The New NCAA Ruling: What does it mean''

Jeff Borzello of ESPN broke a news story about the new NCAA rule that limits coaches access to a 'large number of recruits in the month of June. See attached link.'https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/25518419/new-ncaa-rule-limits-coaches-access-some-recruits-june

Unfortunately, it stated what we already knew. Back in September, Phenom Hoop Report sat down with the NCHSAA and had a conference call with the NCAA concerning the new ruling. Being an event operator, naturally we had our concerns since the NCAA was removing three “live event” periods for the 2019 calendar year. In the past, we had two “live periods” in April and three in July. The new ruling stated the NCAA would only have one “live event” in April and one in July in relationship to travel ball teams.

Too often, travel ball teams and coaches were made out to be the villain. Many high school coaches often complained “travel ball” coaches had too much power and authority over the recruitment of players. There are always exceptions to the rule, but the majority (can we say 98%) of the travel ball coaches did it for the proverbial “right reason.” Let’s be honest, the majority of travel ball coaches are simply volunteers, who actually sacrifice time and money to help the majority of players, especially at the grassroots level. And to be perfectly honest, the majority of travel ball coaches expected NOTHING in return except the satisfaction of helping young players achieve their dreams and aspirations.

There’s an old saying, “Be careful what you ask for.” That couldn’t be more true in what we have today. In order to take away influence from travel ball teams and coaches, the NCAA decided to remove two of the July “live event” periods and give it back to high school coaches and allow high schools part of the NFHS to have two June “live periods,” June 21-23 and June 28-30. On the surface this sounded like the right solution according to the NCAA. 'After learning of this decision, we naturally reached out to the NFHS and the NCAA, hoping we would be allowed to bid and host these events. Being proactive, we booked the new 10 court Rock Hill Sport and Event Center for these dates. What better way than to have all the schools in a state or region come to one location. This would allow more teams and players to be seen by college coaches, not to mention the simplicity of college coaches have the opportunity to watch a large number of teams and players under one roof.

After much research, 'we followed up with the 'NCAA and a personal one-on-one meeting with the NCHSAA. 'We quickly learned these events could only be sanctioned and run by the state NFHA member and in North Carolina that would be the NCHSAA. 'No third party would be allowed to host these events for D1 coaches, and to take it a step further these events could not be played at “off site” school facilities, and to take it one step further, private schools in the NCISAA and the NCCSA would not be allowed to participate. Naturally, we reached out to NCISAA members and explained this verdict back in early October. Naturally, the reaction was, “they can’t do that, that would be totally unfair.”

After further research and conversations with the NCAA, we were told we could still host team camps, but D1 schools could not attend, however any non-D1 school could indeed attend. Therefore, we had Phenom Hoop Report took a proactive approach and decided to host team camps at the Rock Hill Sport and Event Center for the June 21-23 and June 28-30 time frame. In our opinion, this event would be heavily attended by D2, D3, NAIA and Juco, not to mention we can also LIVE STREAM these events and have them archived for D1 coaches. In addition, we would provide the same media coverage as any other Phenom event. In addition, we would also make this available to travel ball teams because not every high school coach will field a team or participate during this time frame. To take it a step further, we will have a separate individual/player camp as well.

The intent and purpose of the NCAA ruling was to enable college coaches to see players in a different setting, although they have the opportunity to see them during the fall evaluation period and ample times during the basketball season. That being said, while it does allow college coaches to see players in a “more structured team setting,” it will diminish the number of players to be seen. Naturally, this does not present a problem to high major prospects, but it does drastically challenge players on the D1 bubble and above the same opportunity to be seen by college coaches. This ruling helps the Power Five schools and the top 100 players in the country. For example, the NCAA made June 13-14 an additional “live period” which is strictly the NBA Top 100 camp held annually in Charlottesville, Virginia at the University of Virginia.

While the new rules may have started with the “right” reason, it has not addressed one single issue that exists in basketball today. College coaches need more opportunities to watch and evaluate players, not less. The new rules limit the amount of quality evaluation time for all players, especially for the ones that are still under the recruiting radar, not to mention this will spread college coaches thin because there will be more events and greater distances to travel. In our opinion, the NCAA created a yet bigger problem where coaches at all levels scratching their heads.

Listen as we go in depth in our podcast discussion about this issue…

https://soundcloud.com/amateurhourphr/ncaa-emergency-podcast-ep34