Yeah, especially for schools that aren't in your home state.. you're going to the West Coast as a football player in most cases cause of the coach not the school and the curriculum. So if the coach leaves you're on your own and your scholarship would be at jeopardy since it was yearly renewable.
Absolutely correct. Committing to a school makes sense if a player stays in state or within driving distance. When a player goes from East Coast to West or vice versa, it's a different situation entirely. Those coaches stand in a family living room and promise the parents they will take care of their son. It's all about the relationship because the families have no knowledge of or connection to a school so far away.
This is just one facet of the tangled web this has become. I get your point, but pause when I consider circumstances like this one... McElwain leaves Col. State to take the job at Florida. Now, his circumstances aren't the same as those coaches who leave after signing day but consider what happened. UF is now on the hook for how much money? McElwain, is having to pay how much to Col. State? With a lot of these coaches, even assistants, there are buyouts for breaking contracts...so, there is a penalty of sorts. Should players who've committed be able to change their minds without some sort of penalty? I'm not sure there's a more equitable way than the one currently in place; they can move to another school but fall under the transfer clauses where they have to sit a year. (That brings the question of how many of these kids—and there are only a very small number considering the 3000 or so that sign each February—actually lose playing time.) For every point there seems to be a solid counter-point. No signing day? When do other coaches stop calling these kids, parents, coaches, etc? Is it as simple as a DNC list?
