Maybe Les Miles is right?

[irishunclebill]

Maybe Les Miles & Kirk Ferentz are right?

Les Miles, the head football coach at LSU has a policy in place that once a prospect pledges the Tigers, they are not to take any additional visits. Luther Davis, until recently an LSU recruit, tried to bypass this policy by surreptitiously slipping into Tuscaloosa a couple of weekends ago. Miles found out about Luther’s furtive trip, and immediately withdrew Luther’s scholarship. Even though Brian Smith was upfront and honest about his intentions, Iowa’s head coach, Kirk Ferentz, basically followed the same policy when he allegedly withdrew Smith’s scholarship upon confirmation that Brian was going to make an official visit to ND this weekend. Ferentz took a lot of abuse on this site last night because of his action. However, maybe Les Miles and Kirk Ferentz are right.

Is it wrong for a coach to have a policy that says to a recruit, listen, we really want you here, and we believe that you are a good fit for this school, but this is a two way street, so make sure that you are positive you are coming here before you give me a commitment, because once you do, I consider that spot filled, and I am counting on you to fulfill your commitment, and if I hear that you are planning on visiting another school after you advise me that you are coming here, then I will immediately withdraw your scholarship offer.

Obviously this policy did not prevent Luther Davis or Brian Smith from switching commitments. However, Davis is a TO-like flake who is liable to do anything, including changing his commitment again before National Signing Day, and Kirk Ferentz is no dummy, he had to realize that Brian Smith was gone the minute he received a scholarship offer from his dream school, Notre Dame. The Davis and Smith type situations are unavoidable regardless of any policy being in place. However, I can think of at least once instance for sure where the Miles Policy might have made a difference. This of course is pure speculation, but one has to wonder if the Miles Policy had been in effect at ND this recruiting season whether a Don Bosco Prep DE recruit, who we were all assured was “dyed in the wool Irish” prior to 1/19, would have knowingly forfeited his Notre Dame scholarship for that fateful trip to Gainesville. I guess we will never know that answer.

 

[GoshenGipper]

I think it's a good policy, unless a team goes through a coaching change. I know Michigan does it too, and that's where Les learned it. It's also the same reason so many teams pulled J. Barksdale's offers. He gave a silent to Michigan and then still went on visits, so they pulled his offer, then he did it to Texas, then Ohio State, then ND, then back to Ohio St. and finaly the "University" of LSU. That's six silents to five differnt schools at some point. That's why teams like ND, Texas, and Michigan cooled on him and pulled his offers.

 

[BGIF]

Whoa! Giving a silent commitment to several schools without recanting the previous one or ones is flat out dishonest. That's why that recruit was dropped by so many people. That's a considerably different situation than either Trattou or Smith.

Charlie Weis would be a fool to implement such a policy. Without the ability to bring in JUCO's to replace team members lost with eligibility remaining, ND HAS to be right when they offer a scholarship and accept an LOI.

ND can't offer 30 scholarships ala the SEC. Better to have a kid bolt before Signing Day no matter how awkward than a Greg Olsen and leave the day before classes start or worse burn a year or two and then transfers. ND then gets to replace a 20 year old developed athlete with another 18 year old next year that most likely will not be ready to step in and play for a year or two. The Sam Youngs and Joey Getheralls are rare at ND.

As for disappointments late in the game I think all of the ND coaches in at least the last 20 have experienced some. Holtz hurled "The 40 Mistake" at Scott Bentley. Davie got "Leaked". Willingham got "Bookered".

It happens. Up until Signing Day it's not final.

Even then ...

Ryan Baker ring any bells?

 

[jgrnd07]

These are 17-18 year old kids that change there mind on a daily basis...they are making a huge decision about where they plan on spending the next 4 years of there life! Signing day is where they have to make a final decision and up until then they should be aloud to change there minds whenever they do not feel comfortable. I see nothing unethical about a switch late in the game...whatever there reasoning they deserve to make that choice!

 

[Irishknight1023]

trattou situation won't happen again next year it's only because he commited here when we were running the 4-3 , but when corwin brown came in it changed to 3-4 ala the big reason he took the trip to florida only a few days after he heard our defense was changing so i don't think we should sweat ND's commitments next year because kids that choose ND in the first place have different intentions then to just play ball and not do the work in the classroom

 

[Stalking_Eagle]

trattou situation won't happen again next year it's only because he commited here when we were running the 4-3 , but when corwin brown came in it changed to 3-4 ala the big reason he took the trip to florida only a few days after he heard our defense was changing so i don't think we should sweat ND's commitments next year because kids that choose ND in the first place have different intentions then to just play ball and not do the work in the classroom

Has this been confimed? If so link please.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

Overall I think it's a good policy...if you can live with the outcome.

 

[Ricochet]

It's a good policy, don't commit until your sure, it's a s simple as that. This is the problem today in that people say well it's alright and all that it BS, have some damn responsibility. I'm going to be 29 here soon, so I still remember how it was like to be a kid and at 17 and 18 you know what your doing and excuse that your young and foolish is just that an excuse, it's to get out of something.

Sure there are situations such that are understandable for to part ways but this is the problem with the system, it's flawed. terrible flawed. It's no different for coaches offering players early and then they don't pan out by the end of HS. Yes they should honor the commitment, if he still wants to come to never play.

 

[Satans Little Helper]

Has this been confimed? If so link please.

dont need a link. its only been a matter of time that CW was going to do it. I have been saying it since he got there that 2007 would be the year he switched.

Minter was even quoted as saying he was fired because they were going in a different direction. Corwin Brown hired from jets and pats org. (3-4) D Mangini anyone....\\

It all fits it will be done sooner than later but i dont think CW would come out and say "I am switching to the 3-4 this year guys. All my opponents take note."

 

[nshope]

I personally can see both points, but I believe it should remain the way it is. Having a coach pull scholarship offers just because a player is keeping his options open is unfair. If more coaches put this type of rule in place, it's only going to force recruits to give the verbal commitment much, much later in the game because they'll want to see all the offers.

That's not a bad thing, but simply pulling a scholarship because a kid visits another school is a little extreme. Just my thoughts though.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

I don't blame Ferentz. It sounded like he was at least professional about it by saying that the 2 parties needed to go their separate ways. He knew Smith was gone as soon as the scholarship was offered. That's too close to signing day to take any chances, so give Ferentz credit for going directly to Plan B & signing the LB originally committed to Ball St. The only caveat to this rule would be if there was a coaching change that would directly affect the player (like the DE from Don Bosco Prep).

 

[tgolden]

what does committing really even mean? anything before signing day is not final. so a player says he's going to a certain school. then he changes his mind. while it may piss off fans and coaches of the school he switches on, he didn't sign anything. that's the whole point of making a big deal about actually signing. that's when you make your final decision.

maybe in the future, no one should publically commit anymore, and then on signing day, everyone could just be really suprised (I'm being sarcastic).

of course I'm disappointed when a guy picks ND and then changes his mind. However, he's not really doing anything wrong. if they moved signing day up and just let kids sign whenever they "committed", maybe that would fix the problem. But honestly, 17 and 18 year olds change their minds. these are huge decisions. and with all the publicity that goes with it, they are under huge amounts of pressure. when all is said and done, we just have to work with who we have.

 

[irishlib]

I, also, think it is a good policy to not recognize "silent" commitments. Recruits should be told that if you don't go public, we will continue to recruit for the position.

 

[irish4life99]

Schools, and coahes can have that policy, but then they need to play by the same rules and when a player commits to another team they have to stop recruting them. Don't you think?

 

[ND FANATIC]

I'm not a fan of this policy at all. We are talking about an 18 yr old kid making one of the biggest decisions in his life, and he doesn't have a chance to re-enforce his decision by visiting other schools. What if a kid doesn't get a lot of ink as a junior, gets a few offers from a few D1 schools, accepts an offer because he's afraid of being not offered at a later date, and then has a monster senior year. He gets the big boys attention like ND, USC, UM, OSU, LSU, Fla - and he can't take a visit. As a parent, I wouldn't let him leave for college without visiting other schools, even if he doesn't decommit from his original. I would be much happier knowing that he is really comfortable with his decision.

These kids flip-flopping all over the place respresent 0.5%, if that much, of the D1 recruits. And if a coach, like Miles or Ferentz, is not confident enough in what their programs have to offer, then shame on them. I would much rather have a kid know he wants to be with my pragram, then have one take a scholarhsip, be miserable and leave a year or two later anyway.