Excerpt:
The adoption of an early signing period has quietly become one of the most significant moments in recent college football history. “If it goes through,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said, “it will be the most impactful piece of football recruiting legislation in 25 years.” That contentious early signing period is part of a bundled package of wide-ranging changes to the game that will be taken up either Thursday or Friday by the NCAA Council in Indianapolis. The intent is to keep college football from becoming the recruiting backwater college basketball has devolved into. It relieves pressure on recruits, lessens third-party influence and curbs excess. If, that is, it all passes. The early signing period is the centerpiece. For years -- perhaps decades -- there has been little consensus on that early period, which essentially relieves the pressure on recruits. That first Wednesday in February known as National Signing Day has become a bloated -- sometimes shady -- talent rodeo. You’ve seen some of the excess, such as live animal stage shows and recruiting tactics that tend to damage both the coach and recruit. “This is as convoluted a situation as I’ve seen in 34 years of collegiate coaching,” said Todd Berry, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association. “From a student-athlete perspective and a coaches’ perspective, we’re in a bad place right now in terms of this whole recruiting model.” But finally, most everyone who matters seems to be on board at least for a mid-December early signing date that would coincide with the junior college period. Proposal No. 2016-116 took years to craft; experts warn it could be picked apart. The bundled package resembles a Congressional bill with typical partisan elements built in. Within the legislation is a proposal for a 10th full-time assistant coach. Was that enough to get the coaches to support an early signing period? Any attempt to undo the bundle and make the proposals ala carte could mean failure.......................
LINK:
http://www.cbssports.com/college-fo...e-football-bundled-like-a-congressional-bill/
The adoption of an early signing period has quietly become one of the most significant moments in recent college football history. “If it goes through,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said, “it will be the most impactful piece of football recruiting legislation in 25 years.” That contentious early signing period is part of a bundled package of wide-ranging changes to the game that will be taken up either Thursday or Friday by the NCAA Council in Indianapolis. The intent is to keep college football from becoming the recruiting backwater college basketball has devolved into. It relieves pressure on recruits, lessens third-party influence and curbs excess. If, that is, it all passes. The early signing period is the centerpiece. For years -- perhaps decades -- there has been little consensus on that early period, which essentially relieves the pressure on recruits. That first Wednesday in February known as National Signing Day has become a bloated -- sometimes shady -- talent rodeo. You’ve seen some of the excess, such as live animal stage shows and recruiting tactics that tend to damage both the coach and recruit. “This is as convoluted a situation as I’ve seen in 34 years of collegiate coaching,” said Todd Berry, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association. “From a student-athlete perspective and a coaches’ perspective, we’re in a bad place right now in terms of this whole recruiting model.” But finally, most everyone who matters seems to be on board at least for a mid-December early signing date that would coincide with the junior college period. Proposal No. 2016-116 took years to craft; experts warn it could be picked apart. The bundled package resembles a Congressional bill with typical partisan elements built in. Within the legislation is a proposal for a 10th full-time assistant coach. Was that enough to get the coaches to support an early signing period? Any attempt to undo the bundle and make the proposals ala carte could mean failure.......................
LINK:
http://www.cbssports.com/college-fo...e-football-bundled-like-a-congressional-bill/
