When the coach pressures you to sign in Visual Studio .NET

Generation USS Code 128 in Visual Studio .NET When the coach pressures you to sign

Several years ago, the NCAA membership was looking for a way to cut costs within their athletic departments This was a few years before multimillion contracts for coaches became run of the mill So, to cut recruiting travel costs and to the delight of express-delivery companies all over the country the NCAA passed a rule prohibiting schools from delivering the National Letter of Intent (NLI) or an athletic-scholarship agreement to a prospect in person Although reducing costs was the initial rationale, there was another reason for the NCAA s travel prohibition: to reduce a coach s ability to pressure a student-athlete into signing an agreement

This prohibition applies only to in-person delivery off campus The coach can give you an NLI and/or financial-aid statement in person if you re visiting the campus You can even sign it right there, if you want (Many administrators, however, frown upon this practice because the implication that the coach pressured you to do so is tough to defend) Although it has never been publicly addressed, coaches pressuring athletes to sign has been a huge problem Over the years, families have claimed to have been bullied or tricked into various agreements So, while the NCAA ruling appeared to be a logical solution, the problem remains You may be saying to yourself that you would never allow a coach to pressure you into signing with a school before you were ready

The 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams is an example of the kind of intimidation we re talking about in this chapter In one scene, the student-athlete, William Gates, is at his home, and the then head coach of Marquette, Kevin O Neill, is making an inhome recruiting visit, trying to persuade Gates to commit to Marquette O Neill basically tells Gates that he is recruiting six or seven student-athletes for three spots, but if Gates tells the coach that he is coming to Marquette, O Neill will stop recruiting the other players at Gates s position He goes on to say that if Gates doesn t commit and the other players he s recruiting go elsewhere in the meantime, O Neill will have to answer to his athletic director and president if the team struggles This discussion takes place in front of Gates s mother and brother (a former college basketball player himself) O Neill didn t tell Gates anything inaccurate, and the head coach is definitely under pressure himself to win and put fans in the stands But telling a 17-year-old or 18year-old that if he doesn t commit to a particular school, his decision may impact the coach s job is giving a young athlete information that s tough to deal with That pressure is the kind the NCAA tries to prevent Ultimately, Gates did sign with Marquette and lettered for three years, but he never became an NBA star, as he had hoped He did, however, graduate from Marquette with a degree in communications and now works in a ministry in his hometown

Remember: Understanding your rights as a student-athlete is essential You should not be pressured to make your final decisions in the presence of a coach Had William Gates s story taken place today, he would have been allowed to review the scholarship offer alone with his mother and brother Who knows what his ultimate decision might have been

But you might think differently if the coach says, If you don t commit to me by such-and-such date, I m going to have to offer your scholarship to someone else If you re feeling pressured by a coach, and you aren t ready to make a commitment, the best advice we can give you is to be honest and let the coach know you need some more time Even though you run the risk of the coach s withdrawing the offer, you ll at least know you won t be making a rushed decision (Chances are that if this is your situation, you have other offers on the table, which is why the decision may not be an easy one)