This entry today is mostly going to be one seeking opinions. Last night in my theory and ethics of coaching class we watched the movie "Blue Chips" and it got me thinking...
Background information:
It was about a college basketball team (Western University) and how much illegal recruiting actually goes on all throughout the country. The coach, Pete Bell knew it went on at colleges, but refused to become a "liar." After his first losing season as a coach, he was really down and decided he wanted to recruit the two top incoming freshman. Both freshman and their families expected either money, cars or a house. Bell still refused to illegally recruit, but after talking to the football coach, he decided to give in. In the end of the movie, Western University played #1 Indiana and ended up beating them in the last second. Even though this was one of the biggest victories he'd had in awhile, Bell could not celebrate because the guilt was killing him. In the press conference at the end of the movie he admitted to everyone that he cheated. He commented on how he cheated himself, he cheated his team, and he cheated the game of basketball.
Anyway, the movie really got me thinking...if this kind of thing took place in the 90's...
think how extreme it probably is now. But I really never thought that colleges were that dirty to actually do things, probably because I am naive.
But if you think about it, take Ron Zook for example. He coached at Florida and got the best recruits in the country and now that he coaches at Illinois, they get top recruits in the country...coincidence? I don't think so.
And take Reggie Bush for example. He received a free ride to USC..........and his parents were given a three million dollar house?? What?
And then the whole Kelvin Sampson debacle went down this Winter.
Now what I am wondering is what about Iowa?
Here are my thoughts:
-So many guys on the team are from around Iowa and most likely dreamt about playing for the Hawkeyes all throughout their childhood.
But what about the guys from New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, or Texas? What is their reason for wanting to go to Iowa?
The only thing I can think of is that if they were to go anywhere larger than Iowa with a bigger football program, they probably wouldn't see the field. So they figure, why not go to Iowa, they still have a great football program...and I will have a starting position.
So I guess now I'm looking for your opinions because now I am really curious...
3 comments:
Recruiting outside of your area is all about creating pipelines. It takes getting possibly a few decent players from one area to come, then they help in the recruiting process of others from the areas they came from. This is a big reason why we have a pipeline with the New Jersey area. Albert Young nearly went to Wisco, but changed his mind in the process because of guys on the team he knew or guys who were looking at committing to Iowa and they wanted to do it together. The majority of bigger programs have pipelines in Texas and Florida, they just don't typically get the best players. Some of our better players may be from other states, but if you look at, they were most likely NOT top athletes in those states. Most schools just get the leftovers that the top programs don't want. As for Illinois, I don't get it either. Two of their best players are from the D.C. area (supposidly they have created a pipeline there), but it's tough to do that legitimately when you're starting a program basically from scratch. Zook is known as being a heck of a recruiter, but that's when he was in talent rich Florida, so that's why there is so much speculation now. Recruiting violations do happen and if I had to guess they happen a lot, but they are typically just swept under the rug because football makes a tremendous amount of money and brings in major exposure for the school. Applications for Florida skyrocketed after their basketball and football teams won their championships. If school's can get that kind of payoff from letting a few violations get by, then why not do it. Read up on the SMU scandal that resulted in their football program getting the death penalty if you want to know why teams do it and what can potentially happen.
I believe the Iowa football is just Iowa football and we seem to always get the short end of the stick when it comes to top recruits. It seems like anytime we have a top guy on our radar and he may be leaning towards Iowa but come signing day he signs elsewhere. That makes me think Iowa may not be doing things illegal or if they are they aren't doing a very good job because we still don't get the players. It seems like a lot of the time players do come to Iowa because they know they will play. However, our recruiting class was one of the best in '05 but that was following a streak of solid seasons which alone could attract some guys. But I wouldn't ever say Iowa cheating is out of the question because really who knows what goes on.
It's hard to say, but Zook stole an ND recruit who had seemed like a lock. And that was while ND was between BCS appearances and Illinois was still irrelevant.
I had some teammates in high school that took visits to small D-II and D-III schools and they came back with some pretty ridiculous stories. So, if that sort of thing goes on at Southwestern West Virginia Academy for the Blind, you'd have to think it's going on at the big time schools. Plus, with the various scandals hitting the Iowa football team over the past year or two, it wouldn't be shocking to find out that some less-than-legitimate recruiting practices had gone on, also.
But I dunno, I want to be a sports writer, not an investigative reporter.
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