There seem to be more and more investigations, violations, and accusations when it comes to recruiting in college sports. Everyone focuses on football, and sometimes basketball. Let's face it, these things are happening in every sport all across the country. Not to say every program is dirty, but every program has some dirt on them.
Whether it is as simple as buying a student-athletes parent's a new washer and dryer for their rental house, which is also being paid for. Or more complex, like a student-athlete being paid for a 40-hour a week job, when really only logging about five. It is going on from Seattle, WA, to Gainesville, Florida. And everywhere in between.
We like to point the finger at some of the more obvious places, because it is the easy thing to do. Oregon practically offers recruits a board of directors position at Nike if they accept a scholarship offer. USC's player parking lot looks like the wharehouse in the movie "Gone in 60 Seconds".
Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari is believed to have at least 3 Brinks money trucks on hand at anytime. In case of emergency, of course. See: Terrence Jones. And Coach Saban at Alabama, who really knows what he has going on. He has to be talking about something in all of those text messages he sends.
That is just to name a few of the suspected "dirty" programs we talk about. That is because they are winners. And, in the Trojans case, they have been caught. Most coaches at big athletic universities are doing
something to get an edge on the other guys. We will start to see more and more of these schools be under investigation, and perhaps in some cases get placed on probation.
Something has me asking myself, should we just allow it?
The recruiting game is great right now. If you are a big fan, and you follow your respective school closely, than you know about these battles. From the Pac-12 to the SEC, coaches steal recruits left and right. A "verbal" commitment means squat to these guys. In fact, they should do away with those all together. If the dotted line is blank, there is still time left on the game clock.
Imagine if these schools were allowed to one up each other without getting in trouble. Cars, cash, clothes, rental properties.
This is going on anyways, so they might as well make it part of the show. It would be an all out bidding war, and the media and fan bases would eat it up.
ESPNU could air a "Deal or No Deal: College Recruiting edition". Instead of having guys place hats on a table when they make their announcement, they could have a "Wheel of Fortune" themed turnstile with all of their available recruiting packages advertised. Will he choose the hummer, and the rental house in Santa Monica to play at SC? Or, will he go with the more simple Chevy truck, the duffel bag filled with fresh cash, and head to Bama?
It would be quite the spectacle. I would watch. I know you would be interested as well! It would be a whole new spin on reality television.
This recruiting thing is already out of hand. With the TV announcements, and the hype the internet and social media produces nowadays, guys leave high school already thinking they are superstars. Might as well up the ante, and keep the spectators entertained.
Rather than trying to bust all of these schools for illegal recruiting, the NCAA can do with this what they like to do with everything else. Make money. After all, that is what it seems to be all about.
