Next April May Not Include Live Events
The month of April came and went this year with just two weekends for coaches to evaluate prospects at travel team tournaments. There’s a possibility the number of such weekends next April could be zero.
On April 25, the NCAA adopted proposal 2007-30-C, which would remove live periods during the month of April for college coaches starting in 2009. The legislation was sponsored by the Men’s Basketball Issues Committee as an amendment to 2007-30-B, itself an amendment to the original legislation. It is currently in a 60-day override period, and if 30 university presidents want to override it by June 23, it will not take effect on August 1.
| New Proposal A Bad Idea |
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| For a lot of reasons, this proposal is one we should hope never goes into effect. It’s bad from a practical standpoint and many of the premises are flawed. Editorial |
Although the original proposal went through a couple of changes, it was a plan all along to make travel team tournaments in April dead to college coaches. The original legislation includes a note that the Men’s Basketball Issues Committee said at its June 22, 2007 meeting that it wanted to do what this legislation covers. The committee is a 16-person group chaired by North Carolina State athletic director Lee Fowler and includes seven other athletic directors and three Division I head coaches.
Events in April that would no longer be live for college coaches have traditionally been certified by state high school associations in the state where the event is played. For the month of July, the NCAA certifies events that college coaches can attend. The legislation seems to indicate that this is not a minor point, as it states, “the scholastic organizations have not provided necessary leadership with regard to the oversight of the nonscholastic events”.
The proposal is likely to face some opposition during the override period. A number of coaches Hoopville spoke to in recent weeks, many of whom were recruiting at live events, do not support the proposal and are hoping for its defeat. Last week, ESPN.com’s Andy Katz reported that the Pac-10 coaches were not happy with this rule. One Pac-10 head coach, Herb Sendek, is a member of the Men’s Basketball Issues Committee. On Monday, Katz reported that not all of the 12 ACC coaches were aware of this, but voted 12-0 to help push to override it.
The proposal also features changes to the contact periods for prospects during the month of April. The legislation states that it is “designed to reinstate the previous contact period that existed prior to the change in legislation that permitted contacts with junior prospective student-athletes”. This change is not getting the same amount of attention, for the simple matter that with the April live recruiting periods taken away, college coaches will have basically no opportunities to evaluate players once the scholastic season is over until the month of July comes.
