AKRON, Ohio -- Here's Monday's Dear Gary ...
Dear Gary: So how long did that NABC recommendation last? Was it even a month? It kind of looks bad when one of the most high-profile coaches (Billy Donovan) completely disregards the suggestion (by taking a commitment from rising sophomore Austin Rivers). I know it is not a rule but a recommendation/suggestion, but does this mean all bets are off and teams can go back to doing what they were doing? Full disclosure, I am a Kentucky fan and I think the "rule" is dumb. If a coach wants to offer a kid and the kid and his family want to accept, what's the problem? So, what do you think happens now with recruiting?
-- Kevin
I got a lot of emails like this, including one from a Kentucky fan wondering why Billy Gillispie was ridiculed for taking a young commitment while Donovan did it without much of an uproar. I actually asked Gillispie about this Sunday night, and he just smiled without comment. But I think the simple answer is that Gillispie committed an eighth-grader instead of a ninth-grader -- which just seems a lot younger, for whatever reason -- and that he did it in a state where basketball rules 12 months a year. Meantime, Donovan's young commitment came in a state where basketball is secondary and at a time (the week after the NBA Draft) when people weren't paying attention much. I mean, the week after the NBA Draft is vacation time, far as I'm concerned. So when that story came down last week I was on vacation (though I still wrote it) and I know at least one other national college basketball writer who was on vacation, too.
In other words, Donovan has impeccable timing.
But in all seriousness, I'm mostly with you, Kevin. I don't necessarily believe the rule is "dumb" but I do think it's going to be incredibly difficult to enforce because verbal commitments don't actually mean anything anyway and nobody is binded by them. So how can a coach be forbidden from "offering" something that can't be offered in reality? And even if he is, the NABC will never be able to stop a young prospect from telling a reporter he wants to go to Kentucky or Florida, and all Kentucky and Florida have to do in response is tell the NABC that they haven't technically offered anything and that though the prospect might've been under the impression that a scholarship was his if he wanted it, a scholarship was never formally offered and what can you do?
Anyway, do you see my point?
My basic rule on rules is to only have them if they can be enforced, and I just don't think this can be enforced. So my suggestion would be for the NABC to state its position and let coaches do what they will, then focus on cleaning up what really needs to be cleaned up, and what can.