Money Players

Selling hoop dreams to minors

College basketball and the NCAA are talking about stopping the practice of coaches offering scholarships to 8th graders. NCAA prez Myles Brand depicts this practice as "untoward." The problems are many: Most 14-year old boys can't make up their mind which way to part their hair, let alone what college to attend. Like a lot of things in college athletics, the elders have the upper hand. The scholarship offer is contingent on many one-sided factors, including the fulfillment of ridiculously high expectations, the coach still being the coach, qualifying academically and no embarrassing character flaws.

Reggie Minton, National Association of Basketball Coaches associate executive director (and one of the really good guys in all of sports) makes the case to the Lexington Herald-Leader against this practice:

“Do [these 14-year olds] have enough knowledge to make such a decision? Two or three years from now, when it's time to enter (college), are they the same prospect and same person you thought they were four years earlier?"

The next step for the NABC? According to Reggie, “We'll probably ask our coaches to refrain from it. If that doesn't cut the mustard, we'll go to the next step: (NCAA) legislation.” Ordinarily I have a gag reflex at the thought of more NCAA rules so let's hope that coaches can self regulate.

And to the broader topic frequently discussed on the Money Players blog: What's more wrong: a college coach who sells an 8th grade phenom-on-training-wheels a college scholarship or a sports agent who sells a career in the NBA? The simple answer is that both are selling powerful hoop dreams. And in defense of sports agents, it's far easier to predict an NBA career (or not) of an 18, 19- year old than a college career of a 14-year old.

I'll close with a line from the movie Shaft: "We all on the hustle. I sell broads and dope and numbers. You sell crap and blue sky. It's all the same game." And you know these runners, recruiters and agents don't want to get out-hustled.

--Marc Isenberg

It's the horse, not the jockey

ESPN's Andy Katz reports that K-State gave assistant basketball coach Dalonte Hill a $420,000 a year deal. Hill was one of Michael Beasley's AAU coaches for DC Assault and is responsible for bringing Beasley to K-State..

Apparently this deal makes Hill the highest-paid paid assistant coach in all of college basketball. ESPN's Andy Katz described Hill's deal as "stunning" and "whopping" and points out that the basketball community is "beffuddled." Cue the ole Casablanca standby, including the far more instructive part where Captain Renault proves that commerce (shocking) prevails over moral outrage:

Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! [a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Captain Renault: Oh, thank you very much.

Let's look at Hill's deal rationally. K-State's athletic director Bob Krause seems to have an excellent grasp of the economics of college basketball:

"A youngster like Michael Beasley is a once-in-a-lifetime [player]. We have youngsters in the queue, and Dalonte and the entire staff is a big part of that. We're looking at a long-term investment. You can throw money at stuff but that's not the point. You're making an investment to keep the momentum going."

Success in college sports is pretty simple. Bring in the best available players and give them good coaching. In the era of "one and done" the premium is on recruiting. No doubt "x and o's" coaching matters, but it's more important to devote resources to recruiting activities. If athletic departments are investing in private jets to make it easier for head coaches to recruit, why not invest in assistant coaches who have deep relationships with top recruits? In the final analysis paying an assistant coach $420k reflects the marketplace for those at the top of the player procurement game.

Curious thought: What's the difference between an AAU coach, a runner, a college recruiter, and an agent? The skills seem very interchangeable and, in fact, I know several who have worked their way up the career ladder -- or down, depending on how you view this whole business.

--Marc Isenberg

The bad business of basketball

Darren Rovell interviews sports agent David Falk, who offers some interesting comments about what he (and definitely others) think is wrong with basketball. While I don't like to deal in rumor and innuendo on this blog (not that there's anything wrong with that Buzz Bissinger), I think this is worthy of further discussion. A few snippets (definitely read the entire interview, which also talks about Falk's $5 million donation to Syracuse to start a sports management program):

Darren: How hard is it to be an agent these days?

Falk: It's easier these days because the role of agents is being diminished every year as the leagues continue to pass rules that dramatically restrict what agents can do. In the NBA, they have the rookie scale and the max deals, so they are capping salaries on the front and back end so at every turn you lose your ability to be an entrepreneurial dealmaker. I'm not angry about it. It is what it is. But it just goes to show you the nature of the leagues and their relative strength against their unions.

Darren: There's a reason that the business has a dirty reputation. What's your take on it?

Falk: Instead of evolving, the sports agent business has devolved. ...[W]e're dealing in a world where agents are splitting fees with AAU coaches all the time. And it's getting worse. I wanted to meet a college player who I really enjoyed watching this year. So I asked a friend of mine, who is a very powerful man in the game, to introduce me to him. And he said, "I'd like to help but I can't." And when I asked why. He said, "You are three years and $500,000 short."

Darren: How much are the players to blame in all of this?

Falk: They definitely play a part. I bumped into a player the other day and he said he was on his third agent in 10 years in the league. And this agent was calling him every day and I said to him, "Did you jump from high school into the league?" And he said, "Yeah." And I said, "You're 28 now. Why are you still acting like you're in high school? If you need someone to call you everyday you should have probably gone to college.
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If the basketball biz is so dirty, what can be done to improve?

Last month the NCAA and the NBA announced a partnership to address some of the corrupting influences associated with basketball. The NCAA and NBA have provided few details about exactly what they will do to improve the basketball culture. John Feinstein has his doubts [NBA, NCAA Plan to Make Plans].

My small -- but hopefully effective -- solution was to write Money Players, a book to help athletes (and their families) understand the business and ultimately make better financial decisions. Let me know what you think, either by posting a comment below or by e-mailing.

--Marc Isenberg

High school recruit punk'd by "Jeff Tedford"

UPDATE: Hart wasn't punk'd, but was the one behind this bizarre tale. On the scale of 1 to Dave Bliss, this should hardly register. I feel bad for him.

As Ray Ratto writes: "And like so many teenagers' plans, it lacked sufficient consideration of the endgame."
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Apparently a high school recruit was pranked by someone impersonating Cal coach Jeff Tedford.

Kevin Hart, a Nevada 2-way high star, announced his decision to attend Cal at a press conference attended by local media and "Jeff Tedford."

Kevin Hart explained his decision to sign with Cal to the media throngs:
"Coach Tedford and I talked a lot, and the fact that the head coach did most of the recruiting of me kind of gave me that real personal experience."

This is not funny. College scholarships are in limited supply. What if Hart called other schools that were actually recruiting him to inform them he was signing with Cal?

In the annals of recruiting, there have been many crazy, bizarre stories. One of my favorites: When Barry Switzer was the coach at Oklahoma, he desperately wanted to sign star running back Billy Sims. So he sent an assistant coach to Billy's hometown with instructions not to return without him. The assistant coach checked into a nearby hotel, but spent nearly all his time with Billy and his family. The assistant coach was finally able to return home -- and keep his job -- when, after 68 days, Billy signed.

The "recruitment" of Kevin Hart is flat-out the most bizarre story I've heard. The best rundown of the possible scenarios is on BearTerritory.net. Stay tuned!!

On a sidenote, I wonder if "Jeff Tedford" broke any NCAA rules.

Signing your life away

SI's Seth Davis writes a compelling case against college prospects signing the National Letter of Intent (NLI), wondering whether the contract, which binds player to school, is legally "unconscionable." The problem with the NLI is that it favors college programs far more than players. Provision No. 19 of the NLI states that players agree they are signing with the school, not the program, even if the actual recruiting often reflects the opposite.

Seth's conclusion: "[U]ntil improvements are made, and until the athletes are given a say in the letter's contents, my advice to recruits is, Don't sign. You can get yourself a better deal."

Refusing to sign would probably work for the very top recruits (guys like Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, OJ Mayo, Kevin Love, etc.). But I would not offer this advice in broad strokes. If recruiting is a game of musical chairs, signing the letter assures a recruit that he/she will have a home for at least one year . Of course, this is contingent on the recruit's admittance into school and avoiding certain bad behavior, both large loopholes in the school's favor.

From the coaches' perspective the NLI also allows them to view players as interchangeable commodities, playing recruits off against each other. A coach might say to three point guards he's recruiting, "I've offered scholarships to three guys. First one to sign gets the scholarship." Fear sure is an effective closing technique for college coaches often judged on their ability to recruit. In reality, most high school recruits don't have the leverage to dictate anything to college coaches. They're just thrilled to get a flimsy 1-year scholarship commitment. Now if every top blue chip recruit collectively refused to sign the agreement...then things could get interesting.

--Marc Isenberg

11/16 Update: Received this from a friend who works in college athletics: "Practically speaking, I have to believe most coaches will NOT offer only a grant-in-aid (GIA) without insisting on a signed NLI because it could be so destructive to them. They'll say 'if you want me to commit an athletic scholarship to you then we need you to sign the NLI so we know it works both ways.' So you might want to suggest that they ask FIRST whether a coach would mind issuing a GIA contract alone, but be ready to back off on that request."

Not so great moments in pretending to be black

By Marc Isenberg

White students at Clemson apparently thought it would be a good idea to party in blackface, drink malt liquor, and generally make big asses of themselves. This was their way to commemorate the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Not that anyone should be shocked. This kind of behavior has been going for centuries, but courtesy of Facebook.com we just have more visual evidence. Let's hope most people at Clemson today do not condone this type of behavior, but the latest incident does not reflect well on the entire school.

The OG fake black party
Clemson has an interesting history of throwing parties that cannot be excused with a simple case of Halloween. From 1970 to 1975, Clemson basketball was coached by Tates Locke. In his book (co-authored by Bob Ibach) "Caught in the Net," Locke recalled his over-the-top recruitment of Phil Ford, Tree Rollins, and other talented black players. Problem: How do you get blacks to feel comfortable attending an almost all-white institution that was slow to integrate? Solution: Set up a fictitious black fraternity. Then hire black students, including females (shocking!), from an historically black university to create the appearance that Clemson was a comfortable place for really good black basketball players. In his book Locke also admits he knew about under-the-table payments booster payments and academic dishonesty. All in all, Locke exhibited predictable behaviorof a coach desperate to stay employed. Pure comedy.

Clemson literati
Can't mention Clemson without invoking one of my all-time favorite comments regarding academic integrity in college athletics. It was said by Clemson titular grad and former NBA player Elden Campbell. When asked if he earned a college degree, Campbell replied, "No, but they gave me one anyway." At least he was honest.

Another great moment in Clemson literary fantasy was depicted in Dan Jenkins's book, "You Gotta Play Hurt." Climpson, as Jenkins calls them, led by center Potatus Fry made it all the way to the Final Four in Atlanta. Potatus Fry (typing his name makes proofing more fun!) majored in Weightroom Management.

© 2007 Marc Isenberg. All rights reserved.