NCAA considering ending early signing period
First of all, why the early signing period was instated in 2017:
“We did not do it to accommodate coaches,” said Bowlsby, who was the chairman of the Oversight Committee when the early signing period was first I instituted. “We did it to accommodate the students and their families. That’s going to be another process the Football Oversight (Committee) will have to go back and talk to the kids and the families and see if see if they want it to stay.”
What's the rub? There has been unintended consequences.
A very clear example is what happen this year:
Two major jobs in college football opened midway through the season at USC and LSU, leading to tumult on coaching staffs and, subsequently, players entering the transfer portal as more dominoes tipped over....
...“Clearly things have changed since the early signing day was put in,” Bowlsby said. The advent of the transfer portal is the greatest change since the early signing period began...
There were warnings ahead of time that an early signing period would create an early coach firing/hiring season:
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said memos circulated as far back as 2009, when an Early Signing Period was first discussed, that mentioned how an earlier signing day would accelerate the firing-and-hiring season.
"Lo and behold, here we are," Sankey said...
LINK to full article at 247:
December 11th, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
I endorse this message…end it. Never made any sense to have an early and a late date.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:10 PM ^
Or, pay human beings that you put under contract to work for you, and let them sign the contract whenever they choose, like any ordinary job. Why is the NCAA special with its "signing day" for its unpaid peons. Create a signing day for coaches and assistants as well then, and force their decisions to be complete by then. Why are the rules so restrictive for the athletes, but not for coaches?
December 11th, 2021 at 2:32 PM ^
It didn't make sense to allow guys to end sign early, end their recruitment, and enroll early if they want to and their school has space?
You're not forced to sign early, flexibility didn't make sense?
December 12th, 2021 at 12:36 AM ^
They're not literally forced to sign early but unless you're a 5 star everyone wants, you may need to sign early to make sure you have a spot in the class. I think it makes sense to push it back to where it was. Guys can still commit before signing day. It worked fine in the past.
December 11th, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
So let's not legislate the coaches let's punish the kids.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:12 PM ^
I'm not sure how this is punishing the players. They can still commit, just can't sign the LOI until later. If they want the recruiting to stop, they can announce that and stop taking calls.
As for the coaches being legislated, that would be like me telling you that you're not allowed to change jobs until some arbitrary date. Are you going to follow my rules if someone offers you millions of dollars to ignore me?
I understand your point, but perhaps you can share your thoughts in more detail?
December 11th, 2021 at 1:21 PM ^
If you stop early signing period doesn't that stop players from early enrolling? That would be bad for a lot of these kids that to get started at the college level as soon as possible
December 12th, 2021 at 12:37 AM ^
No. There were early enrollees before the early signing period.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:29 PM ^
You can't say
I'm not sure how this is punishing the players. They can still commit, just can't sign the LOI until later. If they want the recruiting to stop, they can announce that and stop taking calls.
And then say
As for the coaches being legislated, that would be like me telling you that you're not allowed to change jobs until some arbitrary date.
You're suggesting that unpaid college athletes have to actively stop coaches from reaching out to them (something one assumes them publicly claiming they are committed to another school would properly convey) and can't formalize a relationship until some future date while college coaches can't be expected to keep up the terms of an employment contract they signed.
Most of the coaches involved in these job changes are millionaires, with sophisticated lawyers and agents advocating for them. Virtually every HS student trying to figure out where he should go to play college lacks anything close to their resources and experience, and yet the NCAA expects them to follow stringent rules they've created mostly to benefit the coaches and institutions they are working for on that particular day. That is an immensely uneven burden to place on athletes compared to coaches.
There are two things the NCAA should do - create actual penalties for post-commitment recruitment. Now, if the athletes announces he's rescinding his commitment then others should be able to reach out but otherwise if someone is publicly committed to a school any evidence a coach or staff member from another program reaching out to him becomes a violation that the NCAA can punish. Is it draconian and rife for snitching? Sure, but we've got dozens of secondary violation rules already in place and this will just be added on top of it.
The other change the NCAA could do is simply put a moratorium on coaching changes. They have a "dead" period for recruiting and you could do the same for staff changes. Nobody can be signed to a contract 2 weeks before early signing day until a week after or some other reasonable timeframe. If a schools fires someone during that period so be it; whomever is still on the staff can still act in their official capacity as a coach and can recruit but that's a cost of doing business. And if a school then does fire your HC after you signed, those players can ask to have their LOI invalidated and they can reopen recruitment. Would that likely push up some coaching changes? Sure, but it's not like the shitshow the past couple of weeks with schools like Miami having two HCs with Diaz and Cristobal is any better.
There is no perfect solution here, but the NCAA needs to stop enabling the bad behavior of coaches and schools and put even more pressure/onus on the student athletes to just roll with it.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:36 PM ^
Well their original reason for doing it was for kids and families who were promised spots were no longer there on signing day, and they had to scramble because a coach reneged. We did it to accommodate the students and their families. That’s going to be another process the Football Oversight (Committee) will have to go back and talk to the kids and the families and see if see if they want it to stay.”
December 11th, 2021 at 1:53 PM ^
This makes sense and is something I can get behind it. I had forgotten about that aspect of it, though I did know the day was implemented to benefit the kids somehow. Preserving a promised roster space makes sense. Perhaps an LOI should be allowed to be signed at any time? And they should have an auto-unlock feature if a coach changes jobs (for whatever reason).
December 11th, 2021 at 2:33 PM ^
This works both ways...if they want to continue to be recruited. They can not sign early and wait until February.
December 11th, 2021 at 3:40 PM ^
In theory. In practice, that open scholarship may not be waiting for them in February.
December 11th, 2021 at 2:44 PM ^
Do you really think coaches will stop calling them? Early signing period is good for everyone. You want it done then sign and have it done. You want to still be recruited then don’t sign. Everyone has an option this way
December 11th, 2021 at 4:17 PM ^
Why can't there be a designated of time when a coach can quit or be fired and other coaches hired? A free agency time that lasts for a couple of weeks. Why can't I play or jump ship in the middle of the Season or during a game because the other team offers millions of dollars?
December 11th, 2021 at 2:25 PM ^
It was a problem in 2017 and it's still a problem. Changing signing isn't gonna stop coaches from leaving after kids commit.
December 11th, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
Seems like it is time to admit the mistake and move on.
December 11th, 2021 at 12:58 PM ^
I was just talking about this with my dad yesterday. Early signing period should be eliminated. Allow kids to know who their coach is going to be and this helps schools keep assistants during bowl seasons.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:07 PM ^
Coaches will just leave in March. It's happened in the past and will continue to unless they make a rule like the NFL. Coaches can change teams during a certain period only.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:13 PM ^
I don't remember any football coaches leaving in March. December/early January was always the hiring season.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:38 PM ^
I'm not necessarily saying coaches left then, I'm just stating that changing signing day back to just Feb want eliminate the problem of coaches leaving unless they make a rule about it. Kids don't have to sign now, they can wait, but they like to get it over with.
December 11th, 2021 at 2:00 PM ^
Dude...
Coaches will just leave in March. It's happened in the past
and then
I'm not necessarily saying coaches left then
You're all over the place here. The fact of the matter is that taking a new head coaching job after NSD in February is not normal.
December 11th, 2021 at 2:21 PM ^
It's happened that they left after signing day.
December 11th, 2021 at 5:14 PM ^
Players don't just sign because of the head coach and in the past a position coach/coordinator has left after February's signing day. The OSU running backs coach did after Weber signed and it was believed he only stayed on to make sure Weber signed with OSU.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:03 PM ^
Is there a way to eliminate the early signing period and still allow the early enrollment?
December 11th, 2021 at 1:06 PM ^
Did early enrollment start with the early signing period? I thought you could always enroll early?
December 11th, 2021 at 1:07 PM ^
Early enrollment has gone on for much longer than the early signing period. If you're already enrolled, you don't need to sign anything, you're in the class.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:15 PM ^
Early enrollment is nothing more than enrolling in school for the Spring semester. And that is totally dependent on when you can graduate from HS.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:20 PM ^
That's not what people mean by "early enrollees." Early enrollees are guys that enroll in January, for the winter term, when most of their counterparts are still in high school.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:42 PM ^
Ok, but they still have to be graduated from HS. If they can graduate in time to enroll, they can enroll. Yeah, the NCAA put some limits on the number of early enrollees a program can take - I think it's 7, but could be wrong. I have no idea why there's any limit on this.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:17 PM ^
Just eliminate signing day altogether. Let recruits sign LOIs any time in their senior year.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:39 PM ^
That would just make September 1 the signing day. Players would be signing before their senior seasons. Then if a coach leaves, at the end of the season, well, tough luck kid. You signed on the dotted line.
December 11th, 2021 at 2:23 PM ^
Allow players to be released from LOIs at their request if there is a head coaching change.
Commitments are always going to be essentially non-binding on programs if there's any kind of "signing day" and any official signing day is going to warp the coaching job market, just eliminate it.
December 11th, 2021 at 2:33 PM ^
You can't eliminate signing day. There has to be some first day when you can lock yourself in to a school. That day is always going to have a lot of activity - and many players will feel pressure to decide then, because their spot may not remain open forever.
Allowing kids to get out of their LOI if the coach leaves seems like it should be obvious, but the NCAA won't do it for some reason.
The main advantage of a September signing day is that it would let kids enjoy their senior year without being harassed by recruiters. The disadvantage is that both players and coaches would be pressured to make decisions (whether to sign, whether to offer) on less available information. I feel like the latter outweighs the former. Enjoying your senior year is nice, but making the wrong college decision can affect you a lot longer.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:10 PM ^
To think we waited until December 30 to hire Harbaugh in 2014. It's a good thing the early signing period didn't exist then, or we would have been coachless for like 10 days while recruits were signing. If Hackett didn't have assurances from Harbaugh's camp (did he?) he may have gotten cold feet and tried to hire someone else.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:17 PM ^
It is time for this to end. It is not fair to the players when their coach is fired or leaves before the end of the season.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:25 PM ^
Soooooo, the early signing date was instituted for the benefit of students, NOT coaches . . .
BUT they're changing it because coaches are getting fired early?
December 11th, 2021 at 1:36 PM ^
Because now that we’ve seen this in practice, it may not be so beneficial to the players after all. The early signing period occurs right in the middle of the hiring season, so players may not know who their future coach will be. Even if a school has hired a new head coach, it often takes weeks to fill all 10 assistant coaching positions.
The February signing period OTOH occurs after most coaching changes have happened.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:40 PM ^
People still keep missing the point. Kids can wait.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:46 PM ^
Some kids can afford to wait. Others will see their spot taken by someone else. Waiting until the late signing period is a risk for a lot of players.
There isn't much logic behind having signing periods in December and February in football. In basketball, their two periods make more sense: one is at the beginning of the season (November) and one is after it's over (April). A kid can raise his stock with a strong senior season in hoops. But in football, both periods are after the HS season is over. if you weren't a high enough prospect in December, you're not going to be ranked much higher in February.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:57 PM ^
So they can possibly have to re-open their recruitment if the new coach comes in and rescinds their offer? I mean, the NCAA already makes it more difficult than it needs to be for kids to sign with schools and now we're creating a situation where kids have to go on additional recruitment visits if their school's program changes coaches. And it's not like a lot of these coaching changes could have been predicted - ND, OU, and Oregon had no intention AFAIK of canning their coaches and yet all three had to scramble to find replacements because their coaches left for programs that maybe (slight) improvements over their current positions but not overwhelmingly so.
People keep saying this isn't some burden on the student athletes and effectively making excuses for the coaches and schools and that makes no sense to me.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:35 PM ^
Somewhere on the Andy Staples podcast (I can't remember which episode), he mentioned that the original idea for the early signing period was in August, so players who had made up their minds could play their senior season without having to deal with all the recruiting hassle. This is pretty much how the early signing period works for basketball. However, ADs didn't want the bad press that comes with firing a coach after a significant number of recruits had already signed (which is also an issue for basketball, but no one seems to make that big a deal about it). So they moved the early signing period to December, which pretty much defeats the purpose of having an early signing day while causing an extra mess with the coaching carousel.
I think the early signing period could work if it was moved to August. But having it in December where it is now just causes a mess. Either move it or get rid of it.
December 11th, 2021 at 1:59 PM ^
This is for the SEC as it always is. They don’t like the early period because it levels the playing field. They like to have that one week in February where they can all cheat their asses off and steal recruits from other programs last minute. This signing period still gives u ample time to find replacements for your program.
December 11th, 2021 at 2:42 PM ^
Every problem with NCAA football has only one answer:
The horse is out of the barn
As much as fans want to (particularly here, but then again, this is the only message board I read, and I never read the boards for other teams) rale on the kids for their mistakes, or things they say, or when they sign with another school--funniest damn thing is--the entire system is corrupt and run by big babies and these 18-22 year old "kids" always seem to be the most mature of anyone involved in college sports (including, and especially, the fans).
December 11th, 2021 at 2:49 PM ^
This is why the early signing day, which was inspired by basketball, should be moved to before the season starts (somewhat similar to basketball). Give the kids who want to commit early the chance so they can end the madness. The contact for the transfer portal needs to have certain dates applied to if if it doesn't already. I admit I don't know much about that.
December 11th, 2021 at 4:49 PM ^
The signing days in general are just ceremonial at this point. No kids has to sign a NLI to play at a school. They can sign financial aid agreements with their schools. Kids who enrolled early before the early signing period ever existed didn't "sign" with their school. They just showed up on campus. I think its much a do about nothing.
December 11th, 2021 at 5:36 PM ^
Do it like basketball. Have an early signing period in August or September and another well after bowl season.
The problem isn’t early signing. It is that the early signing isn’t early enough.
December 11th, 2021 at 10:40 PM ^
Do I recall correctly that Jim Harbaugh was an fairly ardent advocate for the early signing period?