Verbals

[watchtonsofsoftball]

Oh and it smells soooo good

What did AlwaysImprove say? Real money, spends for real.....yep 50k and counting. Its spending alright.

[NORCALGOLD]

MTR, SO you keep saying it’s not an official contract SO What! It's called a verbal nobody is confused but you.
If someone told me they would pay for my kid’s college education and room and board when she was 10 years of age. And all she had to do was keep her grades up and play a sport for them and history of these verbals was over 95% compliance. I would do it in a heartbeat . Hell I would do it in uteral if someone would make that leap.

[jonriv]

MTR, SO you keep saying it’s not an official contract SO What! It's called a verbal nobody is confused but you.
If someone told me they would pay for my kid’s college education and room and board when she was 10 years of age. And all she had to do was keep her grades up and play a sport for them and history of these verbals was over 95% compliance. I would do it in a heartbeat . Hell I would do it in uteral if someone would make that leap.

All makes perfect sense as long as that percentage stays that high. Given the current situation, it is hard to argue with your logic NORCAL.

I guess the only current negative is players/parents feeling "pressured" (not by coaches) to accept a verbal from a school that might not be the best fit because they see their peers committing and fear that the music will stop and they will have no chair

[MTR]

MTR, SO you keep saying it’s not an official contract SO What! It's called a verbal nobody is confused but you.

I'm not confused, but apparently you have a problem reading, so I'll try to talk down to a 3rd grade level and maybe you can keep up.

If someone told me they would pay for my kid’s college education and room and board when she was 10 years of age. And all she had to do was keep her grades up and play a sport for them and history of these verbals was over 95% compliance. I would do it in a heartbeat . Hell I would do it in uteral if someone would make that leap.

Listen up, SFB. I'm glad you are so trusting, but that has never been the point. Should I type slower, or can you keep up now?

To start, how many of these "verbals" do you think are for full rides? Are you not going to look at other possibilities or just sit back and assume the verbal will be honored eight years later? Bet you think the economy is in good shape. Yep, gullible people really helped out there, didn't they?

My point is there needs to be someone to counter the constant, "look at what my DD got" gaiety with the fact that they are NOT official and that is if a verbal doesn't work out, you have no complaint.

And if you think that everyone knows that, you are wrong. I had three face-to-face meetings with two sports reporters and an editor when that real intelligent coach, Lane Kiffin gave that 7th grader a verbal. They reported on-line and in multiple newspapers that it was a scholarship offer as did SI.com and other on-line sports sites and the kid's personal coach was running around telling anyone who would listen it was a scholarship offer. And actually, this was the second time Kiffin did this.

And I can guarantee this guy could have used some facts instead of supposition, alleged experience and opinions.

[DonnieS]

Ok MTR, here is my suggestion. When you go through the recruiting circus - and you are hearing that the D1's are filled up with this years Juniors, and they are now looking at Sophomores, dont let your kid accept anything until they can give you something in writing. That will be in November of your kid's senior year. Am I typing slow enough for you to understand?

When did your kid verbal, MTR? At what level did your kid play, MTR?

[watchtonsofsoftball]

Exactly Donnie. When my kid was a sophomore the coach showed me the recruiting board w all the kids who were verballed or signed the previous 2 years. With only 3 spots in her class it wasn't hard to figure out that the programs she was interested in would have no spots available when she was a senior. She took the verbal and did what hundred of kids do every year. And yes when the music stopped we didnt want to be w out a chair at the program she wanted to be at. There's always a chair though so many opportunities out there

[AlwaysImprove]

Listen up, SFB. I'm glad you are so trusting, but that has never been the point. Should I type slower, or can you keep up now?

:
They reported on-line and in multiple newspapers that it was a scholarship offer as did SI.com and other on-line sports sites and the kid's personal coach was running around telling anyone who would listen it was a scholarship offer.

What is SFB? Are you loosing it?

It was a scholarship offer, a verbal one!

[CULater]

OK - sorry for being late to the party..

From a percentage standpoint, there is not nearly as many decommitments in football as you would believe. MOST schools sign 25 kids per year (25 x 120 D1 FBS schools = 3000 full ride scholarships) and even with that high number of full ride scholarships, the number of decommitments is maybe 50 in a year.

My DD verballed as a 16 yr old, during the summer between her sophomore and junior year, and signed her NLI in November.

There was never a doubt, that if my daughter held up her end of the deal, getting the grades, the test scores and kept herself out of trouble, that her college coach would do anything but honor the deal he made with her that day. That thought never crossed my mind once. Maybe we were naive, but it worked out for us and a very very vast majority of players.

On a side note, when talking about the UCLA scenario and scholarship money available.....I am pretty sure I remember that UCLA did not have any money available for one of the best hitters in college softball history about 6 or so years ago and she went on to a fabulous career at ASU, so even the studs are told "we are out of money".

[anonlooker]

OK - sorry for being late to the party..

From a percentage standpoint, there is not nearly as many decommitments in football as you would believe. MOST schools sign 25 kids per year (25 x 120 D1 FBS schools = 3000 full ride scholarships) and even with that high number of full ride scholarships, the number of decommitments is maybe 50 in a year.

On a side note, when talking about the UCLA scenario and scholarship money available.....I am pretty sure I remember that UCLA did not have any money available for one of the best hitters in college softball history about 6 or so years ago and she went on to a fabulous career at ASU, so even the studs are told "we are out of money".

They're not committing as Freshman and Sophomores. The NLI is essentially their commitment. A lot of kids hold off until the last minute, and quite a few change their minds down the home stretch. Every year the football recruiting boards are a hive activity as signing day nears.

As for KC, she wasn't one of the best hitters in college softball history while in high school. It would be interesting to know if UCLA was her #1 choice from the beginning, and if they were aware of that when she was a HS frosh or soph.

[jonriv]

Some More Questions

Does anyone have any info of coaches changing the terms of the verbal agreement at NLI time?(ie a half instead of full)


Also- as the ages that these verbals occurs decreases, is there not a concern that the rate of schools not honoring them go up? (coach changes etc...)

Also- if players sign at an early age-lets say frosh year-is there a real risk parents say "wow-dd's college is paid for!!!"-go out and blow little Suzie's college fund. Then let's say Suzie gets hurt frosh year and college and they pull the scholarship??


Norcal- what suggestions would you make to make the process more favorable to the players/parents? or at least less one-sided. Should the NCAA at least recognize they exist??? Or is the best answer getting the most info out there as possible- let parents know of some of MTRs legitimate concerns(minus the theatrics) and not address a problem until it actually is a problem?