11/21/24
January 17, 2017
The Worst Time to Lose a Scholarship Offer: High school linebacker prospect Ryan Dickens committed to UConn in June 2016 after receiving a scholarship offer from coach Bob Diaco. After Diaco was fired, his successor Randy Edsall called Dickens on New Year's Day to affirm the offer. Sixteen days later, Edsall called Dickens to tell him the scholarship is being offered to someone else. NJ.Com reports, "Seemingly every winter players such as Dickens are on the wrong end of a college's decision, left empty-handed and uncertain in the eleventh hour as National Signing Day bears down." With just two weeks to that day and most scholarships gone, Dickens and his parents have been scrambling. The best offer so far is from FCS school Rhode Island.
Hopefully he can go to another AAC school. Even if he's never more than a special teams player, his motivation to stick it to UConn on game day would be off the charts. Just one guy like that can blow up some shit.
posted by beaverboard at 11:37 AM on January 17, 2017
It's hard not to feel for this kid, who obviously worked his ass off and believed that he could count on the adults in whom he had placed his trust. The fact that Edsall and his staff repeatedly reached out to Dickens to affirm the scholarship offer before pulling the rug out kinda cements my conclusion that they were dicks. BUT. For me, the most important takeaway was-
The best offer so far is from FCS school Rhode Island who offered him a full scholarship.
If the point of the athletic scholarship was to get a college education, then it really shouldn't matter whether the offer is from an FCS school. I mean, if the kid was borderline at UConn, it's not like he was a legitimate NFL hopeful. So this is doubtlessly a cautionary tale of the cutthroat world of college football, but all's well that ends well, right?
posted by tahoemoj at 11:40 AM on January 17, 2017
UConn USNWR ranking: 60
URI USNWR ranking: 159
Offers should be for five years, ironclad, and take effect as soon as the kid signs the paper even if he immediately says "I don't want to play football, I want to get an education."
posted by Etrigan at 12:11 PM on January 17, 2017
If the point of the athletic scholarship was to get a college education, then it really shouldn't matter whether the offer is from an FCS school.
That kind of thinking goes both ways. UConn dropped him for athletic considerations. Both sides have more than an education in mind.
What sucks about this situation is that there's nothing a student athlete can do to avoid it. Anyone dropped in the final weeks is going to find greatly reduced opportunities elsewhere. Schools will not have many offers left.
A UConn coach was still talking to him about his scholarship three days before the offer was withdrawn. They really strung this kid along.
posted by rcade at 01:02 PM on January 17, 2017
even if he immediately says "I don't want to play football, I want to get an education."
That seems a bit extreme to me. The inherent quid pro quo with an athletic scholarship is that the school exchanges the education for the athlete's participation in the sport. Injuries sustained while participating notwithstanding, if the student chooses not to play, it seems to me that he or she isn't holding up their end of the bargain. But on the rest of your proposal, I agree with you 100%. Offers should be iron clad as soon as the kid agrees.
I see what you're getting at with the school rankings, but I also believe that education is what you make of it. I have no doubt that a committed URI student would get just as quality of a [free] education as a UConn student.
posted by tahoemoj at 01:29 PM on January 17, 2017
Offers should be iron clad as soon as the kid agrees.
I think the counter-argument would be that that's what Signing Day is for. Agreements before Signing Day can be (and are) broken by either side. That is, after all, why UConn called him several times to make sure he was still coming. Now, I would make an argument that you should just be able to sign acceptance before Signing Day--I suspect there is some reason why Signing Day exists, though I don't know what it is.
All of that said, repeatedly checking that the kid is accepting the offer and then snatching it back is low. We'v only got one side of this story, but Edsall's [alleged] actions certainly are hard to justify.
Also, I do think that it would be fair to slant these procedures far more in favor of the players. There's a relevant side of that that comes from the fact that players cannot go straight from HS to the NFL and paying college players, but ignore that (for now) and focus on this kid, who as mentioned above, likely doesn't have a future career on Sundays. Coaches are all looking for the same thing: the best players they can land who fit with what they want to do. There's obviously nuances and exceptions, but coaches will all take the best players they can get. Players, conversely, have a lot of different reasons to choose where they go. It could be the name brand of the school, it could be the coach, it could be academic ranking, a particular academic program, scholarship details, proximity to home, ... Why did Ryan choose UConn? I have no idea. Business schools aren't rare, so it's probably not because they were the only school in the region with his program, but the fact that something like that could happen is all the more reason to protect the student.
posted by bender at 02:57 PM on January 17, 2017
I also assume that this incident will cost Edsall more in the long run. Recruiting is competitive, and if I was a coach and one of my prospective recruits was also considering playing for him, I would certainly be sure that the kid was aware of this story. [Unless, of course, this sort of thing happens everywhere and I just haven't heard these stories. That would be all the more reason to protect the players from this.]
posted by bender at 03:01 PM on January 17, 2017
There should be a blog devoted to broken promises by college coaches. Let every recruit know whether the word of a particular coach is any good.
posted by rcade at 03:47 PM on January 17, 2017
I suspect there is some reason why Signing Day exists, though I don't know what it is.
Just four words:
Ee!
Es!
Pee!
En!
posted by grum@work at 08:26 PM on January 17, 2017
I suspect there is some reason why Signing Day exists, though I don't know what it is.
Signing Day mostly prevents schools from signing HS juniors and younger and then changing coaches multiple times before the kid attends. The process I not perfect, but things would be worse if it did not exist.
It is probably not all doom and gloom for Dickens. After the signing day, a few schools will have scholarships open up after players they thought would sign, end up signing somewhere else. Also, eventually a few scholarships will open up, as a few players who sign posted by prof at 10:32 AM on January 18, 2017
Just four words:
Ee! Es! Pee! En!
Per wikipedia, it appears that National Signing Day predates ESPN, though the Worldwide Leader has certainly made a cottage industry out of it in recent years. prof's explanation sounds plausible. It could also be tied to the recruiting schedule that allows and restricts contact between schools and recruits during certain periods.
posted by bender at 11:25 AM on January 18, 2017
Yeah, it existed before ESPN.
Before, it was just "signing day".
But after ESPN got their hands on it, the transformation to "Signing Day" happened.
posted by grum@work at 02:20 PM on January 18, 2017
On the one hand, the UConn coach comes off like a dick; on the other, he only keeps his job by winning. Further, neither he nor the college (for him) given time to respond before this was published and since this was hardly a breaking news story I'm sure another day wouldn't have impacted the paper.