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Does "commitment" Mean Anything?


icanthearyou

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This article beats up on Bobby Petrino. Sure, he probably deserves it but, isn't this really about a larger hypocrisy? Does commitment mean what is once did? I heard Mac Brown on ESPN this morning say that, "situational ethics" are a part of college football recruiting. Does it go deeper than that? Are situational ethics an accepted part of any effort toward achieving "success"?

Let's not fool ourselves. Does commitment really mean anything?

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/05/bobby-petrino-still-not-a-man-of-his-word/

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Every profession, hobby, sport and so forth has its own jargon. "A double" means entirely different things in a baseball context and a bartender's jargon. In the recruiting game "commitment" does not mean what it means in the dictionary. In recruiting, "commitment" means today's favorite, nothing more and nothing less.

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The verbal "commitment" has definitely lost some value through the years. This is due to various reasons. One must think that in some way it coincides with the high divorce rates of today. People of today are changing, the word "Commitment" definitely means something different today than it did 50 years ago.

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We should change the terminology. Why don't they just say "At this point in my recruitment, Auburn is my leader" or "I am leaning towards Auburn but will visit or listen to other schools". If they make a definite decision early, then say "I am committing to Auburn and have stopped the recruiting process".

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We should change the terminology. Why don't they just say "At this point in my recruitment, Auburn is my leader" or "I am leaning towards Auburn but will visit or listen to other schools". If they make a definite decision early, then say "I am committing to Auburn and have stopped the recruiting process".

That's how it should be, but I don't know how we get to that point. Right now many of the kids are using a "commitment" as a way to guarantee themselves a college scholarship while looking around for a more glamorous setup. Schools are using "accepting a commitment" as a way to have a warm body secured while they look for a better prospect. When the better player shows up the school drops the offer and mumbles about a greyshirt. How to get those factors under control?

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This article - http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/05/bobby-petrino-still-not-a-man-of-his-word/ - just popped up in my Google Now feed and seems pertinent to this thread.

Petrino seems to have lost the meaning of "commitment" as well.

Remember when some among us wanted to hire him? (Sorry to bring up that sidebar.)

Sorry, icanthearyou, didn't see you'd already posted this.

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Commitment means about as much as someone saying "I give you my word".............Decades ago when you gave someone your word, it was an iron clad oath, when you shook hands on a deal it was a solid oath. Those days are long gone.

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We should change the terminology. Why don't they just say "At this point in my recruitment, Auburn is my leader" or "I am leaning towards Auburn but will visit or listen to other schools". If they make a definite decision early, then say "I am committing to Auburn and have stopped the recruiting process".

That's how it should be, but I don't know how we get to that point. Right now many of the kids are using a "commitment" as a way to guarantee themselves a college scholarship while looking around for a more glamorous setup. Schools are using "accepting a commitment" as a way to have a warm body secured while they look for a better prospect. When the better player shows up the school drops the offer and mumbles about a greyshirt. How to get those factors under control?

Agree...commitment is a means used by some kids to nail down a scholarship offer while continuing to talk to other coaches and perhaps visit other schools...sometimes in hopes of something better coming along.

The problem is I guess, schools have been bitten enough by last minute flips that many of them are not 100% committed either....and have reversed the process against a few kids....though it seems that most of the players that have been dropped at the last minute (offered a gray shirt) were not the ones who were shopping around after their "commitment".

I've got no problem with pulling offers from kids who continue to shop around after making their commitment....but some kids have clearly been shafted by coaches who got a better last minute "commitment".

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I wish the process in its entirety could be overhauled. I would like to see it set up to where there could be 3 maybe 4 total dates throughout the year to where recruits could sign their LOI and be done with it. You could have 1 LOI in the first week of November. The 2nd LOI date could fall on the 1st Wednesday of February like we currently have. The next day could be the 1st Wednesday in June. If a 4th LOI date is needed, this could occur on the 1st Wednesday of September or maybe the 2nd Wednesday of August.

I am sure that there will be a lot of pros and cons with these dates that I have chosen, but this could be modified. What we have currently has far too many cons to remain the same with no modifications to the current system on the horizon.

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