Coaches really, really don’t like it when players who are "committed" to their schools change their minds and go somewhere else. They especially don’t like it when it happens late in the process.
Meanwhile, those coaches treat contracts as just so much scrap paper. At the same time they are telling some prospects they should keep their word, they are telling other prospects that a verbal commitment to another school doesn’t mean anything.
Hey, we all know that’s the way the game is played. But don’t be so hypocritical as to act like you are offended by that game at the same time you are playing it.
Here is some of what Saban said:
"I’m old-fashioned. I think a commitment is a commitment.” (Unless that commitment happens to have been made by a player to another school or is in a contract with Toledo, Michigan State, LSU or the Miami Dolphins).
"We tell guys when they commit that we want the recruiting to be over or we really don’t want them to commit. If you’re not really ready to stop recruiting, then you aren’t really ready to commit, because committing means you are coming to that school.” (Meanwhile, we’ll do our best to convince others that their commitments don’t mean that).
"I would rather you go visit other schools until you’re sure that this is what you want to do rather than making a commitment and then not feeling comfortable and wanting to go explore other opportunities.” (But, unless you are really, really good, there’s guarantee we’ll wait for you).
This really isn’t criticism of what Saban does. At the highest level of college football, they all do it. Every last one of them.
The fact is that, like it or not, the rules say a player can’t sign until the first Wednesday in February. In the eyes of the NCAA, anything said before that is just talk. Freedom of speech and all that, you know.
Teen-agers are going to change their minds. That doesn’t make them dishonest or bad. It just means they changed their minds. Saban, like just about every coach in the Southeastern Conference, has changed his mind about at least one contractual commitment.
And don't forget that offers made to prospects don't always turn out to mean much either if a coach discovers he can get a better player instead.
That’s all OK. That’s life. There's nothing unethical about any of it. But, my goodness, don’t expect more from 18-year-old high school students than you’re willing to expect of yourself.
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