proposed legislation to end early recruiting and what it could mean for travel softball.
Coaches Interviewed: Mike Stith, Batbusters; Bruce Richardson, SoCal Athletics; Sean Brashear, Firecrackers;
Buy Mizuno Women’s Fastpitch Cleat
Firecrackers Coach Sean Brashear said the new legislation is a good idea. He believes early recruiting takes away from development. “Those years should be focused on the development of these girls as players and people,” he said.
Batbuster’s Coach Mike Stith also endorses the idea of ending early recruiting. He believes there’s a 98% chance of a yes vote on the new rules. He feels that early recruiting is hurting the sport. “There’s been a huge decline in the level of coaching and development at the younger ages,” he said. “Parents are in a hurry to get in front of colleges. They’re missing instruction time. These rules will benefit the sport from the grass roots.
But SoCal Athletics Coach Bruce Richardson is on the fence about the proposed rules. “Who’s to say what’s the right age to be recruited?” he asked. “Some kids know what they want and some kids get to college and they still don’t know what to do.”
Will it work to curb early recruiting?
Buy DeMarini CF9 Fast Pitch Bat
Richardson said he was skeptical about whether the new legislation would be effective or needed. He believes there will likely be away to get around them. “I have many conversations with coaches. We can figure a way to get a message to everybody. There’s ways around everything,” he said. He also questioned the inclination to over-regulate the recruiting process.
Richardson also questioned the wisdom of allowing recruiting conversations in the sophomore year of high school. “How is it ok to recruit a 15 year-old and not a 13 year-old?” he said. “And parents don’t really have to buy into all this recruiting stuff.” He said it was the responsibility of the parents to make the decision with their daughter and not just say ‘It’s what my daughter wants’.
Stith also believes people will figure out ways to get around the rules. But he also wants people not to lose perspective of what the rules mean. “The number of schools and scholarships are a finite number,” he said, referring to the idea that top scholarships will still go to top players.
So how might travel softball change if the news rules are enacted?
Brashear expects there may be few showcase events for 12u and 14U players. “I would like to see us have more time to practice and develop our team so we can prepare them for high school and college,” he said.
He also believes College Coaches will be able to make more informed decisions about the players they recruit since committing a 7th or 8th grader can be risky. “They’re banking on the fact that she’s going to continue to grow as an athlete, person and a student,” he said, referring to the idea that some players may peak early but their progress could level out in the high school years.
If the rule changes are enacted Richardson said there may be unexpected consequences that are anybody’s guess. “Sometimes you have to let it sink in after rule changes to see how this would affect me or the our kids, he said. “It’s hard to judge until you live it a little bit.”
Stith believes one group clearly benefits. “Some of the late bloomers are going to have a chance to compete,” he said.
The NCAA will vote on a proposal to end early recruiting in softball and most other sports. Adopting the new rules would mean an end to the verbal commitment of seventh, eighth and ninth graders. It’s a subject many college coaches have publicly and privately criticized but felt helpless to change because of intense competition.
NCAA’s Division 1 Council submitted three separate proposed legislation in early October. Here’s a quick summary of the rules and the reason for the changes:
Buy Under Armour Women’s ColdGear
The proposed rules would put an end to the controversy of colleges verbally committing seventh, eighth and ninth graders, the most recent being the Florida Gators verbally committing 7th grader Keegan Rothrock from Whiteland Indiana, who was reported to throw a screwball at 66 mph, according to FloSoftball. While many parents might be enthusiastic about early commitments of their daughters, many coaches have strong reservations.
Firecrackers Coach Sean Brashear likes the rule changes and feels that softball players committing at 7th and 8th grade is too young. “This would allow for more player development as teams would be able to practice more and with the recruiting change more competitive game play as teams would not be in Showcase mode so early,” he said.
Brashear said college coaches were under intense pressure, many of them not wanting to recruit extremely young players but forced to commit to stay competitive. He’s also had conversations with college coaches who commented to him about recruits. “In many cases they have to reteach them how to practice once they get to college since they haven’t had enough practice time after having spent all fall and summer playing on the recruiting tour,” said Brashear.
Some college coaches have declined comment on the subject to Softball Nation. But in a recent interview, University of San Diego Pitching Coach and Team USA player Danielle O’Toole expressed her frustration with the early recruiting. “Now that I’m in this coaching position and I see eighth graders, I’m like, how am I supposed to judge this eighth grader and what they’re supposed to look like?” said O’Toole. “It’s definitely way to young and it’s unfortunate. And I know a lot of the coaches think that.”
The proposal is a recommendation from the Division 1 Student-Athlete Experience Committee following a study of more than 15,000 recruited student-athletes Sept 2017. The survey found that 40% of student-athletes in women’s basketball and softball reported their first recruiting contact in the ninth grade or earlier.
The survey also showed that student-athletes in almost every sport reported committing verbally to a school before official visit dates. Most student-athletes also reported taking unofficial visits in their sophomore year or earlier.
These rules would not apply to football or basketball since they have already made changes to their recruiting model.
The Division I Council will vote on the proposals during the 2017-18 legislative cycle, which calls for voting to occur in April 2018, according to Michelle Brutlag Hosick, Associate Director, Public and Media Relations. If adopted, all three proposals would be effective Aug. 1, 2018.
Softball Nation 