World of College Basketball Recruiting
World of College Basketball Recruiting
There a number of things a fan of college basketball must accept when it comes to understanding his favorite major Division I Men’s Basketball team. The first is forget what you think you knew about how you team’s players came to attend your school; they didn’t just like the tradition. The second is there’s a whole underworld of good and bad influences that have their hands in the till in hopes that it will one day fill with NBA dollars. The third thing might be the must difficult for fans to accept, the beloved head coach and staff know all about and are present in the cloak and dagger approach to recruiting the best. Let me pause right there to insert this one asterisk, while all coaches know about this seedy world of recruiting there are a few who brazenly refuse to play the same game as everyone else and strive to uphold the integrity of their program.
The 5 Factors of College Basketball Recruiting You Probably Didn’t Know
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Apparel Companies Influence
Under Armour, Nike, Reebok, Adidas all have an investment in youth basketball. Prominent AAU teams are sponsored by these major sports apparel companies. The top athletes are watched carefully at a young age and when they sign an NBA shoe deal it usually wasn’t a random first time dealing between the company and the player. That being said the apparel companies would also like to see their respective star AAU players also attend colleges who they supply merchandise too.
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The “Handlers”
Many top AAU athletes have someone who is affectionately referred to as their “handler”. This person can be a family friend, uncle, coach, or next door neighbor. The role the handler plays is a voice by which the coach of a program can actively recruit through, even during recruiting dead periods. The handler may be paid by the coaches or friends of the program. Sometimes this payment finds its way from the handler to the player and payment is not always in cash. There have been times when payment means a job at the University for the handler.
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Multiple Means of Confusing the NCAA
Coaches can be very clever when it comes to recruiting during NCAA dead periods. An NCAA dead period is a mandated time period where coaches are not allowed to have any contact with recruits. Gary Williams wrote about how he thought his program was in the lead with a recruit only to find that when he next spoke with them after a dead period that other programs violated rules and never stopped recruiting. At that point Williams’s program had fallen out of the lead for the recruit’s services. One way coaches do this is through the use of multiple cell phones not checked by the school’s compliance. Another way is through social media such as Facebook. Forms of social media can easily be used to contact recruits and are not tracked by the NCAA.
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Improper Benefits – Coaches
Little things such as a personalized jersey, players entrance theme, and sending the recruit to a party while on campus for a visit are all illegal and done in College Basketball recruiting. The NCAA has rules against doing things like this and either the compliance office doesn’t report it or they are carefully kept in the dark about this information by the coaching staff.
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Improper Benefits – Friends of the Program
Boosters are a very real aspect of college recruiting. Hundred dollar handshakes can and do happen. Most recently we have heard stories about benefits to Reggie Bush and OJ Mayo from USC. Items such as clothes, cash, cars and even houses are given to influence a recruit to attend the booster’s program. When it comes to college athletics the Donors reign supreme and when they hold the money they hold the influence and college athletics programs want to make them happy. Too many coaches are too happy oblige.
World of College Basketball Recruiting
