No More Early Signing Period

[rainbowgirl28]

Huh??

NCAA Division I Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches,

Please be advised that by action of the Collegiate Commissioners Association, the early signing period in the sports of track and field/cross country has been eliminated, effective immediately. As such, prospective student-athletes in these sports will no longer be permitted to sign National Letters of Intent during the early signing period, established as November 14-21, 2007 for the current academic year. Instead, these prospects will only be permitted to sign an NLI from February 6, 2008, to August 1, 2008, which coincides with the signing opportunities currently available for field hockey, soccer and men's water polo.

All other National Letter of Intent policies and provisions related to track and field/cross country remain unchanged. Furthermore, the National Letter of Intent, <http://www.national-letter.org>www.national-letter.org and all other applicable NLI forms and documents will be updated accordingly.

Please contact the National Letter of Intent office if you have any questions.
________________________
Torie A. Johnson
Director of the National Letter of Intent
2201 Richard Arrington Blvd. N
Birmingham, Alabama 35203-1103
<mailto:tjohnson@sec.org>tjohnson@sec.org
Office: (205) 458-3013
Fax: (205) 458-3031

http://www.national-letter.org/dates/

NOTE: The early signing period in track and field/cross country has been eliminated, effective immediately

Field Hockey, Soccer, Track and Field/Cross Country, Men's Water Polo* February 6, 2008 August 1, 2008

* - These sports do not have an early signing period.
]

[VaultMarq26]

what is the possible reasoning for this?

[vault3rb0y]

Well that throws some of my options out the window. I heard from someone that it is supposed to "give us more time to form our opinions". thats stupid though, 17 and 18 year old kids can think for themselves. Now the pressure is on to stay healthy till february. Not that staying healthy isn't in the plan, but now the consequences can be REALLY bad if you get hurt. This is pretty ridiculous if you ask me, some football players sign before their senior year even STARTS.

[invert07]

this is also supposed to give the track coaches a little break from all of recruiting, their season ends in june then they are back out across the country trying to recruit all of these athletes, then the season starts and they get busy with all of that. And i heard it was also to help out the cross country kids seeing how their season is the same time as all of their visits , it just gives everybody alot more time to do things.

[Barto]

Well that throws some of my options out the window. I heard from someone that it is supposed to "give us more time to form our opinions". thats stupid though, 17 and 18 year old kids can think for themselves. Now the pressure is on to stay healthy till february. Not that staying healthy isn't in the plan, but now the consequences can be REALLY bad if you get hurt. This is pretty ridiculous if you ask me, some football players sign before their senior year even STARTS.

No, football athletes can not sign until Feb. They may make verbal commitments before then, but these are not binding.

[SlickVT]

Trust me when I say, this is not to give kids more time to view their options. When the NCAA does something, it is for their benefit and their benefit only, and anyone caught in the wake is left to drown.

This rule was changed to make create more fairness between large and small schools, in that everyone makes offers at the same time, instead of the more heavily funded schools putting out more offers early because they can.

[vault3rb0y]

In retrospect, having thought about it for a while, i think i like the decision. It gives all vaulters a chance to improve in the indoor season a bit, and more time to take visits. The only real down side(s) i see are the possible risk of injury between november and february, the chance on not improving, and not knowing until february where you are for sure going to school, which puts a little more stress on us. But for my personal situation, i actually kind of prefer it, since im not a 17'+ vaulter yet and indoor gives me a chance to bump up some marks, get to know coaches better, and hopefully get some better scholarship deals.

[polevaulter08nw]

I agree with that comment there! haha