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I thought that if a program changes coaches, all those with signed letters of intents are free to sign with another school? I know we don't have any signed letters yet...that comes in February. Just wondering if our verbals will rethink their committments? I sure hope QB Pat Nicely hangs in with us.

No - a LOI signs you with the University, not a particular coach.

That's right Burrito, but these guys are all verbals, at least as far as I know. In the presser, Christoher said that the recruiting coordinator (Doug Phillips) would be responsible for keeping in touch with recruits. It is a good incentive to get a new person on board soon.

Yea, they're all verbals right now. Even LOIs can be gone back on without sitting out a year i believe.

I hope it doesn't hurt the recruits, but it could obviously. If we dont have a coach, why would a kid like Nicely want to come into a system where we might not be running the spread (an almost identical offense to what he ran at Willoughby South)?

I hope it doesn't, i hope we get someone new in ASAP.

I can't recall many cases of a University holding players to LOI after a coach leaves. First, it simply is not really fair to the kid and is otherwise tacky. Second, who wants the lawsuits.

NWLB wrote:First, it simply is not really fair to the kid and is otherwise tacky. Second, who wants the lawsuits.

Tacky indeed. What school will be like "no, F you you signed your LOI now you're coming here or sitting out a year"...

1. that'll just kill recuiting in the future
2. You'll have someone on your hands who doens't want to be there
3. i agree, its tacky.

Interesting story I read while at home along those lines, but the opposite.

A DE recruit from Mentor High committed to EMU in mid season. During the year, they came back to him and said "sorry, we're retracting out offer and getting a JUCO instead"...now the local paper is ripping EMU and I highly doubt any player from the area will be attending there for a while.

It just makes the school look bad if they force a player to honor their LOI/Verbal, just as it looks bad for a school to go back on their scholie offer...

I hope this doesn't hurt the recruits. I'm sort of new to BG football (became a fan when i enrolled in 05), but how did the departure of Urban impact the recruiting then?

Good point raised about Urban Meyer leaving. I don't think when Randy Walker left Miami they lost any recruits. Remember that for the most part, a recruit has long made up his mind about what school suited him best. At this point in the recruiting process, that is starting December, most scholarships have been filled by verbals from recruits. Sure a recruit can opt put of his verbal and commit elsewhere. Verbals are not worth the paper they are written on , so to speak. But then the player is going to have to contact the other schools he turned down seeing if "his" offer is still valid. There may not be a lot of other choices for a kid to make once he has given a verbal.

If a player de-commits from his verbal, schools understands this happens for a variety of reasons. And once the recruit signs the LOI, he still can change his mind as we say in August with Blaine Schaeffer not reporting to Balls State and coming to camp here only to leave after a few days.

Bottom line is that I have to think the recruiting and assistant coaches are working the phones and still working with the recruits to keep them on track to come to BG.

Sidejudge wrote:Good point raised about Urban Meyer leaving. I don't think when Randy Walker left Miami they lost any recruits. Remember that for the most part, a recruit has long made up his mind about what school suited him best. At this point in the recruiting process, that is starting December, most scholarships have been filled by verbals from recruits.

Walker left on good terms, moving up in the world (if its the guy i'm thinking of, who went to NW and tragically later passed away). I don't know how a coach getting canned makes an incoming student feel comfortable about the stability of the program, remember they only have 4 years to play college ball, do they want to spend two of them with a new system being put in, or playing for a coach when he isn't "their" recruit?

Like i said, I hope it doesn't hurt at all, and I'd have to agree with you Side that the current assistants/recruiting directors are working day and night contacting future Falcons keeping them informed and in good graces.

Maybe its a good thing that Montgomery is resigning. Coaching at Miami can kill you. I kid, I kid. On the other side, once they sign a LOI, they are locked into that university. The school could let them go, but they still have to sit out a year. That was going to be a problem with Schaffer. Some schools don't let them leave, Pagett in basketball was forced to play for Kansas for one year after Williams left the school.

There are no letters of intent right now. Just verbals. And verbal commitments carry no legal weight whatsoever.

Letters of intent can't be signed until after the new year. February, if memory serves.

I think most of us are clear on that, but I wanted to be sure.

I really hope the recruits that have verballed with us stay with the team and sign their letters in February. I think that class is very promising and I think they also realize that they are going to be able to be part of a fresh start at BG and that can be a good thing sometimes. I hope they read this board and realize how important they are to us!!!

Here's Ryan's story from todays Blade about the impact on recruits:

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /812010371

I didn't particularly care for this comment: "I talked to the coach that recruited me [linebackers coach Deion Melvin], and he told me to go and visit other schools and take official visits if I need to," Mays said.

Should one of the assistant coaches being telling kids that?

No, and if he did say that he should be gone right now! Evidently, he (Melvin) thinks he has no chance of staying around, or he wouldn't be saying that.

It's better to be honest. That's a big decision in a 17- or 18-year-old's life. I think if you tell him to keep his options open you're doing him a favor.

Also, depending on the new coach and his "system" he might not want any of the verbals anyway.