Portal..Kids have probably three or four reasons to enter (why hasn't Brown committed to USC)

[CougEd]

1) Playing time. Tyree Ross left WSU and is now back in the portal. He went to South Carolina. I see players like Lopez, Wilder, etc jus wanting a chance to play.

2) Money- who from our group gets NIL money? Does USC really spend money on Brown? Is that the reason he hasn't committed?

3) Exposure to greater competition. Lower level kids coming from Nevada, Idaho State etc. They want greater competition. (This is the pool if I was WSU I would swim in.)

4) Combination of 2 and 3.

 

[etowncoug]

You missed a few.

4) Got into the doghouse and need to find a new home. Before this was called dismissed for breaking team rules.

5) Grades.

6) Homesickness.

7) Sometimes a place isn't a good fit, didn't meet expectations, whatever. Portal gives kids and opportunity to play in a different system that they would be more comfortable in. Or a coach with a different style.

I don't envy coaches who have to sort out why a kid left, while holding off other suitors, while determining if a recruits warts can be mitigated by the organization they have in place. Not an easy gig.

 

[COUGinNCW]

It’s another reason why it’s going to be harder to keep coaches at WSU where the job has always been harder and is now even harder.

 

[BiggsCoug]

It’s another reason why it’s going to be harder to keep coaches at WSU where the job has always been harder and is now even harder.

They need to be decisive in what they are and are not looking for. If it is a free for all of high school, juco and portal kids…. that will run guys ragged.

 

[wazzucougs96]

The timing this year also coincides with an entire signing class that never did a campus visit before committing and signing.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

The timing this year also coincides with an entire signing class that never did a campus visit before committing and signing.

Thanks, Wazzu. That had not occurred to me, but I can buy the idea that there would be a case or two of buyer's remorse on the part of someone who had not visited. We've certainly always considered the visit to be an integral part of the process.

As for the other reasons cited above (by the way, Ed, thanks for starting this), I find the bigger stage/greater competition to be #1. But the doghouse, homesick (typically maturity related), and money are also real items. If you happen to get a combination of any 2 or more of these, the kid is likely to enter the portal. And most who enter end up leaving, though certainly not all of them. In terms of numbers, I think we benefit as often or more as we lose in the process, but whether we gain enough to offset the loss of a real contributor or two is a year-to-year judgement call that can only really be made toward the end of the season.

And etown, your observation re: the evolution in coaching job requirements is spot on.

 

[wazzucougs96]

Thanks, Wazzu. That had not occurred to me, but I can buy the idea that there would be a case or two of buyer's remorse on the part of someone who had not visited. We've certainly always considered the visit to be an integral part of the process.

I think this goes both ways too. Coaches recruited and offered kids based on game tape and facetime calls, never having spent time with them and their families. I am sure there are kids out there at a multitude of schools, that coaches regret signing and are nudging out the door.

 

[Coug90]

I think this goes both ways too. Coaches recruited and offered kids based on game tape and facetime calls, never having spent time with them and their families. I am sure there are kids out there at a multitude of schools, that coaches regret signing and are nudging out the door.

Are majority of schools now renewing scholarships year to year? Believe used to be you accepted a scholarship you had that scholarship for 4-5 years as long as you were in good standing.

With the portal madness would seem to make sense. Be tough getting stuck w guys on scholarship who can’t crack two deep then having key guys bail left and right because NIL $

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Are majority of schools now renewing scholarships year to year? Believe used to be you accepted a scholarship you had that scholarship for 4-5 years as long as you were in good standing.

With the portal madness would seem to make sense. Be tough getting stuck w guys on scholarship who can’t crack two deep then having key guys bail left and right because NIL $

It has been my impression that, since you can buy players and their parents now, you are also free to create space on the roster by dumping kids. That was the UCLA model this year, for example; they dumped enough kids to make room for over 20 transfers, IIRC. Those who championed paying the players and their parents either did not consider those who would be dumped to make space, or simply did not care. Certainly the networks who pushed this did not care, but I can't speak for the others.

As a side note, CJD's recent comments on how out of control the NIL bribe process has become are also relevant to this conversation....

 

[BiggsCoug]

It has been my impression that, since you can buy players and their parents now, you are also free to create space on the roster by dumping kids. That was the UCLA model this year, for example; they dumped enough kids to make room for over 20 transfers, IIRC. Those who championed paying the players and their parents either did not consider those who would be dumped to make space, or simply did not care. Certainly the networks who pushed this did not care, but I can't speak for the others.

As a side note, CJD's recent comments on how out of control the NIL bribe process has become are also relevant to this conversation....

If the kid is not progressing, the school is under no obligation to renew his 1 year scholarship every year. You cannot have dead weight any more. You have to produce. You can’t soak up a scholarship and not be moving up the depth chart. This isn’t youth football where everyone has to play. This is big boy football with millions of dollars on the line. Cuts are gonna be made like it or not.

 

[425cougfan]

Are majority of schools now renewing scholarships year to year? Believe used to be you accepted a scholarship you had that scholarship for 4-5 years as long as you were in good standing.

With the portal madness would seem to make sense. Be tough getting stuck w guys on scholarship who can’t crack two deep then having key guys bail left and right because NIL $

Scholies traditionally have always been for one year only. For most guys in good standing and progressing, they'd get renewed routinely. Some guys would get counseled out, though ("hey Jimmy, I just want you to know that if you stick around here, it's unlikely you're going to get on the field"). Some coaches were and are a lot more aggressive in pushing guys out than others. WSU hasn't seemed overly aggressive in that regard. E.g., Ed talks a lot about how ruthless Leach was, but I remember some guys like Moritz Christ never sniffing the field but being allowed to stick around on scholie through their full eligibility. The more intense the pressure to win at a school, the more ruthless coaches are and have been.

In 2012, the NCAA implemented a rule allowing schools to offer multi-year scholies, and in 2015, the P5 schools agreed to a rule that prevented them from terminating those for any "athletic" reason. I haven't heard about very many offers of multi-year scholies, though. It all wound up being swallowed by NIL and all the other crap we've seen.