College coaches may not want to spoil the fun by talking about injuries or revoked scholarships during a recruiting pitch. But in California and Georgia, state lawmakers are trying to ask them to do just that.
Bills pending in those states’ legislatures would require coaches to disclose their institutions’ policies on medical expenses, scholarship renewals, and transfers for athletes within one week of the first recruiting contact.
The California measure, AB 2079, introduced in February, was sponsored by the National College Players Association, an advocacy group of 14,000 current and former Division I athletes. Ramogi Huma, the association’s president, has been working since 2001 to bring more transparency to a recruiting process he says keeps prospective athletes and their families in the dark on key issues like medical bills and transfer policies.
“Once you sign your letter of intent, you’re pretty much stuck with whatever policies that school has,” says Mr. Huma, a former football player at UCLA. “We’re saying, Give recruits and parents a fighting chance.”
The Georgia bill, HB 1406, introduced in mid-March, is far more expansive than its California counterpart. But both would require coaches who recruit athletes in those two states to disclose, among other items:
• The cost of attendance, as well as the expenses not covered by a full athletic scholarship.
• The institution’s policy on renewal or nonrenewal of an athletic scholarship, particularly in cases of injury or a coaching change.
• Whether the athletics program will pay for medical expenses that exceed maximum insurance coverage limits.
The Division I recruiting process is hardly perfect, as we’ve noted in past coverage. But would new state laws provide a solution?
2 Responses to Helping Recruits to Read the Fine Print
princeton67 - April 9, 2010 at 2:48 pm
For a brief, shining moment I thought that the “transparency” being demanded referred to the posting (anonymously, with names etc. removed) of recruited scholarship athletes’ academic abilities (SAT; GRA; AP) as compared/related to those of the rest of that schoool’s incoming class. Why the thought? As a thirty-year high school SAT-prep and English teacher in Georgia, I worked with athletes whose SAT’s were 200-300 points less than those of the average UGA or Tech freshman (or other SEC and ACC colleges), whose GPA’s were barely a 2 (C), yet who were strongly recruited, admitted, played out their eligibility, and dropped out.
bwolverton - April 14, 2010 at 11:14 am
That’s interesting, princeton67. You probably remember this story about the disparity between athletes’ SAT scores and those of the general student body, which the talented Mike Knobler, a former AJC writer, did a couple years ago: http://www.ajc.com/homefinder/content/sports/stories/2008/12/28/acadmain_1228_3DOT.html As long as FERPA laws protect students (and shield athletic departments from disclosures of this type), I doubt we’ll ever see more transparency of the type you’re seeking.