When a player makes a verbal committment early in the recruiting process (Summer/Early Fall), is there any type of document that guarantees that the scholarship amount agreed upon several months earlier will still be there when the early signing date arrives in November. It seems that without any document, a player could really come up on the short end if a coach is at liberty to change the amount at signing time.

Nope, no guarantees. And I've heard of a case where it did change (don't know if it was folklore or true).

Here's the deal though. A program that makes/takes commitments and then goes back on them loses credibility. Parents talk just like coaches and if that is repeated, good players will stay away from that program over time.

A player should keep his verbal commitment too IMO. I know posters on this board who may disagree, but I think your word should be gold and should be the best thing going for you.

justbaseball - you hit it on the head....

a verbal has as much value as your word and the school's; and, I too think your word should mean something- hopefully the school's will too.

As I have heard stated before ... a verbal commitment is as good as the paper it is written on. (Sounds cynical, I know.) And fortunately, even tho we have heard a horror story occasionally of the amuonts differing, we don't know anybody personally that was involved in anything like that. But there can be circumstances ... e.g., coach changes prior to the NLI ... that may affect this. Hopefully all parties involved are good to their word and amounts match up when it is time to sign the NLI.

Though I respect Justbb's opinion, I feel obligated to point out a couple of things.
A. Be carefull who you commit to. Schools are not very honorable. If they were, then why would they ask young men to take themselves off of the market before the official signing date or lose the offer. HMMMM
B. The NCAA doesn't recognize the verbal committment until the National Letter of intent is signed in November. So it is non-binding. Period.
C. If you consider your word gold, then ask them to consider theirs gold and give it to you in writing that your scholarship will be good if a. someone better comes along, b. you get injured, c. if you struggle academically. You will quickly find out how good their word is.

D.This honorable word thing is only a baseball thing. In football and baseketball it is taken for granted that it happens all the time and it ain't official 'til it is signed.

E. If you want to have your personal morals and say that your word is your bond in this situation, that is admired. Just be realistic and realize that is your choice and every situation is different. To apply that standard to someone who has had a coach quit or been lied to or whatever, is unfair.

It is a business people and a contract is conditional upon performance. With the schools and the NLI, it is one way. If you don't like it and want to transfer, 1 year penalty. If they cut you, they don't get a penalty. It is a one way deal.

If your personal ethics say that "your word is gold", then you better be smart and understand that it is stricly "Caveat Emptor". Do your homework and make a good choice. They only care about you as long as you perform. Period.

I know of one kid last year who talked to another school at PG Jupiter, and got his scholly pulled for being seen with another coach in a conversation. Mind you this is before Signing Day. Kid was just being polite. It worked out and he got another scholly to a Major D1. Another kid got injured in March and a Major d-1 pulled his scholly, but not til June! Told him it was too big a scholly for him to sit a year( 90%) I know another who did not have a great Senior year and was dropped in June. The reason given was even though he was academically eligible, he was not in the top 10 % of his class. In Texas that allows them to drop you.

Now back to asking you to commit beofre it is legal to sign. Shouldn't that be an NCAA violation. You cannot commit officially until signing day. I would not give my word unless they give theirs. Oh, and they will pressure you, threaten to pull it, give time limits, tell you there are others willing to say yes, offer it and when you say yes, they tell you that someone else already did and you were slow, etc. So they are allowed to treat it as a business and they want you to treat it as a moral obligation. They ought to be fined by the NCAA for pressuring against the rules.

JMO

Bighit is correct in all of his warnings. From my knowledge, all of these things can and do happen. But I would caution not to assume they will happen and not to look at coaches as all being capable of these actions. Many/most coaches are good men with ethics like yours and mine. Don't play games with them on a commitment and you can fairly safely assume they will not with you. Its not in their best interest.

On one point his warning is very real. We read each year on here and elsewhere that kids are released due to academics. No doubt that it is used as an excuse sometimes, but more often it is because the kid did not perform in the classroom during his senior year. Just because you know where you're going to college in August or September doesn't mean you can goof off for a whole school year.

Lastly, a few pieces of advice. One is, as Bighit suggests, to look them in the eye and ask if they're committing too. But a bigger one IMO, is that if your son is the one to tell the coach he is committing, follow it up with a phone call from you, the parent, to the coach to confirm that a commitment on both sides has been made. As simple as it sounds, its harder for someone to break their word when multiple witnesses are around.

And finally, if a college were to have backed out of my child's commitment, I would still want my son's and my integrity to have remained intact and our word to have still been as good as gold. I suppose my son would lose something in the short term, but certainly not in the long run.

I like your take on this justbaseball.
Another reason NOT to "coast" during your sr year.....colleges should hold you accountable
for maintaining the GPA that you represent to them in your application....a promise of sorts, with regards to your academic performance.

quote:

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Originally posted by Bighit15:
Now back to asking you to commit beofre it is _legal_ to sign. Shouldn't that be an NCAA violation. You cannot commit officially until signing day.
JMO

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Bighit-
You hit the nail on the head. Can anyone explain to me why there is a 3-4 month period where discussions (and verbal committments) can take place but nothing "binding" is allowed? This could all be resolved if you could sign NLI's on day 1.

Still doesn't resolve the loopholes available to schools but would certainly put an end to unnecessary periods of intense pressure on young men.

When the NLI first came into existence, it was designed to give players an opportunity to mull over their decisions before signing - consequently the lag time between first contact and signing (July 1 - mid November). However, the "verbal commitment" has come into play as of late with many coaches attempting to lock-in their players as early as July. It's a catch-22. Once you give a verbal, it is seen as good as gold and if you back out, you do not look good and word gets out. If you do not give a verbal when asked, then the offer may be withdrawn. Or the offer may change once the NLI arrives. I agree with you - I think once an offer is given, one should be able to sign. The counter to that is the player who signs in July and then realizes he made a big mistake. However, if you give a verbal in July and realize you made a mistake and back out, you're in the same boat. Go figure.

College coaches are forced by the NCAA to get innovative with their offers. With a meager 11.7 scholarships they are forced to offer more scholarship money than they actually have. How and Why? First of all, not all players accept the offers. Many will end up going to another school or turning pro. Coaches cannot afford to twiddle their thumbs while these players make up their mind only to find out they have lost them. They have to place time limits and make multiple offers in order to secure the blue chip players. For sake of discussion let’s say a coach has only one full scholarship left to offer. This coach offers player “A” the scholarship and then offers player “B” the same scholarship, then does the same with player “C”. In actuality he has three scholarships offered, but can only deliver one. This happens! One D-1 coach admitted he had 17 scholarships offered but was quick to point out everything would fall into place by the NCAA compliance date. I would guess that particular coach would either have to reduce scholarships or pull back offers. You know, it’s tough to ask a player to honor his word when you know the recruiting coach isn’t. I agree we should all play by the rules but I think we all need to understand the rules too. Nothing is firm until the NLI is signed. The NLI is in place because it’s needed. The NLI is very similar to a business contract because college baseball is a business. Yes, business to the colleges! But to you, me, and our sons, it is pure emotion. We tend to do dumb things when we operate on emotions. I know; I just gave in to emotions. . . . I spent $190.00 this afternoon at Sunglass Hut on a pair of Oakley “Sweeps” with extra lenses.
Fungo

Fungo - That wasn't dumb on the sunglasses. You'll really like them.

Here's a true story to illustrate what you're talking about. Very high profile player in California, 04, had dream school. Had spent many times at their camps and knew coaches well. They offer him scholly, but he waits a couple of weeks. Finally, he goes into baseball office so he can "announce the good news" to them that he is committing to their school. Coaches look grim..."Sorry Johnny (not real name), but we already committed your scholarship money. We don't have anymore."

Now a couple of things could be said. 1) Your point about over-offering is apparently very true, but 2) if you find your dream school early, maybe its best not to wait to commit.

Justbaseball,
You know they weren't for me!
Oakleys won't fit over my bifocals!
Fungo

its a new day and the early commitments are definetely the wave of the future. the ACC has several 05 guys commited and at least one of them is from july/03. Camps and exposure in general should begin in earnest during the summer prior to junior year.