I know this has been talked about before in college football, but I was wondering: what are the main pros and cons regarding this from the NCAA, coaches, presidents, etc? What are the arguments (genuine and not) about an early signing period? Sorry if this has been covered, but even as an avid ND fan and college football fan, I still am fairly uneducated regarding why college football can't have one...while other sports can.
The NCAA says no because the majority of NCAA members, the school presidents, don't want it. Football has a different set of recruiting rules than other sports because of their experience and because it's the way they want it.
A number of coaches want this particularly where they have a strong in-state presence with the high school coaches like in Ohio where the HS coaches as a group are honoring Tressel this season despite his cheating scandal. He was their buddy and their scratching his back. Saban, Brown, and a number of others would get the same recognition with their state's HS coaches. So it would help the OSU's, UTX's, ALA's sign the local kids first.
For ND early signing is a disaster. Indiana is not a great HS FB arena besides having a smaller population compared with MI or OH, much less CA, FL, TX
I don't know which sports early signing besides basketball. The AAU sewer might be the reason there, I don't know. Simply what might apply to basketball, fencing, or soccer doesn't necessarily suit football because of the sheer numbers. Football takes 25 a year. Most of those other sports don't have 25 on the team.
The smaller schools in the NCAA, which predominate to the dismay of the Alabama's, want a shot of getting prospects to take an Official Visit their senior year. Early signing reduce the possibility of turning a kid's head or opening his eyes. One of the axiom's of ND recruiting is, "If we can get him on campus ... ." Others are the academic excellence, "The 40 Year Mistake"," and the alumni network, "An ND degree can get you a job anywhere." ND doesn't have the opportunity to present those with an early signing period.
Schools like ND and SU with tougher academic needs will have an even tougher time evaluating prospects academically with an early period. USC would admit a mushroom if he ran a 4.3 but look at the problem their having enrolling their 2011 class. The NCAA now requires 16 core courses which ND, SU, VU and a few others required 15 years ago. Jocks that got passed along in school because they were the Star QB don't get away with taking "Introduction to the Hand Held Calcuator for Athletes" as a substitute for Algebra II anymore. That means when they get to be seniors they're supposed to have 12 of those core courses already completed - Satisfactorily. Some of them are entering their senior year now needing half or more of those 16 core courses. Just yesterday the SEC Commissioner Slive at the SEC Media Day called for the NCAA to go into high schools and EDUCATE the administrators, coaches, and students that they need to take required courses in the 9th and 10th grade. Charlie Weis did that routinely at back in 2005. Weis worked with ND Admissions to train his assistants as what to look for in high school sophs and juniors so they could be on track to pass ND Admissions as seniors.
Early signing is a benefit to HS coaches as it allows their stars to focus on the HS team. Again a benefit to the Tressels with the strong ties to local coaches. Schools recruiting on a national basis can't possibly generate that number of relationships.
The NCAA allows 5 Officials so kids get to see a cross section of choices not just Hometown U. A kid that has already signed a LOI can't take an Official Visit. He's locked in. Look at the number of kids that switch verbals now.
As for the prospects IF they don't want to be bothered they can turn off their cell phone, change the number, use call blocking, have daddy tell the coach if you call my son a again, "I'm lodging a complaint for harassment".
