Question about college recruiting

[kkktookmybabyaway]

So there I am cleaning the house and have Mark Madden's sports talk show and he's going off on some high school kid that backed out of a verbal commitment to play for the University of Pittsburgh.

 

I don't give a crap about college sports, but I don't see the big deal. I mean, I've had "verbal commitments" for several places I interviewed with regarding jobs and never got a dime for it.

 

It's not final until the i's are dotted and t's are crossed.

 

Am I wrong here?...

[USC Wuz Robbed!]

In terms of college sports, verbal commitments are almost as good as a written one. Once you give a verbal commitment to a team, they think they got you locked up and they move on to other recruiting prospects. Once you back out of it, they are forced to scramble to find a suitable replacement.

[the pinjockey]

I don't blamethe schools for being upset that someone backed out on them. But I won't lose sleep for these schools either. Until they have them signed, they shouldn't assume.

 

Kind of off topic: For the athletic scholorships, can you lose them if they don't want you on the team anymore?

[USC Wuz Robbed!]

Yes... see: me

[the pinjockey]

OK, so to hell with them if someone backs out on them. If they can dump the person at their convenience it can be done back to them.

[USC Wuz Robbed!]

Some sportscasters and other people look down on backing out of a verbal commitment. Really I don't care.

[teke184]

Verbal committments should be considered nothing more than a strong possibility of signing a letter of intent. One of my HS teammates, who's in the NFL now, had given a verbal committment to Northwestern (the one in Chicago, NOT Nachitoches, LA) before changing his mind and going with Vanderbilt instead.

[jimmy no nose]

The big deal with it is that a school is only allowed to give out so many scholarships and only want to give a certain number to people at each position. The guy verbally commits and the team goes on to stop seeking out guys at the position because they won't have room for both if two guys commit. The kid committed months ago and now that everyone is pretty much decided they are left without a replacement for him.

[The Czech Republic]

Verbal committments should be considered nothing more than a strong possibility of signing a letter of intent. One of my HS teammates, who's in the NFL now, had given a verbal committment to Northwestern (the one in Chicago, NOT Nachitoches, LA) before changing his mind and going with Vanderbilt instead.

Oh fuck you, guy, you turned down Northwestern.