February 2, 2025 - Detroit, MI - One Detroit High School Is Chasing Football Glory, But At A High Ethical Price. See In Hiring Jermain Crowell, River Rouge Is Chasing Wins, But Actually Landing A Clown, reported by Mick McCabe, Detroit Free Press.
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July 14, 2017 - Southern Utah - Click here for The Spectrum's special report on Is Specializing In Sports Worth It?, reported by Justin Giles.
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April 4, 2017 - Paterson, NJ - New Jersey High School Embroiled In International Recruiting Scandal. See Broken Promises and Disposable Players: The Remarkable Story Behind A High School Sports Scandal, reported by Matthew Stanmyre and Steve Politi, NJ.com. This story is just the tip of the iceberg. The story of Paterson's Eastside High School's recruiting went on to include allegations of transcript doctoring, and human trafficking. Worse, there's a possibility of a multi-state international recruiting ring. Click here for links to all the articles in the Eastside High School Basketball Scandal.
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June 27, 2016 - This is not your father's high school sports. See Why Top College Basketball Prospects Are Forgoing Traditional High Schools To Join Superteams by Pete Thamel, Sports Illustrated.
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Flossmoor, IL - April 2014 - A Different Perspective On Recruiting In High School Sports. We’ve seen the pattern too many times: a high school hires a coach, the coach brings in his AAU or club players, the State High School Association tries to enforce its recruiting rules, and the coach’s supporters back the coach and badmouth the local association. Well, the Anthony Smith case in Illinois brings a different perspective and makes us remember that there are a whole lot of students who play by the rules, and those students are harmed by the club coaching/recruiting transfer game. Illinois’s Homewood-Flossmoor High School hired Anthony Smith, a coach from Bolingbrook High. Six elite basketball players who played on Anthony’s club team then moved into Homewood-Flossmoor’s district, quickly displacing the returning Homewood-Flossmoor players. One of the returning players sued Homewood-Flossmoor for not following state athletic rules, and suddenly everybody realized that there is another side to the story of coaches who do the wink-wink/nod-nod game with their former players and their club players when they change schools. Homewood-Flossmoor became most cooperative with the Illinois High School Association’s investigation, and Anthony Smith may not have a job next year. See Embattled Homewood-Flossmoor Basketball Coach May Not Return by Andy Grimm, Chicago Tribune, April 16, 2014; and IHSA Lifts Suspension of Girls’ Basketball Coach by Andy Grimm, Chicago Tribune, April 23, 2014.
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Florida - July 31, 2012 - Recruiting Violations At Central Florida Carry Big NCAA Penalties. The NCAA hit the University of Central Florida hard for recruiting violations – as they should have. UCF was involved with what the NCAA calls “outside third-parties” (runners) who use their influence to steer athletes to a school, often through illegal tactics. In the UCF case one of these representatives allegedly provided over $16,000 in benefits. The benefits included illegal travel, computers, and cash. Scary thought: These athletes came cheap. It doesn’t take that much to get a high school kid. Scarier thought. We’re talking Central Florida. What will we see when a large powerhouse gets caught? See NCAA Release: UCF Cited For Recruiting Violations, Lack Of Institutional Control, Chicago Tribune publishing an NCAA Press Release, July 31, 2012.
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Washington, D.C. – June 26, 2012 – In Washington, D.C. and its suburbs, middle schoolers are recruited like college prospects. Is this good or bad, and will it be happening in your kid’s region? For details, see Middle School Is Basketball’s Fiercest Recruiting Battleground by Adam Himmelsbach and Pete Thamel, New York Times, June 26, 2012, page A-1.
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Oakland, CA - June, 2012 - Nike's Elite Youth Basketball League - The Modern National Summer League For Up and Coming Stars. This is the modern way of developing future talent. Rather than having the elite players wasting their time playing against lesser talent, Nike flies them around the country to play each other. See Swoosh Dreams by Albert Samaha, SF Weekly, June 20-26, 2012, page 9.
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Is The New Face of College Recruiting A High School Kid? High School senior Alex Kline has 21,000 twitter followers, and just formed a partnershipwith rivals.com and yahoo sports for his therecruitscoop.com website. See A High School Senior Is Also A Keen Student of College Recruiting by Zach Berman, New York Times, May 5, 2012.
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Los Angeles - April 10, 2012 - The Unethical Side of Recruiting. Josh Hearlihy, a Harvard – Westlake basketball player, made an early commitment to the University of Utah. Then, he had an illness that limited him in his senior season of high school and Utah asked him for a release of his scholarship obligation. Now, Hearlihy can either refuse Utah’s request and go to a school that doesn’t want him or release Utah from its scholarship obligation in mid-April when it’s almost impossible to get another scholarship offer. See Boys’ Basketball: Utah Asks Josh Hearlihy For Scholarship Release, Varsity Times Insider – The L A Times Preps Blog, April 10, 2012.
Perry County, TN - September 27, 2011 - Whoopsie! Mom Lies About Transfer Eligibility But Inadvertently Let’s The Truth Out On Facebook. See Mother's Facebook Post Costs Perry County Three Football Victories by Chip Cirillo, The (Nashville) Tennessean, September 27, 2011.
New York, NY - August 9, 2011 - College recruiting scandals, the cost of athletic departments, and the general trend of student-athletes being more athletes than students, leads the New York Times's Jonathan Mahler to declare that it's Time To Add Education Back Into The Student-Athlete Equation, New York Times, August 9, 2011.
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Bryan, TX - May 7, 2011 - Does everybody deserve a second shot? A Texas High School hired former Baylor Coach Dave Bliss despite Bliss being involved in a scandal where he started rumors that a murdered player was a drug dealer in order to hide his violations of NCAA rules. See Disgraced Ex-Baylor Coach Bliss Gets A Shot At Redemption by Jeff Miller, USA Today, June 22, 2010. Bliss finished his first season of high school coaching, leading his team to the Texas Christian Athletic League's Class 2A title. However, Bliss's success was overshadowed by a recruiting scandal that led to him being suspended for a year by the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPP). Following this suspension, Bliss's school moved to the Texas Christian Athletic League and won the title. After the problems Bliss created at Baylor, you would think he'd do everything in his power to stay out of trouble, and he clearly hasn't. While Bliss and his school challenge the TAPP penalties, Bliss concedes that he forged his school's headmaster's name on a transfer form, but justifies the act by stating, "There was no intent to deceive" according to USA Today. It seems that Bliss simply cannot coach basketball without creating a scandal. See Bliss Finds More Controversy In High School Hoops by Danny Robbins, Associated Press, published in USA Today, May 7, 2011.
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April, 2011 - Frontline's Football High is an excellent illustration of the costs of big time high school football in money, time, and commitment. Click here to see what the elite level is all about, and to get a feel for the benefits and the costs.
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Philadelphia, MI - January 26, 2011 - Social Media Abuse Mar Recruiting. C.J. Johnson, a highly touted football recruit, was driven off Facebook by rumors about his mom. See Inside Recruiting Column: Please, Facebook: Help Shameless Recruitniks Help Themselves by Andy Staples, Sports Illustrated.com, January 26, 2011.
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State Transfer and Eligibility Policies
Increased lawsuits and legislative scrutiny lead states to change transfer rules. Some states have gotten tougher, and some have become far more lenient. Here are some of the recent trends.
Florida - School Choice Rules Leads To Increase in Transfers. You can't recruit in Florida, but as long as there's no recruiting students are eligible when they transfer. See Fighting Illegal Athletic Transfers No Easy Feat For Florida School Districts by Joey Knight and Izzy Gould, St. Petersburg Times, July 24, 2009. The Florida rules lead to a general perception that illegal recruiting is going on, and nobody can do anything about it. See New Generation, New Attitudes Toward Transferringby Joey Knight, St. Petersburg Times, July 25, 2009; and High-Profile Football Transfers Raise Eyebrows, Questions by Eduardo A. Encina, St. Petersburg Times, July 23, 2009.
Indiana -
In Indiana High Sch. Athletic Ass’n, Inc. v. Watson, 71S03-1002-CV-119 (Ind. 2010), the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that an arbitrary and capricious standard of review should be used when a court reviews state high school association’s eligibility rulings. In other words, a court should not substitute its judgment for the state association. Doing so would be what’s called a de novo review. Under the arbitrary and capricious standard of review, the court’s role is simply to make sure that the state association was procedurally fair in issuing its ruling, and that “any substantial evidence” supports the association’s decision even though the association may have reached a different decision than the court would if the court were substituting its own judgment for the association.
Under the arbitrary and capricious standard of review, the Indiana Supreme Court upheld a tough decision by the IHSAA. The IHSAA had a case involving a student whose family had an economic hardship. At the same time, that student transferred schools and her families moved for reasons that the IHSAA determined were linked to an athletic motivation as opposed to being caused by the economic hardship. The Supreme Court found that the IHSAA’s decision was supported by substantial evidence, and upheld the IHSAA in a decision that makes clear how eligibility cases should be reviewed. Granted, this decision is only binding in Indiana, but this is the kind of case that should be extremely persuasive in other jurisdictions – particularly jurisdictions that have not set a clear standard of review for cases involving appeals of eligibility decisions.
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Legislature brings home school students one step closer to gaining eligibility in Indiana. See Committee Passes Bill on H.S. Sports, WANE, Indianapolis, February 14, 2011. The home school lobby has been enormously successful in generating sympathy for its constitutents. Indiana would become the 22nd state to allow home school students to play for high school sports teams. Tennessee is poised to become the 23rd. The home school lobby has been able to convince people that home school students deserve to be a part of a school community for athletics so they can express the totality of their skills, talents, and individual expressions. This sympathetic view puts public schools in a strange position under which students who, by refusing to attend a school, essentially declare that a public school is not good enough for them, and reject being part of a public school's community turn around and contend that even though the school isn't good enough for them, they want to join the community for the limited purpose of being on a sports team. While one can sympathize with the home school student who can't play, one has to simultaneously sympathize with schools that have to accommodate someone who doesn't want to be part of the school and its community, and one has to feel some sympathy with those students who lose playing time, a starting spot on a team, or even get cut when the home school student displaces them on a team. I, for one, would not be very happy about going to a school and not being able to play because someone who doesn't even go to the school beat me out. I also think that most people believe that when they're watching a school team, the players go to the school. This may be a problem that never has a good solution.
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New Jersey: 2010 proposal would reduce most transfer ineligibility to 30 days. See NJSIAA Executive Committee Set To Vote On Proposal That Would Reduce Transfer Ineligibility Significantly by Matthew Stanmyre, Newark Star-Ledger, March 9, 2010. The NJSIAA cited the cost of dealing with appeal hearings and litigation. Cost-cutting may be a key issue for the NJSIAA as the New Jersey legislature has ordered them to cut ticket prices in a not too subtle attempt to streamline the organization. See Bill Calling For Investigation of NJSIAA Clears Assembly By Wide Margin, Newark Star-Ledger, March 15, 2010. Note: The 30 day rule was the original New Jersey rule. The rule was changed in 2008 due to complaints about the large number of public school students who transferred to private schools. New Jersey found what many states that attempt to enforce transfer rules find: it's expensive - parents don't like to hear the word "no." New Jersey also got an unintended consequence. The public schools changed their tune when the economy went south because the inflow of transfers was from private to public. Once the public schools started getting transfers rather than losing them they wanted an easier rule. The New Jersey Executive Committee passed the rule, and life will return to normal in New Jersey. See NSJIAA Approves Transfer Rule Change by Mike Moretti, New Jersey Star-Ledger, March 10, 2010.
Utah: 2011 - UHSAA opposes pending state bill that would give students one free transfer. See Utah High School Activities Association To Fight Transfer Eligibility Legislation by Kyle Goon, Salt Lake Tribune, February 25, 2011.
Virginia: March 2012 - Home School "Tebow" Bill Fails In Virginia. See Virginia Senate Panel Kills 'Tebow Bill' by David Sherfinski, The Washington Times, March 1, 2012.
For 'No F' Policies, see the Special Reports Page
GENERAL ACADEMIC & RECRUITING ISSUES
July 4, 2014 - See When the State High School Athletic Association Spurns Academics, an excellent article by Missouri law professor Doug Abrams, regarding pending Massachusetts legislation that would bar the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) from scheduling games on mornings when the SAT is being administered.
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Flossmoor, IL - April 2014 - A Different Perspective On Recruiting In High School Sports. We’ve seen the pattern too many times: a high school hires a coach, the coach brings in his AAU or club players, the State High School Association tries to enforce its recruiting rules, and the coach’s supporters back the coach and badmouth the local association. Well, the Anthony Smith case in Illinois brings a different perspective and makes us remember that there are a whole lot of students who play by the rules, and those students are harmed by the club coaching/recruiting transfer game. Illinois’s Homewood-Flossmoor High School hired Anthony Smith, a coach from Bolingbrook High. Six elite basketball players who played on Anthony’s club team then moved into Homewood-Flossmoor’s district, quickly displacing the returning Homewood-Flossmoor players. One of the returning players sued Homewood-Flossmoor for not following state athletic rules, and suddenly everybody realized that there is another side to the story of coaches who do the wink-wink/nod-nod game with their former players and their club players when they change schools. Homewood-Flossmoor became most cooperative with the Illinois High School Association’s investigation, and Anthony Smith may not have a job next year. See Embattled Homewood-Flossmoor Basketball Coach May Not Return by Andy Grimm, Chicago Tribune, April 16, 2014; and IHSA Lifts Suspension of Girls’ Basketball Coach by Andy Grimm, Chicago Tribune, April 23, 2014.
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Florida - July 31, 2012 - Recruiting Violations At Central Florida Carry Big NCAA Penalties. The NCAA hit the University of Central Florida hard for recruiting violations – as they should have. UCF was involved with what the NCAA calls “outside third-parties” (runners) who use their influence to steer athletes to a school, often through illegal tactics. In the UCF case one of these representatives allegedly provided over $16,000 in benefits. The benefits included illegal travel, computers, and cash. Scary thought: These athletes came cheap. It doesn’t take that much to get a high school kid. Scarier thought. We’re talking Central Florida. What will we see when a large powerhouse gets caught? See NCAA Release: UCF Cited For Recruiting Violations, Lack Of Institutional Control, Chicago Tribune publishing an NCAA Press Release, July 31, 2012.
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Washington, D.C. – June 26, 2012 – In Washington, D.C. and its suburbs, middle schoolers are recruited like college prospects. Is this good or bad, and will it be happening in your kid’s region? For details, see Middle School Is Basketball’s Fiercest Recruiting Battleground by Adam Himmelsbach and Pete Thamel, New York Times, June 26, 2012, page A-1.
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Oakland, CA - June, 2012 - Nike's Elite Youth Basketball League - The Modern National Summer League For Up and Coming Stars. This is the modern way of developing future talent. Rather than having the elite players wasting their time playing against lesser talent, Nike flies them around the country to play each other. SeeSwoosh Dreams by Albert Samaha, SF Weekly, June 20-26, 2012, page 9.
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Is The New Face of College Recruiting A High School Kid? High School senior Alex Kline has 21,000 twitter followers, and just formed a partnershipwith rivals.com and yahoo sports for his therecruitscoop.com website. See A High School Senior Is Also A Keen Student of College Recruiting by Zach Berman, New York Times, May 5, 2012.
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THE NEW SCIENCE OF TEAMS! Guess who said this! "Stable teams ... who have learned over time to work well together can be powerful tools. But ... there often isn't enough time to build that kind of team. Instead, organizations must bring together not only their own ... employees ... but also external specialists ... only to disband them when they've achieved their goal..." You probably think it was a salary cap specialist, but it's not. It's Harvard Business School Professor Amy C. Edmondson, a leader in the emerging field of "team studies." See Teamwork On The Fly: How To Master The New Art of Teaming, Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business Review, April, 2012 (reprinted on athenahealth.com). More and more, academics are realizing that the lessons of sports apply to life. In the past, those studies focused on comparisions of athletes' grades versus the general student populace (in high school, the athletes always win these comparisons) or studies on how ethical athletes are compared to their peers. Now, the studies in some fields are incredibly complex, and are found in publications that are very far afield from sports and sports journals and websites. Indeed, the science of team studies is probably so far afield that most educators probably aren't remotely familiar with it.
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Los Angeles - April 10, 2012 - The Unethical Side of Recruiting. Josh Hearlihy, a Harvard – Westlake basketball player, made an early commitment to the University of Utah. Then, he had an illness that limited him in his senior season of high school and Utah asked him for a release of his scholarship obligation. Now, Hearlihy can either refuse Utah’s request and go to a school that doesn’t want him or release Utah from its scholarship obligation in mid-April when it’s almost impossible to get another scholarship offer. See Boys’ Basketball: Utah Asks Josh Hearlihy For Scholarship Release, Varsity Times Insider – The L A Times Preps Blog, April 10, 2012.
Perry County, TN - September 27, 2011 - Whoopsie! Mom Lies About Transfer Eligibility But Inadvertently Let’s The Truth Out On Facebook. See Mother's Facebook Post Costs Perry County Three Football Victories by Chip Cirillo, The (Nashville) Tennessean, September 27, 2011.
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Indianapolis, IN - August 11, 2011 - NCAA Increases Academic Progress Rate: Another Reason For Student-Athletes To Get Serious About Being Good Students. The NCAA continues to react to criticism that it's making money off of athletics, but not ensuring that the athletes get an education. More cynical people would say that the NCAA has people who don't belong in school, and has to make sure that the schools educate them once they're in school. In either case, the NCAA measures schools against the Academic Progress Rate (APR), an index that factors in what percentage of student-athletes stay eligible and are retained (or remain in school). The NCAA can penalize schools that don't have a satisfactory APR, meaning that at the margin, a school is better off with an athlete who is likely to perform well in the classroom. See D1 Board Approves Increased Academic Performance Concept by Michelle Brutlag Hosick, NCAA.org, August 11, 2011.
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Bear, DE - August 18, 2011 - Delaware High School Tries To Raise Recruiting Profile By Bypassing State Play And Drawing National Schedule. See Delaware High School Wants National Sports Profile by Jeff Zillgitt, USA Today, August 18, 2011.
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New York, NY - August 9, 2011 - College recruiting scandals, the cost of athletic departments, and the general trend of student-athletes being more athletes than students, leads the New York Times's Jonathan Mahler to declare that it's Time To Add Education Back Into The Student-Athlete Equation, New York Times, August 9, 2011.
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Bryan, TX - May 7, 2011 - Does everybody deserve a second shot? A Texas High School hired former Baylor Coach Dave Bliss despite Bliss being involved in a scandal where he started rumors that a murdered player was a drug dealer in order to hide his violations of NCAA rules. See Disgraced Ex-Baylor Coach Bliss Gets A Shot At Redemption by Jeff Miller, USA Today, June 22, 2010. Bliss finished his first season of high school coaching, leading his team to the Texas Christian Athletic League's Class 2A title. However, Bliss's success was overshadowed by a recruiting scandal that led to him being suspended for a year by the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPP). Following this suspension, Bliss's school moved to the Texas Christian Athletic League and won the title. After the problems Bliss created at Baylor, you would think he'd do everything in his power to stay out of trouble, and he clearly hasn't. While Bliss and his school challenge the TAPP penalties, Bliss concedes that he forged his school's headmaster's name on a transfer form, but justifies the act by stating, "There was no intent to deceive" according to USA Today. It seems that Bliss simply cannot coach basketball without creating a scandal. See Bliss Finds More Controversy In High School Hoops by Danny Robbins, Associated Press, published in USA Today, May 7, 2011.
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Seattle, WA - May 6, 2011 - The Seattle Times recently reported that Jim Valiere, the athletic director at Seattle's Garfield High School, was fired after he enrolled Tony Wroten, an elite basketball player, in a non-existent Spanish course in order to help Wroten gain credits required by the University of Washington. Valiere would undoubtedly say that he was just trying to help a kid have a better life - but of course, this type of assist isn't given to non-athletes, it promotes academic fraud, and it undermines academic values - not to mention general ethics. Valiere had to go, and if Wroten wasn't one of the top basketball players in the country he'd probably be denied admission to Washington on ethics grounds. See Team Tony Wroten's Misguided Hoop Dreams, Seattle Times Editorial, May 6, 2011. By the way, there are no kudos to the media here. Do you think The Times deserves some kudos for breaking a story that shows academic fraud in athletics? Think again. Some websites indicate that the story broke because of a Wroten tweet, joking about the cushy Spanish class set-up. In other words, Wroten was so arrogant that he bragged about something that a wise man would have covered up. If the tweeting reports are true, Wroten may need to learn two lessons. The first lesson is, of course, a lesson in ethics. The second lesson would be a lesson in discretion.
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April, 2011 - Frontline's Football High is an excellent illustration of the costs of big time high school football in money, time, and commitment. Click here to see what the elite level is all about, and to get a feel for the benefits and the costs.
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Philadelphia, MI - January 26, 2011 - Social Media Abuse Mar Recruiting. C.J. Johnson, a highly touted football recruit, was driven off Facebook by rumors about his mom. See Inside Recruiting Column: Please, Facebook: Help Shameless Recruitniks Help Themselves by Andy Staples, Sports Illustrated.com, January 26, 2011.
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NCAA Clearinghouse - Behind The Scenes. See ESPN The Magazine's Fortress of Aptitude by Seth Wickersham, February 7, 2011 page 104.. If you ever wondered about the inner workings, the politics, the people, and how any organization can review so many transcripts to determine which freshman can play and which can't, see this story (note - you may have to register with ESPN).
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Daphne, AL - January 7, 2011 - The US Sports Academy brought together an international panel to discuss youth sports issues. Syndicated sports columnist Evan Weiner, who won the Academy's Ronald Reagan Media Award, may have had the story of the conference. According to Weiner, “I had a 7-year-old kid who was sneezing, coughing, and had a 102 temperature, and his father wanted him to play. I said ‘Why do you want him playing?’ and he said, ‘I want him to get a college scholarship.’” Scary, isn't it? Parents, would you put your kid's life at risk to play in a youth league? Are you crazy enough to really think that one day of playing at the age of 7 will get you a college scholarship? To read about the Summit, see Sport Summit Brings Insight From Academy Honorees, USSA Press Release. Click here to view the Summit (caution, you have to go to the 11 minute mark of the video before the Summit begins).
Dallas, TX - December 18, 2010 - Dallas HS Football Coach Tries To "Help" Students Cheat On Standardized Test - Ends Up Hurting Them Instead, and Then Getting Caught. A Dallas football coach told his football players to leave their standardized test answer sheets blank so he could help them. Unfortunately, the coach was sloppy and he wasn't much of a scholar. The students were harmed; indeed, a National Honor Society student left his sheet blank and ended up with a zero. Note to coach: A National Honor Society student projects to do extremely well on standardized tests, and doesn't need help. To read about the rather dubious alleged exploits of Brandon High School Football Coach Braylon Linnear, see Pinkston HigMandarin Christian Athletic Program Hit By Hefty Fine From FHSAAh School Assistant Football Coach Accused of Helping Students Cheat by Matthew Haag, Dallas Morning News, December 18, 2010.
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Jacksonville, FL - December 13, 2010 - In Florida, Recruiting and Eligibility Violations Have a High Price. See Mandarin Christian Athletic Program Hit By Hefty Fine From FHSAA by Hays Carlyon, Florida Times-Union, December 13, 2010. Mandarin Christian was fined $142,500 by the FHSAA for recruiting, playing students who weren't enrolled at the school, and a host of other violations. They can either pay the fine or leave the FHSAA.
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Los Angeles, CA - October 29, 2010 - After agents and recruiting scandals played a major role in his termination from USC, Mike Garrett produces a series of ideas for reining in agents in a New York Times Op Ed. See How To Keep Agents Off The Field by Mike Garret, New York Times Op-Ed, October 29, 2010.
Indianapolis, IN - October 27, 2010 - NCAA Considering Proposal To Ban July Recruiting Period For Men's Basketball. The NCAA wants to stop the negative "influence of third-parties," which is causing us "to pay a price culturally" according to Greg Sankey, SEC Associate Commissioner. Makes you wonder if the NCAA is taking a subtle dig at the AAU, huh? See Commissioners Ask Board To Nix Summer Recruiting by Michelle Brutlag Hosick, NCAA News, October 27, 2010.
San Diego, CA - September 29, 2010 - Seamy Side of Youth Sports, International Recruiting, and Sports Marketing Combine Where Chinese Basketball Player Allegedly Receives $30,000 Under The Table While Playing At a San Diego High School. See $30,000 For Playing San Diego High School Basketball? San Diego Channel 6, September 29, 2010.
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Champaign, IL, July 7, 2010 - Sign ‘Em Young or Others Will Says College Coach. See Illinois’ Weber: Early Offers May Limit ‘Third-Party’ Intervention by Marlen Garcia, USA Today, July 7, 2010.
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San Diego, CA - April 27, 2010 - Parents, coaches and schools commit a lot of abuses when recruiting and eligibility rules are lax. The California Interscholastic Federation's San Diego Section has found that when recruiting and eligibility rules are tight those very same parents, coaches, and schools push back. In this case, a group of schools alleged that transfer penalties were applied more strictly against their schools. An investigation did not back them up. The parents are not pleased so they'll seek another investigation. If they don't like that one, they'll undoubtedly try again until they get the result that they want. See High School Sports Fightreported by Paul Kreuger, NBC News San Diego.
. See High School Sports Fight reported by Paul Kreuger, NBC News San Diego, April 27, 2010.
Chicago, IL - March 21, 2010 - Daniel Poneman: This 18 Year Old Kid Is The New Face in The Basketball Recruiting World. See Driven Young Man With a Basketball Mission by Daniel Libit, New York Times, March 21, 2010 page A25B.
Los Angeles, CA - September 15, 2009 - If you ever wondered why high schools have transfer rules, this article gives you a good idea of what can happen when people perceive a transfer rule as being loose. See Transfer of Players Is Ruining Basketball by Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, September 15, 2009. If you're wondering just how many transfers there are, the Southern Section of the California Interscholastic Federation reported completing work on 1,259 transfers between August 1 and September 15th. That's not the whole state; that's just one part of Southern California.
June 12, 2009 - For commentary about challenges facing young female athletes, and advice on how to thrive in a male dominated sports culture, see Struggling to Play, New York Times Global Edition Interactive Feature..
New York, NY - June 1, 2009 - Pushy Dad, Bad Attitude, and Alleged Sex Crime Lowers Stock Of Lance Stephenson, An Elite Basketball Recruit. See Proving His Worth: Once a Sure-Fire NCAA Prospect, Stephenson Is now Struggling To Take Next Step In His Basketball Career by Steve Yanda, Washington Post, June 1, 2009.
Middletown, OH - May 12, 2009 - Criminal Behavior Can Have A Negative Impact On Recruiting. The latest athlete to find this out is Dwayne "Deejay" Hunter, a top Ohio football star whose recruiting stock is going down because of his conduct. See High School Star Faces Charges: After-Prom Attack on Girl Is Latest Allegation by Sheila McLaughlin, Cincinnati Enquirer, May 12, 2009.
San Diego, CA - April 23, 2009 - High School Junior Chooses Pro Basketball In Europe by Marlen Garcia, USA Today, April 23, 2009.
Seattle, WA - March 22, 2009 - He's in Sixth Grade, Practices Basketball Four Hours a Day, Has his own attorney, free dental care, and Oh, Yeah he's got his own clothing line. Recruiting kids has led to the pseudo-professional child-athlete. See Allonzo Trier is In The Game by Michael Sokolove, New York Times Magazine, March 22, 2009.
Fresno, CA - March 13, 2009 - Central High Athletes Show Strength As Reading Mentors by Anne Dudley Ellis, Fresno Bee, March 13, 2009.
Arlington, VA - March 10, 2009 - Middle School College Basketball Prospects. Have We Finally Gone Too Far? See First Impressions Can Create Unrealistic Expectations For Recruits by Adam Himmelsbach, New York Times, March 10, 2009.
Durham, N.C. - March 6, 2009. Dumb Legislation Seeks To Create Smart Schools. North Carolina Senator Charlie Albertson just proposed legislation to terminate the athletic program at low performing schools. No. I did not misspeak. Sen. Albertson isn't proposing that bad students sit out. He'll cut the programs at "bad schools" even though the students who play on the sports teams may be "good" students. Dumb Legislation. I can't even say it's well-intended. It will, though, have the unintended effect of helping solve some of the budget problems that a lot of schools are having. Way to go Sen. Albertson, you're a fiscal genius! See Bill Would Send Sports at Low Performing Schools Into Sudden Death, WRAL, March 4, 2009; Click here for N.C. Sen. Bill 377.
Charlotte, N.C. - February 21, 2009 - In order to save money, Charlotte began playing frosh/soph and varsity doubleheaders instead of having the frosh/soph at one site and the varsity at another. Now schools pay for one bus instead of two. A lot of states do this. They're used to it and they don't complain. However, Charlotte just started and the first thing they noticed is that doubleheaders end late. What's the price of big-time high school sports? Well, as some people noted, It's Tough to Stay Awake In Class by Langston Wertz, Jr., Charlotte Observer, Feb. 21, 2009.
Washington, D.C. - February 9, 2009 - For a taste of recruiting reality, see DC: Inside the Recruiting World by Todd Bradley, MaxPreps.com.
Jan. 16, 2009 - NCAA Deems 7th Graders As Prospects!, ESPN.com; Got Game In 7th Grade? NCAA Says You're A Prospect by Joseph White, Associated Press Wire in Washington Post, January 15, 2009.
Jan. 14, 2009 - Recruiting Scandal Hits San Diego. Three of Nation's Top Players Transfer Into San Diego High. One Rents $2,400 a month condo While His Mother Hunts For A Job! See Basketball Transfers Accused of Violations by Brent Schrotenboer, San Diego Union-Tribune, January 14, 2009; District Investigates SD High School Hoops Transfers by Brent Schrotenboer, San Diego Union-Tribune, January 15, 2009; and Hearings Do Not Resolve Cavers Basketball Issue by Brent Schrotenboer, San Diego Union-Tribune, January 16, 2009. Think the Transfers Are Bad, The Coach May Be Worse. When Criticized For His Poor Graduation Record, the coach replied, “Keeping kids eligible, winning basketball games and being successful – that's what I'm in control of,” Roy said. “I'm not in control of kids studying after they go home. I can't control kids showing up for school or not. What is Coach Roy really in control of? If it's maintaining a solid basketball program and bringing it from a local, to a state and now to a nationally recognized program, he's done that.” FOLLOW UP - 3 Cavers Basketball Coaches Are Put On Leave by Brent Schrotenboer, San Diego Union-Tribune, January 17, 2009.
Jan. 4, 2009 - AAU Style Recruiting Hits Football - 7th and 8th graders now play in national all star games. Barely Teenagers, Already Groomed For Stardomby Thayer Evans & Pete Thamel, New York Times, January 4, 2009. New programs attempt to identify tomorrow's elite football players before the players are teenagers. For an example, see Football University. They're an elite camp and they make it clear, saying, "FBU is designed to train a small and elite class of football athletes who have already demonstrated their elite football ability, their seriousness for football, and have chosen football as their primary sport." Don't believe me? Then click here and see the comment for yourself.
stars are identified
November 20, 2008 - A Mighty Success Story - Myron Rolle, A Top NFL Prospect, Interviews For Rhodes Scholarship - And The Interview's On Game Day. See For Florida State Player and Scholar, Game Day Is Different by Pete Thamel, New York Times. Follow Up - Rolle Bypasses NFL to Pursue Rhodes Scholarship. See Florida State's Rolle To Skip NFL Draft For Rhodes Scholarship by Bob Bensch and Curtis Eichelberger, Bloomberg News, January 13, 2009.
Nov. 19, 2008 - Click Here for USA Today's Special Report on Sports and Academics. Are our athletes "majoring in eligibility, with a minor in beating the system" as Univ. of Central Florida Associate Professor C. Keith Harrison contends? See Athletes Guided Toward 'Beating the System' by Jill Lieber Steeg, Jodi Upton, Patrick Bohn, and Steve Berkowitz, USA Today, November 19, 2008, page A-1; Juggling Basketball, Books by Jill Lieber Steeg, USA Today, November 19, 2008, page 7C (reporting on University of South Florida basketball player Chinyere Okpaleke, who majored in biomedical sciences while playing Division I basketball); andMinnesota Task Force Aimed At Student-Athletes by Michael McCarthy and Steve Berkowitz, USA Today, November 19, 2008, page 7C (University President orders task force to work to improve student-athletes' academic experiences and outcomes); Advisors Face a Burn-Out Field: Competing Interests Make Guiding Athletes Thorny by Erik Brady, USA Today, November 20, 2008, page 1C; and UNLV Athletes Take a Major In Disappointment: Degree Nets Questions, Not Jobsby Jill Lieber Steeg, USA Today, November 20, 2008, page 8C.
New York, N.Y. - Nov. 2, 2008 - For The Latest On Recruiting and The Importance of Club Sports see The Next Big Thing by Tommy Craggs, New York Times Play Magazine.
October 17, 2008 - East Liverpool, Ohio - Want To Motivate High School Players? Pay 'Em! Not a good idea, but every now and then someone tries it. SeeColumbiana County Coach Accused of Rewarding Players With Cash, WTOV Channel 9.
Lynchburg, VA - June 21, 2008 - Middle School Officials Divided over 'No F' Policy by Annie McCallum, Lynchburg News Advance, June 21, 2008. Controversy over 'No F' policies for athletes arise periodically. As this article makes clear, the dispute arises from trying to make athletes meet academic standards versus the unintended consequences of athletes either losing motivation to go to school or taking courses with little academic merit.
June 30, 2008 - The Good Side of Recruiting - This Is Why We Do It: See A Game Changer Left Unchanged By The Game by Thayer Evans, New York Times.
June 10, 2008 - Bradenton, FL - Bradenton Prep Gets Record Fine Over Its Athletics: School is Sanctioned for 19 Violations Of High School Sports Rules by Alan Dell, Sarasota Herald-Tribune. 19 violations, including recruiting, providing improper housing to athletes, and giving financial aid to athletes leads to the largest fine ever issued by the Florida High School Athletic Association.
June 7, 2008 - California Commissioner Takes Strong Stand Against Massive Cheating and Paperwork Scandal: See Bridgemont Suspended For One Year: CCS Takes Unprecedented Action After Small School Fails To Follow Eligibility Rules by Will Reisman, San Francisco Examiner page 29. San Francisco's Bridgemont High School played ineligible players, and committed numerous other violations including playing students who didn't attend the school (the article mentions only one of these players) and having inadequately prepared preparticipation physical exam forms (there's no excuse for botching up these forms - what would the school tell a parent if one of the students died?). This was strong work by Nancy Blaser, the Athletic Commissioner responsible for this investigation.
April 8, 2008 - NBA and NCAA Want To Clean Up Summer Basketball! See NBA, NCAA Joining Forces To Make Mark In Youth Summer Basketball by Steve Wieberg, USA Today, April 7, 2008 page 8C.
St. Louis, MO - April 4, 2008 - Vashon HS May Have To Forfeit Multiple Championships. See 5 Former Vashon Players Were Ineligible by Lee Logan and David Hunn, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (a pretty sordid tale of recruiting, mail and wire fraud and illegal real estate schemes).
New York, N.Y. - March 10, 2008 - So, What Is That Athletic Scholarship Really Worth? See Expectations Lose to Reality of Sports Scholarships by Bill Pennington, New York Times, March 10, 2008.
Aston, PA - February 21, 2008 - Recruiting/Life/Pressures on Top Prep Stars Are So Intense That Some Turn to Family for Protection/Guidance. See Prep Star's Rise Aided By His Brother's Best Intentions by Jere Longman, New York Times, February 21, 2008 (reporting on Tyreke Evans's family guiding him through life as a top Pennsylvania basketball recruit).
San Francisco, CA - February 13, 2008 - Early Commitment - Sometimes Very Early: Freshmen & Sophomore Athletes Commit To Schools Early. SeeRecruiting's Junior Achievement: Where to Go Comes Before Time To Grow by Will McCulloch, San Francisco Chronicle, February 13, 2008. Don't Think The Sports World Is All Too Different From The Academic World - Many Elite Colleges Instituted Controversial Binding Early Admissions Programs In the Past Decade. The programs allow these colleges to recruit academic superstars earlier than they would normally get them. The programs place the little guys at a disadvantage (in this case the little guys are kids who aren't from elite college prep high schools and in sports the little guys are kids who develop through a normal high school process). Superstar high stakes academia and superstar high stakes sports have many similarities. For an idea of the scope of the problem, see this Editorial from the Jan. 8, 2002 Stanford Daily. The biggest difference between sports and academia is that Harvard will always be Harvard and can back away from early admissions, the elite teams in the sports world have to win every year or they won't be elite - they can't back away from early commitments. Interestingly enough, Harvard did back away from early admissions. See Harvard to Eliminate Early Admissions, Harvard Gazette, September 12, 2006.
Wave of Scholarship Offers to 8th and 9th Graders Leads to Backlash: See Coaches Call For No More Courting Of Pre-Juniors by Steve Wieberg, USA Today, June 20, 2008, page 9C, and Opposition To Eighth Grade Recruiting by Michael Marot, Associated Press, published in San Francisco Chronicle, June 20, 2008, page D9.
Utah, 2008 - Home School/Athletic Transfer Battle Brews In Utah
There's a debate brewing in a number of states over legislatures taking over athletic transfers, and whether there should be no transfer standards at all. At the same time, there's a debate in a number of states over whether and under what circumstances home schoolers can play. It's coming to a head in Utah. See Home School Debate Reignited by Amy Donaldson, Deseret Morning News, Feb. 6, 2008, and Athletic Transfer Bill Moves by Amy Donaldson, Deseret Morning News, Feb. 22, 2008.
Stockton, CA - September 26, 2007 - Stockton/Samoa Illegal High School Recruiting Pipeline Exposed: See Football Recruit Charges Detailed: American Samoan Kids Residency Faked, Prep Probe Finds, by Quwan Spears, Sacramento Bee, September 26, 2007 page A14. For more see Probe: High School Coach Illegally Recruited Samoan Players, USA Today, September 27, 2007, and On Preps: Scrutiny Shadows Issue of Transfers by Joe Davidson, Sacramento Bee, September 28, 2007, page C7; Officials Shut Down Franklin Football, San Francisco Chronicle, October 31, 2007 page D7 (Franklin football gets death penalty after refusing to sit illegally recruited players).
Hoover, AL - July 20, 2007 - The 2007 high school gets under way with a massive grade fixing scandal at Alabama's Hoover High School. The Board of Ed. appointed retired federal judge Sam Pointer to investigate the allegations, resulting in the following story that provides plenty of background: Pointer Outlines Investigation Of School Athletics by Erin Stock, The Birmingham News, July 20, 2007. Hoover High is a national football power, and was recently focused on MTV's Two A Days show, leading to sports coverage on reality t.v. sites. Click here for realitytvworld.com's coverage. Also, see the June 22, 2007 coverage in the Birmingham Weekly Blog. Click Here For The Hoover Board of Ed's Report On The Athletic Scandal.
Lakewood, CA - February 9, 2007 - Do Prep Basketball Teams Go Too Far: Long-Distance Trips, Whirlwind Schedules Mean Missed Class Time But More TV Exposure, Money by David Leon Moore, USA Today page C1.
Washington, D.C. - Jan 23, 2007 - Knight Commission Explores the Changing Face of Recruiting - See Commission Told of Big Changes In Recruiting, by Jack Carey, USA Today, January 23, 2007 page 5C. Click here for more on the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
San Jose, CA - Jan. 10, 2007 - Basketball Transfers Troubling To Many, by David Kiefer, San Jose Mercury News, Jan. 10, 2007 (a rash of high profile transfers hits California's CIF Central Coast Section - is this a continuance of a trend of sports transcending the academic purpose of schools?).
Click here to follow the 2006 NCAA Diploma Mill Investigation.
Chicago, IL - Nov. 21, 2006 - Brothers Step Up To Protect, Guide Top Chicago High School Recruit. See The Well-Guarded Guard by George Dohrmann, Sports Illustrated, November 21, 2006 (on the protection and recruiting of Simeon's Derek Rose). The brothers were successful as Rose enjoyed a successful college tenure and now plays in the NBA.
Nov. 21, 2006 - Parents, High School Officials At Odds Over Motivation For Athletes' Transfers by Ray Glier, USA Today.
Seattle, WA - July 26, 2006 - Chief Sealth Stripped of State Titles, by Christine Willmsen and Michael Ko, Seattle Times, July 26, 2006. Massive high school girls' basketball recruiting scandal results in 4 years of forfeits and state stripping two state championships from Chief Sealth girls. For more on the scandal see WIAA Strips Hoops Titles From Chief Sealth Girls, Tacoma News Tribune, July 26, 2006, and Seattle H.S. Stripped of Hoops Titles, Associated Press July 25, 2006.
St. Petersburg, FL - May 16, 2006 - St. Petersburg (FL) Catholic Penalized for recruiting and illegal practices. St. Petersburg Catholic Coach and AD Staying by John Cotey, St. Petersburg Times, May 16, 2006. The Coach and AD later resigned and the penalties were reduced. See FHSAA Reduces SPC Penalties by Joe Smith, St. Petersburg Times, July 26, 2007. Click here for TampaBay.com reprint of article.
Redwood City, CA - Feb. 4, 2006 - Address Falsification in High School Basketball Leads To Forfeits.
2006 - Washington D.C. - 10 Year Olds Recruited, AAU Ball Taking Over: Follow the Washington Post's 2006 Series, The Player Chase, which examines youth basketball in the United States.
Academic Fraud: Coach Takes Test For College Athlete at TCU, NCAA Finds Fraud At TCU, Inside Higher Ed.Com, Sept. 23, 2005.
March 2002 - The Kevin Ross story is a cautionary tale of what happens when the academic system defaults, and continues to give passing grades to a nice kid just so he can play sports. Kevin Ross graduated from high school and completed four years of college without actually learning to read. He left college in 1982 and attended the renowned Westside Prep Elementary School (now called the Marva Collins School) run by Marva Collins (click here for Marva's bio in pdf format), ultimately learning to read. His story is documented here in Outside The Lines: Unable To Read, ESPN March 17, 2002.
July 2001 - International Recruiting Issues at the High School Level. See 'Round The World by Shelly Wilson, Athletic Management, June/July 2001.
Los Angeles, CA - January 31, 1990 - 'No F' Policy for Student Activities Dropped In L.A., Education Week, Jan. 31, 1990.
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