If you read “coverage†of Division III sports this time of year, you probably see this phrase, or one like it, pretty frequently.
So-and-so “signed a letter of intent to play football at Division III†Such-and-such College.
This is a lie. Or if it’s true, then it’s an NCAA violation. There is no such thing as a letter of intent in Division III.
From the Division III manual, bylaw 13.10.1:
An institution shall not utilize any form of a letter of intent or similar form of commitment in the recruitment of a prospect. However, it shall be permissible for the institution to utilize in the recruitment of a prospect its pre-enrollment forms executed by prospective students in general at that institution. Violations of this bylaw shall be considered institutional violations per Constitution 2.8.1; however, such violations shall not affect the prospective student-athlete’s eligibility.
I’m not going to name names here — shoot, you can do some Google searches and see the references for yourself. We just don’t know if the schools are misleading the papers or the papers just don’t know what they’re writing about.
Fact is, nothing binds a student-athlete to attend a particular school in Division III, or to play football once there. He can abandon his application fee and enrollment deposit and re-enroll anywhere.
This is why ranking recruiting classes in Division III is a fruitless exercise.
Hey, I can see where the schools are coming from. It’s hard to get people unfamiliar with Division III to truly understand how things work here. But we need to educate the rest of the media, educate the public, that Division III is different, and better. Student-athletes aren’t treated any differently, aren’t given any special treatment, and they enter the school the same way everyone else does.
Ignorance is no excuse. Intentionally misleading people is worse.
I think that this many times just come down to what the kid/parent is saying to the local papers. However, I think when you see something like this dropping a quick e-mail to that paper can help with the problem.
I know that the Oregonlive.com recruiting board had that habbit of having D3 kids saying they “signed”.
I write them. Rarely is there a response. I’ve never seen a correction.
I should highlight what Wash U. puts at the bottom of its press releases regarding incoming student-athletes:
That is great that Wash U. isn’t pretending to be something it’s not.
I don’t even think that teams in the NWC bother to send out press releases about incoming student-athletes.
Do most D3 colleges send out these types of releases? It would seem a little mornic to have a release say “They didn’t sign anything but they gave me their word they would be coming to “X” college/university”
Isn’t it moronic that I misspelled moronic?
I agree that a lot of times it comes from the athletes or parents, combined with a lack of knowledge of local papers. A lot of D3 schools don’t send out releases about recruits.
It even shows up in other areas. Menlo College has been said to give athletic scholarships by a number of hometown papers, when they follow D3 regulations, providing scholarship/financial aid based on need. But what sounds better for a local sports hero – an athletic scholarship or financial aid because of need?
Similar with letter of intent – it puts the athlete in a better light, as if he/she was the target of a heated recruiting battle and the winner was XYZ University.
What’s the difference between a D1 athlete verbally agreeing to sign with a certain school and a D3 athlete doing the same. They both get reported. It is likely that more D1’s change their mind than D3’s that get the press release. Maybe they should stop reporting about the verbal agreements in D1 since it means nothing. At least the D3 kid gets a little press for committing to play for nothing if only verbally.
And then there are media events like this one reported by the Naples (FL) Daily Times.
Check out the photo in the upper right corner. I wonder what the father is actually signing…
“Fact is, nothing binds a student-athlete to attend a particular school in Division III, or to play football once there. He can abandon his application fee and enrollment deposit and re-enroll anywhere. This is why ranking recruiting classes in Division III is a fruitless exercise”
Wrong! You can’t rank players and classes when you you have no idea who these players are. These lower level players are not on any notional ranking system. They don’t go to D1 camps and get ranked. No one can rank a recruiting class even if all players who verbally commit end up at those particular schools. Dumb.
Gordon,
I think what it said on that piece of paper was…..
“Congratulations you are wasting ink on signing a piece of paper that means absolutly nothing. At least you can brag to your buddies that your son “signed” with a D-III school”
I wonder if the Fitchburg State Coaches sent that “Letter of Intent” down to FL. or if the kid’s dad printed one up on the home computer……trust me, I wouldn’t put it past high school parents to do something like that to draw some attention to themselves.
Blog blog blog:
True, that too. We cover that in our FAQ, but the focus here was the other part of the discussion. 🙂
Cat11: It’s possible he was signing financial aid papers, or something. Also, it’s possible the ceremony was orchestrated by the high school, not the college.
Pat,
That is probably the case that the high school put it on but even if he was signing financial aid papers, isn’t it the perception that he’s signing an L.O.I. for a division that doesn’t have L.O.I.’s?
I would be a little ticked if I was in Fitchburg’s conference and there is a perception that Fitchburg’s staff is encouraging signing ceremonies……even if it’s just aid paperwork. I mean, can you really expect local media to know that DIII doesn’t allow this practice?
A kid in small town USA is getting to go to school and play a sport he has worked at more than likely six years or so in school. Maybe more years with non school teams or youth sports.
This kid will be part of the 5% of kids that played high school sports, that get to play College at any level. Maybe he or she will be part of the 3 to 4 % that make it and get to play after a year or two.
Why would you want to point a finger at or spoil that kids 15 min of time that has been earned with blood,sweat and tears. No matter what paper they and there parents sign, or what level they are at part of the deal was to be recruted to play a sport and attend College at said school.
I can’t think for the life of me anyone would take that excitment from a child, that would make them playing for a D111 school any less importint or exciting as playing for a top D1 school. No matter what way they choise to voice there decesion to play at any school.
Lighen up, stop and think what you are saying, THANK GOD
That’s great — he should get some recognition and I have never said otherwise.
But it should not be called “Letter of Intent.” That is not Division III.
jyoung,
It’s pointed out because it’s the a rule of the division. Why can’t the kid just announce to the local fish wrap that he gave a verbal to XYZ college? They can still run an article and the kid can get his recognition.
Division II and the NAIA use letters of intents as a recruiting advantage over DIII schools. While it may not seem very significant to many, to have a big deal be made of you signing (newspaper, TV, school ceremony, etc) can play a part in the selection process for an 18 year-old recruit.
If we just let DIII’s get away with it then we are creating an uneven playing surface in recruitment.
The athletic letter of intent rule is at the core of what DIII athletics is all about.
Young:
Like Pat and Cat (hey, that rhymes), I’m sympathetic to your point. I think there are other ways for the kid to get attention by designing the press conference differently
But there were two other points that maybe haven’t been drawn out enough:
1 – Newspapers and other media are supposed to report the news – the facts about what is happening. Reporting that X signed an LOI doesn’t do that – it’s reporting something that didn’t happen. I’m sure it’s not malicious, but it’s not a practice that’s quickly embraced.
2 – There is a fundamental difference between D1 (and D2) and D3. Division III athletics puts a different, special emphasis on performance on the field and in the classroom. That’s why Division III doesn’t have pure athletic scholarships.
And no one on this site would denigrate the Division III experience – heck, just take a look at what these sites devote to covering that experience.
But we’re also not trying to put on heirs to pretend we’re Division I or II. By pretending we follow the Division I process, we’re almost implying that we’re not comfortable – or really not interested – in what makes Division III special.
We’re implicitly saying it’s not interesting or noteworthy enough to play the game because you love it while getting a good education. So we pretend we’re doing something else and that this critical difference doesn’t really exist.
Again I don’t have a problem with the kid getting attention. But I think there’s a better, more genuine way to do that.
Lynchburg College doesn’t have football, but I know for a fact that for every sport we have there is NEVER a mention about recruits. I manage the men’s basketball team here and I generally don’t know anything about the recruits until school starts up, then all I know is the names of everyone trying out, and a lot of the time kids that originally plan on trying out don’t even show up. i know with one of the freshmen we got this year that coach didn’t even know h was going to be coming to LC until like June or July.
Notice how Champan Coach Ken Visser handled a similar situation here as reported in the Pahrump Valley (NV) Times.
He gave an honest explanation of the process and the student still got the attention he deserved. No LOI stunts necessary.
I work in an area where I watch kids take the lure of the street, drug selling, overdosing, killing and getting killed. We see over 100 kids at any given time in durg court, that is only the ones that have been caught and put into the system. There are more kids in foster care than ever before in our area, most of it because of meth. We, alomg with the high school coaches in our area hold suffer camps in the hardcoure naborhoods, all sports, hoping to save some of these kids. When one of these kids gets out of the hell he lives around, makes it to college by way of his “sport talents” no matter what level, I do all I can to get that kid on the frount page. then we walk the streets around the crack and meth dealers waving the paper and telling the kids there is a way. By the way we do the same when one hits the paper for winning the math event. Get out of the “perfit world ” bubble you live in, go make a real difference and help kids, help other kids make it in this world. There is a lot of real important things you could be helping with to help kids. A kid going to D111 and playing a sport and getting a degree is just as important and one going to D1 and doning the same. Matter of fact the difference in most cases for those that end up playing is “undersize” not talent.
Thanks for letting me vent, I just don’t see the “we are special” you are less” idea. I will use anything I can to get these kids in this County off the streets. However if you feel good about making yourselfs the “stop those kids. that is not D111”, then there you go. I deal with fokes like that all day long, I just never understand. there is just so many other important things you could be helping with that really will help some kid.
jyoung,
That is incredible that you are out there making a difference in the inner city. It’s a wonderful thing that you are doing.
However, the subject is not letting college use false LOI’s on the DIII level as an unfair advantage in recruiting. I agree with Pcole and Gordon and others, put the kid on the front page if he decided to go to a DIII. That’s awesome…..just don’t have him signing a LOI to that DIII athletic program.
Cat11
Unfair advantage to who?
Jyoung:
I admire your work to help kids find a way out of painfully difficult circumstances. The work that people like you, teachers and others do in disadvantaged neighborhoods is the work of God — I really believe that.
I think you misinterpret our argument here. Our point is that D3 is special because of what it is — academic and athletic talents together — not what it isn’t. It’s not inferior to DI and shouldn’t have to pretend it’s DI to get attention.
It’s a great experience for what it is, not a great experience because we could pretend it’s DI with Letters of Intent, scholarships and big TV contracts.
I hope the kids who you help are motivated by the D3 experience or whatever other blessings they have around them to give them hope.
D3 is inspiring enough on its own real credentials. It doesn’t have to pretend to be D1. We probably wouldn’t be here if we didn’t believe that.
So, does this mean if a student wants to transfer, his school wouldn’t have to sign a release form in order for him to talk to other schools?
Actually, this is true. A Division III player can self-release.
Robert:
All of this is good reading, be sure and read page 27.
http://www.ncaa.org/library/general/transfer_guide/2003-04/2003-04_transfer_guide.pdf
Interesting but be careful with it — the Division III transfer rules changed as a result of the actions of the Division III membership at the January 2004 convention. That publication is dated March 2003 (p. 2).
You cannot look at the Fitchburg State story in the Naples paper without understanding how high school football works in Florida. It is a lot different from the northeast. National signing day is a big deal. Almost every single high school takes time away from the academic day to have a big press conference/assembly in the gym for all the players and the events are heavily covered by both local and national media. Seems like this kid’s high school either wanted to include everyone signing OR just have an assembly of their own and the only kid they had moving on was going D3.
Conversely, it’s not unreasonable to ask schools to have a little understanding of how Division III football works. It is a lot different from the other divisions.
Good points, everyone … it is a valid argument that DIII should encourage the press to learn the difference between scholarship and non-scholarship athletics in college. As the father of an excellent small-high-school athlete, I was disappointed that he did not get DI attention at signing day, but it didn’t take long for us both to see the value of an outstanding school with a successful athletic program. Without exception, the coaches and players we’ve met are fine examples to younger student-athletes. I plan to encourage my friends and neighbors to consider DIII as a valid option for their sons and daughters.
With tuition de-regulation in Texas (and perhaps elsewhere), smaller private schools are actually competitive with the state schools … especially when academic scholarships and grants are offered (as in our case.)
I’m looking forward to watching him grow in body, mind, and spirit … I want him to enjoy university life in all facets and happy that he has found a place to do so.
He could certainly have “walked-on” at a DI school (no different than “walking-on” to a DIII school, is it?), but wanted to spend more time in class and “have a life” outside football. Can’t argue with that, can I? The more I read and hear about DIII, the more I think it fits my son best, whether he continues to play athletics or decides to stop.
Here’s a link to the article that appeared in our local newspaper … as you can read, no “signing” is mentioned, although he certainly did sign a paper accepting the financial package offered to him.
http://www.shinertx.com/shinerhs/va030805.htm
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/college/orl-rsptlsign07050705may07,0,1353399.story?coll=tf-main-sports
Here’s another article where players “sign” to play with DIII schools this fall.
On a day that was most certainly unlike any other for athletics at Tavares High School Friday, five football players signed college grants to continue their careers.
In a signing summit orchestrated by Tavares Coach George Sneed, receiver Matt Habermehl signed with Millikin University, an NCAA Division III school in Decatur, Ill.; lineman Robert Douglas and running back T.C. Smith signed with Urbana (Ohio) University, an NAIA school; and punter/defensive back Ryan Leary and receiver Danny McManus signed with Maritime College in Throgs Neck, N.Y., an NCAA Division III school.